Three gospels in the Christian bible refer to an attempt to trick Jesus by asking him if Jewish citizens should pay taxes to the Roman occupiers. He is reported to have asked to see a Roman coin. Showing it to the questioners he pointed to the image of the Roman emperor as said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

The Romans had a well-developed system of coinage and taxes could be defined and collected using coins. However, that has not always been the case in history. ...