Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/686

628 N U M N U M peace for more than four centuries, until the invasion of the Vandals in 428 A.D. reduced it to a condition of gradual decay ; and the invasion of the Arabs in the 8th century again brought desolation upon the land, which was aggravated by continual misgovernment until the conquest of Algeria by the French within the present century. The physical character of the country has been already described in the article ALGERIA. It may be briefly observed that the whole tract of northern Africa from the river Mulucha to the frontiers of the regency of Tunis may be divided into three parallel zones or regions : the Tell, or fertile district near the sea, the broad inland plateaus beyond it, and the Sahara, or barren region to the south of these uplands, sloping thence down to the great desert which is generally known by that name. The central upland tract assumes a more rugged and moun tainous character in the eastern district, which formed the Roman province of Numidia, and now constitutes the French province of Constantino. But this elevated region breaks down abruptly towards the east, where it sends out only a few offshoots into the plains of Tunis, as well as to the south where it faces the wide expanse of the Sahara. It is here that is situated the mountain group called the Aures (the Mons Aurasius of Procopius), of which the highest summit, called by the Arabs Jebel Chellia, attains to an elevation of 7580 feet. The name of the Numidians appears to have b.een nothing more than a Latinized form of the Greek term Nomades, vaguely applied by them to the wandering tribes of northern Africa. It could never have had any ethnographical signification ; and there can be no doubt that the people thus designated were merely a portion of the great Berber race, which extended in ancient times from the shores of the Atlantic to the confines of Egypt, and which still, under the name of Kabyles, forms a por tion of the population of both Algeria and Tunis. The Gaetulians, who at the same period occupied the southern slopes of the mountains towards the Sahara, appear to have stood in much the same relation to the Numidians that the tribes called Tuaricks or Tuareg do at the present day to the comparatively civilized Kabyles of Algeria. But the Roman authority over these wanderers of the desert was of a very precarious character, and a line of outposts near the foot of the mountain range formed the limit of their practical dominion towards the south. The chief towns of Numidia under the Romans were : Cirta, the capital, in the interior, subsequently called Constantina, which name it still retains ; Rusicada, on the coast, serving as its port, on the site now occupied by Philippeville ; and east of it the more important city of Hippo Regius (well known as the see of the celebrated Augustine), near the modern Bona. South of Cirta, in the interior, were Theveste (now Tebessa) and Lambaesa (now Lambessa), with extensive Roman remains. But there were not less than ten towns with the title of "coloniae," and in the 5th century the Notitia enumerates no less than 123 episcopal sees. For details concerning the condition of Xumidia as a Roman province, see Corp. Inscr. Lat., vol. viii. (1881). A more popular account will be found in the Algerie Romainc of G. Boissiere (2 vols 8vo, Paris, 1883). (E. H. B.) Defini- rTlHE science of numismatics treats of coins and medals, tion. I It acquaints us with the metals used in their com position, their various inscriptions and devices, their mechanical execution and artistic merit. It tells us of the different denominations of coins, their relation to one another, and the laws by which they were regulated. The earliest known coins were issued by the Greeks in the 7th century before the Christian era. By the 4th century the whole civilized world used money, each state generally having its proper coinage. This has continued to be the case to the present time ; so that now there are few nations without a metal currency of their own, and of these but a small proportion are wholly unacquainted with the use of coins. The number of varieties of coins and medals of which specimens are preserved in collec tions may be estimated at not less than several hundred thousand ; and future discoveries will probably greatly in crease this sum. A series of monuments of such length and completeness affords, as might be expected, very import ant illustration to history and to kindred branches of knowledge. This is, indeed, the real value of numismatics, and the student will do well to keep it constantly before him. Ho-w Coins, although they confirm history, rarely correct it, it ill us- anc [ ne ver very greatly. The earliest belong to a time and ?j a , es to nations as to which we are not otherwise wholly ignorant, and they do not afford us that precise information which would fill in any important details of the meagre sketch of contemporary history. We gain from them scarcely any direct historical information, except that certain cities or princes issued money. When in later times the devices and inscriptions of the coins give more detailed information, history is far fuller and clearer, so that the numismatic evidence is rarely more than corroborative. There are, indeed, some remarkable exceptions to this rule, as in the case of the Bactrian coins, which have supplied the outlines of a portion of history which was otherwise almost wholly lost. The value of the corroborative evidence afforded by coins must not, however, be overlooked. It chiefly relates to chronology, although it also adds to our knowledge of the pedigrees of royal houses. But perhaps the most interesting manner in which coins and medals illustrate history is in their bearing contemporary, or nearly con temporary, portraits of the most famous kings and captains, from the time of the first successors of Alexander the Great to the present age, whereas pictures do not afford portraits in any number before the latter part of the Middle Ages ; and works of sculpture, although occupying in this respect the same place as coins in the last-mentioned period and under the Roman empire, are neither so numerous nor so authentic. There is no more delightful companion in historical reading than a cabinet of coins and medals. The strength and energy of Alexander, the ferocity of Mithradates, the philosophic calmness of Antoninus, the obstinate ferocity of Nero, and the brutality of Caracalla are as plain on the coins as in the pages of history. The numismatic portraits of the time following the founding of Constantinople have less individuality ; but after the revival of art they recover that quality, and maintain it to our own day, although executed in very different styles from those of antiquity. From this last class we can form a series of portraits more complete and not less interesting than that of the ancient period. While coins and medals thus illustrate the events ofMytho- history, they have an equally direct bearing on the belief lo sy- of the nations by which they were issued ; and in this reference lies no small part of their value in connexion with history. The mythology of the Greeks, not having been fixed in sacred writings, nor regulated by a dominant priesthood, but having grown out of the different beliefs