Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World

Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World PDF Author: David Scott Rosenbloom
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781350283800
Category : Coinage
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World offers eleven papers analysing the processes, consequences and problems involved in the monetization of warfare and its connection to political power in antiquity. The contributions explore not only how powerful men and states used money and coinage to achieve their aims, but how these aims and methods had often already been shaped by the medium of coined money - typically with unintended consequences"--

Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World

Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World PDF Author: David Scott Rosenbloom
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781350283800
Category : Coinage
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
"Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World offers eleven papers analysing the processes, consequences and problems involved in the monetization of warfare and its connection to political power in antiquity. The contributions explore not only how powerful men and states used money and coinage to achieve their aims, but how these aims and methods had often already been shaped by the medium of coined money - typically with unintended consequences"--

Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World

Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World PDF Author: Jeremy Armstrong
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350283789
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World offers twelve papers analysing the processes, consequences and problems involved in the monetization of warfare and its connection to political power in antiquity. The contributions explore not only how powerful men and states used money and coinage to achieve their aims, but how these aims and methods had often already been shaped by the medium of coined money – typically with unintended consequences. These complex relationships between money, warfare and political power – both personal and collective – are explored across different cultures and socio-political systems around the ancient Mediterranean, ranging from Pharaonic Egypt to Late Antique Europe. This volume is also a tribute to the life and impact of Professor Matthew Trundle, an inspiring teacher and scholar, who was devoted to promoting the discipline of Classics in New Zealand and beyond. At the time of his death, he was writing a book on the wider importance of money in the Greek world. A central piece of this research is incorporated into this volume, completed by one of his former students, Christopher De Lisle. Additionally, Trundle had situated himself at the centre of a wide-ranging conversation on the nature of money and power in antiquity. The contributions of scholars of ancient monetization in this volume bring together many of the threads of those conversions, further advancing a field which Matthew Trundle had worked so tirelessly to promote.

Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World

Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World PDF Author: Jeremy Armstrong
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350283770
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Money, Warfare and Power in the Ancient World offers twelve papers analysing the processes, consequences and problems involved in the monetization of warfare and its connection to political power in antiquity. The contributions explore not only how powerful men and states used money and coinage to achieve their aims, but how these aims and methods had often already been shaped by the medium of coined money – typically with unintended consequences. These complex relationships between money, warfare and political power – both personal and collective – are explored across different cultures and socio-political systems around the ancient Mediterranean, ranging from Pharaonic Egypt to Late Antique Europe. This volume is also a tribute to the life and impact of Professor Matthew Trundle, an inspiring teacher and scholar, who was devoted to promoting the discipline of Classics in New Zealand and beyond. At the time of his death, he was writing a book on the wider importance of money in the Greek world. A central piece of this research is incorporated into this volume, completed by one of his former students, Christopher De Lisle. Additionally, Trundle had situated himself at the centre of a wide-ranging conversation on the nature of money and power in antiquity. The contributions of scholars of ancient monetization in this volume bring together many of the threads of those conversions, further advancing a field which Matthew Trundle had worked so tirelessly to promote.

Gold, Blood, and Power: Finance and War Through the Ages [Declassified Press]

Gold, Blood, and Power: Finance and War Through the Ages [Declassified Press] PDF Author: James Lacey
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781536950137
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
This monograph presents a survey of the crucial link between state (national) power and finance from the ancient era through the present day. Cicero once said that the true sinew of war was "endless streams of money." His observation remains as accurate today as it was when Rome first began constructing its Empire.Unfortunately, too many historical works leave this crucial underpinning link out of their narratives. Even those that do economic and financial concerns typically miss the fact that the size of a state's economy often has little to do with its capacity to wield influence on the global stage. Much more crucial in this regard is the possession of an administrative system capable of efficiently mobilizing a state's resources. It was such an administrative apparatus that allowed Britain to punch far above its weight in the international arena for centuries. As a survey, this work is far from comprehensive, but the author hopes it will provide a stepping stone for a much-needed in-depth examination of the topic.

A Cultural History of Money in Antiquity

A Cultural History of Money in Antiquity PDF Author: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350253383
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The origins of the modern, Western concept of money can be traced back to the earliest electrum coins that were produced in Asia Minor in the seventh century BCE. While other forms of currency (shells, jewelry, silver ingots) were in widespread use long before this, the introduction of coinage aided and accelerated momentous economic, political, and social developments such as long-distance trade, wealth creation (and the social differentiation that followed from that), and the financing of military and political power. Coinage, though adopted inconsistently across different ancient societies, became a significant marker of identity and became embedded in practices of religion and superstition. And this period also witnessed the emergence of the problems of money - inflation, monetary instability, and the breakup of monetary unions - which have surfaced repeatedly in succeeding centuries. Drawing upon a wealth of visual and textual sources, A Cultural History of Money in Antiquity presents essays that examine key cultural case studies of the period on the themes of technologies, ideas, ritual and religion, the everyday, art and representation, interpretation, and the issues of the age.

The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans

The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans PDF Author: W. V. Harris
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019161517X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Most people have some idea what Greeks and Romans coins looked like, but few know how complex Greek and Roman monetary systems eventually became. The contributors to this volume are numismatists, ancient historians, and economists intent on investigating how these systems worked and how they both did and did not resemble a modern monetary system. Why did people first start using coins? How did Greeks and Romans make payments, large or small? What does money mean in Greek tragedy? Was the Roman Empire an integrated economic system? This volume can serve as an introduction to such questions, but it also offers the specialist the results of original research.

Brill’s Companion to Diet and Logistics in Greek and Roman Warfare

Brill’s Companion to Diet and Logistics in Greek and Roman Warfare PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004687181
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
The adage that an army “marches on its stomach” finds renewed emphasis in this collection of essays. Focusing on military diet and supply from Homer through the Roman Empire, Diet and Logistics in Greek and Roman Warfare explains regional dietary options and reassesses traditional notions of “provisioning” while exploring topics ranging from strategy and subterfuge to trade and terror. Through fresh insights drawn from current research and excavation spanning the Greco-Roman world, contributors confirm how providing food and drink for soldiers was critical to every army’s success and survival. This volume stimulates reevaluation of ancient militaries and encourages new research.

Gold, Blood and Power

Gold, Blood and Power PDF Author: James Lacey
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781514270738
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Money, in whatever form you care to imagine it- silver, gold, paper, or Bitcoin-remains as it always has been, the basic underpinning of national power, as well as the crucial determinant of military success. Throughout history, power has not so much flowed out of the barrel of a gun, as Mao famously claimed, as it has derived from a nation's ability to amass sufficient funds to prosecute a conflict. One could be forgiven for not taking note of this fact in most historical narratives. This is a result of historians, despite 3,000 years of experience to draw on, still choosing to ignore the profound affect finance has on warfare. To some degree, this is understandable; after all, barely more than a generation has passed since battle and campaign narratives began taking note of the effects of logistics. If military historians find logistics boring, they find economics and finance positively "coma-inducing." In the ancient world, Greece, under Alexander, destroyed the mighty Persian Empire, partly as a result of Alexander's genius, partly because he commanded a superior military instrument, but mostly because Persia hoarded its silver and gold rather than deploying it for war. In another instance, Sparta beat Athens in the Peloponnesian War, not as a result of Athens' Syracusan disaster, but because it eventually managed to cut off Athens from its silver mines at Laurium. Likewise, Hannibal and Carthage did not lose the Second Punic War in Italy, or at Zama. Rather, the decision in that great contest was irrevocably made when Rome conquered Spain and took over her silver mines. In a large part, it was these same silver mines that financed Rome's later conquest of the Mediterranean, which drew to an end at the same time the Spanish silver mines were exhausted. The same basic tale holds true throughout the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, and into the Pre-modern Era. But there is one vital twist. While having a large economic base is a vital element of national power, it is far from the most crucial. In fact, the size of an economy is not nearly as important as the ability to mobilize an economy in support of national interests. It was this factor that allowed England to punch far above its economic and population weight for centuries. England, though possessing a population and economic base a mere fraction the size of Frances' still, from the end of the Viking scourge through the Victorian era, employed a superior British administrative system to constantly humiliate its potentially far stronger neighbor. England's early advantage grew further with the advent of the Bank of England, which was based on earlier Dutch models of public finance. With the Bank behind it, the British government demonstrated how, for the first time, a state could easily convert shortterm debt into long-term debt, or in Britain's case, perpetual debt. As states now only had to pay the interest on the debt, rather than the entire principle, national debts could be turned into intergenerational affairs. In other words, wars could be fought in the present and paid for by the children and grandchildren of the participants. In fact, in Britain's case, the country was still paying interest on debts incurred to defeat Napoleon into the current decade. Every major state, with varying degrees of success, was soon emulating the British model. As such, huge amounts of capital were now available to fund huge increases in national armies, as well as bear the costs of arming their armies with the massive volumes of war materiel spewing forth from the factories of the Industrial Revolution. By the middle of the 20th century, the revolution in finance had progressed to the point where the United States was capable of financing not only its own global war effort, but also had sufficient financial resource left over to bear the brunt of the cost for its allies.

Money and Its Uses in the Ancient Greek World

Money and Its Uses in the Ancient Greek World PDF Author: Andrew Meadows
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199240124
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
The papers in this volume re-assess the role of coined money in the ancient Greek world. Using new approaches, the book makes the results of numismatic as well as historical research accessible to students and scholars of ancient history. The chapters provide a wide-ranging account of thepolitical, social, and economic contexts within which coined money was used. In Part One the book focuses on the theme of monetization and the politics of coinage, while Part Two provides a series of case studies relating to the production and use of coined money in different areas of theGreek-speaking world, including Asia Minor, Egypt, and Rhodes as well as Greece itself. The individual chapters cover a broad chronological range from Archaic Greece to Roman Egypt. The book as a whole offers fresh insights into an important aspect of the ancient Greek economy.

Blood and Money

Blood and Money PDF Author: David McNally
Publisher: Haymarket Books
ISBN: 1642592064
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The history of money and its violent and oppressive origins from slavery to war—by the author of Global Slump. In most accounts of the origins of money we are offered pleasant tales in which it arises to the mutual benefit of all parties as a result of barter. But in this groundbreaking study, David McNally reveals the true story of money’s origins and development as one of violence and human bondage. Money’s emergence and its transformation are shown to be intimately connected to the buying and selling of slaves and the waging of war. Blood and Money demonstrates the ways that money has “internalized” its violent origins, making clear that it has become a concentrated force of social power and domination. Where Adam Smith observed that monetary wealth represents “command over labor,” this paradigm shifting book amends his view to define money as comprising the command over persons and their bodies. “This fascinating and informative study, rich in novel insights, treats money not as an abstraction from its social base but as deeply embedded in its essential functions and origins in brutal violence and harsh oppression.” —Noam Chomsky “A fine-grained historical analysis of the interconnection between war, enslavement, finance, and money from classical times to present.” —Jeff Noonan, author of The Troubles of Democracy “McNally casts an unsparing light on the origins of money—and capitalism itself—in this scathing, Marxist-informed account . . . . McNally builds a powerful, richly documented argument that unchecked capitalism prioritizes greed and violence over compassion . . . . [T]his searing academic treatise makes a convincing case.” —Publishers Weekly