The Invention of Coinage: How Money Was Born

The Lydian stater around 600 BC was the first true coin, stamped with a guarantee of weight and purity. Before coins, people used barter, cattle, and weighted metal ingots.

The idea spread rapidly to Greece, Persia, and beyond. Within 200 years, coins were minted from Spain to India.

Coinage revolutionized trade, taxation, and warfare, creating the economic foundations of civilization as we know it..