The Vault of History

---

I love this coin, too! It's so old, it's also not even round-shaped! This is called proto-money, because it is a very early example of money. The people from this region loved the sea and dolphins. They love them so much that they made their money in the shape of a dolphin! Do you want to know more? Click here.

This silver Roman coin, called a Denarius, is from the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE). He was known as a great emperor and he presided over the second largest expansion the empire ever had. He is also known for having Trajan's Column built, which tells the story of Rome's victory in the Dacian Wars. I have a Dacian warrior in the "History's Warriors" exhibit . Check it out!

This bronze coin is from Egypt and it dates back to 283-246 BCE! Ptolemy II was the son of Ptolemy, who was one of Alexander the Great's best generals. Ptolemy took over Egypt when Alexander died. The coin was minted in Alexandria and it depicts Zeus on one side and an eagle on the other.

This silver coin dates back to 238-250 CE. You can see the Greek influence on the coin because they put their leader's face on it. This is a great example of the influence of Alexander the Great and how he spread Greek culture all over the region!

This is a coin from Alexander the Great's Empire. He was one of the greatest military leaders in the history of the world. His empire spread from the Mediterranean Sea to India. Alexander was known for blending Greek culture with the cultures of the places he conquered. Also, he built cities everywhere he went and usually named them Alexandria! He built more than 50 cities named Alexandria! The most famous is in Egypt.

This coin is from the Han Dynasty in China and was minted sometime from 118 BCE- 200 CE. The Han Dynasty is known its long reign and its achievements, which included the development of the civil service and government structure; scientific advancements such as the invention of paper, use of water clocks and sundials to measure time, and development of a seismograph. These coins had a hole in the middle so they could be carried on a string!

This is my favorite coin in the collection because of who the leader of China was when the coin was minted. The leader was Shi Huangdi (or Qin Shi Huang) and he was the first emperor of a unified China. He was the first and only Qin (pronounced Chin) Emperor. He was so influential, China was named after him. He is the most famous leader in the history of China!

If you like old coins, this one is for you, because there literally aren't any coins older than this one! The first coins made by man were made in an area in Anatolia called Lydia. This is one of them. It has an image of a lion on one side and a punch mark on the other. This is pretty darned cool! Do you want to know more? Click here.

I like this coin because it is the first coin to ever depict people voting! It shows someone dropping a ballot into a ballot box. It also shows the narrow bridge that people walked on in order to vote. The narrow bridge made it impossible for voters to be intimidated by men standing by the ballot box. Only one voter at a time could fit on the bridge! It's pretty cool that ancient Rome fought against voter intimidation! Do you want to know more? Click here.

Over the years, Rome put less and less silver in their cons. This made their coins worth less and less. The cons variety in purity over the years from almost pure silver to almost no silver toward the end of the empire. This inflation sent prices of goods through the roof. This lack of money led to the decline of the Roman Empire. Do you want to know more? Click here.

Did you know that before coins existed, the people of Rome just used hunks of metals, such as bronze, to buy things? Vendors would weigh out the precious metals and they would be traded for goods. The advent of coinage made payment easier because people could have a variety of coins to pay for things, whether they were cheap or expensive. Do you want to know more about the evolution of Roman money? Click here.

This unique-looking coin is from ancient India. It was made in the Mauryan Empire approximately 300 years before Jesus graced our presence. These coins were punch-marked according to their weight. This made weighing them unnecessary. That's a pretty good idea! Do you want to know more? Click here.