ABSTRACT

T h e European tradition in monetary matters was cradled in Greece. In the main, it was independent of Asiatic policy, and in many important respects is contrasted with it. In order to discuss within a reasonable compass of words the policy of a number of cities over a period of 500 years, broad generalization is inevitable. This will best take the form of discussions of the more important respects in which Europe and Asia differed, and an attempt to discover the motives behind the action of the Greeks on each occasion. In order that policy may be seen as a whole, it will be necessary to divide the period. The most suitable division is a threefold one-the first period, to the later part of the 6th century, covering the awakening of the Greek peoples; the second, dominated by Athens, covering the 5th century and the first half of the 4th; and the third, the period of the decline, cover­ ing subsequent centuries to the loss of Greek independence.