<P> The earliest metallic money did not consist of coins, but of unminted metal in the form of rings and other ornaments or of weapons, which were used for thousands of years by the Egyptian, Chaldean and Assyrian empires . Metals were well suited to represent wealth, owing to their great commodity value per unit weight or volume, and their durability, divisibility and rarity . The best metals for coinage are gold, silver, platinum, copper, tin, nickel, aluminum, zinc, iron, and their alloys; certain alloys of gold, silver, copper and nickel have the best combination of the required qualities . </P> <P> The first mint was likely established in Lydia in the 7th century BC, for coining gold, silver and electrum . The Lydian innovation of manufacturing coins under the authority of the state spread to neighboring Greece, where a number of city - states operated their own mints . Some of the earliest Greek mints were within city - states on Greek islands such as Crete; a mint existed at the ancient city of Cydonia on Crete at least as early as the fifth century BC . </P> <P> At about the same time, coins and mints appeared independently in China and spread to Korea and Japan . The manufacture of coins in the Roman Empire, dating from about the 4th century BC, significantly influenced later development of coin minting in Europe . </P> <P> The origin of the word "mint" is ascribed to the manufacture of silver coin at Rome in 269 BC at the temple of Juno Moneta . This goddess became the personification of money, and her name was applied both to money and to its place of manufacture . Roman mints were spread widely across the Empire, and were sometimes used for propaganda purposes . The populace often learned of a new Roman Emperor when coins appeared with the new Emperor's portrait . Some of the emperors who ruled only for a short time made sure that a coin bore their image; Quietus, for example, ruled only part of the Roman Empire from 260 to 261 AD, and yet he issued two coins bearing his image . </P>

Who laid foundation of modern minting of coins