Historical studies

deterioration in fineness, which proceeded at varying
rates through this period, was associated with a
diminution in size and weight : the first coins are
about I inch in diameter and weigh on an average
about 180 grains—the last about | inch and 90
grains. No other silver, or nominal silver, was struck ,
at Alexandria, except for an issue of didrachms
under Claudius, which are extremely rare : and no
external silver coinage circulated in the country.
A certain amount of Roman gold was brought in, but
was probably used mainly by the Roman officials
there is no trace of its occurrence in the records
of ordinary commercial transactions. Bronze coins
of lower denominations than the tetradrachm were
issued regularly till about 1 80 A.D. : after that date
the depreciation of the tetradrachm appears to have
caused the abandonment of a bronze currency. In
consequence of the importance of the tetradrachm,
it was the coin usually hoarded in Egypt : it is rare
to find large hoards of bronze, or any considerable
admixture of bronze with tetradrachms. And, as the
tetradrachms were always dated, bearing the regnal
year of the emperor under whom they were issued,
these hoards shew, not only the approximate date
when they were formed, but also what length of time
coins remained in circulation.
59. The Hoards. The following brief description
of the hoards included in the tables, will serve at the
same time to indicate certain points which affect their
value for statistical purposes.
Hoards i, ii, and iv were found in the Fayum by
Messrs. Hogarth, Grenfell, and Hunt in 1895-6—the
two first at Umm-el-Atl, the other at Kom Ushim.
I contributed an account of the coins to the volume
on Fayiim Towns published by the Graeco-Roman
Branch of the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1900 (see
pp. 64 ff.). These three hoards are the only ones
of which I can say with certainty that they reached
me just as they were found, without any loss or
addition.
Hoards iii, v, vi, vii, and viii were obtained by
Messrs. Currelly and Frost at Tell-el-Maskhuta in
1905. These five are probably " uncontaminated " :
they were purchased from the native finders, without
the intervention of any dealers, and there was
every appearance, in the condition of the coins, that
those in each lot had been found together. It is
possible that any one of the lots may only be a
part of an original hoard, since, if a discovery of
coins were made, and more than one man was
aware of it, the find would probably be divided ; but
:
HOARDS OF COINS 31
the division would take the form of a haphazard
separation of the whole into shares without any
selection of individual coins, so that the ratio of the
numbers of coins belonging to different years would
not be seriously affected in the respective parts as
compared with the entire hoard.
Hoard xiv I purchased in Cairo from an Arab
dealer : it was originally in two lots. I described
this hoard in the Archiv fiir Papyrusforscku?tg, ii,
p. 529, where my reasons for treating the two lots
together may be found. So far as I could judge,
this hoard was practically " uncontaminated."
The remaining six hoards have come to me
through Signor Dattari of Cairo ; and, as they have
passed through several hands, and have lost most
of their history, I cannot feel at all certain how far
the coins which reached me represent what were
originally found. In no case, except that of hoard
X, was there any internal evidence of confusion : the
coins were, in each instance, in generally similar
conditions of preservation, and ran in fairly even
distribution ; but, as the former holders of the
hoards may have chosen out some specimens of the
rarer types, such diminution of the numbers by
selection would decrease the value of the results
derived from them for statistical purposes. Hoard x
appeared to have been made up from two distinct
lots : the coins of the first and second centuries in
it may have belonged to one lot, and in fact, when
they reached me, there were many instances in
which coins ranging from Claudius to Commodus
were corroded together ; but I did not find any
third-century coins united to any of an earlier date.
In spite of this possibility of " contamination," the
total number of coins of each year found is of con-
siderable interest, as shewing the relative sizes of
the issues in different years ; though the comparison
can only be made, with any degree of fairness,
between neighbouring years which are covered by
an equal number of hoards.
60. Variations in Minting. I had hoped that it
would be possible to carry the comparison further,
and, by determining the rate of wastage, to construct
a table shewing the original proportion of the coinage
belonging to each year. But, after a careful examina-
tion of the statistics with Professor Petrie, I conclude
that the present evidence is insufficient for this purpose,
though some approximate results may be obtained.
The chief difficulties are set forth in the following
paragraphs.
It is fairly clear that, during the first two centuries