ARGENTUM

( ἄργυρος ), silver. The relative value of gold and silver differed considerably at different periods in Greek and Roman history. Hero dot us mentions it as 13 to 1; Plato, as 12 to 1; Menander, as 10 to 1; and Livy as 10 to 1, about B.C. 189. According to Suet on i us, Julius Caesar, on one occasion, exchanged silver for gold in the proportion of 9 to 1; but the most usual proportion under the early Roman emperors was about 12 to 1. The proportion in modern times, since the discovery of the American mines, has varied between 17 to 1 and 14 to 1. In the earliest times the Greeks obtained their silver chiefly as an article of commerce from the Phocaeans and the Samians; but they soon began to work the rich mines of their own country and its islands. The chief mines were in Siphnos, The aly, and Attica. In the last-named country, the silver mines of Laurion furnished a most abundant supply, and were generally regarded as the chief source of the wealth of Athens. The Romans obtained most of their silver from the very rich mines of Spain, which had been previously worked by the Phoenicians and Cart hag in i ans, and which, though abandoned for those of Mexico, are still not exhausted. By far the most important use of silver among the Greeks was for money. There are sufficient reasons for believing that, until some time after the end of the Peloponnesian war, the A then i ans had no gold currency. [ Aurum . ] It may be remarked that all the words connected with money are derived from ἄργυρος , and not from χρυσός , as καταργυρόω , “to bribe with money;” ἀργυραμοιβός , “a money changer,” .; and ἄργυρος is itself not unfrequently used to signify money in general, as aes is in Latin. At Rome, on the contrary, silver was not coined till B.C. 269, before which period Greek silver was in circulation at Rome; and the principal silver coin of the Romans, the denarius , was borrowed from the Greek drachma . For further details respecting silver money, see Denarius , Drachma . From a very early period, silver was used also in works of art; and the use of it for mere purposes of luxury and ostentation, as in plate, was very general both in Greece and Rome. ARGỸRASPĬDES ( ἀργυράσπιδες ), a division of the Maced on i an army, who were so called because they carried shields covered with silver plates. ARGỸROCŎPEION ( ἀργυροκοπεῖον ), the place where money was coined, the mint, at Athens.