Jeremy Ryan Slate

#798: The Roman Playbook for Destroying a Currency with Jeremy Ryan Slate

- Roman emperors systematically debased the denarius from 95% silver (1st century A.D.) to 2–4% pure silver by the 270s, losing 90% of its value in ~200 years to fund military pay increases and donatives. - Septimius Severus doubled legionary pay and expanded the army after the year of five emperors (193 A.D.), establishing a spending blueprint all subsequent emperors followed, directly causing currency collapse. - Military dissatisfaction with debased currency manifested as mutinies, the creation of 26 rival emperors in 50 years (235–284 A.D.), and the rise of barbarian federati (non-Roman soldiers fighting under Rome's flag). - Diocletian attempted price controls (~301 A.D.) to combat inflation; this failed and drove commerce into black markets as people reverted to bartering goods rather than accepting worthless coins. - Constantine fixed the monetary crisis by introducing the gold solidus (~314 A.D.), which maintained stable value for ~700 years, while also unifying belief through Christianity and disbanding the Praetorian Guard. - The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire survived 700+ years of monetary stability under the gold standard, whereas the Western Empire fell in 476 A.D. partly because sound money and shared belief broke down.