Why Rome's Currency Crisis Looks Exactly Like Today

Описание: The Roman denarius contained 97% silver under Augustus. By 268 CE, it contained 4% silver. In 250 years, emperors extracted 93% of the value from their own currency.

School textbooks blame barbarian invasions. The coins tell a different story.

This video traces the documented destruction of Roman money through scientific analysis of thousands of coins, Egyptian price records, and government inscriptions admitting failure. You will see how emperors discovered debasement, how soldiers triggered the Crisis of the Third Century over pay disputes, and how the economy collapsed into barter before a single barbarian crossed the Rhine.

The parallels to modern monetary expansion are uncomfortable. The Federal Reserve balance sheet grew from $900 billion to $9 trillion between 2008 and 2022. Your groceries cost more. Your rent absorbs more of your income. Your savings buy less each year.

Rome's emperors believed they found a way to fund unlimited spending without consequence. They were wrong. The physical evidence fills museum cases worldwide.

Whether modern monetary authorities have found a different path or walk the same road remains the defining economic question of our time.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Opening
2:47 Chapter 1: The Silver Standard
5:17 Chapter 2: The First Debasement
7:26 Chapter 3: The Military Money Machine
9:32 Chapter 4: The Collapse
12:26 Chapter 5: The Evidence Speaks
15:22 Chapter 6: The Modern Echo

Sources include metallurgical analysis from the American Numismatic Society and British Museum, papyri from the University of Michigan Papyrology Collection, Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices, and contemporary accounts from Cassius Dio, Herodian, Lactantius, and Zosimus.