>>62263973the people who transported goods or negotiated big trades were not land owners, they were those land owners servants, eventually they became specialists, who developed a faster form of writing and keeping track of debt. These became the Phoenicians, physically the people in between the Sumerians (or late Babylonians) and the Turkish tribes who were best suited to be merchants. They transferred goods between their clients and also made profits by knowing who wanted what and what they were willing to trade. Turkey might want Boxwood, but have too much wool in their storehouse already, Ur may want wool but have too much Boxwood, while transferring these big items they could also sell other goods to get enough personal wealth to eventually have animals/land/and slaves themselves back home.
When the Phoenicians started trading with the Greeks, Egyptians (and even Spain and Britain) citystates became so wealthy they were losing value on their goods because a lot of goods are perishable or deteriorate or get damaged when transported or are easy to steal (especially domesticated animals - rustlers were constant) and all of this commerce depended on state military power, and leaders wanted their fair share for their service but they didn't want to actually have to lug around five to ten percent of all the valuable goods which could spoil or rot or die on them. A Greek king had the solution, he issued minted electrum badges with his face on it and gave it to his soldiers, who could trade them with the people for food/rent/etc. If his citizens would trade for it, then they wouldn't be taxed. It was win-win. The king could directly pay his soldiers without wasting value by collecting different owed goods from the people that could spoil or get lost on the way, and at the same time, make sure his people were supporting the military and his administration. This was the birth of legal tender.
