c. 600 BCEReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented
The Invention of Coinage
On the timeline · around c. 600 BCE · The Age of Coins
What happened
For most of history people traded by barter or with commodity money — cattle, grain, or weighed pieces of metal. Then, around 600 BCE, the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor struck the world's first true coins: standardized lumps of electrum, a natural gold-silver alloy, stamped by the state to guarantee their weight and value.
Why it matters
Coinage was a revolution. Portable, durable, and trusted, coins made trade vastly easier and spread rapidly through the Greek world and beyond — the ancestor of all the money that followed.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Coinage · Reputable source
- World History Encyclopedia. Lydia · Reputable source
Related timelines
- Ancient Greece → — Coinage spread rapidly through the Greek world