Posted 12/19/2006 08:07 am
Nice bunch of ancients you've got there, echizento. 
Now, for Josie's question. There are several possible answers:
1. References to "gods" appear on some of the earliest coins; many if not most of the "archaic period" (pre 500 BC) coins feature portraits of the local deity. Normally, if a city had a prominent temple to a particular god, that god featured on the coinage - a simple way of saying "this god is our patron and protector". Inscriptions on the coins explicitly saying this first appear on early Roman Imperial issues, eg. "IOVI CONSERVATORI" (Jupiter our protector).
2. References to the Judeo-Christian God appear later. The ancient Jews considered the tetragrammaton name YHWH too holy to even pronounce, let alone place on coins which gentiles might touch, so ancient Jewish coins don't have such a motto - they usually say "Jerusalem the Holy" or some such. Christian symbolism began to appear on coins once "Christian governments" appeared on the scene in the 300's; Axum (ancient Ethiopia) was first, followed by Rome. Still, the name of God/Christ didn't make an appearance until well into the Byzantine period. In the Middle ages, of course, Christian symbols and mottos proliferated on many European coinages. These were usually in Latin.
3. The coins you're probably thinking of are some early Swedish coins with the tetragrammaton YHWH, in Hebrew, appearing on them. I'm not sure when they started; they were still making them when Krause kicks in, in 1601, though they stopped shortly afterwards.
4. The first reference to God in the English language on coins was on the Cromwell Commonwealth coins of the English Civil War period (1649-1656): "GOD WITH VS". The specific form "In God We Trust" is uniquely American in origin.
Now, for Josie's question. There are several possible answers:
1. References to "gods" appear on some of the earliest coins; many if not most of the "archaic period" (pre 500 BC) coins feature portraits of the local deity. Normally, if a city had a prominent temple to a particular god, that god featured on the coinage - a simple way of saying "this god is our patron and protector". Inscriptions on the coins explicitly saying this first appear on early Roman Imperial issues, eg. "IOVI CONSERVATORI" (Jupiter our protector).
2. References to the Judeo-Christian God appear later. The ancient Jews considered the tetragrammaton name YHWH too holy to even pronounce, let alone place on coins which gentiles might touch, so ancient Jewish coins don't have such a motto - they usually say "Jerusalem the Holy" or some such. Christian symbolism began to appear on coins once "Christian governments" appeared on the scene in the 300's; Axum (ancient Ethiopia) was first, followed by Rome. Still, the name of God/Christ didn't make an appearance until well into the Byzantine period. In the Middle ages, of course, Christian symbols and mottos proliferated on many European coinages. These were usually in Latin.
3. The coins you're probably thinking of are some early Swedish coins with the tetragrammaton YHWH, in Hebrew, appearing on them. I'm not sure when they started; they were still making them when Krause kicks in, in 1601, though they stopped shortly afterwards.
4. The first reference to God in the English language on coins was on the Cromwell Commonwealth coins of the English Civil War period (1649-1656): "GOD WITH VS". The specific form "In God We Trust" is uniquely American in origin.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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