Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World

sank deep vertical shaft s and extended narrow horizontal galleries in their pursuit not just of precious metals but also of ore ...

cessity for life that public access was guaranteed: A story was told about Lysimachus, a Macedonian general under Alexan- der th ...

they applied with mortar to the surface of brick-faced walls of poured concrete, producing an elegant appearance that mim- icked ...

velopment of extensive mineral mining to the north, in the cultural area of the Chalchihuites in modern Zacatecas and Durango. R ...

Bartering goods seems to have been the beginning of all trade. Merchants would have to carry with them items they thought people ...

side of the coin featured an embossed crocodile, which sym- bolized Egypt, a land she had the hereditary right to rule.. Around ...

inscription. Th ey were struck in gold and silver and were based on the denominations of the Greek drachm, approxi- mately one-e ...

Long before coinage or paper currency was invented, people began trading commodities in standard measure- ments. Th e most commo ...

Coins off ered several advantages over barter. Th ey were easier to move than grain and livestock. Th e state guaranteed the qua ...

ern India was valuing goods on the basis of how many cattle they were worth. Farther east in central Asia, nomads valued goods b ...

Th e coins were 80 percent copper and 20 percent other metals, usually lead. Th ey were punched aft er the manner of Indian coi ...

of metal smelted by metalsmiths. Th e minters had ceramic rectangles with rows of holes in the shape, usually circular, of the c ...

Skilled and specialized work, as in building the temple at Epi- daurus in the fourth century b.c.e., might attract higher pay. C ...

coins were then laid on an anvil that held the obverse die and struck with a hammer by a punch that contained the reverse die. B ...

Th e prevalence of Roman coins throughout the empire suggests that there was a strong degree of popular acceptance for their use ...

bamboo fl utes are little diff erent from modern metal fl utes. In the Americas fl utes were oft en fashioned of cedar and are s ...

For much of the history of the people of Africa, vocal mu- sic has been a universal experience. Such beliefs in the power of mus ...

trums. Hand clappers produced sound with their hands, but they could also use “clappers,” which were a set of boomer- ang-shaped ...

Impressions on clay seals reveal that the harp was known in ancient Persia from about 3000 b.c.e. onward. Th e earliest harps ha ...

modern China. Ancient qin were only about one-third the size of modern ones and were played with open strings. Th e modern form ...