Economic

Egypt

Old Kingdom

• Redistributive
• Pharaoh owned land and products and gave the people their share
• Exchange based on barter
• Amount of food recieved varied on flood
  • perfect flood meant more food
  • too high of a flood meant a little less food (pay for damages of towns)
  • low flood meant small amounts of food

Middle Kingdom

• International trade with Minoans, Byblos, and Nubia
• Papyrus was a huge export
• Gained gold from Nubian mines

New Kingdom

• started gaining money from conquered lands

China

Shang

• Cowry shells used for currency
  • fake or real
• Clans kept same occupations over the generations
• Jade was very popular and treasured
• Know very little about trade

Western Zhou

• Well-field system used to grow crops and create a surplus
• Proffesional artisans
  • traded like players on sports teams
• Bronze bells showed wealth

Eastern Zhou

• Spring and Autumn
  • Lords began to impose taxes and seize commodities (such as salt)
• Warring States
  • economy was based on mostly barter
  • currency did start to occur
    • round coins with holes in the middle
  • silk road began
  • cultivation of rice increased

Qin

• standarized currency, weights, and measures
• Shi Huangdi had an extremely expensive tomb

Han

• Liu Bang cut taxes dramatically

Xin

• Abolished slavery
• Established a national bank
• Issued new coinage
• Returned to well-field system

Persia

The following all occured or were instituted during Darius' reign

• standard coinage: Darics
• Royal Road increased trade
• Standard taxation of satrapies
  • Native Persians did not have to pay tax
• Expensive mercenaries
• costly palaces

Greece

Bronze Age

• Minoan economy was trade based and they traded with old kingdom egypt.
• Mycenaeans had some overseas trade but not as much as the Minoans. They traded with the hittites.

Dark Age

• Collapse of international trade
• People left major cities and returned to basic agriculture.
• The number of specialized workers majorly decreased.
• Top of the economic ladder were the aristocratic farmers who were successful.

Archaic Period

• Resumed international trade
• Commercial Revolution
  • The revival of trade created both winners and losers.
    • Winners-Artisans whose products have international appeal or merchants and investors whose ventures succeed overseas.
    • Losers-Aristocrats who resist the new trade based economy and instead clinging to agriculture
  • New social class emerges
    • Business class (Winners who have newfound wealth)
    • Debt Slaves (People who took loans to go on international ventures but failed to make a profit and sold themselves and/or their families to work off the debt)
  • This new business class wanted the political power to match their wealth (they were just as wealthy as the aristocratic oligarchs but were denied power and influence) and the poor were unhappy with their situation. These factors helped lead to an overthrow of the aristocratic oligarchy, leading to tyranny.
• More specialized workers.

Sparta

• After defeating their neighbors in their early history, Sparta relied on the helots to provide all of the the necessities for the city.
• The perioikoi, the free non-citizens that lived under the control of Sparta, were the specialized workers and occasionally traded with the rest of the region.
• Used iron bars as money.

Athens

• Oligarchs were afraid of overthrow so appointed Solon absolute power to fix major issues.
  • Solon abolishes debt slavery, pissing off the people who had been using the labor of the debt slaves (leading to tyranny)
• Pisistratus became tyrant and improved trade.

Classical Period

• International trade continued to flourish.
• Economy grew to be very successful.
• Used coins as money.

Hellenistic

• Economy increases even more due to increased trade, slave trade, and Greece ports throughout the region.
• Lighthouse at ALexandria helped trade ships enter the harbors safely.

Rome

Monarchy

• Economy is small and local based.

Republic

Early Republic

• Original Senators were aristocratic land owners and were all patricians.
• Based on agriculture, especially family owned farms.
• Plebeians were the farmers, merchants, and artisans.
• Equestrians begin to gain more influence and power through money-lending, taxing, and trading. They also begin and own large businesses that provide many goods for the upper classes and government.

Punic Wars

• Successful officers in the army brought home plunder and slaves and bought up small farms that had been destroyed or that the owners could no longer afford. This created Latifundia.
• All farmers were enlisted in the army and s they had to leave their farms that were destroyed by Hannibal.

Late Republic

• Immediately after the Punic wars, destroyed farms caused farmers to become unemployed and they travelled to the cities in search of work, selling their farms to the Latifundia because they could no longer compete with slave labor.
• Tiberius Gracchus
  • Elected tribune
  • Ignored the Senate and passed land reforms through the plebeian assembly
    • These land reforms limited the land and took excess land from the Latifundia and leased it at low prices to the poor families.
• Gaius Gracchus
  • Grain subsidies
  • Increased the speed of land redistribution
• Marius institutes military reforms that increased the size of he army, creating many new jobs for people without work

Dictatorship

• Caesar
  • Awarded land to poor citizens
  • Funded public works, creating jobs
  • Required 1/3 of workers on Latifundia to be free, paid men

Empire

• Augustus
  • Reduces size of army to cut costs
  • Paid provincial governors to reduce corruption
  • Census to improve tax system
  • Classes defined by wealth allowed class mobility
  • Grain dole-gave out free grain in the city of Rome for the poor like a soup kitchen
  • Public work projects provided jobs
• Nero
  • Provided low priced grain after the Great Fire
  • Created new building projects after Fire
• Vespasian
  • Heavy Taxes
  • Established grain supply from Egypt
• Titus
  • Taxes grew due to 100 days of games
• Nerva
  • Created funds for loans for farmers
  • Loans to support and educate children
  • Focused on programs fro the poor
• Trajan
  • Continued funds for children
  • Lowered taxes
• Hadrian
  • Cancelled debts
  • Killed people for wealth
• Marcus Aurelius
  • Gave 800 sesterces to each citizen
  • Eliminated debt
  • Higher taxes due to increased protection from barbarians
• Commodus
  • used threat of treason trials to extort money from the rich
• Didius Julianus
  • Bought the throne through auction held by the Preatorian guard
• Septimius Severus
  • Gave citizens 10 gold pieces on the anniversary of himself coming to power
  • Increased pay to soldiers-> Increased taxes
  • spent very large amount of money on extravagant celebrations
• Caracalla
  • gave everyone citizenship-> more money for the government for the military
  • paid barbarians to stay away
• Military Anarchy
  • Economy collapses
  • Coinage devalued
  • Shift to barter
• Diocletian
  • Instituted maximum prices for many common goods
  • Essential professions made hereditary to deal with work shortages
  • Solved inflation
• Constantine
  • Subsidized grain
  • Stabilized coinage
  • Farmers did not have to pay tribute every fourth year
  • Money into church building projects