Siglos of Croesus of Lydia, Sardis c. 6th century

Curator: At the Harvard Art Museums, we have an artifact called "Siglos of Croesus of Lydia, Sardis." It's a coin, really, only 5.34 grams. Editor: It has this weighty presence, even though it's so small. You can almost feel the economic power of the Lydian kingdom concentrated in this tiny object. Curator: Precisely! These coins standardized currency, allowing for complex trade networks and wage labor. It shifted economic power from bartering to…well, Croesus. Editor: There's something so raw about the way those animals are stamped on there, like a brand. It speaks to the state's ownership and the labor it represents. Like, this is yours now, but it's really ours. Curator: An interesting observation. The imagery of the lion and bull is thought to be symbolic of royal power. Editor: Right, a symbol, but pressed into being by real hands, by laborers. It's a weird tension, that the state, as an abstraction, depended on physical processes. Curator: Absolutely. Examining the means of its production gives us insights into the very real mechanisms of ancient economic systems. Editor: Yeah, and I think it makes you think about the hands that handled it, the wealth it bought and sold. You know? I'm really seeing something else here.