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The Treasures of Alexander the Great: How One Man's Wealth Shaped the World (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture) 1st Edition

by Frank L. Holt (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 18 ratings
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War, the most profitable economic activity in the ancient world, transferred wealth from the vanquished to the victor. Invasions, sieges, massacres, annexations, and mass deportations all redistributed property with dramatic consequences for kings and commoners alike. No conqueror ever captured more people or property in so short a lifetime than Alexander the Great in the late fourth century BC.

For all its savagery, the creation of Alexander's empire has generally been hailed as a positive economic event for all concerned. Even those harshly critical of Alexander today tend to praise his plundering of Persia as a means of liberating the moribund resources of the East. To test this popular interpretation, The Treasures of Alexander the Great investigates the kinds and quantities of treasure seized by the Macedonian king, from gold and silver to land and slaves. It reveals what became of the king's wealth and what Alexander's redistribution of these vast resources can tell us about his much-disputed policies and personality.

Though Alexander owed his vast fortune to war, battle also distracted him from competently managing his spoils and much was wasted, embezzled, deliberately destroyed, or idled unprofitably. The Treasures of Alexander the Great provides a long-overdue and accessible account of Alexander's wealth and its enormous impact on the ancient world.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199950962
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199950966
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  5. Publication date
    April 1, 2016
  6. Part of series
    Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture
  7. Language
    English
  8. Dimensions
    8.6 x 1.3 x 5.7 inches
  9. Print length
    320 pages
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is in many ways a compelling study of the economics of conquest...The book is extremely well-written and a pleasure to read throughout, no small achievement given that Holt's story is at least in part a story of numbers and calculations rather than of battles and murderous drinking parties. Holt is creative in his use and presentation of those numbers and restrained when the evidence is not sufficient to resolve debate. The book will be an excellent addition to undergraduate or graduate courses on Alexander as well as an important contribution to discussions among specialists on Alexander and more broadly the effects of war." --William D. Barry, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Written in clear and simple language, based on a thorough analysis of ancient historians and for this reason dispelling many myths about Alexander's conquest, this book will find many readers among the specialists of ancient history but it will also captivate all those who want to discover another side of Alexander the Great." --Alain Bresson, University of Chicago

"It's not easy to find something new to say at book length about Alexander the Great and his conquests, but in this fascinating and exciting study Frank Holt does just that. By building up a picture of the conqueror's income and expenses, he assesses the strengths and weaknesses of his fiscal policies, sheds light on the economic impact of the conquest, lays some old canards to rest, and even teases out conclusions about Alexander's character. This book will change the way we look at Alexander." --Robin Waterfield, author of Dividing the Spoils and Taken at the Flood

"Mr. Holt is fearless in his interrogation of both the ancient sources and the received wisdom among modern scholars...[his prose] radiates conviction and clarity." --The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Frank L. Holt is Professor of History at the University of Houston and the author of Lost World of the Golden King, Into the Land of Bones, Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions, and Thundering Zeus.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (April 1, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199950962
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199950966
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.6 x 1.3 x 5.7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 18 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
18 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A. Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommend
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2020
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Great book. Well written and extremely readable. Finished the book quickly which is rare for me with a full time job and 2 small children. I look forward to reading the author's other books
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William J. Lewis
4.0 out of 5 stars A thoroughly enjoyable book, which highlights Alexander the Greats ...
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2017
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A thoroughly enjoyable book, which highlights Alexander the Greats time and the beginning of the Hellenistic period from a totally different viewpoint.
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Barbara Carlin
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy accessible read!
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2020
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Excellent read. Well researched and the writing is accessible to those who are not history students.
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steve v wilson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2017
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Interesting topic
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David Wineberg
4.0 out of 5 stars Following the money
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2016
Frank Holt says there have been 4000 books published on Alexander The Great in the just the past 65 years, but only a couple of dozen even mention wealth in their titles. So Holt has pulled it all together here in an intriguing summary.

The basic problem young Alexander faced was not much in the treasury and a fierce army that needed to be paid. So it was inevitable he would take them on the road and reward them with the plunder of victory. It was far easier and far more rewarding than anyone expected, so he kept doing it, going as far India.

The book breaks into two parts – revenues and expenditures. On the revenue side there is plunder and extortion. Persia (Iran) was fabulously wealthy and flaunted it. Expensive purple accoutrements and gold and silver everywhere. As Alexander slashed across Asia, unimaginable caravans of booty, estimated as long as 70 miles long themselves, slowly crept back west, at the rate of 13-15 miles a day. Reports of tens of thousands of donkeys and camels weighed down by bullion were common. Caravans involved security and provisions as well, making the process all the more unimaginable. For example, the treasurer required 6000 soliders of his own. The numbers tossed around are stunning, easily in the billions by today’s standards.

On the expenditure side, Alexander treated his men to generous salaries, bonuses, travel and re-up fees, while also letting them plunder for their own benefit. It actually became a burden for everyone, with stories of gold and silver strewn over the paths, abandoned as being too heavy or bulky.

Meanwhile Alexander’s own retinue was a gigantic traveling society of cooks, servants, soldiers, vendors, administrators and an entire vaudeville/circus of entertainers for his evening diversion. All needed payment and feeding. Soldiers ran up debts among themselves, and a traveling casino took in good money. And through it all, profiteers and fraudsters, including the treasurer himself, extorted and embezzled. The leakage itself would have been enough to run society, but as in the places it was taken from, inequality ruled. Perhaps Alexander caused it to be spread a little wider by all his expenses. His personal fortune was an estimated 90,000 Talents, where one Talent was 56 pounds of gold.

On the plus side, some authors claim freeing all that wealth from treasuries and put into circulation benefited millions of people. On the minus side, little or none of the money made life better or more secure. Nasty, brutish and short was the order of the day, and Alexander’s idea of spending money was more and better weapons, more and better soldiers, more and bigger monuments and temples, and of course more plunder to keep the wheels turning. There was always another town and another hoarding awaiting.

David Wineberg
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6cats
4.0 out of 5 stars Almost a treasure
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2018
The book provided a new different approach to Alexander's empire. It was interesting and informative, however there were several times when I wished more information had been provided. I would recommend this as a companion book to other Alexander books.
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Argyraspid
5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous, meticulous, and breathtaking
Reviewed in France on February 4, 2018
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Wow! That’s the one word that comes to my mind after reading this book. It is fabulous, meticulous, and breathtaking from cover to cover. Nobody tackled Alexander’s finances before and that is not surprising given the relatively limited facts and figures that are available.
As always, Frank Holt’s painstaking research is remarkable and the huge amount of books he consulted to extrapolate relative information is absolutely amazing.
He starts, of course, with a general overview of Alexander’s campaigns making a number of pertinent statements about finances often overlooked by the casual reader. There is, for instance, the fact that rural economies suffered as much if not more than the cities taken by Alexander since the army helped themselves to consume the food and livestock on their path leaving the local people totally depleted; or the fact that Alexander had no intention to stimulate economic growth in the lands he occupied. A true eye-opener is the way he managed or mismanaged his plunder. Money as such was not important to Alexander but the reaping of treasury was. Frank Holt is able to prove that all the gold and silver amassed by the king was not turned into coinage, far from it. In antiquity, money did not play the role we know today and payments persistently were made by barter and gifts of land (for instance to the new colonists).
From this study it transpires that Alexander’s money management is far beyond comprehension and that the appointment of his boyhood friend Harpalus as treasurer was not a success since he fled just before the Battle of Issus for reasons unspecified. Alexander trusted him a second time in Ecbatana and with a treasury far beyond any amount of money anyone had ever accumulated! There are limits, even to friendship, one would say and it is hard to believe that Alexander did not exercise any form of control over his financial managers of which Harpalus is only one example – yet the worst one – as he robbed Alexander of thousands of talents and led a life that might have served as model for the Roman Emperor Nero.
The army had lost and disposed of their wealth on two occasions and after crossing the Gedrosian Desert all was lost again and money became meaningless to the soldiers. How can Alexander not have been aware that his men were broke when they emerged from that hell? He made amends in Susa but it seems that once these soldiers reimbursed their own debts they had nothing left.
The sad conclusion is that nobody fared very well from Alexander’s campaigns, neither the Persians who lost their kings and livelihood to be ruled by foreign successors, nor the Macedonian soldiers who ended up fighting each other and were still demanding their salaries two years after the king’s death.
This great book concludes with carefully gleaned facts and figures arranged in four separate Appendixes: (1) Ancient Measures and Modern Conversions; (2) Summary of Reported Assets, from inheritance and homeland revenues, from war and diplomacy, and from tribute in conquered territories; (3) Summary of reported debts, inherited debts and specific losses and expenditures; (4) Where is it now, listing the known numismatic collections of Alexander coins. These tables are extremely useful to whoever wants to know every tiny detail and show, if needed, how thorough Frank Holt studied Alexander’s treasures.
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Myrianthis Kostantinos
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2017
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a rare point of view, well documented
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