ATHENS AND OTHER GREEK POLEIS

Writing in fourth-century Athens, Aristotle had two explanations for the origins of coined money (nomisma). In the Politics he points to the intrinsic value of metals, and their use as coins in trade among people with no social or political connection (Pol. 1257a 31–8, quoted on p. 1). In the Ethics, by contrast, he suggests that coinage had its origin and principal function within communities. By convention (nomos), citizens had given value to legal tokens (nomismata) in order to achieve justice in exchange. These tokens compensated those who provided services to another citizen at precisely the value of the benefit produced for the exchanging partner. They thus provided the possibility of compensating each citizen for the different use value of their products: