Spartan warriors were so obsessed with making sure their citizens did not hoard wealth that they used heavy, impractical iron bars as their official currency instead of gold or silver coins.

A closer look

Spartan warriors were so obsessed with making sure their citizens did not hoard wealth that they used heavy, impractical iron bars as their official currency instead of gold or silver coins. The idea was that a single transaction would require a horse and cart just to carry the money, completely eliminating casual shopping and making bribery a logistical nightmare. It was a brilliantly cynical way to force everyone to stay poor and miserable, which perfectly aligned with the Spartan brand of prioritizing suffering over basic human comfort. Imagine trying to buy a cup of coffee and having to drag a fifty-pound rod of iron to the register, proving that ancient Greece invented the concept of making transactions as painful as possible!