What can we learn from the energy dependence of strangeness production at RHIC?

Measurements of strange and multi-strange particles with the STAR detector at center of mass energies per nucleon pair (root s(NN)) of 62.4 GeV and 200 GeV in ultra-relativistic Au+Au collisions at RHIC are presented. The results are discussed in order to get insight into chemical and dynamical properties of the created medium. The former are obtained by comparison of transverse momentum (p(T)) integrated observables such as yields and particle ratios to statistical models, while the latter use p(T) dependent quantities such as single particle spectra and elliptic flow measurements to challenge hydrodynamical model calculations and parameterizations. The discussion is orientated towards the energy dependence of these properties by confronting the results at the different RHIC energies but also with the lower SPS energies.