History of Money, Banking, and Trade
A historical look at the development and evolution of money, banking, and trade. From the ancient civilizations to the present.
History of Money, Banking, and Trade
Latest Episodes
Episode 59. Rome’s Financial Peak and Hidden Cracks (68–180 CE): From Nero to Marcus Aurelius
Rome didn’t just conquer with legions. It conquered with cash flow, credibility, and contracts and then it quietly broke the very engine that paid for its golden age. We walk through the most consequential 112 years in Roman financial history, ...
Episode 58. The Architect, the Steward, and the Showman — Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, and the Debasement That Started It All
Nero is famous for fire and scandal, but his most lasting move is quieter: he changes the denarius. We follow the early Roman Empire from Augustus’s careful fiscal rebuild to the moment Nero discovers a tool every government eventually confront...
Episode 57. Two Roman Stories: A Credit Crunch and Volcanic Explosion
Rome didn’t just build roads and legions, it built a credit machine. And in 33 CE, that machine seized up in a way that feels painfully familiar: a property crash, a liquidity freeze, bank failures, panic hoarding, and a government rescue that ...
Episode 56. Rome Becomes Powerful When Its Money Does
Rome is not just marble temples and marching legions. It is benches in the Forum where money changers listen to coins ring, wax tablets that lock in loans, and quiet banking networks that keep grain ships moving and armies paid. Once you look a...
Episode 55. The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage, and Power
Rome and Carthage don’t start as mortal enemies, they start as trading partners signing treaties that quietly reveal who holds real power at sea. From the very first agreement, Carthage looks like the obvious favorite: a Phoenician-descended co...
