Why Kings Invented Coins (It Wasn't for You) | A Brief History of Money, Ep. 2

Before coins, every trade began with suspicion: weighing the silver, scratching it, testing it for copper. Then, in the kingdom of Lydia, someone stamped a roaring lion onto a lump of electrum — and money changed forever. In Episode 2 of A Brief History of Money, we follow the birth of the coin: from the gold-bearing river of King Midas to the royal workshops of Sardis, from the legendary wealth of Croesus to the silver owls of Athens that paid for the fleet at Salamis. Along the way we uncover the secret that every ruler since has understood — the difference between what a coin is made of and what it is worth stays in the king's treasury. 📌 CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:17 Strangers, scales and suspicion 1:12 The golden river of King Midas 1:56 Electrum and the first coin 3:53 The lion's promise 6:05 Herodotus and the first shops 7:07 Metal or promise? The king's hidden profit 9:16 From Sardis to the modern mint 10:03 When the king cheats 10:39 Rich as Croesus: gold and silver 12:05 The oracle and the fall of Sardis 12:56 The Persian daric 13:35 Pegasus, turtles and owls: coins of the Greeks 15:14 Silver of Laurion and the battle of Salamis 16:47 Coins for soldiers, coins for taxes 17:48 India and China: the same idea, independently 18:43 When the state collapses 19:44 Next: Rome ▶ Previous episode: Beyond Barter — The First Accounts ▶ Next episode: Rome, Trade, and the Value of Debt ▶ Full series playlist: [link] A Brief History of Money is a 12-part documentary series on how money was born, how it works, and why it always comes back to one thing: trust. #HistoryOfMoney #Coins #AncientHistory #Lydia #Croesus #Economics #Documentary