PRICES AND VALUES

CLASSICAL ATHENS:

6 obols = 1 drachma

100 drachmas = 1 mina (mna)

60 minas = 1 talent (6000 drachmas)

Details from Loomis 1998

Jury pay 1 or 2 obols per day from 460s, 3 obols from 425

Attendance at assembly, 1 obol after restoration of democracy (403) and up to 3 obols within 10 years

other elected officials 4 ob. or 1 drachma, sometimes more.

Soldiers/sailors/rowers pay, 4 obols or 1 drachma per day, from mid- 5^th C., dropped to 3 obols probably after Sicilian disaster; in 4^th C., prob. 4 ob. pay with 2 ob. food = 1 drachma.

Skilled or heavy work, could be 1 drachma per day (no difference between slave/free)

Note that all pay rates rose by the end of the 4^th C.

ROMAN EMPIRE

4 sesterces = 1 denarius

25 denarii = 1 aureus

NB: In Roman Egypt, 1 denarius is regarded as equivalent to 1 drachma

Diocletian’s Prices Edict (AD301)

72000 denarii = 1lb of gold; 1 aureus @ 60 aurei to the pound (Diocletian) = 1200 denarii;

1 solidus @ 72 solidi to the pound (Constantine) = 1000 denarii.

NB: Silver is 6000 d. to 1lb (early empire is about 100 d. to the 1b, when denarii really were silver!)

daily pay with food for rural worker: 25 d. = notional c.9K d. per year (in reality much less);
figure painter is 100 d. = 36K per year

Slave: 30k maximum but 60k if skilled

Domestic animals:

Horse 100k; Camel 60k; Ox 10k; Bull 5k; Cow 2k; sheep/goat 400

Wild animals:

Lion 150k; Leopard 100k; Ostrich 5k; Bear 25k; Boar 6k; Deer 3k; Wild Ass 5k

Duncan-Jones 1982 pp. 144-7

Monthly ration of wheat 5 modii per month (corn dole); Cato’s slaves 4 modii, up to 6 modii for those with heavy work

D-J suggests ⅓ or ¼ of subsistence on alimentary schemes went on wheat (1 out of 3 or 4 denarii per month), whereas favoured freedmen might be granted support by patrons of 10 or even 20 denarii per month)

PE price is 100 d. per castrensis modius (1.5 ordinary modii) = c.300 d. per month for basic food; cloaks cost anything between 1,000 and 20,000 d.