[HN Gopher] The first currency in history: Kingdom of Lydia mint...
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       The first currency in history: Kingdom of Lydia minted gold, silver
       coins
        
       Author : Bluestein
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2024-07-20 20:06 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.egypttoday.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.egypttoday.com)
        
       | sparrish wrote:
       | 600BC... wow. Beautiful coins and still hold worth today.
       | 
       | And the first geeky numismatist showed up in 599BC looking for
       | one in mint condition, uncirculated, of course.
        
       | diggan wrote:
       | What a coinkidink, I just finished watching episode 2 of
       | "Connections" with James Burke which mentions this in the
       | beginning of the episode, when talking about the invention of
       | currency. The article from Egypt Today doesn't seem to mention
       | the discovery of touchstone (which the episode does), which
       | seemed like an important detail of "why gold?".
       | 
       | Seems it's available on the Internet Archive too:
       | https://archive.org/details/james-burke-connections_s01e02
        
         | ynac wrote:
         | "The Day the Universe Changed" is another James Burke
         | contribution to both story telling and historical relationships
         | almost never told elsewhere.
        
         | Bluestein wrote:
         | Well, here's to the "Burkites" then, whole reason for the post
         | :) (Was also watching ...)
        
       | kragen wrote:
       | of course this wasn't the first currency; currencies had been in
       | use for millennia at that point. it was the first coinage of the
       | metals they were already using as currencies
        
         | nickbauman wrote:
         | Coins (specie that had a direct connection to a ruler, usually
         | with the name or visage of the ruler struck on them) were
         | invented to facilitate war. They were given to soldiers to
         | allow them to participate in the economy of the conquered.
         | Since the free peasantry wouldn't trade with them (unreliable:
         | they "died for a living"). The ruler demanded to be paid taxes
         | in his own coin. This solved several important problems:
         | reduction of military unrest against the ruler, free peasantry
         | became a reliable source of goods and services to the military,
         | and the ruler could make war as needed. A market economy
         | emerged as a side effect.
        
       | coldtea wrote:
       | > _The oldest coins on the planet are believed to date to
       | approximately the second half of the seventh century BC during
       | the reign of King Alyattes who was in power in Lydia from 619 to
       | 560 BC._
       | 
       | This was nowhere near the first currency. Not even the first
       | coins...
        
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       (page generated 2024-07-20 23:04 UTC)