Ancient World Review

Medieval England Twice As Well Off As Today's Poorest Nations

The common picture of the Middle Ages as being a time of  grinding poverty, illiteracy and subsistence living when the peasants spent their lives digging up filth in the fields is all wrong:

"Medieval England was not only far more prosperous than previously believed, it also actually boasted an average income that would be more than double the average per capita income of the world’s poorest nations today." Source: Science Daily (2010).

"... [This] research provides the first annual estimates of GDP for England between 1270 and 1700 and for Great Britain between 1700 and 1870. Far more data are available for the pre-1870 period than is widely realised. Britain after the Norman conquest (11th century) was a literate and numerate society that generated substantial written records, many of which have survived. As a result, the research was aided by a wide variety of records -- among them manorial records, tithes, farming records, and probate records."

Wars and outbreaks of disease disrupted the economy in certain places and times, just like they do today, but medieval Europe in general was much more prosperous than commonly believed:

 "Trade and commerce in the medieval world developed to such an extent that even relatively small communities had access to weekly markets and, perhaps a day’s travel away, larger but less frequent fairs, where the full range of consumer goods of the period was set out to tempt the shopper and small retailer. Markets and fairs were organised by large estate owners, town councils, and some churches and monasteries, who, granted a license to do so by their sovereign, hoped to gain revenue from stall holder fees and boost the local economy as shoppers used peripheral services. International trade had been present since Roman times but improvements in transportation and banking, as well as the economic development of northern Europe, caused a boom from the 9th century CE." (Ancient History Encyclopedia)

The market as an institution dates back to the 8th century BC in Greece, according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary.

Related: The Essence of Money - A Medieval Tale. (Short video on the "market money" used in medieval trade fairs.)

With an estimated per capita annual income of around $1000 (1990 dollars), medieval England was much better off than places like modern Zaire, Haiti, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, just to name a few of the countries listed for comparison purposes in this study:

According to the researchers, "Our work sheds new light on England's economic past, revealing that per capita incomes in medieval England were substantially higher than the 'bare bones subsistence' levels experienced by people living in poor countries in our modern world. The majority of the British population in medieval times could afford to consume what we call a 'respectability basket' of consumer goods that allowed for occasional luxuries. By the late Middle Ages, the English people were in a position to afford a varied diet including meat, dairy produce and ale, as well as the less highly processed grain products that comprised the bulk of the 'bare bones subsistence' diet."

Note how the Medieval Warm Period led to an economic boom. According to modern climate alarmists, global warming would be a disaster. The truth, of course, is just the opposite.

The Roman Empire had extensive trade networks with countries as far away as India and China. When the western empire collapsed in the fifth century AD, the disruption of trade and central government plunged Europe into the so-called Dark Ages, but Europe with its relentless industry gradually recovered and the re-establishment of trade on both the local and global levels led to a rise in general prosperity which in turn led to the Industrial Revolution. According to the researchers who conducted this 2010 study, "the Industrial Revolution did not come out of the blue. Rather, it was the culmination of a long period of economic development stretching back as far as the late medieval period."

Ancient Nubia, Egypt's Rival In Africa

Dating back to at least 2,000 BC, the history of Nubia is confusing because several ancient kingdoms rose and fell in this part of Africa and the term "Nubia" is sometimes used to refer to one or more of these early kingdoms while at other times it just refers to the region as a whole. Complicating matters even more, the ancient Egyptians referred to their Nubian neighbors as Kushites, a kingdom in Nubia, and some sources use the term "Kush" to refer to the entire area.

The Nubian people were apparently descendants of the "the Noba people, nomads who settled the area in the 4th century [BC] following the collapse of the kingdom of Meroë," a city located on the east bank of the Nile, (Wikipedia).

The most well-known civilization of the Nubians was the previously mentioned Kingdom of Kush, which came into existence after the Bronze Age collapse (~1200 - 1150 BC) and fall of the Egyptian New Kingdom (~11th century BC). This is another source of confusion -- for me -- because at least one source I've found says that the Nubians didn't take over the region until after the fall of the Kingdom of Kush. Most of the sources, however, say that it was a Nubian kingdom, so I'll leave it at that.

Egypt had a complex and volatile relationship with Nubia. During the Early Dynastic Period (c3100 - 2686? BC), Egypt traded with Nubia, but "none of these trading expeditions, it seems, was aggressive in character, though the Egyptians occasionally had cause to protect themselves against the local populations," according to The Penguin Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations. During the Old Kingdom (c2613 - 2160 BC), Egyptian expeditions "were regularly sent through Nubia to obtain exotic products such as incense, ivory and panther skins. These expeditions were not without incident." (Ibid)

This trade between Egypt and Nubia continued for millennia. Wars sometimes broke out and traders were sometimes killed, apparently by local tribes, during these trade expeditions, but "relations between the two peoples also show peaceful cultural interchange and cooperation, including mixed marriages," (Wikipedia). Egypt's southern borders shifted back and forth as Egyptian power waxed and waned, and over time it appears that the two populations became thoroughly mixed.

The history of the relationship between Egypt and Nubia is long and complex, with Egypt conquering Nubia several times and Nubia conquering Egypt around 760 BC. After they defeated their northern neighbor, the Nubians established the short-lived 25th Dynasty - sometimes referred to as the Nubian Dynasty or the Kushite Empire. The Black Pharaohs didn't last very long, however. They were conquered by the Assyrians around 656 BC.

Documentary from 2015.

Roman Trade With India Led To Coin Shortages

The Romans carried on a thriving trade with India. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD), "the principal imports [from India] to Rome were perfumes, spices (especially pepper), gems, ivory, pearls, Indian textiles, and Chinese silk. The Romans exported linen, coral, glass, base metals, 'Arretine' tableware, wine in amphorae, etc., and also sent large quantities of gold and silver (and later copper) coins, of which large hoards have been found in south Indian and the eastern Deccan as well as some clay bullae ('amulets') of Roman coins."

This trade made the empire rich, but it also caused serious problems. The Romans were mostly importing luxury items from India -- items which would have sold almost exclusively to the upper classes who could afford them -- and the importers were paying hard cash for a lot of this merchandise. Back in the days of real money, this would have led to currency shortages. Payments in coin would have caused a significant outflow of money from the Roman economy and Roman emperors such as Augustus made periodic attempts to discourage excessive luxury spending by the aristocracy. Getting the nobility to curb their spending was difficult to do, however, because such spending was a sign of status among the Roman elites.

The coin shortages produced by the Roman aristocracy's taste for luxury goods from the East are a classic example of the problems a state can run into when it uses precious metals for its money. Gold and silver coins can't be created out of nothing like a fiat currency. There's always a limited supply of these coins in circulation and the India trade removed a lot of money from the Roman economy. Some of these coins must have trickled back in one form or another through the complex network of trade that was carried on back then, but the problem was serious enough for Augustus to try to put the brakes on luxury spending in Rome. Managing the Roman economy was a tricky business. The stability of the system depended in large part on the discovery of new mines and the competence of the empire's administrators:

"The monetary system of the Roman Empire always operated on very narrow margins. It is possible to calculate that in normal times perhaps 80 percent of the imperial budget was covered by tax revenues, the rest by the topping up of what came in with coins minted from newly mined metal. Prudent emperors managed; the less prudent did not." -- Oxford Classical Dictionary.

Note:The Roman trade with India began to decline after around 200 AD when "communications with India passed into the hands of intermediaries (Arabians, Axumites [1], Sasanid Persians), and India again became a land of fable to the Mediterranean world." (OCD)

[1] "The Kingdom of Aksum, also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was an ancient kingdom centered in what is now Eritrea and the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia." (Wikipedia) The strategically important Aksum was heavily involved in the ivory trade and controlled both banks of the Red Sea near its outlet into the Indian Ocean. All the sea traffic between Rome and India would have had to pass through the kingdom's zone of influence.

The Roman Grain Trade

This entire lecture series should play automatically, but if it doesn't, the rest of the series can be found here.

"For all of the glory and grandeur of Ancient Rome, the Roman economy never developed into anything terribly complex compared to modern economies. Ancient Rome was an agrarian and slave based economy whose main concern was feeding the vast number of citizens and legionaries who populated the Mediterranean region. Agriculture and trade dominated Roman economic fortunes, only supplemented by small scale industrial production." Source: "Ancient Roman Economy," United Nations of Roma Victrix.

According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, "The growth of Rome to a city of perhaps 250,000 in the time of the Gracchi and of up to one million under Augustus, far outstripping the productive capacity of her hinterlands, created an unprecedented demand for imported foodstuffs." The regular distribution of "a set monthly ration of grain at a set price for adult male citizen residents" was established by the populari Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, later assassinated for his reforms, and the ration was made free by P. Clodius Pulcher in 58 BC.

Note: The Roman grain dole could be seen as an ancient form of universal basic income, at least for the poorer citizens in the city of Rome itself. This social safety net was a humanitarian measure, but it also helped to prevent social unrest -- food riots and the like -- and meeting the demand must have made some Roman merchants, tax farmers and middle-men fabulously rich.

Gaius Sempronius Gracchus and his brother, Tiberius, may have had ulterior motives, but they attempted to make reforms benefiting the common people. The brothers were both murdered by the ruling aristocracy for (among other things) trying to pass land reforms which would have had a major impact on the patricians' power and incomes. This conflict between commoners and rapacious elites still continues to this day.

The emperor Augustus stabilized the number of residents entitled to the grain dole "at or below 200,000" in 2 BC. "[The] public supply, drawing on the grain paid to the state as rent or tax in Sicily, Africa and (from 30 BC) Egypt, helped the privileged minority who held tickets of entitlement, which could be inherited or sold. But the monthly ration did not meet a family's need for grain, and the tickets did not necessarily go to the poor." (OCD)

Note: The traffic in these grain-dole entitlement tickets must have been rife with corruption.

"Grain made into bread was, by far, the most important element in the Roman diet." (Wikipedia) In later years the grain dole, known as the Cura Annonae, and the construction of the new Colosseum led to the development of the "bread and circuses" system for controlling (or trying to control) the population of Rome, making the grain supply of Egypt critical to the survival of the city.

Note: The phrase "bread and circuses" was first used by the cynical poet Juvenal. Technically, the phrase (panem et circenses) means "food and entertainment."

Even the state couldn't meet the huge demand for grain in a city the size of Rome, however, and this created all sorts of problems. "State grain met no more than a portion of the city's annual grain needs," according to the OCD.  "The rest had to be supplied by the free market. Furthermore, the importation of the state grain depended upon private traders, who in times of crisis had to be offered considerable incentives to involve themselves in the trade."

The grain supply of Egypt was so crucial that the Roman emperors made sure to keep the province under tight control:

"As a key province, but also the 'crown domain' where the emperors succeeded the divine Pharaohs, Egypt was ruled by a uniquely styled Praefectus augustalis ('Augustal prefect'), instead of the traditional senatorial governor of other Roman provinces. The prefect was a man of equestrian rank and was appointed by the Emperor." (Wikipedia)

If the wrong man was appointed to govern Egypt, he could easily pressure Rome into meeting his demands. I don't think it ever happened in reality, but this scenario was portrayed in HBO's Rome where Marc Antony withholds the grain supply in order to force Octavian into declaring war.

Roman-Era Shipwreck Discovered Off Greek Island

"Α Roman-era shipwreck, and evidence of other shipwrecks dating back to Greece’s classical and Hellenistic eras, has been discovered during the second underwater research mission off the island of Kasos, the southernmost island in the Dodecanese archipelago, according a press announcement by the Greek Culture Ministry." Source: Archaeology News Network.

The Roman ship was apparently a trading vessel:

"The most remarkable find is that of a wreck of the Roman period, carrying a mixed load consisting of amphorae of the wider category of 'Dressel 20' oil amphorae made in ceramic workshops in Spain, in the area of Guadalquivir (1st - 3rd century AD)."

Note: The Romans, I believe, had a port at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, the fifth longest river on the Iberian peninsula. According to Archaeology Data Services, "Dressel 20" is a type of amphora design featuring a "large globular body with thick, sharply bent or oval shaped handles; short neck often with an internally concave rim and a small basal knob" which originated "along the banks of the river Guadalquivir and its tributaries between Seville and Córdoba in the Roman province of Baetica."

Long Term Effects Of Amphorae Reuse In The Roman Imperial System

"Amphora reuse is an inconvenient truth: the topic has received little research attention in Roman studies, even though it likely happened and potentially on a huge scale as suggested among other contexts by the Grado shipwreck ... But what was the effect of amphorae reuse at different times and places in the past? What data and methods can Roman archaeologists use to evaluate this effect? How does the phenomenon impact our ability to interpret Roman amphora distributions as proxy evidence for the distribution of foodstuffs?" Source: Mercury-Minerva-Simrec Project: Computational Modeling in Roman Studies.

Note: If the Romans extensively reused their amphorae, this would tend to screw up various models of trade flow in the Roman era. I think this is why amphora reuse is called an "inconvenient truth."

2000-Yr-Old Shipwrecks Discovered Off Croatian Island Of Hvar

Drone flight from Hvar island to Scedro Island (2019). I'm not sure, but I think this was the general area where the shipwrecks were discovered.

"Croatian archaeologists have discovered two ancient shipwrecks [trading vessels?] off Šćedro, the islet on the south side of Hvar." Source: Archaeology News Network.

"'The two completely preserved shipwrecks, on which there are no traces of damage or looting, are rare and important finds on the Adriatic', explains archaeologist Saša Denegri from the Conservation Department of the Ministry of Culture."

One of these wrecks was discovered in 2017, the other more recently. Both are Greco-Roman, but that's a catch-all designation that covers a lot of territory.

The history of Hvar Island dates back to the Stone Age Hvar Culture (app. 3500 - 2500 BC) which set up trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean. The Greeks (Illyrians?) colonized Hvar in the 4th century BC and defeated local resistance even though they were apparently vastly outnumbered. Around two centuries later, in a familiar pattern, Hvar fell under the dominion of the expanding Roman Republic:

"Following Roman victory in the Second Illyrian War against Demetrius of Pharos, the island became a part of the Roman Republic in 219 BC and the Greek name Pharos was changed to Pharia. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, the island was under the control of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire. The population increased in the Late Antiquity with an abundance of archeological finds. A large number of new villa rustica in Stari Grad Plain and also on the previously vacant eastern shores was built" (Wikipedia)

The Roman Harbor Of Ostia Antica

Ostia Antica, not to be confused with the modern suburb of Ostia, is the name given to the archaeological site of the port city of ancient Rome.

"According to Livy Ostia was founded by Ancus Martius, the fourth king of Rome. In Latin ostium meant entrance, a reference to the location of the town at the mouth of the River Tiber. At the beginning it was just a castrum, a fortified settlement, which protected Rome from enemies attempting to attack the city by sailing up the river. Eventually the nature of Ostia changed and it became a commercial and cosmopolitan town where advanced forms of trading were developed." Source: Roman Art Lovers

Note: "The House of Apuleius was built in the republican period, as is indicated by a few remains of opus quasi reticulatum [a kind of brickwork]. The house was rebuilt in the Antonine period, after 148 AD (opus mixtum; dated brickstamps were found). It was excavated in 1885-1886 by Lanciani." Source: Ostia - Harbor City of Ancient Rome (photographs of the site and a floor plan of the house can be found here).

Ostia was sacked by pirates in 68 BC. "During the sack, the port was set on fire, the consular war fleet was destroyed, and two prominent senators were kidnapped," (Wikipedia). Pompey the Great took advantage of this disaster to get a new law passed, the Lex Gabinia, which gave him the authority to raise an army and clear the pirates from the Mediterranean once and for all. Pompey crushed the pirates in about a year, greatly increasing his fame, power and political influence.

In later years, Ostia was expanded to meet changing conditions and the demands of increased trade. According to A Guide To The Ancient World, by Michael Grant, "the [Ostia] harbor was too small to handle all the ships that now sought entry and the larger of them could not pass the sand bar at the river mouth," so the emperor Claudius [AD 41-54] "constructed a large artificial port two miles to its north, equipped with a towering lighthouse and linked to the Tiber by two canals." This new harbor turned out to be vulnerable to storms, so more modifications were made to solve the problem "and caused Ostia's activity and prosperity to reach its peak."

"In the following century," according to Grant, "emphasis shifted to the harbor quarter inaugurated by Claudius and Trajan [who expanded the work started by Claudius], which under Constantine I the Great (306-7) assumed an autonomous entity of its own under the name of Portus ... Meanwhile the city of Ostia itself had become much more a residential center than a trading town; the big apartment houses were allowed to go to ruin, but the construction of lavish new private houses went ahead."

The new harbor of Portus was sacked by the Visigoths in 408 AD.

Related: Roman Sea-borne Trading and the Port of Ostia

The Roman Way of Life and Death at Ostia, the Port of Rome

Roman Industrial Site Unearthed In Northamptonshire

"Oxford Archaeology East recently completed a six-month excavation of a densely populated Late Romano-British industrial landscape in Northamptonshire, with the potential to illuminate often overlooked aspects of rural life during the Roman period in Britain." Source: Archaeology News Network.

"The industrial complex dates to between the late third to middle of the fourth century AD and is set within a Roman villa estate at Priors Hall Park, Corby. The date range is at the peak of the villa building tradition. The site gives a detailed picture of the people who lived and worked here during the final century of the Roman occupation, a time of economic and social turmoil within the empire."

Note: Finds include kilns and "evidence for numerous specialist tradespeople such as carpenters and builders, tile makers and mortar producers, perhaps being hired from nearby towns to make the pots, tiles, mortar and stone." One of the most interesting discoveries was "a coin of the rebel emperor Allectus, who reigned a small breakaway empire based in Britain in AD 293 – 96."

The Blue Monkey Frescoes Of Prehistoric Akrotiri

Blue-monkey frescoes shown at 1:08.

"The blue monkeys painted on the walls of Akrotiri on the Greek island of Santorini are among many animals found in the frescoes of this 3,600-year-old city. Historians have studied the murals for decades since they were unearthed in the 1960s and 1970s on the island, which was once known as Thera. But when we and a team of other primatologists recently examined the paintings, we realized the monkeys could provide a clue that the Bronze Age world was much more globalized than previously thought." Source: Phys.org (1/16/20).

"Archaeologists had assumed the monkeys were an African species, with which the Aegean people that built Akrotiri probably came into contact via trade links with Egypt. But we think the paintings actually depict Hanuman langurs, a species from the Indian subcontinent. This suggests the Aegean people, who came from Crete and the Cycladic islands in the Aegean Sea, may have had trade routes that reached over 2,500 miles."

The prehistoric town of Akrotiri, Greece.

Note: "Bronze Age Aegean (ca. 3500–1100 B.C.) wall paintings from the islands of Crete and Thera depict monkeys in a variety of roles such as running wild in nature, possibly following (trained) commands, and participating in sacred activities. These images, while stylistically Aegean, are traditionally considered closely related to—and descendant from—Egyptian, Near Eastern, and Mesopotamian monkey imagery. While monkey depictions in the latter regions may provide species-specific characteristics, Aegean wall paintings typically lack this level of detail." Source: A new identification of the monkeys depicted in a Bronze Age wall painting from Akrotiri, Thera.