That was a wild read! Do you think they got paid upfront? Sounds wild to do a job, have the handler die and strand you from far away and then have to put up with BS getting back
They were paid on the way, but when their employer died, so too did their pay! On the way back, they were unpaid, and only survived by looting, extorting, and scavenging along the way.
I don’t understand how that would work in those days, wouldn’t the employer be carrying all the money with him in the form of coins? If he dies, can’t you just take it and split it amongst yourselves?
Much of the money wouldn’t have been ‘on-hand’. When their employer (a claimant to the Persian throne) died, so too did all of his social pull and contacts. Also, during the Battle of Cunaxa, the encampment was captured, where any of the money that was present would have plundered by the enemy.
Yeah, I read the article and it makes more sense to me now. I imagined he would be travelling with them, but that obviously wasn’t the case.
Even though it’s been thought to us in school, humankind never used money / coins in its history. It was always rather a kind of obligations and credits.
Only at the time of the ancient empires (romans, han dynasty) coins were used strongly. But mainly for paying the army soldiers. In middle age that coin thing faded again.
