The monetary system between the city-states, which were converted to each other, produced money shops, which were gradually developed under the influence of Oriental traditions

The development of the money shop industry is caused by the generation of money

On the Aegean coast and on its islands were clusters of city-states, each of which had a certain degree of independence, thus producing its own unique monetary system in terms of coins. Due to the difference in the currency system, it is necessary to convert between each other, and in the long years, the money shop has been generated.

It can be said that it is precisely because of the emergence of such convenient general equivalents as coins, the frequent economic exchanges between different city-states, and the rise of currency exchanges that have promoted the emergence and development of the money shop industry.

Round coins did not exist in homer's time, when trade was mainly carried out using general equivalents. In Homer's epics, the currency is mainly axe-shaped. Other metal objects are also used for circulation, such as tripods, cauldrons, rings, etc., and the value of items can also be measured by items such as cattle and wine.

Before the advent of metal coins, the Greeks used iron as a medium of exchange

The Greeks made iron into rod-shaped objects called "iron forks" or "nails", which evolved into the most basic unit of Greek currency, the "Ober". Six iron forks are one, equal to one drachma. The drachma derives its name from a six-iron fork, because one hand cannot hold more iron forks.

This primitive iron currency was used in many parts of Greece, especially in Sparta, which was rich in iron ore, and until the 3rd century BC, this fork was the only currency in Sparta.

The earliest metal coins appeared in the middle of the 7th century BC, the city-state of Lydia, Asia Minor, although the Lydians were not Greeks, but soon this metal coin was borrowed by the Greek city-states such as Ephesus in Asia Minor, which was composed of gold and silver alloys, called "platinum" by the Greeks, and was a pebble-like stat. The original currency had grooves on one side and print marks on the other.

Greek currency

Subsequently, Lydian coins were copied by other Greek city-states, the currency developed rapidly, and silver coins were more favored.

Patterns appear in the history of money

In mainland Greece, the Aegina may have been the first Greek to use metal coins besides the Ionians, and for many years the standard of weight and value used by the Aegina was popular in the eastern Mediterranean. In the mid-6th century BC, Aegina made the currency of the state, which was a turtle pattern on one side and a dent left by the creation on the other, which was also known as the "Aegina turtle coin".

The original athenian currency used different motifs, which appeared to reflect the living conditions of the people at that time, such as animals, or objects such as amphora or wheels, which may be related to the individual responsible for issuing the currency.

The original currency of Athens

At the beginning of the 6th century BC, Athens began to issue coins with one-sided two-sided drachmas. From the late 6th century BC onwards, Athens began to create a large number of double-sided coins with graphics containing "owls", thus replacing the traditional single-sided coins. The coin has a helmeted head on the obverse and her sacred bird owl, city-state name, and olive branch on the back.

The emergence of double-sided coins became a stable form of later currency manufacturing, and various city-states issued double-sided coins, and the patterns used were mostly used to indicate the characteristics of the state, mainly as symbols of the city-state or patron saints.

Once used, metal coins spread throughout the Greek world at an astonishing rate. In less than two hundred years, each city-state produced its own currency system.

Athens currency

The money shop appeared

Since the ancient Greek city-states were numerous, but the currencies between the city-states were different, in order to facilitate the economic exchanges between different city-states, these people began to exchange money between different city-states to facilitate the economic activities of gentiles in their own states.

Then, with the expansion of economic exchanges, the accumulation of the merchants' own wealth and reputation gradually formed a money shopkeeper with deposit and loan capabilities, and the money shop gradually produced a function similar to that of modern banks.

Later, the money shopkeepers who ran the money shops separated from the money exchange merchants. At that time, the business of the money shop was mainly deposits, loans and the custody of important souvenirs, while the money exchange merchants were mainly engaged in the business of the original currency exchange, and there was a clear difference between the two.

Map of Ancient Greece

The development of money shops may also be influenced by oriental traditions

Similar industries have arisen in the Two Rivers Valley in Asia, which date back to the ancient Sumerian period and the Akkadian kingdom. Here arose commercials, with specialized weighers and recorders for precious metals.

In ancient times, many of the transactions now controlled by banks were familiar to us – loans required a variety of collateral, financial collateral could sometimes not be redeemed, and deposits and trusts were also present.

During this period, priests in the temple relied on the wealth of the temple to engage in credit business. The concept of a "money shop" appeared among the priests of Sumerians and Akkadians, and because people offered a large amount of tribute to the gods, the temple gathered more wealth.

Sumerian carvings

Thus, the priests became the organizers of the early "money shops", and they used the wealth in their hands to run a lending business outward. This commercial custom, as a whole, was accepted by the Greeks in later times, on the basis of which they created their own money shop trade and the corresponding decrees; and this goes back to the priestly treasurers, who controlled the property of the temple, and who controlled the religious and political life of the Sumerian city-state, who also had complete control over economic activity.

But the Orientals did not give money a proper vocabulary, nor did they form a more complete industrial model, as the Greeks had created.

The Temples of the Greeks were also places where wealth gathered, such as the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus and the Temple of Athena in Athens, all of which used the temple property to operate loan business, which was probably the prototype of the early money shop.

The lending business operated by the temple laid the foundation for the rise of the private money shop later, so that the private money shop had a broader development on this basis, and its function was also expanded. From this, it can be seen that the emergence and development of the money shop is related to the coin exchange merchants on the one hand, and the lending business of the temple on the other hand.

Ancient Chinese records of money shops

An earlier account is found in Lu Cang's "Dong Zhen Ji" in the Gengwei Compilation, which tells the story of Xu Jun, a Changzhou man in the fourteenth year of Hongzhi, who met a fairy, and this book was written in the fifth to fourteenth years of Zhengde, and although the events were fictional, they reflected the historical facts of the time.

The text mentions: In the Treasury run by Xu Jun, there was a gold jewelry stolen, and the fairy told him to go to "find it in the scalper money shop in the west of the city", from this short text, it can be known that Changzhou has appeared in the Hongzhi or Zhengde years, that is, the money shop, at least indicating that the money shop has been produced in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

There are also records of money tables, which are probably closer to the original meaning of the ancient Greek "table", and are used for money transactions.

In the first episode of "The Legend of the Awakening Marriage": Those who open money tables in the city, those who lend money and debts, prepare big gifts, and go door-to-door to give gifts. When opening the money table, he said: "If you use money at home, no matter how much, post to the small table to withdraw." The head is heavier than other families, and the amount of money is twenty yuan more than every two in other families. Let the lower money be exchanged. The moneylender said, "Chao Ye has newly elected an official, but he is afraid that for a while the silver will not join hands, and my family has two hundred silver." ”

From this we can see that whether it is the early money shops in Athens or the money tables in ancient China, their purpose is to facilitate economic transactions, but the content of the exchange is different.

《Gengwei Ed.》

The source of the money shop is based on the production of money and the development of the economy. The advent of money tables and money shops made it possible to trade between the various city-states, and to strengthen the ties between the Greek city-states, which were widely spread in the world known to people at that time.

It can be said that without the continuous development of the economic aspect, such a relatively advanced economic trading place would not have arisen. In turn, the money shop transaction further promoted the socio-economic development of the time.

Reference source: Gengwei Edition