What is depicted on the first coins? How the first coins appeared, what happened before them, and who printed the first bills
Before the first coins appeared, their function was performed by various other objects: shells, grain, livestock, etc. As trade developed, the role of money shifted to metal products: they were highly valued because they were made from precious rocks and came in a variety of shapes and weights.
The ancient Greeks believed that their mythical heroes first invented coins. The Romans believed that the authorship of the creation of the first banknotes belonged to their gods. According to their ideas, it was the god Janus who made the very first coins: on them he minted a ship’s bow in honor of Saturn, the god of time.
The Latin word "coin" can be translated as "warning". The Romans used this epithet to accompany the name of Juno, the goddess of marriage and birth, wife of Jupiter. She repeatedly warned the inhabitants of Rome about impending disasters or enemies. In the vicinity of her temple, craftsmen worked in the production of metal money, which is where the name of the coins came from. The word "mantle" has the same root. It symbolizes the predetermination of human destiny by judicial decisions.
Herodotus' version
Herodotus was an ancient Greek scholar who studied history and lived in the 5th century BC. In his works he stated that the first coins appeared in Lydia. This country was located in Asia Minor. 
Contemporary scientists have clearly established the fact that coins were actually first made here around 685. BC. This happened during the reign of Ardis; The state was engaged in independent coin production. The materials for their production were gold and silver alloys. A sample was stamped on the obverse side of the coin, and on the opposite side was an Assyrian lion, or rather its head.
Monetary history
Many decades later, coins began to be produced in Aegina, Greece. It is believed that in this city banknotes appeared later than in Lydia, but independently and independently of the Malaysian country. The Aeginean coins were silver and had a different shape from the Lydian coins. 
Coins soon appeared throughout Greek territory, and then in Persia. Then they came to the Roman Empire. Indian and chinese coins appeared separately and independently. And only the king of Lydia, whose name was Croesus, adopted the standard - 98 percent precious metals. A royal seal with a coat of arms on the obverse was also installed. These were the heads of a bull and a lion.
Coins have become a convenient item of exchange, so they have gained great popularity
Their shape was very different: round, four- or polygonal, etc. In addition, they were easy to store, they had a fairly small weight and size, and the conditional value remained just as high.
Numismatists believe that the first large coins appeared in Lydia. This was the name of a small ancient state on the western coast of modern Turkey. It arose back in the 7th century BC.
Busy trade routes to Ancient Greece and the countries of the East passed through Lydia. Here, early on, there was a need to simplify trade transactions, which was hindered by heavy ingots. The Lydians figured out how to make the very first coins from electrum, a natural alloy of silver and gold. Pieces of this metal, similar in shape to beans, which they used as bargaining chips, began to be flattened and at the same time put on them the sign of the city.
These coins were called Croesoids, named after the legendary immensely rich Lydian king Croesus, who lived in 595-546 BC, more than two and a half thousand years ago.
A few decades later, coins began to be minted in the Greek city of Aegina. They had a completely different appearance than the Lydian ones, and were minted from silver. Therefore, it can be assumed that in Aegina the coin was invented, although later, but independently. From Lydia and Aegina, coins very quickly spread throughout Greece, in its colonies, in Iran, and then among the Romans and many barbarian tribes.
A little later, round coins appeared in distant China. There for a long time in seven Chinese states bronze money in the form of various items household items: knives, bells, spatulas, swords, hoes. Many of these coins had holes for stringing on a cord. The ancient Chinese were especially fond of “shovel fish” coins. However, such a variety of money in the 3rd century BC. the end has come.
At this time, Qin Shihuangdi - the First Qin sovereign (he lived in 259-210 BC) united all of China under his rule in the Qin Empire... In addition to many important matters, such as the construction of the Great Wall of China, which protected China, from the raids of nomads, Qin Shi Huang abolished all the previously used bronze money - all these bells and knives - and introduced a single money for the entire state - liang. It was a round coin with a square hole in the center... Liang was also destined to live to our time.
There were coins from dozens of cities in circulation on the market, differing in type, weight and value. The coin of one city was worth several coins of another, since it could be made of pure gold, and not of an alloy of gold and silver. Coins with some emblems enjoyed a special advantage, as they were distinguished by the weight and purity of the metal.
Coins of the ancient Greeks
IN Ancient Greece there were several city-states: Athens, Sparta; Corinth, Argos, Syracuse... Each of them had its own coins cast - rectangular and round. There were a variety of stamps and images on them. Most often they depicted gods or sacred animals revered in the city where the coin was issued. After all, each city-state was patronized by its own celestial being.
So, in Olympia, the very place where the Olympic Games were first held, the thunder god Zeus was depicted. Often with an eagle in the palm. In Athens, coins had the profile of the wise daughter of Zeus, Athena, on one side, and an owl, which was considered a sacred bird, on the other. According to her, these coins were called owls.
The coins of Olbia, a Greek city on the northern shore of the Black Sea, were cast in the shape of a dolphin, and then on the round coins of this city they depicted an eagle tormenting a dolphin with its claws. In Chersonesus the goddess Virgo was revered. Her image was also placed on the first coins.
In other cities, in Syracuse, for example, on coins there was the god of light and poetry Apollo in a laurel wreath. The winged horse Pegasus was minted on the coins of Corinth. According to him, they were called foals. The patron of shepherds and hunters, Pan, as well as the mighty hero Hercules were also depicted on coins...
The ancient Greeks had their own coin account. They called a small silver coin an obol. Six obloms constituted a drachma, two drachmas constituted a stater. The most small coin there was a mite (one hundred mites made a drachma).
Coins in Ancient Rome.
In the old days they said: “All roads lead to Rome.” Ancient Rome was a powerful state. It was famous not only for the valiant cohorts of warriors who conquered many countries and tribes, but also for the luxury of Roman palaces, the wealth of the nobility, the construction of giant aqueducts (through which water flowed to Rome), magnificent baths (public baths) and, of course, trade.
Merchants from Africa and Asia, from Britain and Scythia brought a variety of goods to the Roman market. There were fabrics, carpets, grain, fruits, jewelry, and weapons. They also traded here live goods - slaves, because Rome was a slave state. From their many campaigns, Roman soldiers brought huge crowds of slaves to Rome.
What kind of money was “circulated” in Ancient Rome? The very first Roman coins were called ases. They were cast from copper, and they also had a rectangular shape. Over time, the aces became round, and the image of the two-faced god Janus appeared on them. He was considered the god of all beginnings (for example, the first month of the year - January - was named after Janus).
Following the asses, silver denarii began to be minted in Rome, equal to the value of 10 assams (denarius - consisting of ten). There was also another silver coin in use - the sistertius (one fourth of a denarius). These coins depicted Roman gods, heroes of myths, and coining tools: anvil, hammer, and tongs.
Often, on the coins of the Roman Empire, a portrait of the emperor was minted, his titles were placed, and sometimes words were of a propaganda nature, glorifying the policies of this ruler. Now it was no longer the deity or the city emblem that vouched for the quality of the coin. Behind it stood a powerful state, personified by the emperor.
Coins-decorations.
Let's listen to the word "monisto". Is it true that there is a connection with the “coin” in it? Monisto is a decoration in the form of beads or necklaces made from coins. Since ancient times, such decorations, strung with coins on thin cords (gaitans), were worn around the neck by Slavic women. We can safely say that the first coin collectors were Slavic fashionistas.
After all, their necklaces contained Arab, Greek, Roman, Kievan Rus, and Hungarian coins. Isn't this surprising?.. Headdresses and dresses were also decorated with coins. In many families, such decorations passed from generation to generation, “overgrown” and replenished with new pieces all the time.
Therefore, a dress, for example, from a large number of coins became heavy, like knightly armor. What attracted fashionistas to coins? Glitter? Melodious ringing? Certainly. But also because each of them is an elegant work of art. Each one can be looked at for hours. That is why the craftsmen decorated jewelry with coins.
Where were the very first coins made (that have come down to us) and got the best answer
Answer from DINAmovets In spirit[guru]
First coins
Coins are metal plates with a pattern indicating that they are money. The first coins were made in the 7th century. BC e. in Asia Minor, in the kingdom of Lydia (now the territory of Turkey) from electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver. To confirm the established weight of the pieces of metal, a pattern was stamped on them. The stamping process is called embossing. The minted design played the role of a seal, or mark, with which the ruler guaranteed the accuracy of the weight of the coin. The experience of making coins turned out to be successful and soon spread to Europe. It is worth noting the emergence of other forms of metallic money: copper coins in the Northern Black Sea region and Italy, bronze
imitations of tools and shells in China, silver rings in Thailand, gold and silver bars in Japan.
First silver coins
Coins quickly spread throughout the Hellenic world. Coins often featured emblems of the places of manufacture. The lion is the symbol of Caria in Asia Minor; vase, cuttlefish and turtle - the islands of Andros, Keos and Aegina. The beetle was the emblem of Athens. The date of issue of these coins can be determined: they were discovered in the foundations of the temple of the goddess Artemis (right) at Ephesus, built around 560 BC. e.
Cast copper coins
Copper ingots of a certain weight served as money before the production of coins began in Olbia (Northern Black Sea region), Rome and some other Etruscan and Latin cities. Images began to be applied to copper ingots, which turned them into coins. In Olbia, coins were usually cast in round shapes, but sometimes they were given the appearance of a dolphin.
Elephant coins
In Rome, the first ingots with images retained a rectangular shape. The Indian elephant on the board resembles the war elephants of the Greek army that captured southern Italy in 280 BC. e.
Bizarre shapes
The first Chinese coins (around 500 BC) were made of bronze in the form of tools and cowrie shells, which previously served as money. Coins - tools of labor were not suitable for use on the farm.
Money rings
In the pre-monet period in Thailand, payments were made with silver rings of a certain weight. In the 17th century the rings began to be converted into coins: they were bent, forged and branded with the state stamp.
Bullion coins
At the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. Ieyasu, the future first Tokugawa shogun, converted coin system Japan. His gold and silver coins, in the form of forged or cast plates, were very similar to the bullion of previous eras.
Answer from Ўnona[guru]
It is believed that the first metal coins appeared only in the 8th century BC. e. in China. They were minted from copper. A century later, the first gold coins were minted.
Their homeland was Lydia, a powerful slave state located in the western part of Asia Minor. However, the coins were not entirely gold. In Lydia, deposits were developed in which gold was alloyed with silver. This alloy is called electrum. Coins were made from it.
The oldest coins whose minting date is known are those minted in Lydia ( Asia Minor) in 685-652. BC e. Herodotus was the first to mention this, reporting that the Lydians were “the first of the people... to mint and use gold and silver coins...”.
Lydia carried on extensive trade with Greece and its eastern neighbors. Therefore, later the coins spread to the entire zone of Greek civilization in the Mediterranean and the Persian state.
In the era of mature slave-owning relations in Ancient Greece and Rome, gold and silver played a leading role in monetary circulation, although in parallel with them copper coins were also in use.
For the convenience of settlements during trade transactions, the Lydians introduced into circulation a minted gold coin - a stater, on which a running fox was depicted - a symbol of the main Lydian god Bassareus.
However, real gold circulation was introduced in the 6th century. BC e. the legendary Lydian king Croesus, who minted coins weighing 11 g from placer gold of the Asia Minor river Pactolus. They were called "Crezeids"
A century later, gold coins came into use in Persia. After the conquest of Lydia by the Persian king Cyrus, gold coins began to be minted in other countries of the Near and Middle East.
For example, dariki - coins of the king of Persia Darius I, on which he is depicted shooting from a bow, have become widespread.
After the defeat of the Persian state in the 4th century. BC e. Alexander the Great became richest man of all times and peoples, capturing at least four thousand tons of gold from the treasuries of the Persian kings.
Naturally, in the Hellenistic era, the most reliable money was high-quality gold staters with its profile weighing 7.27 g.
From the 3rd century BC. e. gold coins began to be minted in Rome. It was the Romans who were destined to call the new product a coin - the money court was located in the temple of Juno the Coin, and the products of the court began to be called coins.
The appearance of gold coins in Russia is associated with the time of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. At the very end of the 18th century, in 1792, the first ancient Russian coin was found in Kyiv. It was found among church pendants to icons. It was a piece of silver from Prince Yaroslav the Wise.
And a few years later, the first Russian gold coin, the zlatnik of Prince Vladimir, became known. The weight of golden grass is about 4 grams. From the zlatnik came the Russian unit of weight - zolotnik (4.266 g).
At present, it can be considered established that the minting of the first coins in Rus' began under Vladimir, at the end of the 10th century.
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Today in our everyday life a coin is just currency unit mostly of small value, made of metal and having a round shape. Initially, it was believed that the word coin was of divine origin, and the appearance of coins was attributed to the heroes of myths.
The word “coin” itself comes from the name of the Roman goddess Juno (Juno Moneta), wife of the god Jupiter, and in Latin means “warning.” The ancient Romans believed that Juno warned them of enemy attacks and natural disasters. Juno was also considered the goddess of exchange, which is why in ancient Rome began to mint metal coins near the temple built in her honor. Then the term coin became a common noun and spread among other nations, denoting means of payment in the form of round metal ingots.
The first coins began to be cast back in the 7th century BC. in the state of Asia Minor called Lydia (in what is now Turkey). Then coins began to be produced in ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and Iran. Regardless of other countries, coins were invented in India and China. Although the invention of coins in China occurred almost five centuries earlier than in other countries, Chinese coins had only local significance.
Coins became a universal means of payment or, as they say, “universal equivalent” when the weight and quality of the metal in them began to be certified by the state. The Lydian king Croesus was the first to put the royal stamp on a coin in the 6th century BC. Its seal represented the head of a lion and a bull and meant that the coin contained 98% gold and silver of a certain standard.
Almost all coins were circular in shape, although square and polygonal coins, as well as irregularly shaped coins (for example, Chinese shovel- or knife-shaped coins), were encountered in history. Almost all coins, with the exception of quite rare single-sided coins, had a front side (obverse) and a reverse side (reverse).
If the obverse and reverse looked in such a way as to indicate the nationality of the coin and its denomination, then the side of the coin (edge) for purely practical purposes was designed in such a way as to prevent scammers from cutting off valuable metal from the edges of the coin, who cast new coins from these scraps. By the way, Isaac Newton suggested making notches on the edge of a coin.
Coins quickly spread throughout the world due to the ease of their use in the process of exchange during international trade. Unlike the so-called commodity money, the role of which was played by various goods among different peoples (furs and animal skins, linen, livestock and fish, tea, salt and tobacco, shells and pearls, etc.), coins did not deteriorate over time. , they were convenient to store and transport - after all, with a relatively high cost, the metal coin was small in size and weight. Speaking modern language, coins have a high liquidity rate: they can be easily and quickly exchanged for any product, overcoming spatial and time restrictions.
Magazine FX Review
In those days, Lydia lay at the crossroads of many roads. All trade routes to the countries of the East and Ancient Greece passed through its territory. This is where the urgent need to simplify trade transactions arose. And this was seriously hindered by heavy ingots, which acted as the money supply. The inventive Lydians were the first to think of making metal coins from electrum, which is a natural alloy of gold and silver. Small fragments of this metal, shaped like beans, began to be flattened, applying the city sign to their surface. These symbolic pieces of metal began to be used as bargaining chips. The first Lydian coins received their name in honor of the Lydian king Croesus, who, according to legends, possessed untold wealth. This is how the world saw krozeids - the first metal money with an image.
Money turnover
A few decades later, the rulers of the Greek city of Aegina began minting their own coins. Outwardly, they were not at all similar to the Lydian creuseids and were cast from pure silver. Therefore, historians argue that metal coins in Aegina were invented independently, but a little later. Coins from Aegina and Lydia very quickly began to move throughout the territory of Greece, moved to Iran, and then appeared among the Romans, eventually conquering many barbarian tribes.
Gradually, coins from many cities entered the market, differing from each other in weight, type and value. The minted coin of one city could cost several times more expensive than coins different, because it could have been cast from pure gold, and not from an alloy. At the same time, coins with images or emblems were valued much higher, because were distinguished by the purity of the metal and fullness. The mark of the mint that minted money enjoyed unshakable authority among all residents.
Greek coins
On the territory of Ancient Greece there were several city-states: Corinth, Athens, Sparta, Syracuse, and each of them had its own mint that minted its own coins. They were of different shapes, they had various stamps on them, but most often they were images of sacred animals or gods who were revered in the city where the coin was minted.
For example, in Syracuse, the god of poetry Apollo was depicted on the coins, and the winged Pegasus soared on the coins of Corinth.
