For most of history, one of the main challenges was getting enough food to eat. Keeping your family alive through the winter until you can harvest the first crop in the spring has been a worry for thousands of years. That point is important when considering ancient finances back in the days of the Roman […]
Johan Norberg describes the tremendous progress in the last several hundred years in so many areas: life expectancy, health, sanitation, liberty, education, and equality. He discusses these wonderfully delightful trends in his book Progress: 10 Reasons to Look Forward to the Future. I will highlight merely a few of the many things I found fascinating […]
I’m going to take a look at finances of the Viking era. Before doing so, I’d like to provide some context of the horrid barbarity of warfare in ancient times. Previous post mentions the slaughter during the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. (Cross post from Attestation Update.) Next I’ll describe the gathering of slaves by Alexander […]
I’m going to take a look at finances of the Viking era, similar to what I’ve done on legionnaires during the Roman Empire and the plunder gathered by Alexander the Great. There isn’t a lot of information available, but I’ll look at some I was able to find. The Viking era has recently captured my […]
One more followup on the human devastation caused by Alexander the Great. There are a lot of posts on my blog discussing Professor Frank Holt’s delightful book, The Treasures of Alexander the Great: How One Man’s Wealth Shaped the World. (Cross post from Attestation Update.) In Appendix 2, the professor tallies the reported plunder, tribute, […]
This will be my final post on the finances of Alexander the Great. Professor Frank Holt’s book The Treasures of Alexander the Great: How One Man’s Wealth Shaped the World explains the ancient record does not give us enough details to estimate the total expenses paid by Alexander as he rampaged around the world. (Cross […]
Professor Frank Holt’s book The Treasures of Alexander the Great: How One Man’s Wealth Shaped the World explains there is little in the historical record on the cost or size of Alexander’s military. Here are a few tidbits which are visible. (Cross post from Attestation Update.) Navy Alexander learned to appreciate the value of a Navy. […]
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 find other posts on the ancient finances tag. The second half of the book explores Alexander’s spending. There is even less historical information available on his spending than on his looting. (Cross post from […]
My discussion continues of how much wealth Alexander the Great looted while on his rampage around the world. These calculations are based on two books I’ve really enjoyed: Professor Frank Holt – The Treasures of Alexander the Great: How One Man’s Wealth Shaped the World Professor Deirdre McCloskey – Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or […]
The number two man in the Persian Empire offered a bribe of 10,000 talents to the king in return for permission to kill off all the Jews living under the authority of the king. Today’s question: what would the amount of that bribe be worth in today’s money? (Cross post from Attestation Update.) The Old Testament book […]