the widow's son

The Roman empire used an alchemical way to counterfeit gold and thus gold coins. The only difference between the Pure one and the Tainted was in weigth, pieces of the same size would weight differently. There was a way to have gold without having gold. That meant an infinite amount of money. An Empire with such a resources could rule the world and it did. Those "fake" gold coins were the first step towards creating money as it is now days. Who realy controls the world? Look at your money, do they worth anything? The real value of your money sits on secured safes, you never had in reality anything of value. Gold is accepted anywhere in the world, your money are not.