Rome was an interesting place to
say the most and in my opinion, I think this can be attributed to the tourism
industry. Tourists are attracted to this ancient world power because of sites
like the coliseum, pantheon, and most of all the country Vatican City. The
Vatican located inside Vatican City was the most powerful governing
organization in ancient Roman times. This power can be attributed to the monopoly
that they had over salvation which let them take fiscal advantage over their believers.
The Church’s monopoly over salvation
is because of the revenue they were able to produce because of their power over
salvation. Their revenue came from clergy men being able to buy their positions
and setting high interest rates on loans. The clergy men were very eager and
willing to pay high prices to be able to get into higher positions in the
church because of the economic power they could achieve. The church eventually prohibited
Usury which is lending money at high rates of interest but by doing this they
decided what was right and wrong letting them to keep practicing Usury when it benefitted
the church. An example of this shown by the interest rates they would charge the
medici bank which was between 5-10 perecnt but when the church borrowed money
from the medici bank they had interest rates of 2.3-6.6 percent. The power of
the church was not just because of their connection to god but also because of
their connection to the people’s pocket books.
The Vatican today still has a
monopoly which is spurred on by the tourist industry. This monopoly was
revealed when visiting the Vatican’s post office. Since Vatican City is their
own country they have their own stamps that can only be bought there. Thus, letting
the Vatican have a monopoly over Vatican City stamps. Although this might not
be as severe as a monopoly they had in ancient Rome it still is a monopoly that
is extremely successful because of the attraction of the Vatican.
The Vatican in ancient Rome was a
very successful and powerful church and firm. This can be attributed to their
monopoly over salvation which let them employ high interest rates on loans and
dictate Usury. It was also fun to be able to visit the Vatican and make
monopolistic connections from my article to somewhere as simple as a post
office. In sum the Catholic church was extremely successful because of their
monopoly over salvation but is this still the case?
The Vatican's Post Office