Tides of History How Alexander the Great's Soldiers Spent Their Money
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Dec 25, 2025 Explore the financial life of a Macedonian soldier during Alexander the Great's conquests. Learn how soldiers like Red Cleitus handled their newfound wealth, navigating a world of camp markets, inflation, and credit. Discover the economic incentives that drew men into military service, and how their spending influenced regional economies. Delve into the realities of their expenditures— from arms to indulgences like wine and sex work. Uncover the dark side of war as a slave-producing economy and the long-term impacts on Hellenistic society.
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Red Cletus At Alexander's Death
- Red Cletus mourned Alexander and drank himself senseless in the camp's wine cellar until dawn.
- Patrick Wyman uses Cletus as a relatable soldier to explore Hellenistic economic life.
Soldiers Created Early Wage Labor
- Tens of thousands of soldiers paid wages in coin created a first large-scale instance of wage labor in the ancient world.
- This mass monetization significantly reshaped Hellenistic economic patterns according to Patrick Wyman.
Campaign As A Money Launderer
- Alexander's campaign acted like a vacuum, extracting Asian wealth and redistributing it via soldiers' pay.
- Wyman argues the army laundered regional riches into circulating coin across vast regions.