When the Argives, in the reign of Pheidon, abandoned the use of metallic bars, and began to coin money, the Spartans followed in their train, but still adhered to the use of iron, so that the coins which first proceeded from a Laconian mint, probably resembled quoits more than crown-pieces. Mr. Müller observes, but I know not on what authority, that the chief coin was called from its _shape_, and perhaps also from its _size_, πέλανορ, the cake used in sacrifices. If this was the case it must have been a coin of extraordinary conformation, for the _pelanos_ resembled, in figure, a bull, horns and all,[1526] and was habitually offered to Apollo, Artemis, the Moon, and Hecatè. This odd-looking piece of money was in value about four chalci or hemioboloi, that is, about three farthings. But such an unwieldy coinage, which, as tokens, might serve very well for the home currency, would be of no service abroad; so that when Sparta began to aim at foreign conquest, it found it necessary to set aside the ancient laws, and create a currency for effecting its purpose. A tribute was therefore imposed on the islands, and a contribution of a tenth was demanded from all those Greeks who acknowledged its supremacy.[1527] ----- Footnote 1526: Pollux. vi. 76. Footnote 1527: Bœckh, ii. 387. Without such a currency, Sparta, says Mr. Müller, would have been unable to send ambassadors to foreign states, or to take foreign mercenaries into pay. ii. 220. ----- It seems, however, to have been intended by the legislator, that individuals should not possess gold and silver money; but the severity of the punishment[1528] awarded transgressors, instead of proving how strong the hold of this ancient custom (of being without money) was upon the Spartan mind, shows the direct contrary, for there is no necessity to be severe with men who obey from habit, but with those who evince a disposition to break through all restraint. Besides, the law seems to have permitted the use of the precious metals when wrought into ornaments or articles of furniture. Offerings of gold, such as the stars of the Dioscuri, were dedicated by the state at Delphi, and statues of gold and ivory, the works of native artists, were set up within the city about the period of the Persian war.[1529] A hundred years earlier, when the state desired to gild the face of Apollo, at Thornax, they travelled as far as Lydia[1530] in search of the necessary gold, which wholly disproves the assumption of Bœckh mentioned above. ----- Footnote 1528: See the remarks of Monsieur Bitaubè, in his “Dissertation sur La Richesse de Sparte.” Nouveaux Mémoires de l’Acad. Roy. des Sciences et des Belles Lettres, de Berlin, t. xxxvii. 560. Footnote 1529: Müller. Dor. iii. 2. 3. Footnote 1530: Herod. i. 69. -----