HISTORY OF CAPITAL
Although theories of capital are of relatively recent origin, capital
itself has existed in civilized communities since antiquity. In the ancient
empires of the Middle East and to a larger degree in the Greco-Roman world, a
considerable amount of capital, in the form of simple tools and equipment, was
employed to produce textiles, pottery, glassware, metal objects, and many other
products that were sold in international markets.
The decline of trade after the fall of the Roman Empire led to less
specialization in the division of labor and a reduced use of capital in
production. Medieval economies engaged almost wholly in subsistence agriculture
and were therefore essentially noncapitalist.
