It’s a far cry from the social and political upheaval caused by the introduction of the first coins more than 2,500 years ago, said Tom Figueira, professor of Classics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “Mental changes with the introduction of coins were profound,” Figueira said, “It was a whole new way of thinking about value.” The world’s first coins appeared around 600 B.C, in the pockets of Lydians which was a kingdom tied to ancient Greece and located in modern-day Turkey. They featured the stylized head of a lion and were made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver. Meanwhile, the concept of money had been around for a while: Shells were often used as currency in ancient China and more than 5,000 years ago, Mesopotamians were far ahead in terms of finance, because they had developed a banking system where people could deposit grains, and other valuables. So, Lydians kept spreading their word throughout other kingdoms, and the coins crossed the Mediterannean sea decades later and in the 6th century, Athens in Greece, Aegina, Corinth and Persians had developed their own coins. They aimed at expanding their trade networks and increasing uniformity. In manufacturing coins, gold and silver replaced the electrum, according to Live Science.
