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Article ANTIQUARIES AND ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 4 of 18 →
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Antiquaries And Antiquities.
tures of Nineveh—the hair and the beard arrayed precisely in the same singular Avay ; and were it not that the Greek characters on the Parthian coins point to an age considerably posterior to Alexander , Avhilst the arroAv-headed characters ontheNinevite remains prove their remote antiquity , the spectator woulcl unhesitatingly pronounce both to be monuments of the selfsame era . It is to numismatics that Ave owe Mr . Lindsay ' s book , and to Mr . Lindsay ' s book the only reliable history of the Parthian
empire . We must come to a later era , and a subject nearer home . Several Avorks have been recently published on the coinage of our OAvn land , and much attention has been paid to the oft-disputed question , whether the Britons had a coinage previous to the coming of Caesar : this seems now to have been settled by Mr . HaAvkins in the affirmative ; a decisionthe correctness of
, which has been confirmed by many discoveries since it was made . The facts upon Avhich that distinguished numismatist proceeds , are , that coins of a barbarous fabric , of gold , silver , copper , ancl tin , bearing no resemblance to any productions of the Roman mint , are constantly found in various parts of the island , and that such coins arefor the most partrude imitations of
Ma-, , cedonian types . From this he argues , that such Greek models Avere probably introduced by the Phoenicians in their visits to this country , and that Avhen the British artists became acquainted AA'ith Roman types , they modified their own , and at the same time improved their workmanship . The ReA . Beale
Post has deA r oted himself to the investigation of these British coins , and has thrown much light on the history of this country , before and about the time of Caesar ' s invasion . Many of them bear the Avord , TASC , TAS , TASCIO ; ancl much ingenuity Avas expended to find out its meaning . Of old , it was considered that it signified tribute , and Avas a sort of ancient British version
of TAX ; SO that Avas Avittily observed—" Taxes were the objects for Avhich money Avas struck , and men preserved it only that they might pay taxes . " However , all Avho read Shakspeare , must feel interested , Avhether they will or not , in Cymbeline , in Guiderius Arviragus , and all the heroes of his time and land . And numismatologists , at least a feAV of them , fancied that they
hacl found out something of the old British king ; at least , that they had discovered his father ' s name . A coin Avas observed Avith the inscription or legend CUNOBELINUS , TASCIO VANI . F . R ., Avhich Mr . Birch , with more cleverness than accuracy , at once rendered , Cunobelinus the king , the son of Tasciovanus . But , alas for the conjecture , if Tasciovanus AA ^ ere indeed the name of a prince , he must have had a large family , for Ave find his
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Antiquaries And Antiquities.
tures of Nineveh—the hair and the beard arrayed precisely in the same singular Avay ; and were it not that the Greek characters on the Parthian coins point to an age considerably posterior to Alexander , Avhilst the arroAv-headed characters ontheNinevite remains prove their remote antiquity , the spectator woulcl unhesitatingly pronounce both to be monuments of the selfsame era . It is to numismatics that Ave owe Mr . Lindsay ' s book , and to Mr . Lindsay ' s book the only reliable history of the Parthian
empire . We must come to a later era , and a subject nearer home . Several Avorks have been recently published on the coinage of our OAvn land , and much attention has been paid to the oft-disputed question , whether the Britons had a coinage previous to the coming of Caesar : this seems now to have been settled by Mr . HaAvkins in the affirmative ; a decisionthe correctness of
, which has been confirmed by many discoveries since it was made . The facts upon Avhich that distinguished numismatist proceeds , are , that coins of a barbarous fabric , of gold , silver , copper , ancl tin , bearing no resemblance to any productions of the Roman mint , are constantly found in various parts of the island , and that such coins arefor the most partrude imitations of
Ma-, , cedonian types . From this he argues , that such Greek models Avere probably introduced by the Phoenicians in their visits to this country , and that Avhen the British artists became acquainted AA'ith Roman types , they modified their own , and at the same time improved their workmanship . The ReA . Beale
Post has deA r oted himself to the investigation of these British coins , and has thrown much light on the history of this country , before and about the time of Caesar ' s invasion . Many of them bear the Avord , TASC , TAS , TASCIO ; ancl much ingenuity Avas expended to find out its meaning . Of old , it was considered that it signified tribute , and Avas a sort of ancient British version
of TAX ; SO that Avas Avittily observed—" Taxes were the objects for Avhich money Avas struck , and men preserved it only that they might pay taxes . " However , all Avho read Shakspeare , must feel interested , Avhether they will or not , in Cymbeline , in Guiderius Arviragus , and all the heroes of his time and land . And numismatologists , at least a feAV of them , fancied that they
hacl found out something of the old British king ; at least , that they had discovered his father ' s name . A coin Avas observed Avith the inscription or legend CUNOBELINUS , TASCIO VANI . F . R ., Avhich Mr . Birch , with more cleverness than accuracy , at once rendered , Cunobelinus the king , the son of Tasciovanus . But , alas for the conjecture , if Tasciovanus AA ^ ere indeed the name of a prince , he must have had a large family , for Ave find his