RE: What do you know today that you didn't know yesterday?
April 8, 2023 at 9:08 am
(This post was last modified: April 8, 2023 at 9:33 am by Anomalocaris.)
If measured as percentage of the entire wealth of the world he owned, Elon Musk is a down right pauper next to what some believe to have been the richest private individual in human history. That fat cat is Marcus Licinius Crassus, the 1st century BC roman triumvir and colleague of Julius Caesar. He is estimate by some to have been worth roughly 3% of the entire world’s wealth. In modern terms that is equivalent to a person having a net worth of 12 trillion, 40 times that of pre-twitter Elon, or roughly equal to the value of annual economic output of china.
however wealth did not satisfy Crassus. he wanted glory as well. rather than buying roman equivalent of twitter abs laying off half of the employees, Crassus did the more manly thing by first leading an roman army to victory over a gladiator rebellion, crucifying 6000 captured gladiator along 130 miles of a roman road, then leading another roman army to total defeat against the Parthian empire.
The Parthian appreciated Crassus’s lust for wealth, and helped him satiate his greed by pouring molten gold down his throat. it appears this satiated finally his greed for good.
however wealth did not satisfy Crassus. he wanted glory as well. rather than buying roman equivalent of twitter abs laying off half of the employees, Crassus did the more manly thing by first leading an roman army to victory over a gladiator rebellion, crucifying 6000 captured gladiator along 130 miles of a roman road, then leading another roman army to total defeat against the Parthian empire.
The Parthian appreciated Crassus’s lust for wealth, and helped him satiate his greed by pouring molten gold down his throat. it appears this satiated finally his greed for good.
