Just how exactly did ancient economies even function? I mean

>>3391157
bump for interest
I'd think it would be very localized, i.e. mostly intra-town/city

>>3391157
I don't have answers either but to me this is one of the most fascinating aspects of history.

I have read a bit about how the inca empire functioned, and its fascinating.

A large part of the population was conscripted into work crews that moved around working on construction projects or farming, and they lived in workers baracks that were remarkably uniform across the empire.

Newly conquered people were quickly assimilated into this system.

Also apparently most resources were distributed through a system of warehouses run by a central bureaucracy.

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How the fuck did ancient tax collection work?

Just tell the tax collector you don't have any money lmao

>>3391157
people gave other people stuff in exchange for stuff
?

>>3391157
I think it would be easier to answer your question if you gave a specific society/town/empire

>>3391157
Read Lucian's parodies about Charon.

http://viking.som.yale.edu/will/finciv/chapter1.htm
This is my favorite summary of early finances.

>>3391157
They were mostly self-sufficient.
If you can trade stuff with others, great. If not, its not the end of the world

>>3391262
I believe that (in Europe, at least) they used to demand a certain amount every year, so you had to work to make sure that you had that money.

It was mostly on the sharing economy, not the money economy.

Debts were typically fungible, transferable, and finite in time, not infinite. You could owe a cow and accept a favor. You could be owed a gold coin and accept a cow. You'd negotiate everything with everyone you dealt with.

The best example that slots into modern-ish money economies if the Hebrew jubilee tradition, where all debts are cancelled or rationalized on a predictable timeline.

The next stage was the palace economy, where a despot of some sort basically took all debts, and all credit, and distributed gifts to keep the real economy going.

>>3391323
neato

>>3391157
Bartering