Coins Tell Stories of Long Ago
THEY DIDN’T HAVE the internet back then. Or TV, radio, or newspapers.
Most of us who lived in “civilization” never went anywhere. We went to our job, then we went home. If we wanted to go anywhere, we walked. Some of us, women, slaves, might never leave home, never go to town, never see anyone other than family, or the boss and his family.
Out beyond “civilization” was “the wilderness.” If we lived out there we moved around, because we were nomads, but we hung out with the same people all of our lives.
There were two main ways of meeting new people: trade fairs and wars.
Almost none of us could read.
If there was any kind of news at all it was just stories passed around, at the speed of a walk.
Or coins. If there were new coins at the trade fair you’d know that there was a new king on the throne. Maybe the coins would tell us something about the new regime, even if we couldn’t read. Full weight silver coin tells us something. A copper coin with a silver wash tells us something else; Or the type, back in ancient times. Those Scythian coins with the king on a horse brandishing a whip tells us something crucial
