Donations And Tribute Gifts: Fill & Download for Free

I did some rough calculations concerning this in the past. Please note that I am not in any way an expert in Byzantine history of the period, so take this with a grain of salt.For the ‘Perpetual Peace' in 532 that ended the Iberian War with the Persians, the Byzantines paid 110 centenaria (11,000 lbs) of gold. One centenaria is about 7,200 nomismata, the standard big coin of the Byzantine currency. That ‘perpetual' peace lasted eight years, till 540, so that translates to about 100,000 nomismata per year.For the later Treaty of Dara/Fifty Year Peace in 562, Justinian paid 30,000 nomismata per year, with the first seven years of that paid in advance. That peace predictably only lasted about ten years or so.How much is this worth in terms soldiers? On paper, not that much. We know that under Anastasius the anona (annual pay) received by the elite field army soldiers of the comitatenses and palatini was about 20 nomismata, while that of the frontier troop (limitanei) was about 5 nomismata. So the Fifty Year peace cost the Byzantines annually merely the salaries of 1,500 elite troops, or 6,000 frontier guards. Definitely worth having!The ‘Perpetual Peace’ was much more expensive, translating to about the salary of 5,000 palatini or 20,000 limitanei annually. However given the generally high collateral cost of war, this was still very likely worth having.In general peace was much cheaper than war for the Byzantines of this period; they were already controlling the richest territories of the Late Antiquity world (Egypt and Syria) with the annual imperial revenue totaling 5 million nomismata, and Justinian I inheriting a treasury surplus of 28.8 million nomismata. Which was why other people were perpetually invading them, of course. So in a way they gained nothing but some measures of glory from military campaigns, since even a victorious war against their enemies did not yield that much in terms of loot or tribute compared to what they could gain from regular tax revenue.Of course this policy of keeping their enemies satiated with ‘donations’ and ‘gifts' has to be backed with some teeth in the form of a powerful army willing to face any challenges, to prevent the latter from trying to take the whole hog for themselves! And still the Sassanids and the empire's other foes would try, every few decades or so.

Humility : These elderly former Travancore royals from Kerala enjoy their privacy and simplicity. But, as custodians of Padmanabh Swamy shrine- world’s richest shrine ($1.2 billion and hidden$1 trillion treasure) ;they happen to be among the richest human beings.[1]Modesty: They stay in simple; but, well maintained house without any paraphernalia. Any one can meet them but they do value their privacy.[2]Service : As a legend goes; Maharajah of Travancore had donated all his wealth to Lord Padmnabhswamy and started living as his humble servant. He made sure none of his kith and kin ever misuse wealth of almighty. [3]Goodwill : A person’s real worth is judged by their down to earth behavior. These uncrowned royals have earned goodwill all their lives. [4] Perhaps, they prefer to value inner wealth- good morals, karma -rather than external wealth. [5]Conclusion: Those gifted with inner wealth exude real charisma !Pic credits : GoogleFootnotes[1] A One Trillion Dollar Hidden Treasure Chamber is Discovered at India's Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple[2] SC upholds right of Travancore royal family in administration of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala[3] 'The riches belong to nobody, certainly not to our family'[4] Simplicity rules[5] A Tribute to the Uncrowned Travancore King

The former leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, has an International Friendship Exhibition in a giant museum complex that houses 90,000 gifts that were allegedly given to the Korean dictator by other world leaders. The museum grounds features giant statues of Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung. (Look for the tiny people at the bottom of the photo to get an idea of the epic scale of the statue.)Then there's the weirdness of the gifts on display. Here's a stuffed crocodile given to Kim Jong Il by the Sandinista government of Nicaragua:Here's a bulletproof limousine donated to Kim Jong Il's dad by Josef Stalin.Then there's the autographed basketball from Michael Jordan, a testament to the obsession of Kim Jong Il and his successor Kim Jong Un with the NBA.Then there's the Umm al-Qura Mosque, known in English as the Mother of All Battles Mosque. The mosque is designed to have minarets in the shape of Scud missiles and the barrels of Kalashnikov rifles. The purpose of the mosque is to commemorate Saddam Hussein's nonexistent "victory" over the United States in the 1991 Gulf War. It's definitely a tribute to epic narcissism, but I may just have to give the edge to Kim Jong Il.