v51_0212 - LYDIA - LYDIAN KINGDOM Trité d’électrum

LYDIA - LYDIAN KINGDOM

(7th - 6th century BC)

We do not know exactly when the Mint (nomisma) was born. It seems that it made its appearance in the kingdom of Lydia in the second half of the 7th century BC.. -VS. But small stamped ingots are listed today and perhaps constitute the prototypes of the coin itself at the very beginning of the 7th century BC.. -VS. The birth of coin revolutionizes barter habits and makes it possible to evaluate objects from a standard and to guarantee their value.. This change is accompanied by a multiplication of exchanges and the opening of markets. The fact that the first coins of electrum (a native metal carried by the rivers of Asia Minor like the Pactolus) appeared in western Asia Minor is perhaps not due to chance, but to the will of the possessors (kingdom of Lydia or Greek cities of Asia Minor) to create a value system and means of exchange in order to guarantee them. coin is also the Law and it has a sacred character. Lydia was located at the crossroads of major highways and trade routes, the Mediterranean basin and Central Asia. It was able to take advantage of this strategic location by setting up taxes and customs duties. With significant mining and metal resources thanks to electrum (a natural alloy originating from gold and silver) whose nuggets were carried by the Pactolus river and Mount Tmole held veins, Lydia was for the Greek world "the 'Eldorado' of antiquity. The kings of Lydia maintained many commercial exchanges with this Greek world, in particular through the intermediary of the Greek cities of the coasts. Economic power, Lydia was also a banking power, since the Lydians invented the use of coin. The kings of Lydia also participated in the religious and sacred life of the great places of worship. No certain chronology can be established as to the appearance of coin.. It was under the Mermnades dynasty between Gyges (685-644 AC. ) Alyatte II (610-561 AC. ) and before Croesus (651-546 AC. ) that coin made its appearance in this part of the world.