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
From Persia's Might to Greek Resistance
Unlock the secrets of ancient history as we navigate through the dramatic saga of Xerxes' invasion of Greece. Was it sheer ambition or supernatural forces that propelled Xerxes into one of the most audacious military campaigns of his era? Join me, Mike D, as we dissect the monumental engineering challenges, like the bridge of ships across the Dardanelles, and the tyrannical decisions that defined his rule. Witness how nature and hubris combined to set the stage for one of history's most storied conflicts.
From the epic clash at Thermopylae to the cunning naval strategies at Salamis, discover the strategic brilliance that helped the Greeks turn the tide against the overwhelming Persian forces. The tale of Xerxes is one of grand ambitions thwarted by missteps and misinformation, showcasing the resilience and wit of the Greeks, culminating in their triumphant stand at Plataea. Explore the rise of the Delian League and the shifting power dynamics that reshaped the ancient world, as alliances formed and dissolved in the wake of Persian retreat.
The narrative doesn't stop at military exploits; it also offers a unique glimpse into the cultural and economic landscapes of the time. Journey through the vibrant Jewish communities in Babylonia, revealing their surprising roles in local society, and delve into the sophisticated banking practices of the Murashu family. As we conclude with Artaxerxes' reign, unravel the intricate web of diplomacy and cultural interplay that defined Persian society, painting a rich tapestry of an empire in flux. This episode promises a comprehensive exploration of the forces that molded the ancient world, from battlefield tactics to social transformations.
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Welcome podcast listener. I am Mike D, and this is the History of Money, banking and Trade podcast. My goal is to expand your knowledge of the history and evolution of trade, along with money, banking and credit, from ancient civilizations all the way to the present. I truly hope you find these episodes to be informative and entertaining, and although I'm not a historian, I am a fan of history.
Speaker 1:Where we last left off, we were discussing the life and rule of Darius the Great. When, looking at him from a historical lens, he was probably one of the greatest administrators of all time and at the end of his life he had a big decision to make as to who would succeed him. Being someone who had the great ability to look into the future and potentially see any issues with who he picks as the heir, he probably made the right choice and chose Xerxes because he could trace Xerxes back to Cyrus the Great, as he was his grandfather and, like I said, darius had questionable lineage concerns because many people did not believe his story. So by picking Xerxes as his heir, he can kind of really nip that in the bud right away. Now, by all accounts, xerxes wasn't really on board with invading Greece because he perceived keeping Egypt under his control a much more greater importance due to the fact that keeping Egypt under control meant he would have the breadbasket in place, because he was expanding his army, he was expanding his territory and he realized you have to be able to feed your soldiers and your population. So it's quite possible that he would have viewed Darius's obsession with Greece to kind of be out of line, because for him Egypt was always going to be priority number one. Despite all this, once Xerxes felt that Egypt was under control and really wasn't a threat to revolt, he did return back to Greece.
Speaker 1:Now it was Xerxes' uncle who had informed Xerxes that. You know. He told his brother, darius, not to attack Greece and basically warned Xerxes that Greece would be a serious problem because they barely escaped their previous invasions and now the Greeks had rebuilt their navy and potentially became more unified in its defense. After hearing this, xerxes basically told his uncle that he was a coward and he should just stay home with the women, and this obviously would have been an incredible insult. It appears that from Xerxes viewpoints, he believed that they should attack Greece first, because if they didn't attack first, greece was surely going to attack them. So, in his mind's eyes, a good defense would be a good offense, but apparently Xerxes really started to think about what his uncle was telling him.
Speaker 1:The story goes that when Xerxes went to sleep that night, he saw a ghost. And the ghost asked him Did you really change your mind? You need to follow your original plan. Despite this ghostly visit, xerxes called his war council. Apparently, he said I spoke rashly yesterday and did not give my uncle the respect he deserves. I've changed my mind about invading Greece.
Speaker 1:That night the ghost reappeared again and says know this, if you do not march on Greece, you will experience a catastrophe. Apparently, this had Xerxes shook up, so he bolted out of his bed and called his uncle into the room and says you know, I'm haunted by a ghost threatening me with harm if I do not march on to Greece. Maybe it's just a dream from my own imagination. So let's test this. Lie down in my bed. If the word is from God, you will see the ghost also. Xerxes leaves the room and his uncle falls asleep on his bed, but then the ghost reappears and he looks at him and says you, you pretend to care about Xerxes, warning him about attacking the Greeks. You will not escape judgment, not now and not afterward. Then the ghost attempts to gouge out his uncle's eyes with a red hot poker. He screamed and ran out of the room into Xerxes. I've changed my mind. The fates have ordained it. March on to Greece Now.
Speaker 1:Thanks to the ghostly visit, they spent the next three to four years in their plans to attack Greece. Now, this preparation went even further than just building up a navy and preparing men for war. It would have also included great engineering feats, such as building a bridge across the Dardanelles Straits, and this is where Asia would have met Europe. This bridge would have also been approximately three quarters of a mile or one kilometer across, or 1.2 kilometers across. Now, to accomplish this, what they needed to do is essentially line up 674 ships together, and they would have laid a wooden plank across the ships, forming like basically a long span for Xerxes army to march over. All in all, it took a few months to complete, and when they finished, around 480 BCE, xerxes was able to march his million man army, which may have come from many nations that made up the accumulated Persian Empire. Now, a million-man army might be a pretty big stretch, but nonetheless it was still a massive army that he was going to transport from Asia into Europe.
Speaker 1:Now, luckily for the Greeks, the gods had stepped in and brought a violent storm to the region which destroyed the bridge. Now this completely enraged Xerxes Enraged him so much that he had his engineers decapitated. And to show you how angry he was, he even ordered his men to give the water 300 lashes and branded it with red hot irons because that will show the water who's in charge. Now, in my mind, this is kind of a bizarre behavior that I think most people would expect to hear when you discuss ancient Persian kings. I guess I always envisioned these ancient rulers as the types who would put on this kind of display and show some kind of irrational behavior to show that they were in charge. But the one question that I think a lot of historians and probably much of his officer corps were thinking was why did they use the 674 ships to build a bridge and just not use them to ferry them across the water? But either way, the bridge was rebuilt and this quote unquote million man army was able to walk across. And to give you an idea about the sheer size of his army, it took them seven days and seven nights just to clear his entire army across. Like I said, it wasn't probably a million man army, but it was massive nonetheless.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, the naval fleet of 1,200 ships was on the move in the Aegean as well, and this was also another great engineering feat, because Xerxes had his engineers build a massive canal through the Athos Peninsula because they previously tried to sail around the peninsula and the navy was wiped out in a severe storm. So Xerxes decided it's best not to take any chances sailing around the peninsula. Instead, they would just sail right through the peninsula. Instead, they would just sail right through the peninsula. In the end, this canal was about a mile across, or like 1.6 kilometers, and this wasn't built overnight. It took about three years to complete, like his other bridge projects. Some historians have pointed out that this may have been a complete waste of time and resources, because the Persian Navy still had to sail through the Aegean anyway to reach the peninsula. So why waste so much time and resources building this canal, since they were already out in the open water to begin with? In other words, you can't reach Sparta or Athens without first sailing into the Aegean and therefore you still would have to face the risk of potential bad storms regardless of this canal.
Speaker 1:So in the end it really kind of makes it hard for me to understand what Xerxes was thinking. But it could have been just a mere fact that he wanted to show his enemies that he had the ability to think outside the box, just to get them. In a weird way it kind of reminds me of when Julius Caesar had his engineers build the Great Bridge across the Rhine River into Germania, instead of sending them across in boats, because he wanted to basically show the people on the other side of the river that we have the ability to come get you and we can do things that you can't do. In other words, he wanted to basically show them some sort of psychological warfare. And this right here takes us up to one of the most famous battles in ancient history, when the 300 Spartans squared off against the massive Persian army at the hot gates of Thermopylae.
Speaker 1:Now, if you really want to get into the story in a little bit better detail and probably explained way better than I ever could, I would suggest Dan Carlin's episode, because he did an amazing job discussing the story and he can obviously do it much better than I ever could. But either way, he can obviously do it much better than I ever could, but either way, it wasn't 300. It was probably close to 6,000 Greeks that had barred the entrance, and the reason why such a small force could hold back such a large force was the geography more or less created a bottleneck and therefore it wouldn't have been that hard to take a small force to hold back a massive force Led by King Leonidas of Sparta. The Greeks blocked the narrow mountain pass for four days. Now. In order to figure out how to defeat the Greeks, xerxes called in Demeritus, who was the former Spartan king, who had defected to Persia after being dethroned because of rumors that were spread by the other king because, as I mentioned previously, sparta had two kings. Xerxes also sent envoys telling the Spartans this is your last chance to avoid bloodshed. Simply lay down your arms. Leonardo reportedly said come and take them.
Speaker 1:The Greeks were able to withstand the usual Persian tactics of first shooting off arrows and then the cavalry charge. The reason being is first off, the Greeks were heavily armored and they could use their armored shield so that they could basically set up a wall and even if a few arrows somehow made it through their shield wall, they were wearing enough armor that they would also be protected from the arrows and since this was a narrow pass, a cavalry charge wouldn't really be useful. The Persians, on the other hand, were lightly protected. They didn't have the armor that the Greeks had, and their only protection was essentially wicker shields. So you can see the dichotomy between how well protected the small Greek force would have been versus the much larger Persian force.
Speaker 1:In the end, the Greek defector was able to tell Xerxes of an alternative path to get around this pass and therefore sent his army up and around and then attacked the Greeks from the rear, sent his army up and around and then attacked the Greeks from the rear. All while this was happening, the Greeks were still facing a threat from the sea, as the 1,200 ships were sailing towards them. Luckily for the Greeks, the gods once again stepped in and a major storm hit the region and sunk approximately a third of their ships. Major storm hit the region and sunk approximately a third of their ships. Then another storm hit and the Persians lose another 200 ships or so. So, as a recap, the Persians spent three years building this canal, but still lost nearly half of their fleet anyway. They still had a numerical advantage, but the Greeks managed to attack the Persian fleet unexpectedly, and they were able to capture about 30 triremes from the Persians. And then the next day the Greeks once again prevailed, but the Persians were able to regroup and, more importantly, their Egyptian allies stepped in and captured Greek ships and then damaged approximately half of the Athenian fleet.
Speaker 1:Xerxes was able to get past Thermopylae, but he lost time, and that valuable time was used to evacuate the city of Athens, and that valuable time was used to evacuate the city of Athens. So by the time Xerxes arrived, he found nearly an entirely abandoned city, but that didn't stop him and his forces from plundering the city and killing any people that had remained. The people that had left Athens went to the island of Salamis. Meanwhile, thermistocles, who was the great leader of Athens, had sent a private message to Xerxes and basically told him he was going to flip sides. Now was the time to attack because the Greeks were in panic mode and therefore were discombobulated and were easy pickings. Therefore, they were ready to flee to Salamis and you could just catch them flat footed, as they would be fighting amongst themselves.
Speaker 1:Xerxes took the bait and ordered over 400 ships to attack, despite the fact that Queen Artemisia informed him it was too risky to fight in the Straits of Salamis. The Greeks would have a major advantage there. Now, xerxes would often listen to the queen, and he really did take her advice seriously, but in this particular instance he didn't listen to her warning. And the biggest reason was he was so convinced by this ruse that he had sent runners back to Persia to tell the people of his great victory over the Greeks before the battle had even started. So the very next day, the Persian fleet sails into the Gulf, where they find 50 ships that began to flee. The Persians bore down on them and sailed right into the trap. The rest of the Greek fleet came out from the hiding places that they were in and basically sailed behind them and pinned them in with no room to escape and no room to maneuver.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, xerxes is observing this entire debacle from a mountaintop overlooking the bay, as he was basically watching his fleet get utterly destroyed. Xerxes' advisor was with him at the time and informed him that it's probably best to get back to Persia as quickly as possible so that you can inform the people that you won, because you sacked, plundered and burnt Athens to the ground. Xerxes was able to lead his troops back home, but many had died of starvation on the way back. Before he went back to Persia, he left his trusted general and a large force back in Greece, where they wintered and prepared to attack Greece the following spring. In the meantime, the Athenians returned back to the city. The Persian general did exactly what he said he was going to do and he marched back into Athens.
Speaker 1:The following spring, however, the Athenians did exactly what they did before and they fled to Salamis. This time, the Persians destroyed any remaining structures, including the homes and temples and, of course, the walls that were still standing from the first attack. But this time the Spartans and other Greek city-states came to defense of the Athenians and because of this, the Persians had no choice but to retreat. The Persians fought the Spartans in the Battle of Plataea. The Spartans pulled one of their old battle tricks, one that the Mongols perfected thousands of years later, in that they essentially faked a retreat to trick the Persians into chasing them Suddenly. The Greeks would just stop their retreat, turn around and form up into their famous Phalanx position, and then they would catch the Persians totally off guard.
Speaker 1:Now it was the Persians that were fleeing, but this was the Greek homeland, and basically out of nowhere. Tens of thousands of Greeks were coming out of hiding places through the hills and they would have massacred, they say, 260,000 Persian soldiers. It was said that 40,000 or so survived out of the 300,000. Luckily, the Persian general, well, he died in the attack. And I say luckily because his fate probably would have been a lot worse if he were able to look back to Persia with the remaining 40,000 or so troops. And I just want to reiterate the number of 300,000 troops probably is an exaggeration to a certain extent. And the 40,000 that remain probably is also an exaggeration. And the 40,000 that remained probably is also an exaggeration. But that still shouldn't take away from the fact that this was a massive army that was utterly destroyed.
Speaker 1:Now, in the aftermath, the real question came down to where do the Ionian Greeks loyalties lie? Because they were still technically under the control of the Persians. They were still technically under the control of the Persians. So would they be loyal to Xerxes or their ancestral homeland of the Greeks across the Aegean Sea? And that particular question of loyalty would have been brought up by the Persians because there were rumblings that they had actually sabotaged the whole campaign and therefore were guilty of treason. In fact, a high-ranking Phoenician had questioned the Ionians and where their loyalties would have lied, but for some reason Xerxes wasn't having any of that nonsense because he had the Phoenician leader beheaded for Sander. And you have to realize something about the Persians beheaded for Sander, and you have to realize something about the Persians One of the worst things you can do is accuse somebody of lying, because in the Persian culture, lying is probably one of the greatest offenses that one could commit.
Speaker 1:Now, despite all these questions about where the Ionians' true feelings lie, the Spartans were in the process of trying to sway the Ionians to remember their Greek heritage and as such, the Spartans had deployed 110 ships to sail to Delios to fight the Persians. But before the fight, some Ionian Greeks from the island of Samos secretly met with them. The story goes that the Spartans had called out to the Ionians in the Greek language and asked them where their loyalties lied, and apparently the Persians had told them men of Ionia, remember your freedom, pass this along to the other Greeks of Ionia, remember your freedom, pass this along to the other Greeks. This was ultimately a two-part strategy, because, for one, they were obviously looking to bring the Greeks to the other side, but they also were looking to show distrust among the Persians regarding the Ionians. So, in other words, if they don't join us, let's make it look like they're conspiring with us and thus they can't be trusted and therefore they won't be utilized in their military machine. And it appears that this strategy may have worked, because the Persians quickly disarmed their Ionian Greek military members and now we're no longer a threat to the Spartans and the Athenians. And soon enough they were on the attack. But now they didn't have to worry about fighting against their fellow Greeks. And it might be because of this, but this battle quickly tilted in favor of the Greeks, especially when some of the Greek cousins, the Ionians, had defected and decided to join the Spartans and the Athenians. This obviously would have made the Persians highly upset and, as a result, they were quickly slaughtered by their former overlords. In the end, 40,000 Persians died.
Speaker 1:That day, the king of Sparta met with the other Ionian Greeks and said that day, the king of Sparta met with the other Ionian Greeks and said come back and live in the motherland, you will be safe from Persian attacks. But shockingly, the Ionians rejected this by saying we've been here for 600 years. We're not going anywhere as such, in 477 BCE, the Ionians formed the Delian League, which was a confederacy of Ionian Greek city-states. Now that they had this large alliance, they formed up together and they launched attacks against the Persian forces. So this new Delian League was able to take back the westernmost coastline of Anatolia from the Greeks and from the Persians.
Speaker 1:This region was vital to any empire that controlled it, because this region was filled with fantastic traders and shipbuilding. The fact of the matter is, the Aegean Sea was the lifeblood of the Greeks and, to a lesser extent, the Phoenicians and the Persians, but when commodities and merchandise are flowing through the region, well, that means it's going to attract people who might view it as a golden opportunity to get rich quick. And this get rich quick scheme of antiquity usually meant piracy. And really, before the Delian League was formed, there was a lot of complaints by certain merchants that they were just getting robbed left and right by the Delopian pirates of Cyrus. Now, the initial strategy for dealing with this was to essentially punish the entire island. However, it really wasn't fair to punish everyone when it was only a handful of people that were causing the disruption to piracy. This is where the Dalian League came into play, because they were able to deal with this directly by capturing and expelling the pirates that were disrupting trade in the region in the region. So you can kind of see how this is a great example of a cooperative being used to help make trade much more efficient and even safer.
Speaker 1:Cimon, who fought at the Battle of Salamis, was the league's principal commander. After taking care of the piracy problem, he was able to take back Persian territories for the Greeks. In doing so, he was able to plunder the Persian possessions that were left behind. Furthermore, one of the great ways to make a quick buck was through this process of ransom. So, in other words, you capture an enemy soldier, hold them hostage and see how much money you can take when you contact their families back home. Apparently, this worked out very well for Achaemenon, as he became very wealthy.
Speaker 1:Just off of ransoming Persian soldiers, the Delian League moved on to attacking Persian outposts in Thrace in 476 BCE. Now, to give you an idea where Thrace is located, it is in Southeast Europe, with the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, the Black Sea to the east, and it comprised present-day Bulgaria. The natural resources that were located in Thrace would have meant that they would have been a key outpost for both the Persians and the Greeks. Whoever controlled the region would have controlled the massive amount of timber that would have been used for shipbuilding and also used for fuel for iron making and, of course, for trade and war. In addition, there was also silver mines in the region that could have been used to pay soldiers and shipbuilders, and it would have been used to provide provisions for the soldiers and shipbuilders, and it would have been used to provide provisions for the soldiers and sailors when they were on campaign.
Speaker 1:Caiman, the leader of the Dailing League, ultimately took the Persians head on in Thrace and, by doing so, put the city of Eon under siege. Apparently, the Persians were about to give up, but then Xerxes sent 340 triremes, which were commanded by his son, and then an additional 80 ships were sent by the Phoenicians. Xerxes' strategy was to employ an early form of island hopping by working his way through Ionia, reclaiming each city-state to form a type of beachhead where he could eventually launch an attack from Ionia onto Thrace and Greece. A fierce naval battle ensued with the Greeks and would have destroyed much of the Persian navy. In the process, the Greeks captured 100 ships or so, along with their crew, with the remaining Persian fleet retreating to Cyprus.
Speaker 1:Cayman wasn't really satisfied, so he set sail to fight the remaining Persian army. But he had a major problem. There were barbarians who were allies with the Persians, who were encamped on the banks of the Irimedan River. Now he needed a way to sail past them without alarming them. So he came up with a great idea. He took the Persian ships and their crew's clothing, and from there he pulled the old switcheroo and had his best Greek sailors dress as Persians on Persian ships. The barbarians saw them coming and received them as if they were allies and friends, since it was the Persians on the Persian ships.
Speaker 1:As night fell, the Greeks disembarked from their ships and basically caught the barbarians off guard and slaughtered them, including their generals and the nephew of the king. Some did manage to survive, and they would have fled for their lives. Some did manage to survive and they would have fled for their lives. And then more Ionian Greeks joined the Delian League, which would then morph into the Athenian Empire. So while all this is happening, in Greece there was an issue with the Persians because in 465 BCE, king Xerxes and his eldest son, crown prince Darius, were assassinated by the commander of the royal bodyguard, xerxes' youngest son, artaxerxes, avenged the assassination of his father and brother by killing the bodyguard and his sons. The last Persian city in Thrace was Doriscus. Last Persian city in Thrace was Doriscus. The Greeks struggled to conquer it, but this was happening at the same time of Xerxes' assassination, and then the Persian satrap was recalled to Persia and with that the accumulated Persian empire no longer had a presence in Europe presence in Europe. Since there was a lot of chaos in Persia.
Speaker 1:Egypt, with the help of Athens, rebelled in 460 BCE. King Artaxerxes had sent 300,000 men, supposedly to put an end to Egypt's rebellion. With the help of their Athenian allies, they initially had some success, as they defeated the Persian army in their early battles. During one of the early battles, the commander by the name of Akamenes was killed, and the Greeks thought it would be a good idea to send King Artaxerxes a package containing his dead brother's body. This was obviously not the Amazon package that he was expecting. As such, the Persians retreated to Memphis and from there they were able to turn the tide of war.
Speaker 1:The Athenians and Egyptians were finally defeated in 454 BCE by the Persian army led by Megabus. The Egyptian pharaoh was captured and sent to Susa where he was killed by crucifixion. You can see where this kind of really changed things, because in the past if a pharaoh was captured he most likely would have been given some kind of assignment as an advisor to the king. However, the king's brother was just killed, so this obviously wasn't going to happen. So all bets were off by this point. Meanwhile, the Athenians kind of panicked when this happened.
Speaker 1:The Delian League had kept this treasury on the island of Delos due to its central location, but the Athenians worried that the Persians would sail up from the Nile and into the Mediterranean, so they moved the treasury to Athens. Now this did not sit well with the Ionians and the Delian League. They had some serious concerns. Were the Athenians just going to keep the treasury for themselves and not for the Delian League? So in reality, at this point you can kind of start to see some sort of cracks that's forming in the Deleon League. And it's interesting because if you look at a lot of conflicts throughout history and even on a personal level, let's be honest a lot of conflicts that happen with friends or family start and end with money, and right here is a perfect example. Once the money gets moved, people start to question their fellow Greek motives.
Speaker 1:However, the Greeks were able to put this issue behind them for now, because they counterattacked the Persian stronghold in Cyprus. But Caiman, the Greek general, died in battle. However, this was concealed from their forces because they didn't want any sort of panic to set in. So in the land and sea battle in Cyprus, the Greeks were under the assumption that Caiman was still leading his troops and as such, they actually won both battles, one on the sea and one on the land. They actually won both battles, one on the sea and one on the land. So it's quite possible that by keeping his death concealed, he may have kept morale up and allowed the Greeks to defeat the Persians. One only knows, if they had learned that their great commander was dead, if things would have changed completely. It's quite possible.
Speaker 1:The greek victory in cyprus allowed the athenian statesman, calais to negotiate a 30-year truce between the acumen of persian empire and the delian league in 449 bce, as peace was being established between the greeks and the persians. The athenians probably needed this peace even more because they were already deep into the first Peloponnesian war, whereas they were fighting the Spartans, oh, and they were fighting the Thebans and the Corinthians. In hindsight, I'm kind of surprised that the Persians would even really sign this peace treaty anyway, considering that the Greeks were in a bit of chaos at the time. Were in a bit of chaos at the time, so it appears to me that the Persians really didn't have a very effective intelligence apparatus at the time. But either way, the Greeks conceded Persian dominance of the Black Sea, cyprus, egypt and Persia's remaining territories in western Turkey Now, also probably because they felt they had no choice but the Delian League more or less morphed into the Athenian Empire, especially considering the fact that they had control of the treasury, of which it was used on a massive building and engineering spree for Athens and even some other Greek city-states as well. So, while all this is going on in Greece, there was a sense of peace between the two because they had just signed the 30-year truce.
Speaker 1:And, in honesty, since this is a podcast about trade, money and banking and I've more or less gone off on a tangent that doesn't really include any of that, I figure it's a good opportunity to kind of really bring it back to the scope of the podcast. In general, I'm not a historian. I do love to see how things evolved and, in all honesty, a lot of these geopolitical happenings will affect trade. It will affect how money is distributed throughout the empire. The fact of the matter is is the soldier's salary was paid in coin and this coin was used to jumpstart trade throughout the Persian Empire. And now that we have a sense of peace, you can see trade and commerce kind of reemerge in the forefront of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
Speaker 1:And to give you a great example of this is, the University of Pennsylvania uncovered about 730 clay tablets from a family archive that would have dated from 455 to 403 BCE, so we're talking right in this time period when the 30-year peace was basically just signed. Now, these tablets were discovered from the ruins of Nippur that showed that the banking house Marushu and Sons had conducted business with Jews who decided to remain in Nippur rather than return to Judea. The local population of Nippur and, by extension, the Persians in general, appear to have accepted the Jewish population in the region if they decided to stay. Also, it's not really 100% certain if this is in fact a Jewish family or not, as it could be just a West Semitic name, so maybe they're not Jewish With. The fact of the matter is, they still would have been technically kind of foreigners in this region and they were accepted nonetheless, but regardless of the family's religious beliefs or whatever they were. There were 28 Jewish settlements in the immediate Nippur region. The documents of the region appear to attest to the fact that there was a widespread amount of activities of the local Jewish population, so one can easily deduce the fact that it really sounds like they were allowed to prosper in Babylonia, as you can see how they thrived in the region. As deeds for land acquisitions and contracts for all kinds of different business ventures, including the insurance business, there were large-scale credit provisions for specific projects. That was uncovered. However, despite all this, the Jewish population was quite diverse and therefore held many different positions in society, from the high-class palace officials to the lower class and even slaves. And speaking of the lowest class, most of the Jews that were referred to in the Marashu documents were of the lower class and some were in fact slaves.
Speaker 1:Now, if you recall from the previous episodes, I did talk about slavery and it's important to note that slavery in ancient times was not like chattel slavery in the American South. Slavery is still slavery and I'm sure it sucks for the slaves, but slaves in ancient Babylonia and Persia had way more rights and were probably treated much better than the black American slaves in the American South, and even worse for the slaves in the Caribbean, as they were just worked to death. The slaves of ancient Persia were not treated as mere property without rights, but as a person who retained certain privileges as well as responsibilities to their owner privileges as well as responsibilities to their owner. They could be independently able to enter into legal agreements, as long as it wasn't a conflict of interest to their lord. So, according to the tablets that were discovered, two such slaves one clearly bearing a Judaic name were contracted by the head of the Marashu to repair the dam of the irrigation canal that was passing through the Marashu property. The contract stipulated that damages would be assessed if the commitment was not fulfilled. So what exactly does that mean? What it meant was that the slaves had independent property of their own to be assessed. Imagine trying to sue a slave in the American South and try to recover any personal property. Well, that would have been nearly impossible, because they didn't have any personal property and they didn't have any rights. And, of course, they weren't allowed to read either. So you can give them paperwork. Technically they shouldn't't allowed to read either. So you can give them paperwork they can't. Technically they shouldn't be able to read it.
Speaker 1:The Marashu family really had a diverse business portfolio. First off, they were bankers, whereas they lent money at high interest rates and I'm not sure what high interest rates means, as I haven't read anything that really indicates the exact interest rates in terms of numbers and loan repayment periods. They also ran a large-scale property management business, whereas they would have managed estates for absentee landlords, who were often royals or high-ranking military members who may have been out on campaign, or high-ranking military members who may have been out on campaign. As such, they would have been responsible for hiring labor to work the land or the factory and they would have paid taxes on behalf of the absentee landlord. And, lastly, they would have remitted the profits to the landlords. Additionally, they supplied farmers with animals, seed and other implements. In addition, they also dealt in securities for imprisoned debtors, so they were using this to basically trade the debt amongst them. We know of at least three generations of this banker family that had existed in the Nippur region. An ancient map was discovered that shows that the Marashu home had a prime real estate location as it was laid on an important irrigation canal of the Euphrates. It's not quite clear, but they may have also operated as tax farmers as well. All in all, the family employed about 60 people in total and had commercial dealings with at least 2,500 individuals. But this was all done on a local level and therefore it did not participate in international long-distance trade. But they did have certain individuals in the family that basically opened up a family office in Susa, which was approximately 125 miles or about 200 kilometers away.
Speaker 1:The tablets almost read like kind of like a local newspaper in a way, because for one they tell kind of a unique story that a Jewish person by the name of Udarna had property that was stolen or taken by his brother, or maybe it was even a nephew. The tablet goes on to see if he might reacquire his property. So it appears that Udarna had brought his complaint to the banking firm of Marashu and Sons. Udana did not have the property returned and in addition no charges were brought against the brother or the nephew. They also agreed that no offspring of Udana would ever bring charges against Udana's brother or nephew or their offspring. The act of forbidding any lawsuit being brought against Udarna's brother and nephew or the generations afterward, was seemingly implemented to prevent a blood feud that might last generations. So in the end, it doesn't even appear like really that this was resolved. It just appears that it was hey, you're not going to get anything and you're not going to kill each other in the meantime.
Speaker 1:So really, what I'm getting at is, by the time of the peace between the Greeks and the Achaemenid Empire, banking had been thriving and really been in operation since Darius. In fact, most of the banking operations that was performed were typically done by the temples, or even the prince and even Magi, to be honest with you. I mean, the temples were really considered the earliest banks in ancient Mesopotamia. They would have stored anything from grains to any other personal valuables, and this kind of basically continued up and through Persia, and this kind of basically continued up and through Persia, right. So the temples would have been looked at as the ancient bank vault for a lot of the local population. The Magi, on the other hand, well, they were typically members of the king's family and they would have been responsible for the religious rituals and other kind of divination. And then, thirdly, they would have been involved in banking. They would have offered loans with typically around a 20% interest rate. But depending on who they're lending money to, they would have potentially waived the interest. So if it was to a king or someone very important, they might waive the interest and hope to get something in return. Obviously, because there is no free lunch right, you always expect something. So there's almost always some kind of quid pro quo that's happening, whether it's in writing or just kind of implied. And then, lastly, the prince would have been responsible for essentially banking operations for the family.
Speaker 1:And it's really important to note, and I kind of touched on it briefly here is a lot of this banking stuff kind of really carried over from ancient Mesopotamian practices, especially in Sumer right. So it started in the south in Sumer and kind of worked its way up the land between the two rivers. And really before the Achaemenid dynasty was in full bloom, most of the banking operations would have actually been carried out by the temples and even the prince, and private banking operations with individuals wouldn't have really happened that much, if at all, to be honest with you. But it's during the Achaemenid Empire that trade really boomed, and trade you kind of expect it to boom when you have an expanding empire, because when you expand an empire, what you're going to do is you're going to offer a lot of security and protection for people in the outer reaches of the empire that previously may not have had. And then, on top of it, what you do, too, is the kind of unexpected part, or the part that's probably least appreciated, is the fact that weights and measures in far off places start to get standardized. Measures in far off places start to get standardized. When you standardize these weights and measures, it makes trade much more efficient and it ultimately drives down costs and therefore you can basically trade with people maybe that you couldn't trade with before, because now it becomes set at a reasonable price.
Speaker 1:And, as you can see from this Semitic family, who may or may not have been Jewish, the banking operations in the Achaemenid dynasty were primarily started in Babylon, right, and then it kind of expanded on further to other parts. Then you factor in the fact that Lydia was now a part of the Achaemenid dynasty. The coinage that was flowing in from western Anatolia would have been used for banking operations in Babylon and other parts of the Persian empire. So where we're at in the story is we have this peace between the Greeks and the Persians, and the good thing about peace is you're not having all your resources sucked up into military operations. So therefore you can see how banking and trade would really thrive and you can see how this particular family would flourish during this time period, because it's a time of peace. Military operations are not sucking up all the resources available to the people, up all the resources available to the people.
Speaker 1:However, despite this peace, back home in Athens, themistocles, who was once their powerful politician well, he was the one that was the visionary behind the Athenian defense by ordering the buildup of a massive naval fleet. Despite being one of the most popular and powerful people in Athens, his reign didn't last long because people kind of turned on him and he eventually was ostracized by the Athenians and as such, thermosicles appears to have been very heartbroken because he was mad that his homeland had basically turned their back on him and they in fact charged him with treason. So he in turn turned his backs on them and therefore he decided to flee to Persia, their archenemy, to Persia, their arch enemy. And it's kind of ironic because at one point one can make a serious argument that Thermostocles was in fact the Persians' biggest adversary, because if it wasn't for him. It's quite possible that Athens gets defeated years prior and gets defeated years prior. Now, apparently, thermostocles met up with Artaxerxes and apparently said King of kings, as you know, I was once your father's enemy. But as you also know, circumstances can quickly change in the political world, especially in Athens, especially at Salamis. My evil adversaries have falsely accused me and any defense is a hopeless task. Thus I offer myself to you. Now, this would have been a major coup for Artaxerxes, because Thermostocles would have obviously had a lot of inside information that could be used to defeat Athens. When he met Artaxerxes, he was asked for a year to learn the Persian language and its customs. Then he would be a faithful servant.
Speaker 1:Now, it's worth noting that by this time period, the Aramaic language had replaced the Elamite and Persian languages in the courts. Written Aramaic was a natural successor, as it had the advantage of an alphabet. It was far easier to learn 22 letters representing phonetic sounds than to memorize around a thousand characters representing words in cuneiform script. This alphabet would have actually been imported from the Phoenicians. Originally, the Phoenicians had developed an alphabet and basically it had been adopted by the Greeks, and then also, too, the people that were speaking the Aramaic languages kind of really jumped on board too, because they just kind of realized that this makes a lot more sense to use 22 characters instead of sending the richest of the rich to school for many years to learn thousands of characters for a Qunei's reformed script. So in the end, an average person could technically learn how to read and write, and therefore this would have actually enabled trade to basically become more efficient as well.
Speaker 1:In addition to the writing, that was basically changing, their religion was also changing. In the region, zoroastrianism was becoming the preferred religion, as it was nearly a monotheistic religion, as it worshipped the ancient Indo-Iranian god Ahura Mazda. Now, as such, unlike other societies with different religious belief systems, the Persians did not erect statues or temples or altars or any other kind of idols in the religious system. Now, according to Herodus, he was of the belief that the reason why they didn't do this was because they did not believe that their gods had human qualities, which would have been unlike any other religion that was really being practiced at the time, from the Egyptians all the way to the Greeks. Another interesting thing about Zoroastrianism is that they do not, and they continue to not, bury or cremate their dead bodies, but instead they would have practiced sky burials, which means that they place bodies of their deceased on a mountain for vultures to eat. Now, even to this day, this practice continues. In fact, in April 2023, a great podcast named Radiolab did an episode discussing this practice and, long story short, bodies were being laid out, but in Mumbai, india, apparently, the vultures were dying off in India and Pakistan, which was a major problem for people who practiced Zoroastrianism, as the bodies became bloated and were rotting in the sun because the vultures weren't coming. But if you want to hear more on this, you can check out Radiolab. They did a fantastic job discussing the problems of modern day India and Pakistan and how it affects this ancient religious practice.
Speaker 1:What I'm getting at is the Persian society was transforming and with that change came social change. In fact, artaxerxes reign ended up being known as Persia's cultural phase of the Achaemenid Empire reign ended up being known as Persia's cultural phase of the Achaemenid Empire. So, while Persia's empire was changing and becoming more cultured, they still needed to deal with geopolitical issues that often involved death, torture and other kind of mayhem. In fact, they're still kind of really trying to figure out what to do because, remember, artaxerxes' brother was killed and his body was sent to him. The Persian general megabusiness had informed them that if they give up they would be spared. As such, the man responsible for the death was brought to Artaxerxes, and Artaxerxes obviously was furious and wanted to kill him right then and there. But before he could do it, his general mega business stopped him because he had to honor the deal, and one of the other problems here was Artaxerxes mother was heartbroken and she was beside herself when she learned that her son's killer wouldn't face retribution. So apparently Artaxerxes' mother had badgered him for five years, asking him to take vengeance. Finally, artaxerxes gave his brother's killer to his grieving mother, where she had him impaled on three spikes and decapitated. She had him impaled on three spikes and decapitated.
Speaker 1:But now Artaxerxes had another problem, because his general Megabusiness left for his home province of Syria, where he met up with Greeks who had escaped Artaxerxes' mother's wrath, forming an army of 150,000 men. He revolted against Artaxerxes, which required 200,000 men to put down. Those numbers probably are a bit high, but you can see that it was a big deal. There was a lot of people involved. Artaxerxes' other brother, artarius, wanted to mediate the situation, so he traveled to meet Megabusiness and basically told him that he had a long and great career serving the king, and why throw that all away? And then basically said hey, why don't you come meet my brother, the king Artaxerxes, and we can all smooth this over. However, he said he just couldn't bear the thought of seeing the Queen Mother and reliving what he had done to the man he had sworn to protect. Even Artaxerxes' mother urged him to make peace and forgive Megabusiness because ultimately, he was an influential and legendary war hero. Artaxerxes therefore pardoned Megabusiness but forced him to make one last trip to the Persian court to receive it.
Speaker 1:Now, normally, if I'm reading a story or listening to a podcast about a subject matter that's similar to this, the obvious next part of the story is that there's some sort of deception and someone's double-crossed and killed, but luckily for Megabusiness, this just didn't happen. In fact, he was given his pardon and he lived to the ripe old age of 76 and died in peace. And that right there kind of really separates the Persians from a lot of other ancient societies and, in all honesty, before I really started to read up on the Persians, I was always under the impression that these were warmongering barbarians who had no compassion. But in all honesty, they were very compassionate and they lived by honor. It's not something that I really ever learned. Dan Carlin said something great. I remember I was listening to one of his podcasts and he said that he always viewed the war between the Greeks and the Persians as the Greeks were the home team and the Persians were the away team, the bad guys. But in reality, though, it's really complicated. It's just not that case at all, because ultimately, this is the case of the Persians doing yet again the honorable thing.
Speaker 1:This started with Cyrus the Great and, if you recall, just a few generations prior, cyrus had pardoned the Jews and allowed them to return to Israel. Generations prior, cyrus had pardoned the Jews and allowed them to return to Israel. Now, prior to this pardon, the Assyrians and the Babylonians had practiced redistribution of the population, so the Jews from Israel were brought to Babylon and the Babylonians were sent to Israel or some other far-off place. So when Cyrus had pardoned the Jews, they went back, but they still would have to deal with the Babylonians who were still in the region, and oftentimes these Babylonians would have been in position of leadership and maybe did not like the Jews because they were obviously a lot of cultural differences between the two. As such, the governor of Israel was not Jewish, and I'm guessing he didn't really care for the Jews either. So what he did was he began to warn Artaxerxes that Jerusalem was nearly rebuilt and the only thing it needed to do was finish its walls. Now that's fine and dandy and all, but what he did was he told them that, once these walls were finished, the Jews would not pay their fair share of taxes and tribute, as they would have felt so secure that they could just hide behind the walls. Based on this information, artaxerxes ordered them to stop the construction, but after about seven years, he had a change of heart and he allowed them to finish Jerusalem. Now, it's speculation that the reason why he had such a change of heart was because his most trusted advisors were Jewish. So not only did he allow them to finish building up Jerusalem and its walls, he also ordered them to beautify the temple in Jerusalem, which was funded by silver and gold from the Babylonian treasure and voluntary offerings of the Jews. And even from there, he upped his ante even more by providing an enormous amount of timber and other building materials to help finish up Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:And while this is going on, the Persians were continuing to exploit the tensions between Sparta and Athens. Thermasicles was still in the services of Persia but began to have second thoughts. He must have been thinking to himself how would my name go down in history? Would he be looked at as one of the biggest betrayers of Athens of all time? So, instead of helping Artaxerxes, he decided to commit suicide, and with the death of Thermostocles, artaxerxes' easiest path to defeating the Greeks may have come to an end as well. If you like what you hear and want to donate to the show, you can visit us at patreoncom slash history of money banking trade or you can visit our website at moneybankingtradecom. Also, you can help the show out a ton by leaving a five-star review and telling a friend or two. Thank you very much. Talk to you soon.
