Color versions of select print images available on the Resources tab (or here: www.cambridge.org/heymans). This book shows how money emerged and spread in the eastern Mediterranean, centuries before the invention of coinage. While the invention of coinage in Ancient Lydia around 630 BCE is widely regarded as one of the defining innovations of the ancient world, money itself was never invented. It gained critical weight in the Iron Age (ca. 1200 – 600 BCE) as a social and economic tool, most dominantly in the form of precious metal bullion. This book is the first study to comprehensively engage with the early history of money in the Iron Age Mediterranean, tracing its development in the Levant and the Aegean. Building on a detailed study of precious metal hoards, Elon D. Heymans deploys a wide range of sources, both textual and material, to rethink money's role and origins in the history of the eastern Mediterranean.
- Provides a detailed reconstruction of the emergence and development of money before coinage in the Iron Age eastern Mediterranean
- Provides in depth data and interpretation on Iron Age use of precious metal as money
- Contextualizes the use and significance of early money in both the Levant and the Aegean
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Reviews & endorsements
'… [a] well-written volume … This work provides scholarship with a praiseworthy example of how interdisciplinary studies that include textual and material studies, and also reaching across the divide between ancient history (classics) and ancient Near Eastern studies, opens up important data sets and conversation partners for new insight.' Peter Altmann, Review of Biblical Literature
'… a dense and extremely successful study that will not only enrich research on the Iron Age Levant coast, but should also provide important impulses for our understanding of pre-modern money.' Marc Philipp Wahl, H-Soz-Kult
'… a valuable contribution to the study of the development of money in the eastern Mediterranean.' Brian P. Muhs, Journal of Near Eastern Studies
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Product details
- Date Published: August 2021
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9781108838580
- length: 348 pages
- dimensions: 261 x 182 x 21 mm
- weight: 0.89kg
- availability: In stock
Table of Contents
1. Rethinking the origins of money
2. Outline of an approach to money
3. A study of Iron Age precious metal hoards
4. Money in the Iron Age Southern Levant
5. Money in the Iron Age Aegean
6. Conclusion
Appendix.
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Author
Elon D. Heymans
Elon D. Heymans is a scholar of the archaeology and history of both the Greek world and the Levant. His main focus lies on the social, political and historical context of early money use.

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The Origins of Money in the Iron Age Mediterranean World

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