Money

From cowrie shells to Bitcoin — every century has a moment it redefined what money is.

8 posts· 3000 BCE – 696 CE

• The Arab dinar, or the coin that erased the emperor's face 696 CE
• The Byzantine solidus: the gold coin that ran the medieval world 312 CE
• The aureus and the long debasement 49 BCE
• The Roman denarius, or the coin that named money 211 BCE
• The ban liang, or the coin that outlasted its empire 221 BCE
• The Lydian stater 610 BCE
• The shell that circled the world 1250 BCE
• The Mesopotamian shekel, or how a weight became money 3000 BCE