> [!quote] [[Is it true that ancient Egyptians didn't use money via AskHistorians]] > > The Mediterranean was a different story altogether, where coinage spread like wildfire. Already by the time of Croesus, it had spread into mainland Greece, and over the next century coinage started reaching as far west as Sicily and Carthage. Nominally, all of these coins were still valued based on weight alone. In reality, the quality and reliability of different city's mints could vary dramatically and merchants preferred to operate in the widespread Athenian standard of weights and measures, so Athenian coins from a respected mint in the popular standard were often accepted at face value, while other cities' coins could suffer from an exchange rate. relevant for [[Greek|Greece]] & [[2021-01-11 Currency (DRAFT)]]