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Exploring finances in times of the Viking Age, Roman Empire, and Alexander the Great.

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Author: Jim Ulvog

June 3, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great

Some tidbits on the spending side of Alexander the Great’s reign

I have been discussing Professor Frank Holt’s book The Treasures of Alexander the Great: How One Man’s Wealth Shaped the World . You can […]

June 3, 2017June 15, 2017Other eras

The incredible wealth of Mansa Musa, the ancient emperor of Mali

Barron’s suggests Mansa Musa, the Emperor of Mali in the 1300s, was the richest man who ever lived. Since I firmly believe […]

June 2, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great

Guess on the value of all loot taken by Alexander the Great

My discussion continues of how much wealth Alexander the Great looted while on his rampage around the world. These calculations are based on […]

June 2, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great

An indication of Persian wealth from the book of Esther

The number two man in the Persian Empire offered a bribe of 10,000 talents to the king in return for permission to […]

June 2, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great

Alexander’s haul from looting Susa, the capital of Persia. Revised estimate of value of one Athenian Talent

Update:  I have revised my calculations here. Adjusted the value of an Athenian talent from 10 years salary today up to 400 […]

June 2, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great’s biggest hauls when looting cities

After developing a few points of reference for comparing ancient finances to now, I can get back to pondering the value of loot Alexander […]

June 2, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great, comparison data

Total wealth held by American households as reference point for ancient finances

Here is another point of reference I’ll use for my discussion of ancient finances. The Wall Street Journal reported on 6/7/16:  Americans’ […]

June 1, 2017October 14, 2019Roman Empire

Government decisions helped take down the Roman economy

I’ll have two posts describing how bad decisions by Roman Emperors contributed to the economic deterioration in the Empire by their intentional […]

June 1, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great, comparison data

Stock market capitalization as reference point for ancient finances

I am building some reference points for my ongoing learning about ancient finances. (If you couldn’t tell, I’m have a lot of […]

June 1, 2017June 15, 2017Alexander the Great

Compensation for skilled construction worker

The description of how much a drachma or Athenian Talent is worth is best considered by converting it to how many days labor […]

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American Civil War (6) coins (15) comparing wages/prices across time (30) construction/time/cost (16) economic development (2) hoards (9) money (23) Old Testament (4) population (3) prices (27) ships (17) travel cost/time (3) Ulvog farm (15) wages/compensation (19) weaponry (18) weights (3)
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