What was a denarius worth? - Ancients.info - The Online Resource for Ancient Coins & Antiquities

electrum! · Feb 21, 2007, 01:32 PM

Several months ago I got interested in what a denarius was worth, that being judged by some constant price of a commodity common to their era and ours. It seems that I found a very nice discussion of this question on Doug Smith's website but just now visiting it I could not find it. Maybe it was somewhere else?

In any event, could any of you guide me to a discussion of this question? It seems to me from my previous reading that the two most constant prices of 'things' from Roman times, that we have record of, were wages of a typical Roman foot soldier and the cost of bread. Today, we still have soldiers and bread

so there might be a way to keep "apples with apples".

Thanks as always for any help, Breck in "It's Almost Spring Spokane" (i.e. Robins in my yard for first time this year!)

GMoneti · Feb 21, 2007, 03:21 PM

Here is the link: http://dougsmith.ancients.info/worth.html

There is also Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices in the later Empire, however as Doug Smith points out it is the list of official prices, and not necessarily what they were in reality. I think comparing ancient earnings with modern is very speculative. Even if you have the same data to compare like soldiers and bread. Was a loaf of bread valued more back then than it is now in the US (for the sake of comparisson)? Were Caesar's soldiers more valued and hard to get than modern day conscripts or recruits in the army? It comes down to comparing very different standards of living, making it hard to judge even if we have all the data, which we don't.

bbridgwater · Feb 21, 2007, 03:49 PM

The only way to really answer that question is by example of how many denarii different specific goods and services (i.e.wages) would have cost at a given date - it's not possible to give a fixed modern currency equivalent since relative prices of different goods/services were not the same as they are today. A great source of information is roman graffiti which records prices of a number of common items. It's also often quite bawdy and amusing!

This will get you started!

http://www.google.com/search?source=...=Google+Search

Ben

Winter Camp · Feb 21, 2007, 06:40 PM

All this reminds me of the old, old joke:

A young celibate priest goes to the head priest in a monistary.
"Father", he asks: I was approached by a young girl in town and she said to me: "Priest, come here, I will show you a good time that you will cherish as a memory in your old age that cold, cold monastary you inhabit, and only a silver coin."
I said to her: "What means thou harlot, by "good time" I have no knowldege of worldly things. She simply laughed and walked away."
On traveling farther after having bought the vegitables for the monastary as I was wont,
I encountered another woman, this one even younger and quite fair.
She said to me:
"Young priest, come with me to this alley and I will show you what the gods feel, and only for a silver coin."
Baffeled I said: "Begone whore! I know not of what you speak!"
I came back this evening to the monestary and am all in confusion. I come to you and ask for guidance. Holy father what exactly is a "memory I will cherish" and "what the gods feel?'
Whereupon the senior priest looked solemnly at the young acolyte and said:
"Why my son, 1 silver coin, same as in town"

Feb 21, 2007, 01:32 PM	#1
electrum! Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Spokane, Washington Posts: 357	What was a denarius worth? Several months ago I got interested in what a denarius was worth, that being judged by some constant price of a commodity common to their era and ours. It seems that I found a very nice discussion of this question on Doug Smith's website but just now visiting it I could not find it. Maybe it was somewhere else? In any event, could any of you guide me to a discussion of this question? It seems to me from my previous reading that the two most constant prices of 'things' from Roman times, that we have record of, were wages of a typical Roman foot soldier and the cost of bread. Today, we still have soldiers and bread so there might be a way to keep "apples with apples". Thanks as always for any help, Breck in "It's Almost Spring Spokane" (i.e. Robins in my yard for first time this year!)

Feb 21, 2007, 03:21 PM	#2
GMoneti Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: USA Posts: 206	Here is the link: http://dougsmith.ancients.info/worth.html There is also Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices in the later Empire, however as Doug Smith points out it is the list of official prices, and not necessarily what they were in reality. I think comparing ancient earnings with modern is very speculative. Even if you have the same data to compare like soldiers and bread. Was a loaf of bread valued more back then than it is now in the US (for the sake of comparisson)? Were Caesar's soldiers more valued and hard to get than modern day conscripts or recruits in the army? It comes down to comparing very different standards of living, making it hard to judge even if we have all the data, which we don't. __________________ Georgi

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Feb 21, 2007, 03:49 PM	#3
bbridgwater Registered User Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 173	The only way to really answer that question is by example of how many denarii different specific goods and services (i.e.wages) would have cost at a given date - it's not possible to give a fixed modern currency equivalent since relative prices of different goods/services were not the same as they are today. A great source of information is roman graffiti which records prices of a number of common items. It's also often quite bawdy and amusing! This will get you started! http://www.google.com/search?source=...=Google+Search Ben

Feb 21, 2007, 06:40 PM	#4
Winter Camp Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: North Carolina Posts: 120	All this reminds me of the old, old joke: A young celibate priest goes to the head priest in a monistary. "Father", he asks: I was approached by a young girl in town and she said to me: "Priest, come here, I will show you a good time that you will cherish as a memory in your old age that cold, cold monastary you inhabit, and only a silver coin." I said to her: "What means thou harlot, by "good time" I have no knowldege of worldly things. She simply laughed and walked away." On traveling farther after having bought the vegitables for the monastary as I was wont, I encountered another woman, this one even younger and quite fair. She said to me: "Young priest, come with me to this alley and I will show you what the gods feel, and only for a silver coin." Baffeled I said: "Begone whore! I know not of what you speak!" I came back this evening to the monestary and am all in confusion. I come to you and ask for guidance. Holy father what exactly is a "memory I will cherish" and "what the gods feel?' Whereupon the senior priest looked solemnly at the young acolyte and said: "Why my son, 1 silver coin, same as in town"