HISTORY | MONEY | WORLD
Filthy Rich Ancient Rulers Who Lost It All
Crassus, Zenobia, and Nero
“Wealth is the slave of a wise man. The master of a fool.”
-Seneca
Many rich and powerful rulers throughout history have lost it all. In some cases, their greed and arrogance were to blame. Other times, conspiracy and intrigue were responsible. Whatever the cause, their stories endure. Let’s examine three famous cases in the ancient world.
Marcus Licinius Crassus (115–53 BCE)
Crassus was a Roman general, politician, and entrepreneur. Often listed today as one of history’s wealthiest individuals, Crassus amassed an enormous estate (estimated between $200 million to $20 billion in today’s dollars) through a wide array of business dealings.
Shrewd and fiercely ambitious, one apocryphal story tells of how Crassus would rush to the scene of fires in Rome with a team of slaves trailing behind him. After locating the property’s distressed owner, he would then offer to buy it at a steep discount. When accepted, he would order his makeshift fire brigade of slaves to put out the blaze. When refused, he would march away with the slaves in tow, allowing the building to burn to the ground.
