/biz/ - Business & Finance

>Cyme was city in ancient Ionia (modern-day central coast of Turkey), which was geographically near Lydia (the birthplace of coins). The two cities were also politically close and Cyme was inspired to start making their own coinage for their citizens by the Lydian’s “nobleman’s tax tokens”.
>The first coins from Cyme were called Hemiobols and were stamped with a horse’s head and made from a fraction of silver. These coins are believed to be the second oldest in the world and were first circulated around 600 – 500 BCE.
>The Ionian Greeks were the first to use coinage (the Hemiobols) for large-scale retailing and eventually spread the idea of Market Economics to the rest of the world.