>A hundred camels were in tow, each camel carrying hundreds of pounds of pure gold. Or around $1bn in gold assuming 500 pounds per camel at current exchange ra

>A hundred camels were in tow, each camel carrying hundreds of pounds of pure gold. Or around $1bn in gold assuming 500 pounds per camel at current exchange rates. As a percent of the then global GDP, this was likely well above the modern super rich, but as a head of state, his pilgrimage would have been perhaps comparable to a mid-sized war for that time period given the number of troops and total expense.