“After having defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 B.C., Octavian transports to Rome the treasure of the Egyptian kings. Suetonius evokes in a few words the consequences that the sudden arrival of this treasure had on the Romans’ financial life. ‘When the treasure of the Egyptian kings was brought to Rome,’ he wrote, ‘Octavian furnished such an abundance of coins that, interest rates having fallen, property values rose considerably.’”
Jean Andreau, Banking and Business in the Roman World (1999).
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