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Rome's Economy, How Good was It.

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  The Roman Empire is one of the greatest and longest-ruling polities in history, beginning in 509 B.C. with the establishment of the Roman Republic and ending with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D. It achieved dominance of the Mediterranean, and later survival in Anatolia, through a combination of factors, one of which was a robust economy. However, recent scholars have shifted this view, with more people arguing that the empire’s economy was far more fragile than it appeared. So, what is the  real answer  to that question?   What Rome Did Well   Let’s  be clear: Romans were not inept at managing their economy; in fact, they had many practices that made it  relatively robust  for its time. You cannot  establish  and maintain an empire as large as theirs for so long in the ancient world while being backward in finances. That said, this answer is not  very interesting  on its own, so  let’s  delve into how the Ro...
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Copper Trade Incident in Sumeria

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  Commerce is one of the oldest concepts in human civilization, dating back to the time when we were nomadic hunter-gatherers travelling the wild. After all, it  doesn’t  take much to understand that when you see someone with something you want, you have three options: let it go, steal  it  or give them something they want in exchange. These kinds of interactions have given rise to multiple practices and professions, both good and bad.   Our story today will cover the earliest known trade incident that was recorded. Considering that the record is  nearly 4,000  years old, it is weirdly impressive. The culprit in question is a merchant from the city of Ur in Mesopotamia named  Ea -Nāsir, who was transporting his goods between Ur and the city of Dilmun by boat. Nāsir was a long-time copper merchant importing well, copper, and selling it to his city. Archeological findings suggested that he was heavily invested in his trade with the royal palace...
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Crossbow in China

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In our history, we put a great deal into finding new and better ways to kill each other for various reasons, let it be finding new lands to live on, gaining more resources, having different imaginary fr... religion or just because we  felt  l ike it (looking at you, Manifest Destiny).  This, of course, means that although getting close and personal is great, being able to kill your opponent at a distance is even better . This led to the development of multiple methods to throw deadly projectiles at people's faces, like the topic of  today: the crossbow .     Despite being seen as an icon of the European medieval era, the crossbow  actually sees  its origins  in China’s  late bronze age , around the year 650 BC .  We  don’t  have a specific date for when these weapons were first designed, but the excavations of complex trigger mechanisms made of bronze  found in archeological sites can still give us an approximate time...
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