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Croesus: Coins with 2,500 years, originating from the Kingdom of Lydia (now Western Türkiye), introduced the gold standard and are described as the origin of our monetary system.
The world’s first gold coin was created in the mid AC Century Ac.
Known as Croesus or croeseidcurrency represents a fundamental turning point in the history of financial systems: the invention of the gold standard.
Croesus ruled the kingdom of Lydia, the western half of what the Türkiye is today, 560 a 546 a.C..
Already a rich man thanks to his control over precious metal deposits in the Pactus River (currently known as Sart Stream) Croesus expanded his power by establishing diplomatic ties and trade relations with Egypt, Greece and Babylon.
As explained by, this trade was facilitated by the invention of coins – Small circular pieces of precious metal – which were first issued by Croesus’s father, Alyattes, by Volta of 650 BC.
At that time, Alyattes already manufactured coins of electrum – A natural league of gold and silver that often contains pieces of other metals. These coins were standardized based on weight. However, as the proportion of gold and silver in the electrum varied, the value of the coins was unpredictable.
Croesus solved the problem and gave birth to a monetary system
Croesus created workshops in Sardes, the capital of Lydia, to refine gold and silver from the Electrum.
These first coins were approximately the size of a ten -centhhood coin and were standardized in 10.7 grams (about a third of a jaguar).
Croesus created a constant exchange rate between gold and silverwhat made this the First monetary system of two metals in the world and the oldest gold standard.
The gold and silver croeseides had the same drawing. At the front, they had a lion or a bull. On the back of the coin, two squares were hammered in the gold and one silver coins. Shortly after Croesus invented the modern currency, The idea was adopted around the ancient world.
As Live Science recalls, although Croesus lost the Kingdom of Lydia to Persia during the siege of Sardis in 546 BC, his name and reputation of rich man endures in the phrase “as rich as Croesus.”
