One of the central propositions of this book is that when we speak historically, the invention of coinage was the invention of money: that is, the concept that we understand as “money” did not exist before the seventh century B.C.E., when coins were first minted. Now a person might state the entirety of a household’s possessions in terms of money, as no member of a premonetary society would ever do. (vii)įrom the Greeks onward, we find a new way of speaking and ofthinking. I have tried throughout only to sketch the ways in which Greek thought and behavior were changed by the introduction of money. Something new happened with the invention of coinage, and it produced a new idea that persists to our day. This book will tell the story… of the development of money both in the Near East and in Greece up to the invention of coinage and its widespread adoption by the Greek cities, the only communities that adopted it wholeheartedly at its first appearance. I begin with a number of quotations capturing the argument and then, in the main part of the review, move on to consider the details. ![]() Primitive money was incapable of generating the revolution that Greece experienced. Before the Greek adoption of coinage, the ancient Mediterranean world knew only primitive money, not money as we know it. The result was a profound transformation in Greek economy and society. The Greeks eagerly copied/adapted this innovation and it spread rapidly in their cities during the sixth century. Reviewed for EH.NET by Morris Silver, Department of Economics (Emeritus), City College of the City University of New York.īriefly stated, David Schaps’ central argument runs as follows:Ĭoinage = Money (in the Greek experience the two are equated) was invented in Greece or Asia Minor (Lydia) in the later seventh or earlier sixth century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. Schaps, The Invention of Coinage and the Monetization of Ancient Greece. The Invention of Coinage and the Monetization of Ancient Greece Author(s):ĭavid M.
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