Are the quantities of gold that the Roman Empire looted and mined known?
score:7
I'll only provide some data about the mined gold:
- 9 t p.a. "Production in Asturia, Callaecia, and Lusitania (all Iberian Peninsula) alone." (Pliny: Naturalis Historia, 33.21.78, in: Wilson 2002, p. 27)
- 190t during whole "Roman Time" in Northwest Spain (I didn't see a specific time range in the paper) (http://www.academia.edu/2105961/Tertiary_and_Quaternary_alluvial_gold_deposits_of_Northwest_Spain_and_Roman_mining_NW_of_Duero_and_Bierzo_Basins_)
- Duerna 3t p.a. (http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/articles/Edmondson_Mining_in_the_Later_Roman_Empire.pdf quotes Mines d'Or romaines d'Espange)
I wasn't able to find a ranking list or data about the now Balkans (though many references to it, there should be data about tat).
Upvote:1
The answer to your question is that these respective quantities are not known.
Modern post-colonial historians routinely speak of how Britain, France, Belgium and other colonial powers looted their colonies by extracting their mineral resources. From this perspective the border between "looting" and "mining" does actually become rather fluid.
Upvote:4
The gold of Tolosa was a treasure in a lake where the celts offered many of their warprizes.
However, in 105 BC, the proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, Quintus Servilius Caepio, reported the discovery of the gold at Tolosa to the Senate, and was charged with sending the treasure back to Rome. Over 50,000 15 lb. bars of gold and 10,000 15 lb. bars of silver were found. The gold disappeared en route, with Strabo mentioning that "it was on account of laying hands on them that Caepio ended his life in misfortunes...". It was reported that the gold was stolen by a band of marauders, with many contemporaries and modern historians believing that Caepio himself had hired them.
that makes 750 000 roman pounds of gold *0.328.9= 246 675 kg or ~ 250 tons of gold!
EDIT
But however, the account of Poseidonius is more plausible: for he says that the treasure that was found in Tolosa amounted to about fifteen thousand talents (part of it in sacred lakes), unwrought, that is, merely gold and silver bullion
not sure how much that is in kg.
More post
- 📝 Why does US currency have a 25 cent piece and a 20 dollar bill instead of a 20 cent piece or 25 dollar bill?
- 📝 Why did Lübeck not have colonies like other strong city-states?
- 📝 When did the US invite Iraqi scientists to study nuclear technology/science?
- 📝 Who of the British military had access to the ULTRA messages of the Enigma in September 1944?
- 📝 Were there Samurai equivalents in Korea or China?
- 📝 When did the current 7-day week cycle begin?
- 📝 Were the Chinese Warlords backed by other countries?
- 📝 Were sailing ships of the line understaffed with gunnery crews so that there were not enough for 2 broadsides?
- 📝 After America achieved independence, did George Washington continue to wear a military uniform?
- 📝 Did Japanese officers refuse to engage in kamikaze attacks?
- 📝 Did the 1962 comedy album about JFK impact the presidency or US prestige abroad?
- 📝 What language(s) were spoken in 11th century Romania?
- 📝 Matchsticks were invented in 1805 . How did humans get fire in everyday lives before then?
- 📝 Was Alexander the Great ever an emperor?
- 📝 Why did Hideyoshi invade Korea?
- 📝 Was Uranus a Roman god?
- 📝 Languages spoken by Josephus?
- 📝 How was financial profit viewed in Medieval Europe?
- 📝 Can anyone help identify this soldier's uniform?
- 📝 What do the four castles on the flag of Ibiza represent?
- 📝 Did people from the cities of Uruk, Ur and Sumer have knowledge/recollection of how old their cities were (say, recollection after 2000 BCE)?
- 📝 Why was Columbus not aware of the existence of America?
- 📝 Why did the US, Britain, France, Denmark and Sweden vote against the UN resolution that condemned Nazism and SS glorification?
- 📝 What was the economic impact of WW1 on USA's economy?
- 📝 Were German WWII-era U-Boat crews allowed on deck?
- 📝 What are some items still existing today that were involved in the most killings?
- 📝 Were there any watermills within sailing distance of the sea?
- 📝 Did the Czech Legion bring POWs to Czechoslovakia? And if so, why?
- 📝 What was the reason why Americas didn't take to buckwheat as a crop?
- 📝 Was there a Stick-Grenade prior to the Stielhandgranate?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Are the quantities of gold that the Roman Empire looted and mined known?
- 📝 What was the northernmost region/city in the Roman Empire that spoke Greek as the native language?
- 📝 Are species introduced to England and Wales by the Romans still found near Roman settlements?
- 📝 Gap between poor and rich in the Roman Empire
- 📝 What Roman Republican legal structures lasted into the Empire and which ones didn't?
- 📝 How did the First French Empire and allies differ from the other European monarchies at that time?
- 📝 What were the insignia of the Western Roman Empire and what happened to them?
- 📝 Why did the Sassanid and the Eastern Roman Empire fail to make a lasting peace?
- 📝 Are there any remaining existant texts that describe the styles and techniques of Medieval European swordsmanship?
- 📝 How did agricultural productivity change in Italy with the fall of the Roman Empire and through the early Middle Ages?
- 📝 Were the Roman Empire provinces Alpes Poeninae and Alpes Graiae different provinces or the same?
- 📝 On the Ezana Stone, who are the black and red people that the Ethiopian king was referring to?
- 📝 In Russia, are the anniversaries of the various events that occurred in 1917 and '18 observed according to the Old Style or the New Style calendar?
- 📝 Provinces and Dioceses in the late roman empire contrasted with those of the church
- 📝 The Goths and The Roman Empire (Alaric)
- 📝 Difference between legions at the end of the Roman empire and around the beginning of the Roman Empire
- 📝 What was the biggest region in the Holy Roman Empire that was never Protestant, if any?
- 📝 Are the Carolingian and Frankish Empire the same?
- 📝 Why is the consensus that WW2 started on September 1, 1939 and not July 7, 1937?
- 📝 Why did the Western Roman Empire collapse but not the Eastern Roman Empire?
- 📝 Why are the German and French languages so different?
- 📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
- 📝 When did the Roman Empire fall according to contemporaries?
- 📝 How would a king's servants prove that they are on a task given by the king?
- 📝 How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?
- 📝 What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that Cleopatra and Caesarion considered fleeing to India to escape the Romans?
- 📝 Is it true that there are more slaves in the world now than ever at one point in history?
- 📝 What are the text and subtext of this 1949 Soviet cartoon?
- 📝 Do Real Roman and Greek warriors have big muscles and six-pack abs like in the movie?
