THE SOLVING OF A PROBLEM

Although the source material concerning the Seleukid empire is quite sparse, it proves sufficient, particularly when different genres of evidence are combined, to enable one to form at least an outline picture of the royal economy and its relationship to the underlying economy. In previous chapters conclusions have been presented on the policies of the Seleukid kings and their implementation with regard to land, revenue, surpluses, expenditure and coinage and on their system of financial administration, none of which will be repeated here.

What will be considered instead is whether the problem posed in chapter 3 was indeed solved. It was stated there, as a hypothesis, that Seleukos I had need of silver, with which to face the predominantly monetary expenses of a Hellenistic king. His task was to transform the mainly commodity-based economy of his empire into a monetary one, from which to extract as much silver revenue as possible. In order to achieve this, he apparently took certain measures, which are nowhere stated explicitly in some royal decree, but can be surmised from their effects.

City-building on an unprecedented scale and the strengthening of existing urban centres created the markets where it was possible for rural communities to sell their produce and afterwards pay their taxes in coin. The royal administration thus had the means to settle its expenses with silver, which it increasingly did, particularly for the armed forces, rather than with commodities, which had been the norm under the Achaemenids.