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 54. From She Wolves To Silver Coins In Ancient Rome
Rome doesn’t introduce itself with a feel-good origin story. We start with the myth Rome tells about itself, from Aeneas and divine ancestry to the she-wolf on the Palatine, and then we sit with the part most civilizations would hide: Romulus k...
Episode 53. When Philosophers Feared Money More Than War
Coinage didn’t just make trade easier in ancient Greece, it reshaped the city itself. I walk through how money becomes a geographic force that pulls people toward marketplaces, builds a new kind of commercial Athens, and sets off an economic ch...
Episode 52. From Hostage To Hegemon: How Finance, Coinage, And Logistics Forged Macedon’s Rise
Power doesn’t just march on spears; it runs on coin. We explore how Philip II turned Macedon from a backwater into a well‑funded war state, then follow Alexander as he scaled that finance engine across three continents. From the capture of Amph...
Episode 51. How Trade Chokepoints Forged Greek Power
Imagine needing five calm months to feed your entire city—and watching enemies line up along the only two gates you can use. That was Athens. With thin soil at home and hungry mouths at scale, we leaned on silver from Laurium and the labor that...
Episode 50. How Stable Rules, Hard Money, And Risky Voyages Fed A City And Forged Democracy
Athens didn’t have rich soil or gentle rivers. It had something better: rules, money, and the will to turn strangers into partners. We dive into how a city on the brink of class conflict reinvented itself with Solon’s radical debt relief, stabl...
