G is physically and metaphorically one of the most malleable metals on the planet: one gram of gold can be beaten into a 1-square meter sheet, and gold has been used as a symbol for everything from devotion to wealth and power. Some think that gold might have been the first metal ever used by humans; prospecting for gold was common for centuries before it was ever used as money. One of the early uses of gold was the worship and glorification of gods and idols. This was a worldwide phenomenon, evident on every continent where the element was naturally present. Gold was used extensively in religious ceremonies and burial rituals across a wide variety of belief systems. The metal’s importance is also evident in the Greek myth of King Midas, who requested that the gods give him the power to create gold from any substance using only his touch. The Romans came to use gold extensively in jewelry and eventually adopted gold rings as a symbol of romantic engagement. Biblical references to gold helped solidify the connection between gold and God. In addition to its role in religious ceremonies and artifacts, the use of gold in both secular and religious art flourished throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Indeed, historians report that many artists, including the famous Boticelli, were formally trained as goldsmith apprentices. Royal families displayed gold extensively as a symbol of their wealth and power and particularly as a means of linking themselves more closely to the church, from which they derived a great deal of their credibility. The worldwide fascination with gold led to its wide acceptance as a store of value and a means of exchange–in other words, as money. Since different civilizations and cultures could easily recognize the metal and negotiate its value, gold facilitated trade and the movement of goods around the known world. Gold’s value was first formally codified as superior to that of silver, by a 2–1 margin, in the Egyptian code of Menes. The kingdom of Lydia was the first to coin gold around 643–630 B.C., and gold quickly became a key element in the wide acceptance of the idea of money. Gold was still considered the most powerful representation of wealth in the 19th and 20th centuries, when many nations adopted the gold standard. This system directly linked the amount of a nation’s currency in circulation with the amount of gold that it held in reserve, and adopting this standard helped facilitate the development of a world economy in the midto late-1800s.