University of Arizona – How Minerals Made Civilizations [video]

From gold in ancient Egypt to silver in ancient Greece, to saltpeter in Napoleonic Europe to steel to copper, the geopolitical impact of resource production is truly history shaping.

Got there from a rabbit hole looking into the first coinage, among them the tetradrachme of a drunk Dionysus getting carried home by a donkey.

https://www.coinarchives.com/46dbbe333f049d01bced2b19a1bd4b0...

Its hard to not also see this as the birth of advertisement and tourism.

Or differently put, dude, lets go to Mende! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mende_(Chalcidice)#/media/File...

edit: Thasos "Satyr carrying off protesting nymph" https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/thrace/thasos/t.html is also noteworthy.