whatilearned
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Licinius_Crassus#Rise_to_power_and_wealth
TIL Marcus Licinius Crassus arguably the richest man in ancient Rome was known to show up to burning houses with a fire brigade, offering to put out the fire if the owner first sold him the house at a miserable price. If the owner refused, he would let the house burn to the ground.
17 Comments
Leave a ReplyLeave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I wonder how those fires started…..
Crassus was executed by way of pouring molten gold down his throat.
A fitting end for a man of his greed.
What a cunt
Such an asshole. Glad he met a miserable end.
He’s not really offering to put out the fire, he’s offering some money or a burnt down house. He’s only putting the fire out on his own property.
So the rich have always been assholes who use their existing wealth to extort more out of those with less to start with. 😬
When people say “Eat the rich” these are the types of rich they are talking about.
Sadly the methods may have changed but todays Billionaires are essentially doing this same thing to companies.
LaIsSeZ fAiRe cApItAlIsM iS ThE bEsT SySTeM
Sounds like Mitt Romney
Stonks
Sounds like America right now
Always on that quintillionaire grindset
[I’m Marcus Licinius Crassus!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wINLmGb4cbM)
Marcus started the fire!
IIRC, adjusted for inflation, Crassus is the richest man to ever live.
He didn’t just do this to just the burning building, but to all the buildings in the vicinity. Fires in ancient rome could easily consume whole city blocks, and they didn’t have pressurized water hoses. So the trick to putting out a fire was to knock down the building and all the other ones around it to starve it of fuel. Of course, Crassus would buy a whole lot more than what he needed to put out the fire, making a ton of money on the fire sale.
The more things change, the more they stay the same…