ROME

As far as the Romans were concerned, once they had control - Italy, they set out to conquer the world and corner the gold ,3rket. From the Egyptians of about 2000 B.C. to the Romans, no one had mined gold, but the Romans became even more proficient wan the Egyptians, and Iberia was the gold mine of Europe.

To pan for alluvial gold, the Romans built aqueducts, which also came in handy for their mining operations. Another source of gold was military conquest, with generals bringing back gold in all forms, display-.; it in their triumphal processions, and sometimes causing wild fluctuations in the market.

After the fall of Jerusalem, so much gold as taken that the price of gold in the East fell by 27 percent, cording to a historian of the time. Gold was the Roman status symbol, with the wealthy wearing it lavishly, sometimes on all ten fingers.