Money, Gold and the Gold Standard

Croesus, King of Lydians (Asia Minor), has been the symbol of wealth and power since ancient times. 650 BC he implemented his idea of making money from gold by having coins minted which then became official currency. A new «era» had begun. The new small and handy exchange objects soon spread throughout the cultural area of the then Greek world and the adjoining regions. Money represents the joint measure of all economic transactions. On the one hand, it is the (interim) means of exchange, which simplifies the exchange of goods (trade) amongst one another and, on the other hand, it embodies the function of the maintaining of value as well as a calculation unit.