5 Ancient SCAMS we Still Face Today!

PLEASE NOTE. This video is for entertainment purposes, and the stories are summarised as they are recorded. All of the narrative tales are from ancient 2nd/3rd hand accounts, legends and folktales and may not be historically accurate.
Scams are not new. The Ancient World may not have had Crypto rug pulls like Dink Doink, or fraudsters on the scale of Sam Bankman-Fried; but prior to 500BCE there were plenty of con artists and scammers who made their mark on ancient literature. From Hegestratos committing Insurance Fraud to Marcus Crassus' land purchase exploits, there was no shortage of people being ripped off in Ancient History.
JJJreact
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @tabletsandtemples
Patreon: / tabletsandtemples
+ Help me make more videos!
Paypal: www.paypal.com/paypalme/Lachl...
BTC Wallet: 1MJYqAi5VMfPH3qcJeeCCmhcnJyKwWgPwN
+ Stay in the loop:
Instagram: / tabletsandtemples
FB: / bibleunbox
Twitter: / tablets_temples
Subscribe: kzbin.info...
This channel is now known as Tablets and Temples, unpacking ancient history and religion. Formerly known as Bible Unboxed.
Sources:
Hegestratos:
This is recorded in Demosthenes’ speech “Against Zenothemis”
You can find the full text in:
- The World of Athens (1984).
- Demosthenes the Orator (2009)
Some Historians think Demosthenes' account is embellished, and actually Hegestratos died in a bad storm. For this view see: Law and Transaction Costs in the Ancient Economy (2015)
The Dummy Mummy:
This theory can be found in: Brier, B. (2001). Case of the Dummy Mummy. Archaeology, 54(5), 28-29.
Not all Egyptologists agree as to the degree that customers were unaware of contents of the fake mummies.
The Darius and Gaumata episode is recorded in the following ancient sources:
- Behistun inscription: mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah../P...
- Histories of Herodotos: classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/his...
- Ktesias’ Persika (PDF): etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0022521/nic...
Please note, while it's an interesting tale, as mentioned in the video, most modern historians believe the episode to be an invention by Darius to justify his seizure of the throne. You can find this argument in:
- Allen, Lindsay (2005), The Persian Empire, London: The British Museum press, p. 42.
- Tom Holland, Persian Fire
- Van De Mieroop, Marc (2006), A History of the Ancient Near East (2nd ed.), Blackwell.
Marcus Licinius Crassus' deeds are recorded in Plutarch's The Life of Crassus. Please note that many websites, and even a historical biography of Crassus record that he put out fires with a fire brigade, and even hint that he started the fires. However, Plutarch's original account (which is the only primary source available) does not mention either of these facts.
Keywords: ancient history, scammers, coffeezilla, ancient scams, historical scams, hegestratos, marcus licinius crassus, ancient fire brigade, jacob and laban, dummy mummy, darius the great, gauamata, darius bardiya, con artists, cambyses ii, historical scammers, fraud, ancient fraud, crassus fire fighting, ancient egypt, mummification, cyrus the great, fraud in ancient history, biggest fraud in history, jacob the trickster

[@TabletsAndTemples]

PLEASE NOTE. This video is for entertainment purposes. All of the narrative tales are from 2nd/3rd hand accounts, legends and folktales and may not be historically accurate. Sources are listed in the description for further reading.

[@Womb_to_Tomb_Apologetics]

There's also the complaint tablet to Ea-nāsir, where a guy called Nanni wrote how he got scammed into receiving "low quality iron ingot" from a guy called Ea-nasir. Not as climactic, but still funny. It's the oldest known written complaint.

[@Tia-Marie]

Came here wondering if this video would talk about that no good Ea-nāsir and his inferior iron ingots! thank you for remembering Nanni's plight.

[@Womb_to_Tomb_Apologetics]

@@Tia-Marie lol

[@TabletsAndTemples]

Maybe a part 2

[@jasonscarborough94]

1:13 "That's right your honor, he wasn't thrown over board, he jumped"

[@TabletsAndTemples]

I think the primary source for this story suggests he was trying to jump overboard to get to a smaller boat being towed, but he missed and drowned.

[@ben-theamateurexegete6747]

This was a great video but the highlight for me was how you put to use that hilarious scene with Tobias from Arrested Development. Bravo, friend!

[@TabletsAndTemples]

I've been waiting a long time to get an AD clip in

[@InquisitiveBible]

That Persian guy may have committed some light treason.

[@ben-theamateurexegete6747]

@@InquisitiveBible, beautiful!

[@mustachemac5229]

I enjoyed the story about the king being impersonated. Thanks for the video, buddy. 👍

[@TabletsAndTemples]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@InquisitiveBible]

Great video. The new art style works well. You don't hear the stripey sticks story in Sunday school very often.

[@TabletsAndTemples]

A shame, I tend to think tricksterism is considered a positive trait in Genesis.

[@DrKippDavis]

This is SO good.

[@TabletsAndTemples]

Agreed 😅

[@HafMpty]

Where do you get your images & animations from? I'd love to be able to use them in my 2nd-5th grade Sunday school class (especially when we talk about the stripey sticks). 😂

[@TabletsAndTemples]

It's a combination of free and paid stock assets, generative AI and a lot of Photoshop and After Effects.