more general label, namely‘command mode’, one of four identifiable
economic mechanisms operating in classical antiquity. ‘Command
mode’is taken to represent all those forms of revenue extraction that
emanate from the exercise of power, including landlordism, tithes, and
taxes. Plunder, according to this rationale, is a more extreme, possibly
arbitrary form of requisitioning, at one end of a scale of centralized
extraction that also includes legitimized forms, which may be rationally
justified. The other three‘modes’according to this model are‘subsistence
mode’,‘market mode’, and‘charitable mode’. A triple model, based on
thefirst three of these‘modes’, was formulated by Sir John Hicks as a
succession of characteristic economic behaviours. In a joint paper, John
Davies and I have applied this formula to Hellenistic kingdoms, arguing
that these‘modes’should be envisaged as coexistent options, not as
successive, or evolving, modes of operation.^93
The gold and silver treasure accumulated for a full two centuries at
Persepolis, drawn from the vast territories acquired by the Achaemenid
rulers of the Persian Empire, and including some exceptional individual
fortunes (such as that of Pythios the Lydian, which included 2000T of
silver and 3,993,000 gold darics: Hdt. 7.28), represents a unique instance
of capital acquisition, unparalleled until early modern times. Alexander
capitalized probably 200,000T in all, a sum two orders of magnitude
greater than the revenues of most contemporary states. Once put into
circulation, the ordinary mechanisms of exchange seem to have ensured
that this nest egg could not be reproduced. Alexander’s Successors
continued to exploit, but could not otherwise match this asset, despite
various strategies for capital accumulation. François de Callataÿ has
estimated, using the relative proportions of dies available for different
producing centres over time, that Alexander’s silver issues represented
about half of all coins in circulationc. 300 bc. At the same time, only a
fraction, estimated at between 10 and 30 per cent of precious metals in
circulation, was coined.^94 Antigonos Monophthalmos is said to have had
an annual income of 11,000T (Diod. 19.56.5); Ptolemy II is supposed to
have received 14,800T in money and 1,500,000 artabae of grain
(St Jerome,Commentary on the Book of Daniel,11.5). The equivalent
annual expenditure on military pay in the early decades of the third
centurybchas been calculated at 8,000T, using an operating force of
(^93) Davies 2009; Archibald and Davies 2011, esp. 3–11; Davies has added‘euergetistic or
charitable mode’in an‘Afterword’to the new edition of Davies 2009 (Davies, forthcoming/b).
(^94) De Callataÿ 2005a, 86–7 and Table 4.8 (size of selected early Hellenistic coin issues);
on the proportion of monetized to non-monetized precious metals, De Callataÿ 2006a, 55–
67; esp. 64.
Herdsmen with golden leaves—narratives and spaces 79