The Divergent Evolution of Coinage in Eastern and Western Eurasia

Abstract

Coinage was independently created on no more than two occasions in history — in the Graeco-Lydian Aegean perhaps as early as the late 7th century BC, and in the Great Plain of China around two centuries later — and has consequently followed two distinct trajectories. A so-called ‘Aegean’ type of coinage was characterized by solid, round (albeit occasionally rectangular or oblong) objects endowed with varied visual imagery and manufactured from a number of different metals, most notably — in terms of aggregate value — gold and silver. Chinese coins, on the other hand, were cast rather than struck, equipped with a (usually square) hole in the centre, lacked visual imagery beyond a few letters, and were not normally minted from precious metals: they consisted primarily of bronze (and sometimes iron), whereas gold and silver money circulated in the forms of ingots. This chapter presents a brief survey of divergent monetary development at the opposing ends of the Eurasian land mass, followed by some preliminary observations on the probable causes of this process that focus on the historically specific circumstances of the creation of these two types of currency.

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