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This is mentioned a bit later in the same paragraph. >> Tired of carrying around weighty bags of dinar and denarii, post-third-century merchants, particularly
by kkoncevicius 5y ago
This is mentioned a bit later in the same paragraph.
>> Tired of carrying around weighty bags of dinar and denarii, post-third-century merchants, particularly post-third-century traveling merchants, created more symbolic forms of currency, and so created commercial banking—the populist version of royal treasuries—whose most important early instruments were institutional promissory notes, which didn’t have their own intrinsic value but were backed by a commodity
- sandworm101 5y ago>> but were backed by a commodity But they weren't. The bank didn't hold a pile of gold coins to match every promissory note. The note was backed by the reputation of the bank, just like today.
- ncmncm 5y agoIndeed, before coins (c. 8th century BCE) money was nothing but promissory notes. Coins were invented at that time, at least 3000 years after money, to simplify military logistics.