that from the earliest period of their coinage the Lydians struck not only in electrum but also in silver. Now for Herodotus electrum was only a variety of gold. His name for it is “white gold” (λευκὸς χρυσός), and he appears to regard it as gold of a particular quality, just as Bonacossi does the gold of China when he describes it as “pâle, mou et ductile[691].” When therefore Herodotus speaks of the Lydians as the first to coin in gold and silver he may well mean white gold and silver and be referring, like Xenophanes, to the original “invention” of coined money. But even if Babelon is right, there is still no decisive reason why we should not ascribe to the Lydians the original “invention” as well as the first bimetallic development. Thus Xenophanes and Herodotus may be regarded as pointing to Lydia as the first country to strike coins, and after all they were in a fairly good position for ascertaining the facts[692]. Certainty is perhaps hardly attainable. But that does not justify a completely sceptical attitude. It is the reverse of scientific to treat an epoch illuminated by many half lights as though it was one of total darkness. The safest course in such a case is to operate with probabilities. [Sidenote: The origin of the title tyrant.] The claim of Lydia to have been the original home of tyranny is based on similar evidence that needs to be similarly used. The earliest authority for it is Euphorion (third century B.C.), who says that the first ruler to be called tyrant was Gyges, who began to reign in the XVIIIth Olympiad (708–704 B.C.)[693]. The statement has been doubted as being perhaps only an inference from Homer and Archilochus drawn by later writers[694]. Homer does not use the word τύραννος. It first appears in Archilochus, and apparently the tyrant that Archilochus had in mind was his contemporary[695] Gyges: I care not for golden Gyges.... I long not for a great tyranny[696]. But even if only an inference from this source the statement may still be of some value. The word tyrant is not Greek and may be Lydian[697]. A new title does not necessarily imply a new form of government; but if there is independent evidence for thinking that a new form of government arose just at this time, then that evidence will be corroborated by the appearance of a new title; and if that title has a particular local origin, it becomes of particular interest to examine the history of the rulers of the region where the change arose. As our evidence leaves it uncertain whether Gyges was the first ruler of his kind to arise in Lydia or merely the first to find a prominent place in Greek literature and as further we find unusual steps for securing the throne attributed to Lydian rulers of about the middle of the eighth century it will be well to begin at this earlier date. [Sidenote: How Spermos and Ardys became kings of Lydia.]