“It is in conformity with the whole spirit of a monarch such as Gyges, whose life’s work it was to extend his empire towards the West, and at the same time to hold in his hands the lines of communication with the East, that from his capital Sardes, situated on the slopes of Tmolus and on the banks of the Pactolus, both rich in gold, he should send forth along the caravan routes of the East and into the heart of Mesopotamia, and down the river valleys of the West to the sea, his native Lydian ore gathered from the washings of Pactolus and from the diggings on the sides of Tmolus and Sipylus. “This precious merchandize (if the earliest Lydian coins are indeed his) he issued in the form of oval-shaped bullets or ingots, officially sealed or stamped on one side as a guarantee of their weight and value. For the eastern or land-trade the _light_ mina was the standard by which this coinage was regulated, while for the western trade with the Greeks of the coast the _heavy_ mina was made use of, which from its mode of transmission we may call the _Phoenician_, retaining the name _Babylonian_ only for the weight which was derived from the banks of the Euphrates.” To prevent misapprehension, it may be advisable to mention that the standards here termed _Phoenician_ and _Babylonian_ are not to be confounded with the _heavy_ and _light_ shekels already mentioned, but are the standards derived from the latter specially for silver, in the ways shown a little lower down. Modern analysis of electrum from Tmolus shows that it consists of 27 per cent. of silver and 73 per cent. of gold[260]. It consequently stood to silver in a different relation from that of pure gold. Thus while gold stood to silver as 13·3:1, electrum would stand at 10:1 or thereabouts. Mr Head considers that “this natural compound of gold and silver possessed some advantages for coining over gold. In the first place it was more durable, harder, and less liable to injury and waste from wear. In the second place it was more easily obtainable, being a natural product; and in the third place, standing as it did in the proportion of about 10:1 to silver, it rendered needless the use of a different standard of weight for the two metals, enabling the authorities of the mints to make use of a single set of weights, and a decimal system easy of comprehension and simple in practice” (p. xxxiv.). The second of these reasons is probably the true one, the first being a good example of the tendency of even the most able modern writers to ascribe to early times ideas which are only the outcome of a far later period. The idea of getting a metal which will be more durable in circulation is purely modern, and not even received by Orientals in modern times. Thus the gold mohurs of India down to their latest issue were of pure gold, free from alloy (in consequence of which they are still sought after by the native Hindu goldsmiths in preference to the English sovereign, as the addition