Financial management and manipulation in the Ancient World: from premonetary practicalities to monetary possibilities

Abstract

In the Ancient World, there was no concept of ‘financial management’ as we would understand it in the modern sense. However, monarchs and states were able to influence the amount of their revenues through the ownership and control of property, labour and taxes, and by means of conquest. The introduction of coinage in the late seventh century Bc, and the subsequent monopolistic retention by the monarch or state of coining and issuing rights, provided an important and more subtle - means of adding to those revenues through the manipulation of a currency's weight and precious metal content.