In the year 2011 BCE, the Carthaginian General Hannibal stood outside the gates of Rome.

Although he had little prospects of breaching the city's defenses, he hoped the Romans would panic.

The historian Edward Gibbon relates what happened next.

He encamped on the banks of the Anio at the distance of three miles from the city, and he

was soon informed that the ground on which he had pitched his tent was sold for an adequate

price at a public auction.

The implication was obvious. Rome had seen through the bluff.

If Romans were willing to trade at full price the land underneath Hannibal's army, they

did not expect his army to linger.

It did not. Hannibal withdrew in short order.

This may be the only example of an auction being used as an attack on enemy morale, but

it is not the first recorded auction.

Orctions seem to be almost as common as the marketplace itself.

You can imagine the idea being endlessly rediscovered around the world.

Whenever some trader offered to pay three obles per jar for a shipment of olive oil, and

the man next to him said, don't take that offer, I'll pay four.

From such simple moments evolved the theatrical event we call the Open Outcry auction.

A room full of art or antique dealers, millionaire backers submitting bids by phone, and a dapper

auctioneer tickling the whole process along.

Going once, going twice, gone.

By making clear what others are prepared to pay, such auctions make it hard for the unscrupulous

to exploit the gullible.

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