The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight StandardsRidgeway, William
History
The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards
Ridgeway, William
Money -- Origin; Weights and measures -- History
It must also be borne in mind that in the treasure of Tolosa there was
a good proportion of silver which probably came from the silver mines
mentioned by Strabo[136] as existing in the land of the Ruteni and
Gabales (Γαβάλεις), two peoples of Aquitania, whose names are represented
by the modern _Rovergue_ and _Gevaudan_. As the working of silver is
so much later than that of gold, it is impossible to believe that if
the Gauls in Italy only learnt the use of gold in the 4th century B.C.
we should find consecrated treasures of silver, evidently of ancient
date, at Tolosa in the time of Servilius Caepio. It is also important
to observe that it is among the Iberians of Aquitania, not the Kelts,
that we find silver mines being worked. The former people were entirely
free from Roman influence, and we shall see shortly that there is the
strongest evidence for believing that the Iberians south of the Pyrenees
were acquainted not merely with gold but with silver, centuries before
ever Brennus stood in the Roman Forum. But before we cross the Pyrenees,
we shall conclude our survey of the ancient gold fields of Europe in the
north-west by glancing briefly at Britain. When Julius Caesar invaded
the island he found the natives using gold not simply as ornaments, but
in the shape of coins, for he says, “They have great numbers of cattle,
they use for money either bronze, or coins of gold, or rods of iron of
a fixed standard of weight. Tin is produced there in the inland, iron
in the coast districts, but the supply of the latter is scanty; the
copper which they use is imported[137].” Caesar’s statement is fully
confirmed by the existence of ancient British coins, chiefly in gold
and copper; although silver coins are likewise found, they are for the
most part imitations of the types of Roman denarii, whilst the gold are
the descendants of the Philippus, from which the Gauls got their chief
gold type. All the Britains did not employ coins, but only the Belgic
tribes in the south and east, who had crossed over at a comparatively
late period. About a century before our era a king of the Suessiones
(_Soissons_) by name Divitiacus ruled over all Northern France and a
large part of Britain[138]. Coins similar in type and weight are found
on both sides of the Channel, indeed the French numismatists claim them
as struck in Gaul, whilst their English brethren have maintained that
they are of British origin. Those found in Kent are regarded by Dr Evans,
in his _Coins of the Ancient Britons_, as the prototypes of the whole
British series. Hence we may infer that the Belgic invaders brought the
Philippus type of coin into Britain, as it is most probable that the time
when the same coins were in circulation on both sides of the Straits of
Dover corresponds with the period when Divitiacus held sway on both sides
of the sea[139]. Strabo substantiates Caesar’s account; “It (Britain)
produces wheat and cattle, and gold and silver and iron. These are
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