How we arrived here.....History& economics...perfect...part 1

The first 'money' used in Rome was the cow.
Cattle - as a medium of exchange - was used by many civilizations over the centuries.

This was not true money, of course, but a barter system. As time went on, the Romans started using lumps of copper (instead of the cattle).
These lumps of rough metal were called aes rude and, due to their irregular sizes, had to be weighed for each transaction. As time went on, and trade increased, Rome became one of the most prosperous cities in the ancient world.

This prosperity was based on using copper, then later, bronze as the medium of exchanging wealth.( measured by weight, not denominations).

It was issued by the Roman Treasury in the form of ingots and weighing 3½ lbs. It had the full backing of the state and was it known as aes signatum ( stamped metal). It was stamped by the government with an image - a cow, eagle, elephant or some relevant image of the period.
In 289 B.C. these ingots were replaced by discoidal which were cast lead bronze coins, called aes grave (heavy metal).

They represented a form of national money and were put into circulation by the state. The _value they represented was not based on weight any longer, but on the symbols that were inscribed on them.

This massive change in this system, was that this money, was based on law rather than purely the metallic content. (although the coin did still have some intrinsic value).
This may probably be seen as the first example of the successful use of fiat money. Fiat money today is much criticized today of course, such as in the Austrian schools of economics and in the crypto currency world.

In principle, there is nothing wrong with it , but that's very dependent on it being issued by governments and not by private bankers (central banking).

...Up to around 300 B.C. there was a massive increase in the public and private wealth of the Romans. (land expansion, and trade) After the the Second Latin War (338 B.C.), the Roman Republic increased in size from 2,135 square miles to 10,350 square miles!

With the expansion of its land area ,too the population. It rose from about 750,000 to 1 million. The city of Rome itself, had approximately 150,000 people living inside it's walls.

The political leaders at the time appeared to be very respectable - and were renowned for their frugality, honesty and other virtuous qualities. (how things have changed!)...

A partnership was formed between 'the Senate'(the politicians) and the people. This was known as known as Senatus Populusque Romanus.

Or....

SPQR - the Senate and People of Rome.

The 'money supply' was regulated in strict accordance with the increases in population size and trade.
There was zero inflation.

_Debt-bondage (nexum)....A free man would offer his services (as security) in exchange for a loan (+ interest)...If there was a case of non-payment, the debt then had to be worked off. This system was abolished somewhere between 313 and 326 B.C. The lex Poetelia Papiria was a law passed in Rome that abolished the contractual form of Nexum.

This traditional money system that was used successfully for many decades, came to end in 267 B.C....
When the ruling elite (patricians) obtained the sole privilege to mint silver coinage.

The Temple of Juno Moneta is where the word 'money' is derived from, and it's where the first silver coins were 'created' and stamped.
A sack full of silver dinarii was printed into different denominated coins, and by this process, added five times to its original value - merely by the simply stamping of a new value on the metal discs.

Profiteering off money itself had arrived. Possibly the very first 'financial instrument' used in history! Early Roman silver coin was known as the drachma. It was later replaced with the smaller denarius.

...As a consequence of having very little natural silver deposits on the Italian peninsular, the Roman empire was under severe pressure to expand.... it had to expand in fact - in order to secure more territories in which to obtain silver supplies.

The Roman peasants (who'd previously provided the Republic with food
and independence because of the said food supply) were drafted into the army - in orever increasing numbers. Agricultural production declined. The peasant farms were replaced by latifundia, (estates) that were worked by slaves, to fill the shortfall of agricultural produce. (Wheat also had to be imported from North Africa).

In part 2 The beginning of the end - the fragmentation of Roman society. Citizenship, citizens...and the alienation of the Roman working classes..

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