the roman bureaucracy
..., you must travel back no later than the later Roman Republic. Rome was nothing at all like it is now or was, and the Punic Wars were supplying Rome with the greed it craved. With many Phoenician colonies and the great city of Carthage losing power to the Roman regime, the Med Sea areas had become open for expansion. Using any worthless excuse, Rome sent armies outward to conquer the weaker provinces. Just as Alexander had done during his conquests, fortunes after fortunes flowed back in huge amounts toward Rome. This made it the wealthiest city ever known in the ancient world. Banking now did not exist then like it does today. During all of the land seizure by the Roman armies, the Bureaucracy was trying to find a more efficient way to handle the empire’s money. Back then, the Romans did not use paper money like today. Their money was worth however much the metal was worth to produce. Credits could be made between parties, but it mainly relied on the trust of that party. Also, someone’s life fortune could be lost forever if sunk while being transported by ship. With rapid expansion came other problems for the bureaucracy. Slavery, perhaps, brought the biggest changes in the Roman Empire. The population size was multiplying in Rome, mainly from the slaves captured in surrendering colonies and cities taken over by Roman armies. Most of these slaves were the prisoners of war. But many, usually educated men of the Greek colonies of Asia Minor, had become the backbone for the Roman Bureaucracy. Because of the population increase, the great empire could not keep up with its expenses, so it began selling these slaves in mass productions. Many wealthy households used slaves to care for the children and cook meals for the family. Farm land was scarce because of all the land bought out and cared ...