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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 1990806, member: 112&quot;]I&#039;m going to go back to an idea I discussed on this topic quite a few years ago. That being that before the question, what is ancient, can be answered it is first necessary to decide on what and how many primary categories there are. For example, ancient is one, medieval is another, and modern is another. But are there any others ? And if there are, what delineates them ? The answer was that there are only those 3 primary categories, and that everything else is a subcategory of one or the other. </p><p><br /></p><p>But that presupposes that we are only talking about Europe, and leaving Asia out of it. For once you bring in Asia everything changes, especially if you consider India and China, let alone empires and nations east of them. So there is not only a chronological division that must be considered, there is also a geographical (and cultural) division that must be considered. Doing that removes most of the complications and better allows defining the primary categories and when they start and end.</p><p><br /></p><p>So where is the geographical line that divides east from west ? Kind of like this - </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]356310[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Now some might say that this really isn&#039;t necessary, but it is. For if you include Asia Minor in the discussion then where do you draw the line on the east ? There really is no other stopping point for if you include India and China then the idea of ancient and the advent of coinage suddenly gets a whole lot older. Especially when you consider that China even had banknotes as early as 118 B.C.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is what ties in the idea of the reign of Charlemagne, roughly 800 A.D., being the dividing line between ancient and medieval. And the western coinage of roughly 500 A.D. to 800 A.D. being a subcategory of ancient. The reign of Charlemagne was really the beginning of the medieval period and its way of life. For it was that way of life that defined coinage of the period. Everything derived from the Emperor, and on down the line, including monetary authority.</p><p><br /></p><p>That brings us to the medieval category, beginning 800 A.D., and ending in 1643 with the advent of milled coinage in France and thus the beginning of the modern category. With each having their various subcategories.</p><p><br /></p><p>To me this method of dividing the categories, for the west, simply seems to make the most sense. The east of course has its own and different timelines and categories and subcategories.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now do others see this differently ? Of course they do, that&#039;s why it&#039;s been said from the beginning that there are many different answers depending on whom you ask.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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