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500 Lira Lydia: First coin in the world
| Issuer | Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey |
|---|---|
| Year | 1983 |
| Type | Non-circulating coin |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
| Reverse lettering | DÜNYADA BASILAN İLK PARA LİDYA MÖ. 640 ANADOLU LYDIA BC. 640 ANATOLIA FIRST COIN IN THE WORLD |
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| Additional information |
Turkey's 1983 commemorative program marked the 2,600th anniversary of coinage itself — the electrum staters struck in ancient Lydia under the Mermnad dynasty, conventionally dated to around 600 BC, being the earliest coins struck to a controlled weight standard. The attribution to Lydia, and specifically to the reigns of Alyattes or Croesus, remained a point of scholarly dispute for much of the twentieth century until hoard evidence from the Artemision at Ephesus helped anchor the chronology.
Croesus later replaced electrum with pure gold and silver bimetallic coinage — a monetary reform that influenced Persian, then Greek practice for generations.