Vikings had their wealth measured by the numbers of horses they owned.
When a viking died, tradition wanted his heirs to throw a huge banquet, where more than half the horses were butchered and offered to members of other families in the tribe. Granting those families (not related to the dead) will get some decent food for a while.
It strikes me how a thousand year old violent civilization had a mean to avoid cross-generational wealth transmission. It's a bit like how the pirate could vote a woman as captain of their ship... May be there something about living a dangerous life that make you more of a decent human being by our modern criteria.
I suspect population size has something to do with it. If you want harmony in a small, (relatively) self-contained community, it's beholden on those who have the wealth to ensure others within that community get a share (because if you don't share some of your wealth, you will soon have all of it taken from you). In an age of nation states we sacrifice a portion of our own sovereignty in the expectation that our government will enforce a fair distribution on our behalf. What qualifies as "fair" is open to negotiation, and central to what distinguishes the major political parties of western democracies.