So i watched the series Spartacus and they included Marcus Licinius Crassus. They litteraly quoted "The man pisses wine and shits gold".
I was wondering how he got all his wealth and what /his/ opinion is about him
He just owned a fuckton of land. Probably from a few generations of successful conquest and importing a lot of slaves under his family. I feel kind of bad for him. He was the richest man in Rome and died in the pursuit of the one thing he didn't have and desired most.
>>528859
Well he did inherit 7 million sesterces from his father. But making that into what is today 2 trillion $ is quite impressive. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_historical_figures
Probably stock raising.
t. Cato
>>528873
It's funny how history repeats itself
>>528825
proscriptions. When Sulla won the civil war, he started putting up lists of people who had picked the wrong side to support. Whoever brought in the proscribed person - dead or alive (preferably dead) - got his property. It got to the point where Crassus (among others) was adding people's names to the list just to get their estates. It even became a joke going aroudn the forum - 'I'm being hunted down by my Alban villa', 'my Tuscan farm has it in for me'.
That was the basis of his vast fortune, along with the inheritance from his father. He was a good position after the Marius-Sulla civil war, having supported Sulla, so in a climate where he had the ear of the dictator of Rome and a lot of the potential competition had suddenly been removed from play, it wasn't hard for him to make a good start in business. That was how he made his first fortune. As for how he turned that into his mega-fortune - he was just a very canny and ruthless businessman. It's said that he kept a permanent rapid-response force of fire-fighters ready 24/7, not out of a sense of civic duty or even particularly for his own properties, but because whenever an apartment block anywhere in Rome caught fire he would turn up, with his firefighters, and offer to buy the place at a (hugely) reduced price. Then the firefighters would simply stand there while the owner watched his investment literally go up in smoke, until he inevitably caved and sold to Crassus - who would thereupon send his firefighters in to salvage whatever they could.
>>528979
The firefighter thing isnt that stupid at all. But to be honest farming land and trade cant possibly made him 2 trillion $ There is more to that fortune.
>>529015
> But to be honest farming land and trade cant possibly made him 2 trillion
Why?
>>529074
Considering the amounts of land he must have owned to make up such an amount is crazy. Also think of the few million people living at that time. It just doesnt add up
>>528979
For the Romanboos here, proscriptions were basically like a form of bounty weren't they? Except that the reward was a portion of the proscribed's property, and not a set amount like 1,000 sesterces
>>529093
yeah, I think that's pretty much how it worked. The men who delivered the proscribed man's head got a portion of his estate and the state took the rest.
>>529087
remember that the 2 trillion figure is adjusted for inflation. Obviously the entire Roman Empire, and quite probably the entire world, at that time wasn't worth 2 trillion in 2016 dollars.
When you consider that the USA today has a GDP of about 17.5 trillion, a man worth 2 trillion would control approximately 11% of the overall economy. I've no idea how much of the Roman economy Crassus actually controlled, but 11% doesn't seem an unreasonable figure.
>>528906
Is Donald Trump the modern Crassus ?
>>529192
not even close. Trump's net worth is only 1/1000th that of Crassus. Crassus could (and did) pay and equip entire legions - you don't see Trump operating a private army with over ten thousand soldiers.
>>529217
>you will never see Trump operating a private army with over ten thousand soldiers
>>529225
Don't worry anon, we will do it for free
>>529192
The exact opposite.
Crassus inherited his father's wealth and exponentially improved it.
If Trump had merely left his inheritance in the bank and made pinch pots his whole life he'd be worth about twice as much as he currently is.
>>529246
I am pretty sure this isn't true. Trump was only left about $80 million, and the most conservative estimates of his current wealth put it at $2 billion. Even allowing for compound interest, there's no way simply leaving it in a bank would have netted an extra 1.9 billion in less than two decades.
Don't believe everything you read just because its in HuffPost
>>529246
Bank interest wouldnt have made him near as much as he has today. Remember he owns a lot of hotels and so on.
>>528825
He would start fires, then buy up the land of nearby properties for cheap, then rented the tenements out. He owned the fire brigade, so that helped.
>>528825
HE GOT BTFO BY PERSIANS
ABSOULTLY BTFO
LIKE I MEAN BTFO
INSANE BTFO
DEMOLISHED BTFO
>>534204
whoa insanely rekt
>>534204
I recall rumors that his mean all got sold into slavery and taken so far from Rome the Chinese came in contact with them.
>>534204
He wanted to be like Caesar and Pompey
>>534204
I thought this was fake at first.
How the fuck does something like this even happen?
>>528825
>I actually just learned about this.
He ran a fire department in which he would go to a burning house and only put it out if the owner sold it to him. They got to keep their possessions, but he refurbished and then resold the buildings or land. He made a killing this way.
>>534428
He was already very rich before this. Go to bed, Dan.
>>534427
roman cavalry was shit
>>534204
>Surena was murdered by the shah because he thought he might become a threat to his power
Goddammit, it's pants on head retarded moments like those that make loving the Parthians so difficult.
>>534204
God fucking damn. That's some Antiochus tier military incompetence.
>>536104
what do you mean?
His land was confiscated by Cinna because he supported Sulla, but then Cinna died and Sulla returned to Italy. Crassus not only got his land back, he received some of the property of Cinna's supporters and the property of rich men whose names he added to the list. He then invested his gains in the booming Roman economy fueled by recent expansion into the Hellenistic world.
>>536080
Unfortunately one of the few mentions of it is from Plutarch's writings from centuries after the battle, but on Surena's victory he said "it soon cost him his life. Probably fearing that he would constitute a threat to himself, King Orodes II had him executed."
Given the fact that it was from a Roman perspective years removed from the events and persons described, whether or not this was true can't be verified, but given that Surena doesn't appear in any other major events after Carrhae, it seems likely that some sort of fall from grace did befall the general in a way. Additionally, discontent between the ruling house of Sasan and their rivals the house of Suren-Pahlav soon boiled over, and Surena's execution may or may not have been a factor in that.
>>536158
damn, that's a shame. just how good of a tactician was the dude?
>>536165
It's not like Crassus made it very hard for him. Parthian cavalry excelled on flat, open ground, and Crassus decided to attack Parthia across the flattest, most open piece of ground he could find (i.e. the desert). All Surena had to do was lure the inferior Roman cavalry away from the main body and dispose of it, then he could simply sit back and rain down arrows on the Romans.
>>528979
you left out the part where Crassus was the one who set fire to the building in the first place
>>536780
holy shit he fucked them hard
>>529192
No, he's the modern Hadrian
>>534204
Plutarch's description of Crassus' invasion of Parthia is hilarious.
It's like the Russian Tsushima fleet: Roman Legion edition.
>>537423
Incompetence and general failure throughout the ages, eh?
>>534427
Superior tactics, the Parthians were like the Mongols.
>>534204
Horse Archers OP pls nerf
>>529185
>Obviously the entire Roman Empire, and quite probably the entire world, at that time wasn't worth 2 trillion in 2016 dollars.
LOL right, you fail economics . . .
>>529185
GDP is a measure of economic activity, not wealth.
The wealth of the US is estimated at somewhere between 50 trillion and 100 trillion dollars and 250 trillions for the entire world, and that's not counting most financial assets. The global derivatives market is possibly around 800 trillions. All the gold ever mined is worth 8 trillions.
>>539375
sauce
>>539355
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_world_product
Crassus died about 50 BC. At that point, the GDP of all countries in the world combined was about 33.5 billion dollars in 2015 dollars. The current world GDP is just under 78 thousand billion
>LOL right, you fail economics . . .
And you just fail
>>539402
>thousand billion
why notsay septilion or whatever
>>539386
Credit Suisse's Global Wealth Report
World Bank estimates
http://money.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-money-and-markets-in-one-visualization/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_wealth
>>536158
mirroring the roman senate's treatment of julius caesar
what an era this was, sulla, crassus, spartacus, pompey, caesar, brutus, mithridates, king herod, cleopatra, mark anthony, vercingetorix, augustus, all active in a ~60 year period
>>539408
trillion. And you'd be surprised how many people don't actually know off the top of their heads what a trillion is. Since the scale was in billions I kept it in billions. I suppose I could have said 0.0335 trillion and just under 78 trillion respectively, but I don't think that has the same impact.
>>539455
ah right, I'm really tired so i thought you meant a multiplication of a thousand. No way people don't know what a trillion is are they fucking retarded?
>>539463
well it's not like people use it much day to day. I'd like to think people on /his/ might be a cut above the average, but if you just asked random people on the street I imagine you'd get plenty who wouldn't even be able to say with confidence what a thousand million is.
>>539499
do you live in america?
>>539502
no.
Seriously, whatever country you live in, never underestimate the ignorance of the general public. I'm not saying that the majority of people wouldn't get it, but I'm sure there would be a sizeable chunk who wouldn't.
>>536780
>crassus decides it would be a brilliant idea to simply wait until the Parthians ran out of arrows to withdraw
>somehow forgetting that they didn't have overextended supply lines and had camels to easily resupply them whenever they needed
Did he fall off his horse on the way to Parthia or something?
>>536780
Worse was that the king of armenia had offered Crassus military access which would lead him on a small detour but in a area where horse archers wouldnt be effective.
>>541007
armenians were really shitty anyway all throughout history
>not watching superior Rome instead
>>541500
wat
>>541500
Vorenus & Pullo bros for life
>>545653
>>541500
>>545653
best fucking bromance on television ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBCqAU4HB5o (spoilers)
