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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2260685, member: 19463&quot;]I don&#039;t see the practice as a substitute for a coin purse but for carrying one or two coins for a purpose like paying the miller in this example.&nbsp; I thought there was another reference where the bumpkin was ridiculed for being so afraid of being robbed that he never made it to market without swallowing his coins making it necessary to postpone shopping for a few days until they passed.&nbsp;&nbsp; The practice certainly would not survive the end of tiny silvers.&nbsp; It would work much better for obols than for drachms.&nbsp; The matter of Charon&#039;s obol is completely unrelated and has no place here. </p><p><br /></p><p>I strongly disagree with the opinion that things should be discounted because they were said in comedies.&nbsp; Evidence of culture are much more likely to be recorded when making fun than in serious works.&nbsp; You will not find a Greek text on the history of the coin purse.&nbsp; The fact that Aristophanes felt no need to explain how one might swallow an obol is good evidence that people would understand having coins in the mouth.&nbsp;&nbsp; Nothing will ever be proven.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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