It was probably almost twenty years ago that Philip Grierson turned my thoughts to the problems involved in the first appearance of coined metal. Since then his pen has been responsible for many important papers in various numismatic fields; but for the ancient historian the publication of his Creighton Lecture deserves particular attention. It brings together many different strands of evidence to concentrate on the origins of money, reminding us that history is in the first instance about people, a fact which is rarely evident in numismatic studies. In that lecture the question of the origin of coinage had to be passed over in favour of the broader, more basic problems of money itself; and I would like to take the opportunity offered by this volume of essays to explore this subject further, in deep admiration of Philip Grierson's contributions to many spheres of numismatic study.

The broad picture of the development of the first coinage is well attested, although evidence for accurate chronology is still lacking. The earliest context in which coins have been found is in the foundations of the archaic temple of Artemis at Ephesus, finally constructed, after three earlier ‘phases’, during the reign of Croesus of Lydia, 560–546/5 BC. The first structure built on the site consisted of two rectangular bases linked by a cross wall, and it is one of these, filled with votive offerings, which provides the earliest context for coins.