Denominational System

In 420BC the Greeks made their first attempt to introduce a standardised currency. The Romans, while slower to adopt coins, soon realised the need for a system of fixed coinage and minted their coins to be worth the weight of their gold and silver 'bullion' content. This, unfortunately, lent itself to a gradual debasement as the more corrupt states began to mint their own - alloying the metals in the coins to maintain weight while using the spare gold and silver to make more debased ones.