The Invention of Coinage and the Monetization of Ancient Greece, 2003, 240 p., 13 photos. -

Coinage appeared at a moment when it fulfilled an essential need in Greek society and brought with it rationalization and social leveling in some respects, while simultaneously producing new illusions, paradoxes, and new elites. The author addresses a range of important coinage topics, among them money, exchange, and economic organization in the Near East and in Greece before the introducing of coinage; the invention of coinage and the reasons for its adoption; and the developing use of money to make more money.