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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1714602, member: 19463&quot;]I realize that many do not accept the evidence of Aristophanes regarding carrying small coins in the mouth but I will point out that comic plays are probably a great deal more likely to carry such evidence than histories.&nbsp; I believe there are two places where the practice is at least alluded to.&nbsp; One is in the Birds where a character is so amazed when he sees a beautiful bird fly over that he opens his mouth looking up in awe and loses the money he had planned to use to pay the miller for grinding his flour.&nbsp; The other escapes me now but I recall the gist of the story was that a character was so afraid that he would be robbed that he swallowed his money when he heard a loud noise.&nbsp; I want to say it was Frogs but it has been a long time since I ready these things so that is probably no more than a stab in the dark.</p><p><br /></p><p>When I was a kid and silver coins really were silver we used to joke about old timers biting coins to see if they were genuine.&nbsp; Lead would bite worse than silver but less than gold.&nbsp; By the time I was born, no one was biting gold except in old comedy cowboy movies.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #333333"><font face="verdana">EUELPIDES</font></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333"><font face="verdana">By Zeus! &#039;tis what I did myself one day on seeing a kite; butat the moment I was on my knees, and leaning backwards[1] with mouth agape, I bolted an obolus and was forced to carry my bag home empty. [2]</font></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333"><font face="verdana"><br /></font></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333"><font face="verdana">f[1] To look at the kite, who no doubt was flying high in the sky. </font></span></p><p><span style="color: #333333"><font face="verdana">f[2] As already shown, the Athenians were addicted to carrying small coins in their mouths. -- This obolus was for the purpose of buying flour to fill the bag he was carrying</font></span>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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