Unlike some policies of Greece, which early became trading centers, Ancient Rome for a long time remained an agricultural state with poorly developed trade. The Romans of the most ancient royal period of history " Eternal City“And in the first centuries of the republic, they led a simple and harsh life of peasants and soldiers, not spoiled by purchased overseas goods. Almost everything that a Roman peasant needed in everyday life was produced on his own farm. He could exchange what was missing from local artisans - potters, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, tanners - for his products. There was a market for this in the Roman Forum. There were also fairs organized during major temple festivals. Not only the Romans and Latins, but also the Etruscans, as well as representatives of other Italic tribes, came to these fairs. One of these fairs was held in August at the Temple of Diana on the Aventine Hill in Rome, another in Voltumni in Etruria, etc. But this trade was carried out until the 3rd century. BC e. did not play a big role in the economic life of the Romans. Rome and other cities of Latium maintained trade relations only with Greek cities in southern Italy, as well as with the Sicilian Greeks.
The small scale and random nature of all these trade relations also resulted in the underdevelopment of the Roman monetary system. Until the 4th century. BC e. In Rome, metal coins were not issued at all. At first, the universal measure of value here was livestock, mainly bulls and rams, and the cost of ten rams was equal to the cost of one bull. It is no coincidence that the Latin word pecunia - money - comes from the word pecus - cattle. But along with livestock, copper ingots, at first shapeless, taken by weight, and later cast of a certain size and weight, also acquire the value of a universal equivalent.
The subjugation of all Italy by Rome, which ended in the first half of the 3rd century. BC e., caused a revival of trade. The Roman state included the rich Greek trading and craft cities of Southern Italy - Capua, Naples, Tarentum, etc.
In the 4th century. BC e. coins begin to be issued in Rome. These were cast bronze money, called asses, on the front side of which was depicted the head of the two-faced god Janus (the patron saint of Latium, the god of the beginning and the end, peace and war), and on the reverse side was the bow of a ship. The first asses were very large and heavy - they weighed almost 300 g each, but subsequently the weight of the asses was reduced many times. Ass Divided into 12 ounces; coins were usually issued in denominations of 1, 2,
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3, 4 and 6 oz. Both aces, and especially these small coins, had a very small value, equal to the value of the metal they contained. They were intended to satisfy the daily needs of the internal market of Rome and Italy itself. At the same time for the needs foreign trade Silver staters were minted in Capua, modeled on the Greek coins of Campania. However, the production of these Roman-Campanian coins did not last long; later silver coins began to be minted in Rome itself. These were denarii worth 10 (later 16) asses and sestertii worth 2 1/2 asses. Initially, the front side of the silver coins depicted the head of the goddess Roma, the patroness of Rome, and the reverse side depicted the divine twins Dioscuri (sons of Zeus) on horses. But then the Roman officials in charge of minting coins began to place images on coins at their own discretion; often these images related to the history and exploits of the family to which the magistrate responsible for issuing the coin belonged. Gold coins were issued extremely rarely during the republican period.
In the middle of the 2nd century. BC e. The Roman Republic became the largest Mediterranean power, which, in addition to Italy, also included extensive overseas possessions in Europe, Asia and Africa. Since that time, foreign trade has also increased significantly. In the 2nd and 1st centuries. BC e. Roman foreign trade gains momentum and covers all the countries of the ancient world of that time. Mainly wine, olives and olive oil, and metal products are exported from Italy. Bread and other food products, slaves, expensive fabrics, luxury goods, and works of art are imported. Imports significantly exceeded exports. Rome could afford this, since the unfavorable trade balance for the state was more than covered by the colossal sums received by the Romans in the form of indemnities, taxes, confiscations and direct robbery of the rich conquered countries that turned into Roman provinces.
Overseas trade was carried out mainly through two large ports on the western coast of Italy: the harbor of Rome - Ostia - and Puteoli on the Gulf of Naples.
The majority of the Italian population continued to satisfy almost all of its needs through local production, while imported goods came mainly to the disposal of the rich nobility or the newly rich who had made their fortune by plundering the provinces. However, imported bread was also used for free distributions to poor Roman citizens, and income from overseas trade was partially spent on organizing shows for the people, on demagogic handouts and bribing supporters, which was often resorted to by political figures in Rome in the 1st century. BC e.
The enormous wealth that flowed into Rome from all over the world contributed to the creation of a very significant group of major financiers, mainly from the so-called equestrians, and partly from among the nobility. These rich people willingly embarked on all sorts of financial enterprises and operations, which became extremely widespread in Rome and throughout the Roman state. Particularly large income was generated by tax farming,
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a-libral ass, copper, 3rd century. BC e.; b - ass, copper, 87 BC. e.; d - Roman-Campanian denarius, silver, circa 215 BC. e. BC e.; c - quadrant, copper, 3rd century. BC e.
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deliveries, duties and other fees in the provinces, as well as contracts for various construction, agricultural and other works in Italy itself. Usury operations, loans secured by land, ships and other property, all kinds of speculation in movable and immovable property, slaves, etc., were also extremely developed. The most prominent representatives of state power, for example consuls, took part in these commercial enterprises, using their high social position to enrich themselves or strengthening your financial position. Even such moralists as Cicero did not disdain all kinds of monetary speculation, tax farming, etc. In practice, the rich Romans were rarely involved in trade: the actual merchants and navigators were usually Greeks, residents of southern Italian Greek cities, Sicilians or other foreigners, but the entire financial basis of wholesale foreign trade was in the hands of Roman businessmen, who participated in this trade with their capital directly or through intermediaries. Often, for the implementation of any trade and monetary enterprises, entire companies were created, seizing into their own hands the monopoly exploitation of some branch of trade or region. Fierce political struggle, accompanied by murders, frequent confiscations and related speculation, contributed to the rapid creation of colossal private wealth and their equally rapid transfer to other hands.
A characteristic figure for the late Roman Republic is the financial businessman Gaius Rabirius Postumus. He was the head of a large tax farming company, took on contracts and leases in various state enterprises, maintained an entire merchant fleet at his own expense, and widely lent money. In particular, for a long time he financed the exiled king Ptolemy Auletes from Egypt, helping him regain his throne. When Ptolemy succeeded, it turned out that his debt to Rabirius exceeded the annual income of his entire state and, in order to somehow repay his creditor, Ptolemy made Rabirius his minister of finance and provided him with the opportunity to profit from his subjects.
In the last century of the Republic and during the Empire, Rome, the first city of the world, became the world's largest consumer center. Along many sea and land routes, goods flowed here not only from all the Roman provinces, but also from remote areas of the Old World, even from China and Central Africa.
The supply of grain bread to Rome was of utmost importance. The arrival of ships with wheat was always a big event in the life of Rome, and a delay in the supply of bread could cause not only economic difficulties, but also a political crisis, especially unrest among the Roman plebs, accustomed to regular free distributions of bread. The main suppliers of bread were Egypt, Sicily and North Africa; grain also came in smaller quantities from Spain, Sardinia, and Gaul.
In the western part of the Roman Empire, Rome's most important trading counterparty was Spain. The role of this province in the economic life of the state was determined primarily by the fact that Spain produced
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a - denarius, silver, 88 BC. e.;
b - denarius of Nero, silver, 66;
c - Antonian of Caracalla, silver, 217;
g - aureus, gold, 45 BC. e.;
d - aureus of Augustus, gold, 8 g;
e - aureus of Posthumus, gold, 260 g;
g - solidus of Constantine I, gold, 320 g.;
h - follis of Diocletian, copper, 296-305.
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various metals - iron, copper, tin, silver, which served as the main export item to Italy and other provinces of the empire. For the more northern lands - Gaul, Britain, Germany - Spain, like Italy, was a supplier of wine, olive oil, and some types of handicraft products. Horses, wool, resin, salt, and fish were also imported to Rome from Spain. Trade with Spain was carried out mainly by sea through Spanish ports.
Rome was less economically connected to other Western European provinces. From Britain the Romans exported lead, silver, livestock, skins, and slaves. Gaul supplied Northern Italy with wheat, timber, linen and woolen fabrics, in particular coarse cloth cloaks - the usual clothing of Roman soldiers, commoners and slaves. In Gaul by the 1st century. n. e. The handicraft production of metal products - jewelry, bronze utensils, weapons, as well as ceramic production has achieved significant development. But the products of these workshops went mainly not to the south, but to the north and east - to Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, and the Danube countries. Germany and the Danube provinces supplied Rome with large quantities of slaves, livestock, leather and other raw materials. In addition, through these areas there was an overland trade route, along which amber arrived from the Baltic States to the Mediterranean.
Greece did not play any significant role in the trade of the empire. Perhaps the most important item of Greek export were various types of marble - Attic and Parian, valued by Roman builders. They also delivered from Greece to Rome various items art and luxury (from Athens, Corinth and other places) and delicacies for the feasts of the Roman rich: wines from Chios and Lesbos, peacocks from Samos, fish from Rhodes and from the Black Sea cities, figs from Cyprus, honey from Attica.
The trade balance of the cities of Asia Minor was also small. Roman merchants exported from here mainly woolen fabrics, linen, dates, as well as artistic items made of metal and ceramics. But Syria was one of the most important trading areas of the Roman world. Syrian merchants from large trading cities traveled throughout the Mediterranean and had their own trading posts in Italy, Gaul, Spain and other Roman lands. Dates, glassware, linen fabrics, and purple were exported from Syria to Rome. But these goods constituted only a part, and a small one, of the trade turnover of Syrian merchants. One of the most important routes connecting the Mediterranean with the East ran through Syrian ports. Fabrics and carpets from Iran and Mesopotamia, spices from India, silk from China, and incense from Arabia arrived here. Such flourishing centers as Palmyra and the cities on the shores of the Persian Gulf grew along the caravan routes of this eastern trade. In the Syrian centers - Tire, Sidon and others - Chinese raw silk was processed, fabrics were dyed, and then Syrian and Roman merchants transported these oriental goods throughout the Roman world.
The second route of this eastern trade, not inferior in importance to the Syrian one, was the route through Egypt. Egypt generally occupied a very prominent place in Roman trade. In addition to the huge amount of bread in Egypt,
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Pet supplied Rome with papyrus, glass products, especially toilet bottles from Alexandria, construction and finishing materials - porphyry, granite, woolen and linen fabrics, and aromatic substances. From Ethiopia and deep parts of Africa to Egypt and from there to Rome, black slaves, ivory, ostrich feathers, and spices were delivered. These goods went to Egypt partly along the Nile, partly through the port cities of Ethiopia. Egypt's transit trade with the East was also of great importance. Through the port centers on the eastern coast of Egypt - Berenice and Myos-Garmos - and along the canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea, exotic oriental goods were transported from Arabia and India: spices (cinnamon, ginger, pepper), aromatic substances (myrrh, frankincense, etc. .), precious stones, tortoise shells, which were highly valued in Rome for decorating expensive furniture and utensils, dyes (indigo, cinnabar), gold sand, fine oriental fabrics, including Chinese silk. Hundreds of Egyptian merchant ships plied the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean between the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Malabar coast of India, Roman merchants reached Ceylon. According to Pliny, the annual turnover of this eastern Roman trade reached 100 million sesterces.
Products were exported to Rome through the ports of the northern coast of Africa west of Egypt (Leptis Magna, Carthage, etc.) African continent- bread, citrus fruits, expensive wood, ivory, as well as slaves and a huge number of wild animals for organizing Circus performances.
How was that huge flow of various goods that continuously flowed to Rome from all over the empire paid for? Export from Italy itself, although carried out in quite a large sizes, but without-
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conditionally, significantly inferior to Italian imports. Italian wine, olive oil, metal products, in particular weapons, and Capuan bronze utensils, Arretin and other ceramics, some types of woolen fabrics, jewelry, etc. were exported. But a significant part of the overseas goods arriving in Italy was paid for in money, the trade balance of Italy continued to remain passive. This is eloquently evidenced by the huge number of treasures of Roman denarii, distributed throughout the world - from Scandinavia to Ceylon and from Central Asia to Britain.
Most trade transport between different parts of the empire was carried out by sea. Roman merchant ships, like Greek ones, were sailing ships; oars were used on them only in calm weather. Usually there was one large rectangular or trapezoidal sail on the mast and a triangular sail on an inclined yard at the bow of the ship. Such ships were 25-30 m long and 8-10 m wide and could lift up to 180 tons of cargo, or (according to the ancient measure of a ship's carrying capacity) approximately 3000 amphorae. The cargo was stowed in the hold or secured on the deck of the ship. Of course, there were also more significant ships, which transported, for example, finished columns for buildings and other particularly heavy loads. Thus, one obelisk transported to Rome from Egypt in the 1st century. n. e., weighed about 500 tons.
Merchant ships, especially loaded ones, usually tried to sail along the coast and only in the daytime, and at night they moored ashore in some harbor. But sometimes they sailed on a direct course across the open sea. Navigators of the first centuries AD mastered not only the entire Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, but also the eastern part Atlantic Ocean all the way to Britain in the North and almost to Cape Verde in the South. Red Sea, Persian Gulf and northeastern part Indian Ocean were also well known to Roman sailors. To facilitate commercial navigation, many periplos were compiled - special descriptions of sea routes and coasts, indicating everything that could be useful to a merchant or traveler. Examples of such periplus can be the description of Pontus Euxine, compiled in the 2nd century. n. e. the writer Arrian, or descriptions of sea routes from Corinth to Carthage and from Rome to Arelate in Narbonne Gaul (Southern France).
In the vast expanses of the Roman state, trade was carried out not only along sea routes, but also by land. The development of this trade was greatly facilitated by the extensive network of first-class roads that were built by the Romans in all their possessions, primarily for the movement of troops and for state mail. Many roads started from Rome and stretched for hundreds and thousands of kilometers, encircling not only the whole of Italy, but also distant provinces. More than 150,000 km of well-maintained roads were laid in Roman possessions.
Roman roads were rationally planned and paved, and provided with ditches for water drainage. In many places, roads were carved into rocks and passed through artificial tunnels. Monumental arched bridges made of stone or brick were thrown across the rivers.
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cha, some of them have survived and are still functioning, striking even now with the expediency, perfection and beauty of their forms. Such are, for example, the Alcantara granite bridge over the Tagus River in Spain or the bridge over the Touloubre River near Saint-Chamo in Southern France. Along Roman roads, stone columns were placed - mile stones, on which the distance was marked. It was measured in Roman miles (a mile is about 1.5 km) from the gilded milliarium placed by Augustus in the Roman Forum. Along the roads there were inns and taverns where travelers could get lodging and food.
On Roman roads, goods were transported on four-wheeled carts or two-wheeled carts drawn by mules or horses. Often, traveling merchants carried goods on themselves.
River routes were also used for trade, especially such large waterways as the Danube and its tributaries, the Nile, and the rivers of Gaul. But even
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small rivers of Italy, such as the Tiber, Arno, Ombrone, Anio and others, served as trade routes along which goods were transported on small barges.
The Roman emperors patronized the development of wholesale trade, especially the delivery of grain bread to Italy. Special imperial decrees provided various benefits to persons bringing food to Rome; in particular, Italians and freedmen were given Roman citizenship. Among the large wholesale traders known to us from the writings of ancient authors and from inscriptions, the majority were people of humble origin, often from freedmen who had achieved wealth and civil rights thanks to successful trading activities. Usually these wholesalers rented ships from shipowners, less often they had their own ships; purchased bread and other goods with their own funds or with money borrowed from moneylenders. Sometimes the state gave loans by concluding agreements with traders for the supply of certain goods. In the last centuries of the empire, the connection between wholesale trade and the interests of the imperial treasury was especially strong, and the imperial authorities tried to subjugate and strictly regulate import trade.
Wholesale traders often united into companies on shares; sometimes real trading houses were created, uniting either father and son.
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wey, or several brothers, or persons strangers to each other, engaged in the same trading operations. In all major trading cities there were trading posts or farmsteads of merchants from other countries and cities. Thus, in Puteoli there were trading posts of merchants from the Syrian Tire, from the Arabian Nabataean kingdom, etc.
Wholesale maritime trade brought great profits, but was always associated with a certain risk due to the danger of sea transportation. Retail trade within the country was less profitable, but more reliable. Retail merchants purchased goods from wholesalers and transported them from city to city using river boats or wagons on overland roads. Both wholesale and retail traders had their own professional associations and collegiums. Such corporations protected their members from competitors, served the purpose of mutual assistance, and even fought with the imperial authorities, seeking more preferential conditions for merchants, changes in taxes or duties, etc.
The vast majority of goods destined for Rome were delivered to Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber. Compared to Ostia, other ports on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy were of secondary importance. Initially, the Ostia Bay was not sufficiently landscaped and ships could not find reliable protection from storms in it. The historian Tacitus tells how 200 ships carrying grain were lost during a storm in the harbor of Ostia itself. In the middle of the 1st century. n. e. Emperor Claudius
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built a pier in the form of two huge curved protective walls, reliably protecting the port from sea storms. A large four-tier lighthouse was placed on an artificial island in the passage between the piers. At the same time, a canal was built that cut through the bend of the Tiber at its confluence with the sea, opening a shorter route for ships to Rome and solving the problem of regulating floods in this capricious river. At the beginning of the 3rd century. n. e. Emperor Trajan continued this work and built a new huge hexagonal basin for ore parking behind the port of Claudius, almost doubling the area of the harbor. Warehouses and porticoes were erected around the port. Ostia was built up with multi-storey residential buildings and turned into a craft and trade center.
In Ostia, goods were transshipped from sea to river ships and transported to Rome by canal and Tiber (or less often by land). Here, on the left bank of the Tiber, under the Aventine Hill, there were huge warehouses where bread was poured and where other imported goods were stored. Here, bread was distributed to many hundreds of thousands of people included in the free distribution lists. The receipt, storage and distribution of grain was in charge of a special high-ranking official - the prefect of Annona, to whom a whole staff of employees, agents, weighers, etc. was subordinate. The prefect of Annona had to monitor both the grain trade and ensure that speculators did not inflate prices, merchants did not hid stocks of bread, etc. Later, these responsibilities passed to the head of the entire police service of Rome - the prefect of the city.
Retail trade was carried on in Rome in many places; Initially, the trading area of Rome was the Roman Forum, on both sides of which there were shopping rows of small shops. Then these benches were located inside two basilicas located on the sides of the forum (the so-called large rectangular buildings, the roof of which was supported by rows of pillars or columns). Lively trade also took place on the streets adjacent to the forum. In addition, there were several special markets - Bull, where all kinds of livestock were traded, Vegetable, Fish, Delicious with shops of sweets, fruits, etc. The markets were originally open areas, on the sides of which there were porticoes and shopping arcades. They were sold here both indoors and in light tents or on portable counters, as well as directly from trays. During imperial times, extensive covered market buildings with a large central hall and shops located on two floors began to be built. In the markets they sold food and all sorts of handicrafts needed in everyday life - iron products, cloth, shoes, perfumes, etc. Shops also occupied the lower floors of houses on many central streets of the city: along the Sacred Road there were shops of jewelers, goldsmiths and fruit merchants. Jewelry, expensive furniture, imported bronze and glassware were traded in porticoes on the Champ de Mars; Etruscan Street was famous for the sale of aromatic substances and expensive fabrics, in particular silk; on the streets of Velabre and Subura they traded mainly in food supplies: wine, butter, cheese, vegetables, as well as various household items. There were streets named after
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professions of merchants or artisans who settled and traded on them - streets of Khlebotgovtsev, Shoemakers, Shornikov, etc.
We have a good idea appearance Roman shops - tabernae, mainly based on their ruins, discovered in Pompeii.. These were usually rooms facing the street or market square with an open opening almost the entire width of the room, sometimes partitioned off with a wooden or stone, often marble counter. At night the opening was closed with shutters. At the back of the shop there were shelves or boxes with goods, and vessels with wine or other liquids were placed. Behind the shop there was often a utility room of a storage nature. In the commercial establishments of fishmongers there were sometimes small marble pools for live fish. A merchant - the owner of a shop or an artisan who sold his goods in it, often lived right there in the back rooms of the house or above the shop on the second floor. The combination of commercial and industrial premises in one building was typical of Roman retail trade: bakeries were located at bakeries, a jeweler, shoemaker or coppersmith sold swap products at his workshop. From the street, a shop could be identified by the goods hung or displayed in front of it, as well as by special signs, which usually depicted the product that was sold in this place. Street peddlers laid out their goods in front of the shops on trays or right on the sidewalks, and sellers set up braziers
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The greengrocers displayed baskets of vegetables and fruits, pies, tripe and other hot food bought by ordinary people.
Bronze scales were used to weigh goods: either with a rocker and two suspended cups, or steelyards. The weights were lead or bronze, sometimes in the form of figurines. The basic unit of weight was the pound (libra) of 327.5 g, consisting of 12 ounces. The measure of bulk solids was modium - about 9 l; liquids were usually measured in amphoras (26.3 l).
In the trading areas of Rome and other Italian cities, between the shops and workshops of artisans, there were offices of money changers and moneylenders, without whom the trade of antiquity could not operate. There were also barber establishments, numerous shops selling wine, and snack bars. Roman satirists vividly describe the shopping streets of the Eternal City, where there was always a crowd of people, where they sold and bought, bargained, bet, made deals, where they exchanged news and gossip, ate and drank, made appointments and dates.
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Denmark, where one could meet a half-naked slave buying provisions for his master’s table, and a fashionable dandy moving from shop to shop in search of some exquisite overseas goods, and a small merchant of honey-based sweets, tempting with his goods laid out on a tray, and schoolchildren, and a venerable Roman matron, meticulously sorting through fabrics in a clothier’s shop, and a painted girl in translucent clothes, and a beggar wandering Greek philosopher in a tunic, and many other people, for whom the shopping areas of the city were not only a place to buy necessary things and products, but also a place for free time, entertainment and relaxation.
Trade in other Italian cities and in Roman provincial towns developed in much the same way as in Rome. The objects of trade and its external forms may change, but the organization remains everywhere
about the same. This is greatly facilitated by the widespread distribution of Roman coins and the transformation of the Roman monetary system into a world one.
After joining the Roman state, the issue of their own coins in the Greek states and other Mediterranean countries ceased and the Roman coin gained dominance everywhere. During the imperial period, the issue of gold and silver coins was the exclusive monopoly of the imperial power and was carried out at the imperial mints, located not only in Rome, but also in many provincial centers.
The main Roman monetary unit was the denarius, minted from silver and weighing 3.4-4 g. Roman denarii gained wide popularity and were readily accepted not only by the population of the empire, but also by neighboring peoples who traded with the Romans. These peoples did not use coins in their domestic trade, and silver denarii turned
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into treasure, sometimes they were poured into ingots. In case of danger, they were buried in the ground; This is the origin of many treasures of denarii found in Germany, the Baltic states, Ukraine, Transcaucasia, and the Middle East. But from the 2nd century. n. e. The quality of the metal in denarius is deteriorating; they began to add a lot of copper to it. The population took these new second-class denarii much less willingly than the full-fledged earlier ones; they were valued at half the price of the earlier ones.
At the beginning of the 3rd century. n. e. Emperor Caracalla issued new, heavier silver money - the so-called Antoninians, but they soon turned into actually copper coins, only silvered on top.
In imperial times, gold coins were also minted; they were called “golden” - aures. Each aures was considered equal to 25 denarii. Copper coins were still asses, constituting 1/16 of a denarius or 1/400 of an aureus, and coins of 2 and 4 asses - dupondius and sestertius.
The sestertius was the most commonly used counting unit in all financial calculations. The minting of copper coins in Rome was in the hands of the Senate, but this coin circulated only in Rome itself and in Italy, while in the provinces the right to issue copper coins was reserved for most cities of the empire.
On the obverse of all coins issued in Rome and at the imperial mints in the provinces, a portrait of the reigning emperor or one of the members of the imperial family was always placed. The same portraits were present on most copper coins minted by cities, although there were sometimes coins that did not have images of the emperor;
Series of Roman coins from imperial times provided a gallery of portraits of the rulers of Rome and were repeatedly used to identify sculptures and other monuments of Roman art depicting members of the imperial family. Usually the portrait is accompanied by an extended inscription containing full name of the person depicted with all his titles, positions and honorary titles.
The images of the reverse sides of the coins are very different. Most often this is an allegorical representation of some events from the life of the empire. Military victories were celebrated by minting coins depicting the goddess of victory, Victorine, or the spoils of war and bound captives; the upcoming campaign was reflected in the issue of coins with an equestrian figure of the emperor addressing the army; the construction of new large buildings of a public nature, the consecration of temples found an echo in the coinage in the form of images of these buildings, etc. All this was accompanied by appropriate signatures, which not only explained the images, but also served the purposes of political propaganda, glorifying the deeds of emperors, greatness and glory empires. On city copper coins, images of local patron deities, their sanctuaries or statues, various monuments for which the city was famous, or fictional “portraits” of famous countrymen - Homer in Amastria, Herodotus in Halicarnassus, Sappho in Mytilene - were common.
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etc. Such images, on the one hand, contributed to the definition of the coin, and on the other hand, they flattered local patriotism; they were supposed to to some extent reward the citizens of the once famous Greek cities for the state of humiliation in which their homeland was in the system Roman Empire.
In the 3rd century. n. e. Roman monetary circulation is experiencing a severe crisis associated with the crisis of the entire economic life of the empire. In the field of coinage, it was expressed, in particular, in the disappearance of gold from circulation, in the catastrophic deterioration of the silver of denarii and antoninians, and in the cessation of the issue of copper coins.
At the beginning of the 4th century. Emperor Constantine I introduces new gold coins - solidi, silver coins - milliarisia and siliqua. The images on them remain basically the same - portraits of emperors on the front side, images of the same emperor or Victoria on the back.
TRADE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
It is important to note one distinctive feature trade of antiquity - its closest connection with the culture of ancient peoples. The exchange of goods contributed to the exchange of thoughts and opinions, and had a fruitful effect on the development of spiritual and moral forces and on the spread of civilization. The paths that were paved by the trade of the ancient world later also served as the first missions to spread Christianity. The most ancient places of land and sea trade of the Phoenicians were the focus of Christianity.
Thus the entire trade of the ancient world, from the distant borders of Europe to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, was in the hands of this small people. Wherever the Phoenicians penetrated, they cultivated knowledge.
In the ancient world and early Middle Ages, production was mainly natural, but some products were sold as goods, even with surplus value, reflecting the relationship of slave and feudal exploitation. The social division of labor continued, trade developed, including with other countries. Definite development During this period, simple commodity production of peasants and artisans, based on the private ownership of the producers themselves in the means of production and created products, personal labor of the owner in his farm. In conditions of simple commodity production, an equivalent exchange of goods is provided at prices close to cost. During this period, the separation of cost from value had not yet occurred and, therefore, an objective need for accounting and determining the cost of products could not arise. The exchange value of a product was determined quite simply without such consideration.
Corinth reached even greater importance in trade, occupying an advantageous position at the junction of two seas - the Aegean and Ionian (Adriatic). The most powerful trading place of the ancient world, due to its advantageous position, was the city of Rhodes. Magnificent buildings in the harbor, a large commercial and military fleet, huge warehouses with goods, strong residential buildings, temples, public buildings, and rich architecture testified to the commercial greatness of the city, in which many foreign merchants lived.
Rome. In the I-II centuries. BC. Ancient Rome (a city that arose in 754-753 BC) is a huge empire-city stretching along the shores of Mediterranean Sea, which included large areas of Western and South-Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Near East. All lands and peoples that have been discussed so far in this book, with the exception of India, Arabia and Central Asia, came under the rule of Rome. The history of the latter forms the final part ancient history. Professor of the history of trade at the Canton School in Lucerne I. Engelman in the monograph History of Trade and World Relations (1870) noted that high culture, the fruits of the labors of conquered peoples - all this became the property and service of the ruler of the ancient world. What benefits did Rome derive from the wealth entrusted to it? The answer to this question is rather sad. Like a gigantic spider, Rome encircled the whole world with a network and sucked its blood. When everything healthy was sucked out, the ruler himself fell.
Compared with the ancient world and the Middle Ages, progress in world trade in the late Middle Ages was manifested not only in the increase in goods, but also in the predominance of maritime trade and in the growing number of peoples participating in it. Of course, the small capacity of the ships of that time, the poor condition of the access roads to the sea and land transportation facilities hampered the extensive movement of goods. But maritime trade was significantly enriched with many new goods.
Beginning with the Samaritan city of Kish, which existed in the fourth millennium BC, and the city of Thebes in Ancient Egypt (second millennium BC), trade routes historically ran through Venice, Genoa, Amsterdam, London and, finally, New York. ways that allowed these cities to become centers of world trade, and therefore centers of economic power throughout the world. A similar thing happened with Moscow, which today occupies such a significant place in the economic life of Russia.
Thus, Phoenician and Greek traders carried Ancient Egypt copper of Cyprus, iron of the island of Elba and silver of Spain, they also managed to deliver tin to Britain, amber from the Baltic states and furs from Eastern Europe. The main resources of the Greeks were not fertile soils, which they did not have, but the enterprise of Greek traders and the art of shipbuilders, the skill and courage of sailors and the qualifications of artisans. The Greeks produced grapes and olives, magnificent pottery and weapons for sale. Finally, Athens became one of the first cities in the world dependent on food imports - 300 thousand Athenians ate Egyptian and Black Sea bread (as Rome and Constantinople would eat it). And the basis of all this was, we repeat, trade with distant lands.
The exclamation of Archimedes, admiring the power of leverage, “Give me a fulcrum - and I will turn the world upside down” is widely known. The predictability of the foreign exchange market is so random that, following the ancient thinker, I want to say, give me any trading system - and I will show how great it works on some parts of the path price movements and how useless it is on others. This circumstance, it would seem, implies a negative answer to the question “Is any kind of game system needed at all? 1 It is absolutely necessary.
In the ancient world, great preconditions were created for the development of crafts and trade, and the private property of artisans and their corporations was strengthened. However, industry and trade (with the exception of artistic crafts) were viewed in Ancient Greece and Rome as harmful occupations unworthy of free citizens.
The sales profession is one of the oldest in the world; every product or service must be sold. However, sales methods can be very different. Some products are sold by employees in retail stores, others by salespeople who come directly to customers, others (as in the case of mail orders) are sold without the participation of salespeople at all, and the entire burden of selling the product falls on advertising.
The conquest of Egypt by the Persians under Cambyses (529-522 BC) delayed trade activities; interrupted relations were resumed only under Darius (522-486 BC). The victory over the Persians and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) marked the beginning of new relationships and the role of Egypt in the new empire. Alexander the Great founded in 332 BC. the city of Alexandria, which under his successors became the center of international trade of the ancient world.
Bargaining in ancient times was a simple exchange of goods, and in this form it was preserved among all peoples who stood at the primitive stage of cultural development. The most commonly used goods were skins, livestock, etc., as means of exchange. More civilized peoples replaced barter trade with one, general equivalent of the value of goods - money. Noble metals became the measure of value for all trade items. The German economist Professor A. Baer in his monograph History of World Trade (Moscow, 1876) noted that it is difficult to determine which of the peoples of the ancient world was the first to use
The Phoenicians were the richest people of the ancient world. In that distant era, when neither the Greeks nor the Romans were particularly famous, they were the rulers of the Mediterranean Sea. The two main cities of the Phoenicians - Sidon and Tire - were flourishing centers of trade and industry, and their ships and sailors became famous in the ancient world.
Oil is one of the ancient items of international trade. Thus, oil was exported from Colchis to Ancient Greece. Marco Polo, during his travels, observed caravans of camels loaded with wineskins of oil from Baku. Gas has recently become a trade item. In the capitalist world, from the first steps of the development of the oil industry, methods of fierce competition between business partners were established. Their clearest expression is all the activities of the international oil monopolies, which shamelessly profit from the exploitation of the national wealth of oil-producing countries.
But about the helmsman a little later. Now - about something else. The point is that the world is not a treadmill. The ancients were absolutely right when they claimed that chlomir is a round disk resting on the backs of three huge elephants, which, in turn, stand on an even larger turtle... Well, in the center of this very disk 24 industrial states are blissfully producing approximately 55% of the world's product and carrying out more than 70% of world trade. Among these 24 industrialized countries, seven, or G-7, stand out (USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Britain and Italy). The Seven produces 49% of the world's product and controls more than half of world trade.. 8 These are the true masters of civilization. It is they who dictate the rules of the game to everyone else, i.e. the periphery. It is clear that today’s Russia, with its two percent of world production, can only get into this top seven as a top six. Alas, as a result of reforms, we have become a periphery. And in the process of reform we ourselves have done and continue to do everything to push us further and further from the center. Is it really possible to get into the center, destroying domestic science, culture, industry, agriculture, state integrity iV Suppose, however, that we want to penetrate the center, at least not into the seven, but into the club of 24. What needs to be done for this To do this, we need to do everything that we are doing now, but in reverse. Peter the Great and Joseph Stalin understood this best of all in Russia. It was they who tried to turn Russia into a powerful industrial power. True, both of them committed a lot of truly Byzantine barbarism. But they succeeded. With corpses, with obscenities, with blood, sweat, tears... We, St. Petersburg residents, have a special attitude towards these two greats. If it weren’t for Peter, we, St. Petersburgers, wouldn’t exist. If there had been no Stalin, there would have been no Leningrad affair... Both Peter and Stalin tried to turn Russia into a great power using feudal-collective farm methods. They couldn't do it any other way. My upbringing didn't allow it.
The entire interior of Africa and all that part of Asia that is far north of the Black and Caspian Seas, ancient Scythia, modern Tataria and Siberia in all centuries were, apparently, in the same barbaric and savage state in which they are at the present time. The only sea of Tartary was the Arctic Ocean, which does not allow navigation, and although several of the greatest rivers in the world flow through this country, they are too far apart to allow communication and trade with for the most part countries. In Africa there are no such large inland seas as the Baltic and Adriatic in Europe, the Mediterranean and Black in Europe and Asia, and the Arabian, Persian, Indian, Bengal and Siam gulfs in Asia, and therefore the internal regions of this great continent are inaccessible to maritime trade, large the rivers of Africa are too far apart to make any significant inland navigation possible. In addition, the trade that a people can conduct using a river that does not have large number tributaries and branches and flowing before flowing into the sea through foreign territory, never reaches very significant sizes, because it is always in the power of the peoples possessing this territory to prevent communication between the sources of the river and the sea. Navigation on the Danube brings very little benefit to the various states through which it flows - Bavaria, Austria and Hungary - in comparison with what it could provide if one of these states owned the river along its entire length until it flows into the Chernoe sea.
The center of Arab trade in Asia was Baghdad, the residence of the caliphs from the mid-8th century. Built near the ruins of ancient Babylon, it seemed to strive to show the whole world a picture of the former, from the times of antiquity, grandeur and splendor. All the riches of India, Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Persia, and Central Asia were exhibited in the bazaars of Baghdad. All trade routes, forgotten for thousands of years, were rediscovered and revived, and with them many ancient trading cities recovered from the ruins.
Entrepreneurship was no different from that of other ancient states until Rome extended its rule over the entire Apennine Peninsula. Well, and then to the entire Mediterranean basin.
The size of the Roman Empire also impresses our contemporaries. How many modern countries settled on its territory.
Entrepreneurship in Ancient Rome, its development.
With the increase in their territories, a revival of trade begins, especially noticeable with the appearance of Greek settlements on the coast. Industrial production in Ancient Rome (and with it ) was poorly developed. Therefore, the main source of Rome's wealth was conquest and trade.Conquest of Carthage and allowed the Roman merchants to obtain almost the entire Mediterranean market.
An important step after the Roman conquest was the introduction of the Roman monetary system in the conquered countries. The Romans began minting silver coins in the third century BC. Further conquests led to the creation of a huge empire. But now, as before its fall, Rome practically only imported goods, producing nothing.
The economy and entrepreneurship of Ancient Rome relied on the exploitation of conquered territories and turned into a state monopoly. A single currency, uniform measures of weight and size were introduced throughout the empire, and duty-free trade was introduced within the empire. Huge state warehouses and granaries were built for imported goods, where grain was received from Egypt and the Black Sea states. Meat, fish, vegetables and fruits, and even wine and olive oil were imported in huge quantities. State and private trade flourished and allowed the empire to exist safely, carry out grandiose construction, and maintain an army. It is especially necessary to note the construction, its scope and level. The remains of Roman buildings that have survived to this day amaze with their architectural designs and scale. But the predominance of the state-allegarchic economy greatly slowed down the entrepreneurship of Ancient Rome.
Farming in Ancient Rome.
Ancient Roman farming was subsistence. The Roman senator Cato wrote a book about managing the estate. He writes that almost everything necessary for the household was produced on the estate, and only some tools were bought by the owner on the market. The fields were carefully cultivated, the wheat yield was up to 15 centners per hectare. The marketable products of the estate were wine and olive oil. But, nevertheless, Cato writes that the estates did not bring wealth. He wrote that to enrich himself “It is better to engage in trade, but it is dangerous, or usury, but it is not respectable.”
Credit and banking business of Ancient Rome.
Usury played a huge role in the economy of Ancient Rome. In early Roman history, usury was not carried out by Roman citizens, but by residents of Italian cities - Latins. They were not citizens of Rome and the duties of citizens did not apply to them, and usury itself was initially considered a plebeian occupation. But over time, usury became one of the most profitable types in Rome and moneylenders took a prominent place among the Roman nobility.
Moneylenders gave money to the state to wage wars and to manage conquered provinces. But with the increase in the number of conquered provinces, the state needed more and more funds, and it was inconvenient for the state to collect the required amounts from many moneylenders. And moneylenders began to unite into joint-stock companies. So the moneylenders of Rome created the first joint-stock companies - the prototypes of modern ones. Small investors invested their small capital in shares of large joint stock companies. This allowed almost all citizens of Rome to participate in various financial enterprises.
At the same time, large banking associations began to appear. In addition to subsidizing government needs, banks accepted money from Roman citizens as deposits, which they brought from conquests, but they themselves did not risk investing them in trade or production. Banks themselves invested money in various trade transactions and provided loans to production. By the way, the concept "bankruptcy" and its meaning also came into use at this time. Roman bankers conducted their business in the forum, equipped with massive benches on which they were located. So bankruptcy, translated from Latin, means to sweat a place on the forum, to escape from the forum.
Playing more and more important role in economics, bankers began to exert increasing influence on government officials. By providing them with serious financial services, they began to play a significant role in the adoption of government decisions. A class of state allegarchy emerged, mired in luxury, and hated by the lower strata of the population. Isn’t it something very familiar even in modern times? The Roman historian Suetonius, in his biographies of the 12 Caesars, wrote: “Caesar’s funds could in no way dry up, for he possessed highest degree that quality that has at all times distinguished the most “chosen” people of aristocratic origin: the ability to make debts and an even greater ability, even art, to live around in debt, without losing a good mood for a minute because of this.”
The decline of the economy and the collapse of the state.
But this prosperous life of the empire could not last long. Maintaining an army and endless wars required enormous funds, which the devastated conquered provinces could no longer provide. The domestic economy, based not on its own production (not on the development of small and medium-sized businesses), but on trade and usury, was in decline.
In the third century, an economic crisis occurred from which the economy of the Roman Empire could no longer recover. The history of the Roman Empire clearly demonstrated that, without developing free active entrepreneurship, small business, and a free, rather than state-allegarchic economy, the state would certainly decline.
Entrepreneurship and business in Carthage.
History of entrepreneurship would be incomplete without mentioning Carthage. And the history and entrepreneurship of Ancient Rome was inextricably linked with Carthage for a long time. This one of the largest and richest cities of the Ancient world was located on the northern coast of Africa, at the intersection of all the main trade routes of that time. in Carthage was the highest priority. The state structure, military conquests - everything was adapted to the needs of entrepreneurs. The geographical location of Carthage made it possible to import goods from Egypt by caravans, import wood from the depths of Africa, ivory, gold, slaves. Wool, metals, and grain were imported by sea from the European colonies. Perhaps there were no goods in the world at that time that did not pass through Carthage. But it should be noted that the processing industry was very developed in Carthage, and small business was very developed. Factories processed raw materials and supplied fabrics, glass, and metal products to the market.
Carthage's trade balance was always positive. This made it possible to allocate huge funds for the maintenance of the army and for the development of internal infrastructure. The pride of Carthage were its ports. The first artificial port was built in the fourth century BC. Then two more ports were built - military and commercial. The trading port was so large and the trade there was so brisk that in just a few days it was possible to find a ship that would deliver goods to any point in the Mediterranean. At the same time, up to fifty ships were loading and unloading in the commercial port - an unprecedented number for that time.
Almost always, right up to its destruction by the Romans, more goods were exported than imported. And although a lot of goods were produced, their quality was not the highest. For example, goods produced in Greece were of much higher quality. But thanks to mass production and lower costs, products from Carthage were in great demand in all markets (can be compared to today's expansion of goods from Asia into international markets).
| Parameter name | Meaning |
| Article topic: | Ancient Rome. |
| Rubric (thematic category) | Trade |
The emergence of Rome occurred in the 8th century BC.
From the point of view of the social and political structure, it is divided into three periods:
-tsarist period from 8-6 BC Shows expansion to capture neighbors. From its very foundation, the Roman territory was urban. The townspeople are engaged in agricultural work. The land is communally owned. Military commanders were invited for military operations. After being captured by barbarians (Roman generals were invited).
Contemporaries of the Sumerians were people who occupied the territory of Etruscan settlements. There was no single state here. The territory was divided into cities and small settlements. There was coinage, sewerage, water supply, and active trade. They were closer to the Greeks.
The Etruscans became the first Roman kings.
Meal'n'Real. The state took care of its citizens. She led all kinds of performances. Bread was provided. Caring for citizens was adopted from the Etruscans. There was an influx of population from outside. The population of Rome is divided into two categories of citizens:
-patricians- native people.
-plebeians– newcomers (residents of conquered territories, newcomers, etc.). engaged in crafts and trade.
The number of urban residents was increasing, but there was not enough land and food. Why wasn't there enough? The fact is that cultivating the land is a sacred occupation for free citizens; slaves did not cultivate it. Peasants had a small piece of private property and huge fields of communal land. Newcomers were not allowed onto communal lands. They were given small plots of land (about a hectare).
The Romans were not interested in uncultivated land. Roman citizens annexed a third of the captured territory into communal lands.
Agricultural labor was the work of the patricians, while crafts and trade were the responsibility of the plebeians. Until the 3rd century BC. The size of the farm is about 25-30 hectares.
capitalist Extensive intensive capitalist
2 hectares (n.x) 8 hectares 60g 200 hectares
Farming
Personal work.
There was no demand for semi-natural farming. It was not easy for the first plebeians - artisans or traders. The first traders appear - numberers. Why did they appear? Rome wages wars, borders need to be protected, a garrison is placed to protect the borders, colonies appear along the roads (of very good quality), but the roads were intended for military affairs (transportation of military weapons and so on). Road security was carried out only during the transport of military personnel. Merchants did not dare to set foot on the road because of the large number of pirates and robbers.
Further, the plebeians accompanied the goods along the roads. Those products that are not found at home may find demand in remote areas. Retail trade was carried out with the roadside population. Such traders were called merkats.
By the 3rd century BC, Rome had conquered Italy and entered the Mediterranean Sea. Here the interests of Rome collide with the interests of Carthage regarding an independent Sicily. The wars were protracted.
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Why so long? Reason for defeat:
Rome fought land wars, and Carthage fought sea wars. Rome did not have a raft or the skills to conduct military operations at sea.
The Romans learned well from their experience. They also solved the problem of the lack of a raft. The ships were designed in the image and likeness of the captured settlements. Ultimately, the victory was for the Romans.
Consequences of the war:
1) A navy was created. Subsequently, the merchant fleet. Need money. The patricians had the money (they took part in the division of the occupied lands). The lands were worked by their families. There was a limit to private land holdings. There was money left, it needed to be sold. In the 3rd century there was supply (building ships) and demand from traders. Bankers appear (private commercial lending). The value did not exceed 12% per annum, there was a downward trend.
3) After the Cunic Wars, Rome switched to the classical type of slavery. An example of this is the state of Sicily, the Romans free themselves from agricultural labor and are transferred to Sicily. Slaves are living, talking tools. The degree of exploitation increases, but in relation to all slaves. Many slaves were immigrants from the East (poets, artists, musicians), they were promised freedom, cruelty was not used. Many slaves were idle and did not necessarily difficult, menial work. “We need to keep a closer eye on the slaves, they get drunk and riot.” The classic type of slavery, slaves are put on the ground. Now the size of plots is not limited to one family. The concentration of land begins to increase. Large land holdings appear: Villas(Italian territory, wide specialization, small areas) and Latifundia(highly specialized, grain, amounted to 10 and 100 thousand hectares). Grain farming in Rome is unprofitable.
4) The growth of large commercial and more specialized landholdings will lead to the ruin of small ones. This caused an unhealthy environment and tension. Brothers (Grabski)???? carried out a reform of large land ownership. They wanted to return to private ownership, all the rest of the land would be transferred to the community fund and be divided among the community members. This implied the division of private property. Οʜᴎ died. But they started a slow-moving machine - dividing the land, distributing bread. Next is medical care, etc. The peasants are going bankrupt and cannot withstand the competition. There is an influx of peasants into the cities. The outflow of peasants affected the performance of the Roman army. Commander Mari carries out military reform. Military reform was due to the fact that there were fewer people willing, the peasants were going bankrupt, because the limitation of land allotment was semi-natural. Now, as in a capitalist economy, the concentration of land in one hand is growing. The ruin of small peasants in favor of large ones. Subsistence farming is becoming a thing of the past. A hired, professional army was formed from the ruined peasants, whose military personnel received salaries. In Rome, the service period was 16 (after 20 years), then the military man retired and received a land allotment. This led to the fact that the state had to seize land in order to pay. Cities are born from military settlements. Οʜᴎ became overgrown with civilians (civilian families). The settlements of the legionnaires turned into cities, because slavery was included (the peasant did not need to work on the land himself), the peasant himself could not work on the land (after such a long break in the war), the lands were sold.
5) Emergence of martial societies. This is an economic structure that combines its capital. In case there are not enough own funds, and bankers have high interest rates. Such martial societies are characteristic of the Middle Ages. This is due to the fact that sea trade is very risky (pirates, storms) and transporting cargo on your ship is very risky, in connection with this, traders rallied and distributed goods across several ships.
Lecture 3 02/24/11
(continuation)
State income was generated from tax (tribute). The Romans did not pay taxes; the Roman state shifted the tax burden to the conquered population. Rome did not have a uniform tax rate. The amount of taxes directly depended on the resistance of the occupied territories.
Almost the entire territory of Italy paid low taxes.
The colonial economy worked for the Roman Empire.
There were also customs duties. The main load of goods was at the mouth of the Tigris. The size did not exceed 2.6% of the imported goods. Relatively low customs duties depend on the indirect influence of the state. The fact is that there was no economic policy in Rome, because there was nothing to defend (for example, like protectionism in other countries). Rome cared about the quality of imported goods.
There was an extraordinary loan. Budget revenues were financed by colonies and provincial settlements. This aroused discontent.
Absent from Rome until the 1st century AD state apparatus. (previously in Russia the merchants were responsible for collecting taxes in the 16th century, rent - quitrent, corvee, etc.). Farming basis: there was no bureaucracy, tax farmers were called published- an elected official. Elected this person on a competitive basis, for a period of up to 5 years and the condition for occupying this position was to pay the entire amount of taxes in advance. Then the tax farmer will extract more money from the population and naturally this led to an increase in taxes. As a result, in the 1st century there were uprisings of the provinces and slaves.
Rome is included in civil wars. Caesar.
Further, what Caesar started is carried out by his nephew Augustus (conducted financial reform). Augustus simplifies the tax-farming system and creates a staff of tax collection officials who receive salaries. Thanks to these reforms, Rome will prosper for another 200 years, but the crisis will not be reversed in the 3rd century.
Causes of the crisis of the late Roman Empire:
1) The transition from offensive wars to defensive ones against barbarians.
2) Protracted agrarian crisis (sharp climate change).
In the 2nd century BC, Rome faces hordes - the Huns, who laid the wheel, and is gaining momentum. Cooling led to raids by the Huns (more mobile)
Barbarian tribes:
Sedentary
Seminomadic
Nomads
Historians divide these categories by speed of advancement. So the Huns were nomads. They galloped through all the territories where there was food.
The cold weather affects the movements of the tribes. Affects the profitability of small peasant farms. The ruin of small peasants, they either sell or abandon their lands and head to the cities. You can live in the city without working. The peasants will not work (after all, work is for slaves), and funds are needed to open a workshop. They will continue to drag on with the lumpen lifestyle.
The victorious wars are over. Slave prices began to rise. Many landowners are switching to “raising slaves” naturally. Keeping slaves becomes expensive. Landowners are moving to new form slavery – colonata. (picks are a fairly patriarchal form of ownership)
Colon is a tenant.
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Owners of large land estates who split their estates into small pieces and rent them out. Initially, the colons gave land to free peasants. Gradually, land was also leased to slaves. The line between free and slaves is erased, everyone is called colons.
Serfdom established in the Code of Constantine (early 4th century)
Pikuli existed at the end of the 3rd-4th century BC. When a slave owner can provide a slave with a plot of land, which was called pickles. The slave gave part of the harvest to his master. After the transition to classic slavery, pickles will become a thing of the past. ???? disassemble.
The number of cities is growing, which leads to problems:
The rich lived in their villas with sewers and water pipes, while the poorest lived in terrible multi-story monstrosities (domuses or insulas). There were no water pipes or sewers, complete unsanitary conditions, public restrooms, baths. Joint baths and libraries formed some kind of cultural evenings. Complete unsanitary conditions lead to epidemics.
And in the 2nd century the trade balance took a negative value (they exported more than they imported)
Doctors' institutions are established to treat the sick. Appears state loan in the 2nd century.
To help orphans, the state creates elementary funds. The money was transferred to the funds free of charge. To replenish these funds, part of the funds is allocated as long-term loans to small landowners.
Government expenses are growing, there are not enough coins, the trade balance is negative, the state is following the simplest path. Writhing coins: increase in the proportion of ligature (the proportion rose to 90%). This had a huge impact on the price level, the coin depreciated, traders raised prices. This was the first hyperinflation in world history. In order to fight, the state is introducing taxation– establishment of maximum prices on the market and wages for hired workers. There is a massive transition to barter. (a huge step back). The state resigns itself and introduces Annona– tax in kind in favor of the army. To pay the annona, economic accounting was carried out and, based on solvency, this tax was introduced. Villagers - agricultural labor, artisans - manufactured products, in cities, members of state councils compensated for arrears from their own funds. People are starting to shirk government jobs. Next, the population was assigned to professions and places of residence. The population is turning from citizens into subjects.
In 395, Theodosius divides the Empire into western and eastern. The western ceases to exist in 478, and the eastern another 1000 years
During the dawn period, handicraft production did not develop. Agriculture developed and most importantly. Three elements of a single market:
Unified monetary system. WAS
Unified customs system. WAS
Market with uniform prices. NO there was no quick transfer of goods. There was no infrastructure, no transport. The roads were of a strategic nature.
(here we are talking about the villages of Egypt, other India)
Lecture 4 03/10/11
The formation of feudalism in the 5th-8th centuries. History is usually divided into three parts:
New time
Latest, etc.
The period frames are flexible.
End of 5th century. The end of the Roman government. The upper boundaries are the end of the 16th century Great Geographical Discoveries. Let us consider the feudal relations of the Franks. From this tribe subsequently grew a powerful empire and power. The Franks most clearly manifested the main features of the formation of feudal relations.
The Frankish tribes (living close to the borders of the Roman Empire) were farmers and had a high level of development. After the conquest of the Roman Empire, the process of mutual assimilation of the languages and customs of the Romans began. Tribes are being cultivated.
Feudal relations from the 5th to the 8th century were the mutual penetration of customs and mores.
Kingdom of the Franks.
In the 5th century, they built a military democracy (all internal issues were resolved at a national assembly, under the leadership of the military leader - the king)
The entire population was civil uprising. The king came to military operations with a certain detachment (a mass of militia). In the absence of commodity-money relations, payment for military service was land.
Community, obtaining land
(Franks) RI
Private ownership of land or rent appears.
King Duke, Count, Marquis, Chevalier,
The king leaves a certain part of the land for himself, the rest is divided among his inner circle: Duke (Counts similarly surround themselves with subjects).
The kings of the Franks go over to binifications- conditional, private ownership of land. (conditional property patrimony, boyar estates)
The binifications did not last long. There is a powerful offensive of the Arabs and Tatars. The Frankish kings could not provide protection to the border authorities. They sign certificates of immunity, according to which they are exempt from the protection of these territories. The lands have been called feudal since then.
The evolution of forms of land ownership goes from private, to binification and then to feudal (feudal)
Feudal relations. In order to be able to talk about feudal relations.
Feudal land ownership (fiefs and alods). They finally took shape by the 8th-9th centuries.
Feudal dependent peasants. Against the backdrop of the formation of property, categories of peasants:
There were no homogeneously dependent serfs.
1) Serbs– the group falls into dependence in the fifth century. Descendants of Roman peasants. Direct coercion. All three forms of addiction: land, administrative, personal.
2) Appears by the 7th century, consolidated in the 9th-10th century. Vilans. Prikarnye letters, the meaning of which is as follows: the peasant renounces his land, but at the same time they are protected from enemy attacks. The peasant fell into administrative dependence, and then land dependence. Now the cross became not the owner, but the user, and had to pay taxes.
Feudal economy:
-corvée- feudal plowing was divided into two fields, lordly and allotment. On the allotment land, the peasants worked for themselves, on the lordly land they worked off corvee. Land rent appears.
-quitrent - all the land is transferred as an allotment to the peasants who work on it and transfer part of the produced product to their feudal lord.
There could not have been food rent in the 5th-6th century. For what? There is no trade, there is no need to accumulate goods.
Grocery rent is replacing working rent.
Difference between rent and tax:
Polyudie- ϶ᴛᴏ tax. Feeding replaces the population (the product coming from the peasants changes and is divided into two parts: one part goes to the prince; what remains is land rent).
Aloids– private ownership of land. Nothing was given for the use of the land.
At the stage of binification, land rent also appears.
Fiefs are feudal land ownership.
8th century, beginning of the 9th century a feudal society emerged.
If we take the territory of Italy, for example, where peasants became dependent in the 5th century, then we should not talk about feudal relations, but about slaveholding relations.
The Crusades began in the 11th century. The peasants are transferred to cash rent. (the incompatibility of slavery with peasant morality). Serbs are transferred to this quitrent.
By the 10th century, all the land of western Europe became fiefs. “There is no land without a lord.” The territory is covered by the network castles- territory in which it is possible to survive a long siege (water supplies, food production). A closed territory independent of trade.
In areas such as England and north-eastern Germany there were many tenants. Rental relations in individual lands arose faster than the peasants became dependent. In England, not all peasants signed picares. The land is low-fertility, he must be guaranteed to receive quitrent (inconsistency)))
The lease term was 100 years.
An inheritance in which land passes to the eldest son. The rest of the children do not receive land, but receive movable property(weapons, livestock). Robbery appears.
The rule of Majority (majority law) is a form of transfer of land by inheritance, in which the land passes to the eldest son, the remaining children receive movable property.
In Rus', boyar estates were divided, and the estates were transferred to the youngest son, and the older sons went to military service - the estate.
Peter's Decree on Single Inheritance: the lands are transferred to one of the sons, the rest are for service with a salary.
Catherine 2 - freedom for the nobility - fragmentation of estates.
Napoleon's French Revolution abolished the rules of the mojorate. France lags behind (4th place), because the main part land fund(90%) - small holding, about 2 hectares - subsistence farming.
It is important to note that capitalist farms or collective farms are important for the country as a whole.
Ancient Rome. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Ancient Rome." 2017, 2018.
IN ancient times trade in Italy was limited to relations between neighboring communities. Early on, periodic fairs appeared to coincide with festivals; the most significant of these was at Soracta, an Etruscan mountain near Rome. Trade probably took place here before the Greek or Phoenician merchant appeared in central Italy. The instruments of exchange were cattle, slaves, and later metal (copper) in weight ingots, Favorable geographical position Rome soon made it a storage point for all of Latium.
The initial modest exchange was revived when Greek settlements appeared in Italy, and Etruscan merchants established close relations with the Greeks. The settlements on the eastern coast of Italy began to come into direct contact with Greece; Latium exchanged its raw materials for manufactures with the southern Italian and Sicilian Greeks. This state of affairs continued until Rome began to extend its rule to the natural borders of Italy. Roman denarii, says Mommsen, were not one step behind the Roman legions. And Rome’s overseas wars were partly caused by the trade interests of the republic.
Rome did not become an industrial center capable of competing with the East and Carthage; only trade on a large scale could become a real source of wealth for him. The Punic Wars, which crushed Carthage, and the campaign in Greece, which put an end to Corinth, gave the Roman merchants the opportunity to put their capital into circulation. The first step after the Roman conquest was usually the introduction of the Roman monetary system. Silver coins came into use from the 3rd century BC. e., and gold (mainly in bullion) - during the Punic Wars. Port duties have become an important financial item. The countries of the East joined the circle of countries with which the Romans had relations. But even now, as until the end of its days, Rome exclusively imported, paying for overseas products with the gold that was collected in the conquered countries by the state and tax farmers.
The empire brought peace to the world, which was primarily reflected in the streamlining and regulation of trade. Customs barriers no longer hampered trade, the roads were safe from robbers, and the seas were not swarming with pirates. Of the institutions from the times of the empire, horrea - state warehouses, mainly granaries, where African and Egyptian grain was received, deserve attention. The second place among imported items was meat. Whole herds were brought to Rome from abroad; dairy products came from Gaul and Britain. A wide variety of fish were consumed both fresh and salted and pickled. Vegetables and fruits also came from abroad in huge quantities; Carthage and Cordoba were famous for artichokes, Germany for asparagus, Egypt for lentils; apples came from Africa, Syria and Numidia, plums from Syria and Armenia, cherries from Pontus, peaches from Persia, apricots from Armenia, pomegranates from Carthage. Italy produced a lot of wine in general, but even in the era of the empire there was not enough of it; wine was brought from Greece, Asia Minor, the islands, and later from Gaul and Raetia. The oil, consumed in huge quantities in the baths, was delivered from Africa. Salt was also a major trade item. For Roman houses and villas, furniture made of valuable wood, sofas decorated with silver, marble, and precious statues were brought from afar. Phenicia, Africa and Syria supplied purple fabrics, China - silk and silk fabrics; tanned leather came from Phenicia, Babylonia, Parthia, sandals - from Lycia (the famous factory in Patara), bronze and copper - from Greece and Etruria, swords, daggers, armor - from Spain.
In the 1st and 3rd centuries, the Roman Empire represented the greatest area of free trade that history has ever known. The unity of coins, measures and weights, the free navigation of everyone everywhere, the flourishing state of industry in Spain, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Northern Italy, partly Greece, the high level of agriculture in Africa and on the Black Sea coast - all this contributed to the prosperity of trade. The accidental discovery of Ceylon under Claudius indicated a new route to India. But this prosperity did not last long. Under Diocletian, a terrible economic crisis occurred, from which Roman trade could no longer recover. In vain did the emperors try to improve matters by establishing close guardianship over all spheres of economic life, regulating agriculture, crafts, and trade. Everything was in vain, since the state pursued not national economic, but fiscal goals. International relations continued to decline, and then barbarians appeared, and a terrible decline in culture ended the history of the Roman Empire.
4. Metal money or coins (copper, silver, gold) were made different shapes: first there were piece ones, then by weight. Later, the coin began to have distinctive features established by the state: the appearance of the coin, its weight. The round shape of the coin turned out to be the most convenient to handle; its front side was called - obverse, reverse - reverse, sawn-off shotgun - edge
The first round metal money appeared in Lydia, back in the 7th century BC, in what is now Turkey. They were made in the form of coins made of electrum (a type of gold with a high silver content). From Lydia, coinage quickly spread to Greece. Each coin bore an image of the city's patron god. Somewhere in the middle of the 5th century BC, coins were brought to a single standard and were minted only from silver and gold. This was done to facilitate trade and to more accurately determine the value of a coin. On each coin there were symbols indicating the place of production.
Greek monetary culture has had a huge influence on modern money. It was the Greeks who were the first to emboss images of living people on coins. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, minting technology using two molds for obverse And reverse spread to all territories under his control. Rome and later Western Europe began to mint coins based on this technology. IN Kievan Rus The first minted coins appeared in the 9th and 10th centuries. In circulation at the same time there were zlatniks - coins made of gold, and srebreniks - coins made of silver.
Metal money made of gold has gained enormous popularity. The country completely switched to gold circulation in the mid-19th century. The leader among these countries was Great Britain. As you know, it had a huge number of colonies and dominions, so Great Britain took first place in gold production. The reasons for the transition to gold circulation were the properties of the noble metal:
- Uniformity in quality;
- Divisibility and connection without losing their properties;
- High concentration of value;
- Storability;
- Difficulty in extraction and processing.
The properties of gold made this metal most suitable for fulfilling the purpose of money. But gold circulation did not last long in the world. After the First World War, the demonetization of gold began - the process of gradual loss of the functions of money by gold. Gold was a competitor to the dollar, so the United States tried to abolish gold as the basis of the world monetary system. After World War II, the United States established an exchange rate for foreign central banks, at which the dollar was exchanged for gold. This strengthened the global position of the dollar. In the 70s, at the Jamaica Conference, a decision was made to exclude gold from circulation. Today, monetary reserves consist of foreign currency and gold. This is called the gold exchange standard.
2. Regulations of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dated November 1, 1996 N 50 “On the performance of transactions with precious metals by credit institutions on the territory of the Russian Federation and the procedure for conducting banking transactions with precious metals” approved by Order of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation dated November 1, 1996 N 02-400 introduced concepts that and determine the work with ingots:
- Banks are credit organizations that, in accordance with the established procedure, have received a license (permission) from the Bank of Russia to carry out transactions with precious metals.
- Precious metals are bars of gold, silver, platinum and palladium, as well as coins made of precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium), with the exception of coins that are currency Russian Federation.
- Precious metal ingots are standard or measured ingots of Russian production, corresponding state standards, operating in the Russian Federation, and foreign production, complying with international quality standards adopted by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and London Platinum and Palladium Market Participants (LPPM).
To comply with the requirements of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) and the London Platinum Group Metals Association (LPMG), precious metal bars produced by Russian factories and meeting the requirements of national and international standards comply with the following parameters:
- composition with a certain admixture,
- a certain shape
- a certain mass.
All precious metal bars bear mandatory marks, which include:
- Serial number;
- Try;
- Letters of precious metals;
- Manufacturer's mark;
- Year of manufacture;
- Bar weight in grams or ounces.
Of the marks listed above, the sample is in a special place. Sample is a kind of quality sign. When applied to precious metals - gold, silver, platinum and palladium - hallmark has two meanings:
- this is a state mark, a guarantee of the usefulness of bars or coins in circulation;
- This is an indication of the weight content of the precious metal in a unit of the alloy.
In accordance with the metric system, the sample shows how many grams of precious metals are contained in 1000 grams of the product. Pure metal corresponds to the 1000th sample.
3. Coins are metal plates with a pattern that determines their monetary value. The very first coins were made in the 7th century BC, in Asia Minor, namely in the kingdom of Lydia (today the territory of Turkey) from a natural alloy of silver and gold - electra. The design that was stamped on the coins confirmed the weight and value of each piece of metal. The stamping process is called embossing. The minted design played the role of the ruler’s personal seal, which guaranteed the accuracy of the coin’s weight. The experience of minting coins turned out to be successful and soon spread throughout Europe. The appearance of other types of metal money can be attributed to the same era: copper coins in the Northern Black Sea region and Italy, miniature tools and imitation bronze shells in China, silver rings in Thailand, gold and silver bars in Japan. Some ancient coins have survived to this day; they can be found in museums around the world.
The weight of Lydian coins was measured in staters (over 14 grams). Fractional coins up to 1/96 of a stater were also minted. The cast blank was slightly flattened, and then a design was applied to the stamp with a hammer. The anvil was engraved with the emblem of the Lydian kings - the head of a lion, and this image was minted on the reverse (600 BC).
Coinage quickly spread throughout the Hellenic world. Coins often featured mintage emblems. The lion is the symbol of Caria in Asia Minor; vase, cuttlefish and turtle - the islands of Andros, Keos and Aegina. The beetle was familiar to Athens. The date of issue of these coins can be determined: they were discovered in the foundations of the temple of the goddess Artemis in Ephesus, built around 560 BC.
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6. COIN DAMAGE- reduction by public authorities of the weight or fineness of coins while maintaining their previous nominal value in order to generate income through this. Medieval Europe had many mints. Every duke sought to open a coin workshop. This was very profitable: more and more coins were produced from the same amount of silver. They thought that if they minted several dozen more coins from a pound of silver, then they could buy more goods. For a short period of time this was indeed the case. But very soon such a lighter coin lost its value and its purchasing power fell.
Kings, princes, counts again increased the number of coins minted from the same pound and again extracted short-term monetary benefits, without caring about the future. This was the selfish activity of feudal lords, not caring about the state, the people, or the benefits of trade. The narrow class interests of the upper crust of society led to the collapse of monetary circulation, sometimes to the disappearance of silver from markets in general, and to economic breakdown.
It happened that in some city coins were minted for 2 - 5 years, and then the issue of coins stopped. Often not only economic, but also political goals were set: in this way the ruler wanted to declare himself and his sovereignty or the conquest of this city. They established monetary circulation according to those standards that, as it seemed to the coiners and the government, would be most convenient for the given area. Coins were issued according to the new weight standard, but in order to transform the entire monetary circulation, a lot of metal and large funds were required. Such a mint usually did not have them. And so, having issued two or three series of coins, the court ceased to exist. Farming out money matters became a common phenomenon. Money minting brought great income. The government considered it profitable for itself to receive from some merchant in advance for several years an amount of money that would constitute income from coinage. In return, the merchant-farmer was given the right to mint coins in such and such a city, on such and such conditions, of course, in compliance with certain coin types, with the obligatory minting of coins on behalf of the ruler. Tax-farmers were already present in Ancient Rome: at one of its mints there was a position of tax-farmer of the imperial royal casting. There were especially many of them in medieval Europe. It is clear that tax farmers, trying to increase the income that the minting of coins brought, spoiled them by reducing their weight.
In 1621-1623 In Germany, money damage has become a national disaster. Groups of coiners set up their workshops in abandoned towers on the main roads. Each impoverished baron could establish a mint in his castle, buy good, full-weight coins, melt them down and issue bad ones of less weight or low standard. “The princes forbid soldiers, but allow coiners to rob people and the country,” people said in those years. When they managed to catch some swindler, an underground counterfeiter, he was punished. The reporting documents of some coin workshops of that time indicated a special expense item for the construction of... furnaces for burning counterfeiters.
Counterfeiters were punished severely, but the lords and knights, counts and dukes who issued coins were no better than these criminals. The French king Philip IV the Fair was also called Philip the Counterfeiter for encouraging the destruction of money at the royal mints.
The deterioration of money led to the fact that many coins began to contain very little silver. Before 1280, the Cologne pfennig, for example, weighed 1.315 g of silver. And at the end of the 14th century. it contained no more than 0.075 g of silver.
In the Middle Ages, a penny was a large silver coin, denarius grossus - “thick denarius”. The degeneration of its value and the deterioration of this coin led to the fact that the word “penny” began to be used as a synonym for the smallest, most insignificant coin.
The first paper money appeared in medieval China, where it was widely used from the 11th to the 14th centuries. The first attempts to introduce paper money into circulation were made already during the reign of the Tang dynasty (618-907). The practice of credit institutions and the culture of paper production, established in China back in the 5th century, reached high level development, suggested the form of new banknotes - made of paper. By this time, there was a shortage of copper in the country, and therefore paper money quite harmoniously solved this problem. The formation of paper money circulation occurred during the reign of the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
It is curious that paper money had its own prototype - leather money. They were used since 118 BC and were square pieces of white suede. Along the edges of this money there was multi-colored production. Leather money was freely exchanged for goods.
Paper money was first used in Sichuan Province. The reason for this was a constant shortage of copper, the main component of bronze. Thus, the decision was made to switch from bronze coins to paper money. Speculation with paper money began immediately after its introduction into circulation. And although the denomination of the banknote corresponded to a certain amount of silver or silk, in practice conversion was prohibited.
Soon the money supply reached colossal proportions, which caused serious inflation. Nevertheless, trade picked up noticeably and the economy began to develop faster. By 1106, inflation had worsened; and in 1217, the credibility of paper money suffered even more due to insufficient security and rising costs in the conditions of the war with the Mongols. The most successful use of paper money occurred in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). This was due to the convertibility of paper money into bronze or silver. Undoubtedly, the ban on the free circulation of precious metals had the most beneficial effect on the reputation of paper money. Taxes also began to be collected in banknotes. Price stability was also maintained by the free circulation of paper money throughout the country.
But this situation did not last long. During the next war, a shortage of funds emerged in the country, which soon led to a sharp jump in inflation and the disappearance of paper money.
7. Byzantine trade. In many cities Byzantine Empire trade flourished, for example in Thessaloniki (Greece), Ephesus and Trebizond (Asia Minor) or Chersonese (Crimea). Some cities had their own specialization. Corinth and Thebes, as well as Constantinople itself, were famous for their silk production. As in Western Europe, merchants and artisans were organized into guilds. A good idea of \u200b\u200btrade in Constantinople is given by the book compiled in the 10th century. The book of the eparch, containing a list of rules for artisans and traders of both everyday goods, such as candles, bread or fish, and luxury goods. Some luxury goods, such as the finest silks and brocades, could not be exported. They were intended only for the imperial court and could only be exported abroad as imperial gifts, for example to kings or caliphs. The import of goods could only be carried out in accordance with certain agreements. A number of trade agreements were concluded with friendly peoples, in particular with the Eastern Slavs, who created in the 9th century. own state. Along the great Russian rivers, the Eastern Slavs descended south to Byzantium, where they found ready markets for their goods, mainly furs, wax, honey and slaves. The leading role of Byzantium in international trade was based on income from port services. However, in the 11th century. there was an economic crisis. The gold solidus (known in the West as the bezant, the Byzantine currency) began to depreciate. Byzantine trade began to be dominated by the Italians, in particular the Venetians and Genoese, who achieved such excessive trade privileges that the imperial treasury was seriously depleted, and it lost control over most of the customs duties. Even trade routes began to bypass Constantinople. At the end of the Middle Ages, the eastern Mediterranean flourished, but all the wealth was by no means in the hands of the emperors.
8. Commodity production- a form of social production in which products are produced not for one’s own consumption, but for exchange, arises on the basis of the social division of labor, and is carried out by economically isolated producers. Simple technology originates during the period of disintegration of the primitive communal system. The exchange of products of labor as goods, which initially took place between individual communities, with the development of productive forces and the emergence of the possibility of individual production, penetrates into the community. In pre-capitalist formations, technology, although it received a certain development, was not the main form economic ties between people. In those conditions, subsistence farming prevailed. As trade developed, including foreign trade, thanks to which the farms of slave owners and feudal lords were drawn into the sphere of commodity-money relations, the development and expansion of trade undermined the natural economy, thereby contributing to the disintegration of the slave-owning and feudal modes of production. Commodity farming, in contrast to natural farming, presupposes a connection between producers and consumers of products through the market, through the purchase and sale of goods. Each owner pursues his own interests, therefore the process of production, exchange and distribution in society, based on private property, acquires a spontaneous, anarchic character. V.I. Lenin characterized industrial production as an economic system in which products are produced by separate, isolated producers, each of whom specializes in the production of one particular product, so that in order to satisfy social needs, the purchase and sale of products (which therefore become goods) on the market."Further deepening of the social division of labor leads to the expansion of the internal market for means of production and consumer goods, the labor market. Simple manufacturing due to the action of its inherent laws and, above all, the law of value in the presence of certain historical conditions leads to the emergence of capitalist labor power. Labor power becomes an object of purchase and sale, that is, it turns into a commodity. For capitalism, the commodity form of production becomes dominant and universal. All products are manufactured as commodities. However, the most essential feature of capitalist industrial production is that the basic production relation of capitalism—the relation of exploitation of wage labor by capital—has a commodity form. Capitalism arises and exists on the basis of simple technology, but capitalist technology is a more complex form compared to simple technology. Capitalist production is of the same type as simple production (based on private ownership of the means and results of production), but differs significantly from it: simple commodity producers are small private owners; they use the means of production that belong to them, while in a capitalist enterprise the means of production belong to capitalists, and workers are deprived of them; simple labor is based on the personal labor of the commodity producer, and capitalist labor is based on the exploitation of the labor of others; simple manufacturing represents the individual production of artisans and peasants to satisfy personal needs; in a capitalist enterprise, the joint labor of many workers under the command of the capitalist is used to make a profit. The main contradiction of simple industrial production - the contradiction between private and social labor - develops into the main contradiction of capitalist production - between the social nature of production and the private capitalist form of appropriation.
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