The Invention of Coins

Abstract

Early forms of money included agricultural commodities and metals, such as silver bullion and barley in Mesopotamia or gold, silver, and bronze in Egypt. The fungibility of metals made them particularly useful. Aristotle provides one view of how barter gave way to coined money, but this question remains contentious. The first coins appeared in Lydia near the end of the seventh century BC, but the spread of this monetary revolution owed much to the neighboring Greeks. Mints in many Greek poleis issued coins that not only served economic needs, but also functioned as state-sponsored advertising, art, and propaganda. The Romans and others followed suit, while independent coinage traditions emerged in China and India.