NOMI´SMATOS DIA´PHORAS GRAPHE
NOMI´SMATOS DIA´PHORAS GRAPHE (
νομἰσματος διαφορᾶς γραφή) is the name of the
public action which might, at Athens, be brought against anyone who coined
money either too light in weight or not consisting of the pure metal
prescribed by the law. The lawful punishment inflicted upon a person in case
he was convicted was death. (Demosth.
c. Lept. p. 508.67;
c. Timocrat. p. 765.212.) What action might be brought
against those who coined money without the sanction of the republic, and how
such persons were punished, is not known (
Att. Process, ed.
Nipsius, p. 437). Xenophon (
de Vect. 3.2) remarks that the
Athenian silver coins were actually worth their nominal value.
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