‘Weights of Gold in Bullion’: How the Ancients Invested in Precious Metals

Section of a priestly crown with Helios driving a quadriga, gold, gorgippia, North Pontus, 1st period AD. Credit: Wikipedia / sailko / CC BY-SA 3.0

The ancient Greeks and Romans understood that “whoever has wealth sails with a just breeze”.

By Konstantine Panegyres

“All I privation is an income of 20,000 sesterces from unafraid investments”, proclaims a quality successful a poem by Juvenal (1st-2nd period CE), the Roman poet.

Today, 20,000 sesterces would beryllium equivalent to astir A$300,000 successful involvement from investments. Anyone would beryllium precise blessed with this overmuch passive yearly income.

Like today, radical successful past times understood that investing wealth could assistance them consolidate and turn their wealth.

As the Roman novelist Petronius (1st period CE) erstwhile wrote,

Whoever has wealth sails with a just breeze, and governs his luck arsenic helium wishes.

So, however precisely did past radical put their money?

A lofty location with hidden silver

In past Greek and Roman times, determination was nary banal marketplace wherever you could bargain and commercialized shares successful a company.

If you wanted to put your cash, 1 of the much fashionable options was to get golden oregon silver.

People did this to support against currency fluctuations and inflation. They usually kept the metals either successful bullion signifier oregon successful the signifier of ware similar jewellery. Storing these items could beryllium risky and prone to theft.

The Roman writer Virgil (70-19 BCE) describes the property of a affluent idiosyncratic that included “a lofty house, wherever talents of metallic prevarication profoundly hidden” alongside “weights of golden in bullion and successful ware”.

A endowment was the largest portion of currency measurement successful ancient Greece and Rome, equivalent to astir 25kg of weighed silver.

Usually the metals were stored successful a peculiar vault oregon information cupboard.

The Roman writer Cicero (106-43 BCE) recalls however a affluent woman named Clodia would instrumentality golden (perhaps bars oregon ingots oregon plates) retired of a information cupboard erstwhile she wished to lend wealth to someone. The golden could past beryllium exchanged for coinage.

Market booms – and busts

The terms of these metals could, however, occasionally beryllium taxable to unpredictable fluctuations and crashes successful price, though little often than currency.

The Greek historiographer Polybius (c. 200-118 BCE) says that erstwhile a caller golden vein was discovered successful Aquileia, Italy, lone 2 feet deep, it caused a golden rush. The caller worldly flooded the marketplace excessively rapidly and “the terms of golden passim Italy astatine erstwhile fell by one-third” aft lone 2 months. To stabilize the golden price, mining successful the country was rapidly monopolized and regulated.

When radical wanted to commercialized precious metals, they would merchantability them by weight. If the golden oregon metallic oregon bronze had been worked into jewelry oregon different objects, this could beryllium melted down and turned into bullion.

People indispensable person delighted successful owning these precious metals.

The Athenian writer Xenophon (c. 430-350 BCE) gives a hint astir the mindset of past metallic investors:

Silver is not similar furniture, of which a antheral ne'er buys much erstwhile helium has got capable for his house. No 1 ever yet possessed truthful overmuch metallic arsenic to privation nary more; if a antheral finds himself with a immense magnitude of it, helium takes arsenic overmuch pleasance successful burying the surplus arsenic successful utilizing it.

A fig of Roman wills uncover radical leaving their heirs metallic and golden successful the signifier of bars, plates oregon ingots.

Commodities that could not beryllium ‘ruined by Jupiter’

Aside from metals, cultivation commodities were besides precise popular, particularly grain, olive oil, and wine.

To nett from cultivation commodities, radical bought farmland and traded the commodities connected the market.

The Roman statesman Cato thought putting wealth into the accumulation of indispensable goods was the safest investment. He said these things “could not beryllium ruined by Jupiter” – successful different words, they were resistant to unpredictable movements successful the economy.

Whereas precious metals were a store of wealth, they generated nary income unless they were sold. But a diversified portfolio of cultivation commodities guaranteed a imperishable income.

People besides invested and traded successful precious goods, similar artworks.

When the Romans sacked the metropolis of Corinth successful 146 BC, they stole the city’s postulation of celebrated artwork, and aboriginal sold the masterpieces for immense sums of wealth astatine auction successful bid to bring nett for the Roman state.

At this auction, the King of Pergamon, Attalus II (220-138 BCE), bought 1 of the paintings, by the maestro creator Aristeides of Thebes (4th period BCE), for the unthinkable sum of 100 talents (about 2,500kg of silver).

Eccentric emperors

Political instability oregon uncertainty sometimes raised the terms of these metals.

The Greek historiographer Appian (2nd period CE) records however during the Roman civilian warfare successful 32-30 BCE:

the terms of each commodities had risen, and the Romans ascribed the origin of this to the quarrelling of the leaders whom they cursed. 

Eccentric emperors mightiness besides enforce caller taxes oregon charges connected commodities, oregon effort to manipulate the market.

The Roman historiographer Suetonius (c. 69-122 CE) tells america the emperor Caligula (12-41 CE) “levied caller and unheard of taxes […] and determination was nary people of commodities oregon men connected which helium did not enforce immoderate signifier of tariff”.

Another emperor, Vespasian (17-79 CE), went truthful acold arsenic to “buy up definite commodities simply successful bid to administer them astatine profit”, says Suetonius.

Clearly, investing successful commodities 2,000 years agone could assistance physique idiosyncratic wealthiness – but besides progressive immoderate risk, conscionable similar today.

Konstantine Panegyres is simply a Lecturer successful Classics and Ancient History astatine the University of Western Australia.

The nonfiction was published in The Conversation and is republished nether a Creative Commons license.