QUESTION: Hiya Martin,
Been studying your writings with eager curiosity for over 15 years now since when you had been incarcerated.
My query is: The best way you paint an image of the previous economies going again a whole lot and 1000’s of years by the invention of coinage hoards is sensible. How will a future “Martin Armstrong” from say 500 to 1,000 years from now be capable to make the most of that methodology of discovering the historical past of this period once we’re largely a pc digital transaction society? (Particularly if government-planned digital forex takes over?)
Thanks. Jerry S.
ANSWER: I do know the crypto-people don’t like my view that digital forex is totally dependent upon the ability grid and as soon as cash is in any official change, it will likely be topic to authorities regulation. Simply have a look at Tik Tok. The federal government desires to ban it as a result of they CANNOT get into the info and who’s saying what. It has nothing to do with China. They aren’t if you happen to paid the babysitter subsequent door, however Congress is. They’ve backdoors into all the pieces – not Tik Tok. That has grow to be the hub for a lot of threats to their type of society referred to as the dreaded CONSERVATIVES.
Studying historic accounts of issues would by no means present the true image. The coinage has been the breadcrumbs that result in the reality. I can see the true degree of debasement, and when put along with historic accounts, we are able to get an actual image of historical past. We should additionally respect that some intervals are black holes and the coinage is what activates the sunshine.
For instance, it’s the coinage that allows us to verify a lot of historical past and I imagine we are going to see the longer term comply with the previous. The spouse of Augustus, Livia, the primary empress of Rome, was a really highly effective girl. The true energy behind the thrown. I recommend watching the collection – Domina. It is much better than any fictional story. It was his mom, Livia, who pushed him to be Emperor.
Livia was famend for her intelligence however was additionally one of the vital stunning girls in Rome. Tiberius was not her favourite – that was his brother Drusus. Tiberius had a son together with his first spouse Vipsania who was born in 14BC. Livia compelled Tiberius to marry Augustus’ daughter Julia as a solution to the throne. Augustus was not keen on Tiberius for he was merely unsocial. His marriage to Julia was like a combination of oil and water. She sought sexual events and ignored Tiberius and was lastly exiled by her father.
Frome the coinage, we are able to affirm that Tiberius responded to a serious earthquake that destroyed a lot of Asia, modern-day Turkey. Tiberius issued cash for assistance from Asia. We additionally know that he waived all taxes for five years and donated 10 million sesterces for aid. What politicians would ever system taxes as a software of aid at the moment?
Augustus’ inheritor was to be Germanicus (15BC-19AD) who was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus, the youthful brother of Tiberius, and Antonia, who was the daughter of Mark Antony and Augustus’ sister Octavia. He was married to Agrippina, Sr, who was the daughter of Agrippa and Augustus’ daughter Julia. Agrippina appears to have been the independent-minded girl who blamed Livia for the demise of her husband.
Agrippina, Sr. was such a disruption politically that Tiberius was compelled to banish her like her mom in 29AD the place she ultimately died of hunger in 33AD. Her son, Caligula, appears to have inherited her madness, and her daughter Agrippina, Jr, as effectively. She is definitely the primary girl on Roman coinage displaying her title. Livia’s portrait can be used however all the time styled as some goddess.
In fact, her son Caligula has warranted movies completely dedicated to his. He’s well-known for insulting the Senators by making his horse a senator. Caligula was born in 12 AD. He was named as Tiberius’ inheritor in 37AD and it has been lengthy suspected that Caligula smothered Tiberius to demise to take the throne. He was infamous for his depravity and cruelty. He was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard on January twenty fourth, 41AD.
The Praetorian Guard wanted an emperor or there was no level in them being the Praetorian Guard. They turned to Claudius and made him emperor. You’ll be able to see from his coinage the picture of the Praetorian Guard camp on the reverse saying that he was made emperor by the Praetorians.
There’s a nice collection of those occasions carried out years in the past by the BBC. It was based mostly on the e-book I Claudius and the collection bares the identical title – I. Cludius. That too is a worthwhile collection that was produced a long time in the past.
In reality, Agrippina Jr, sister of Caligula, was not solely the mom of Nero who ordered her killed for her dominance, however she married he uncle Claudius to safe the throne for Nero. As soon as once more, we discover her portrait on cash alongside her son, Nero, which additionally mirrored her dominance and efficient rule of the empire. Some have likened her to Hillary Clinton for her crafty and efficient rule behind the scenes.
To make sure Nero would grow to be Claudius’ inheritor, she poisoned Claudius’ son – Britanicus. It exhibits what a foul apple can do to the whole thing. Many have pointed to the truth that it was the dominance and crafty of the ladies that introduced down the Julio-Claudian Dynasty.
Nonetheless, the coinage not merely confirms historical past, but in addition offers a window by time for us to see how human nature by no means adjustments, and as such, the longer term turns into merely a repetition of human contrivances.
To reply the query if future historians will be capable to do what I’ve carried out if the forex is eradicated and we now have simply digital digital forex, I imagine the reply lies prior to now. We will see one thing somewhat astonishing proper right here through the reign of Tiberius (14-37AD).
Augustus/Octavian (inheritor to Julius Caesar) grew to become the primary emperor of Rome following the defeat of Cleopatra and Mark Antony in 30 BC. He was granted the title Augustus in 27BC by the Senate for saving Rome from the proxy struggle of Cleopatra who used Mark Antony to attempt to conquer Rome. Nevertheless, as a result of he was the primary emperor, it seems that he blanked the empire with coinage to justify his place as emperor, not king, which was actually the identical factor. There are over 500 completely different silver denarii sorts. I’ve by no means even heard of a collector assembling every kind.
In opposition to that backdrop, being certainly a reluctant emperor and compelled into an sad marriage, it’s comprehensible that being an unsocial workaholic, the circumstances most definitely drove Tiberius deeper into seclusion. He hardly ever left Rome. In reality, he wouldn’t even attend the gladiator video games. That is the extent of his coinage – two sorts. That’s it! As a substitute of the proliferation of coinage below Augustus, spending was curtailed and we are able to decide that from the coinage, not modern accounts. This led to a SHORTAGE of cash, and in such a recession. That grew to become the Financial Panic in 33AD.
Due to the scarcity of cash, that is the place we discover the primary time that the personal sector started to concern its personal coinage. Some have claimed they had been some kind of token. However they’re confined to this era of Tiberius the place there was a Monetary Panic and a scarcity of coinage in comparison with the reign of Augustus.
In the course of the Nice Despair, as a result of there too the austerity measures of the federal government created a scarcity of forex. Thus, over 200 cities in the USA started to concern their very own forex for native use.
Likewise, through the Civil Battle, there was additionally a scarcity of cash There’s a complete array of personal coinage throughout that occasion. Then there was the onerous time that adopted the Panic of 1837, Once more we now have personal coinage surfacing. The identical once more came about with the Panic of 1873.
In Japan, due to the corruption of the federal government all the time devaluing the forex of the earlier emperor, the Japanese lastly simply stopped accepting the coinage of their very own authorities. The economic system reverted to certainly one of barter and so they used the coinage of China. Japan misplaced the authority to even concern coinage for 600 years till the Meiji Period.
Cryptocurrency will fade with the collapse of governments. Will probably be too depending on a unified energy grid. If historical past is any information, we are going to return to a barter system mixed with maybe outdated identifiable coinage that the typical individual will acknowledge. That’s one purpose why I don’t advocate bars of silver or gold, however the outdated coinage. Baggage of pre-1965 silver cash within the US or related in Europe and Canada the place the typical individual can have a look at a date and settle for it whereas they can not inform the distinction between a var of silver or nickel.
Don’t make the error of judging others by your self. It’s possible you’ll know was a bar of silver is, however that won’t assist you if the opposite individual doesn’t. There are movies on YouTube the place persons are supplied a silver bar or a chocolate bar and so they take the chocolate. Not everybody is aware of what you might know. Hold that in thoughts.
So on the finish of the day, we must rebuild society from the bottom up post-2032. A forex needn’t be backed by something. Its worth is ALWAYS based mostly upon a perception system. The identical is true with gold and silver. That they had no utility worth, solely as jewellery from the outset. They had been valued as a result of at first, the kings reserved gold just for their adornment.
Orichalcum, brass, is the legendary steel talked about within the story of Atlantis within the Critias of Plato. In reality, orichalcum was thought of second solely to gold in worth and it held a higher worth than even silver. It was stated to have been mined in lots of elements of Atlantis in historical occasions. These ingots of orichalcum had been found in a shipwreck that had sunk 2,600 years ago, off the coast of Gela in southern Sicily. The ingots are an alloy consisting of 75–80% copper, 15–20% zinc, and smaller percentages of nickel, lead, and iron. In different phrases, they’re brass. As a result of the colour is nearer to gold, this was extremely prized.
The Greeks hardly ever used orichalcum for coinage within the Hellenistic world. It was used experimentally by Romans below the reigns of Octavian and Mark Antony. The place we start to see orichalcum used within the coinage constantly is dated to the financial reform of Augustus (23 BC). It was then that he launched sestertii and dupondii had been struck in orichalcum (Cu-Zn alloy) somewhat than silver and bronze. The sestertius of the Republican period was a tiny silver coin of about 0.7 grams. Later, the financial reform Nero made throughout 63–64 AD, launched the usage of orichalcum to the denomination of the as, semis, and quadrantes.
Following the Civil Battle with the demise of Nero, orichalcum was changed within the coinage with bronze. It’s extremely possible that somebody discovered make orichalcum and its premium simply collapsed. Counterfeiters had lengthy discovered combine wrap a coin in silver and strike it to make it seem it was silver, but in addition to make use of chemical substances to trigger the silver to look on the floor. We can’t rule out that somebody had discovered make brass and thus it misplaced its premium.
The worth of any forex is totally based mostly on perception. As soon as the ancients discovered that orichalcum was simply an alloy and could possibly be made, then it now not appears as extra precious than silver. Even cryptocurrency is nugatory. Its complete valuation is solely based mostly that others imagine it has some worth. Cash at its most simple core throughout a monetary disaster relies upon its utility worth. Therefore, in Japan, baggage of rice grew to become cash. It’s unlikely that even cryptocurrency will survive the transition post-2032. Valuable metals ONLY within the type of some recognizable coin shall be accepted just like the Japanese accepted Chinese language cash. Barter will return because it all the time has. That can most definitely be within the type of meals.
