Silver in the Roman Empire

[krf384]

I've read in the past that soldiers in the Roman army were paid 1/10th of an ounce of silver for a days work. Or roughly around there.

I purchased a few 10 ozt silver bars a couple of weeks back and it got me thinking... 10 ozt ran me around 290$ which is roughly 1 days pay for most of the people that I know in the area of the counry I live. Some make more, some less, but we'll call that the average. Those 10 ozt would be roughly 100 days pay for ancient Rome based on the 1/10th oz of silver day from earlier.

So is everyone over paid? Is silver under valued? Some combination of those two? I think it's a combination.

I found this following youtube video on the same topic today and it rekindled that thought and I figured I'd post here and see what others thought about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoF5c...eature=related

[Gold Bouillon]

So with 40 more bars or so you could hire an entire legion for a day. Now about that pesky neighbor who won't turn down the stereo at 2AM.

[Lorian]

Comparing past with present situations while teleporting only one element often delivers a bogus story. What was the amount work, expressed in man hours from ore to coin, involved in mining silver back then? What is it today? How scarce was silver back then? What were silvers monetary competitors back then? In which degree was its value forced by powers? Was an army wage comparable to other wages? Usually army provides alot to soldiers that they dont have to pay. The wage is just some fee for 'more'. And so on.

[krf384]

Comparing past with present situations while teleporting only one element often delivers a bogus story. What was the amount work, expressed in man hours from ore to coin, involved in mining silver back then? What is it today? How scarce was silver back then? What were silvers monetary competitors back then? In which degree was its value forced by powers? Was an army wage comparable to other wages? Usually army provides alot to soldiers that they dont have to pay. The wage is just some fee for 'more'. And so on.

Well they also discuss the average ditch digger akin to a modern day minimum wage employee which is how they did their comparison. Clearly there are many more variables but that is the case with everything. Was just food for thought and to see what people thought about it.

Thanks for the input.

[030206163]

Comparing past with present situations while teleporting only one element often delivers a bogus story. What was the amount work, expressed in man hours from ore to coin, involved in mining silver back then? What is it today? How scarce was silver back then? What were silvers monetary competitors back then? In which degree was its value forced by powers? Was an army wage comparable to other wages? Usually army provides alot to soldiers that they dont have to pay. The wage is just some fee for 'more'. And so on.

I'm glad this was already pointed out. . . you cannot compare distant past to present for price evaluation.
For example purchasing power for a middle class roman would be similar to someone collecting food stamps in america (assuming they own their house).

[jalidi]

At the very peak of the Roman Empire, sometime in the mid second century, I believe silver production hit roughly about 200 tonnes a year. Seems like a lot but when you compare it to today with worldwide production around 20,000 tonnes then you get a sense of the mineral being much, much more valuable.

A single denarius had about 3.75 grams of silver in it... and that was roughly equivalent to a single day's pay for your average roman worker. This doesn't include the legions, which were paid in only gold, right up to the end of the Empire.

[nestleb]

At the very peak of the Roman Empire, sometime in the mid second century, I believe silver production hit roughly about 200 tonnes a year. Seems like a lot but when you compare it to today with worldwide production around 20,000 tonnes then you get a sense of the mineral being much, much more valuable.

A single denarius had about 3.75 grams of silver in it... and that was roughly equivalent to a single day's pay for your average roman worker. This doesn't include the legions, which were paid in only gold, right up to the end of the Empire.

You missed the population of the known world back by then.

[captainsilverton]

how many here hold ancient coins in silver??

we have several over the years, maybe a quart mason jar of raw and cleaned and probably a few fakes.. will search em all someday, we usually just pick em up, check silver and then place away.....someday we will go through them all....


INVA

[jalidi]

You missed the population of the known world back by then.

By the second century the Roman Empire WAS the known world. Best guesses have its provinces and territories containing about full a third of the entire world's population back then... something like 100 million people out of 300 million on the planet. Even with the lower production rate compared to today I guess that's much more silver for far fewer people who could use it as an economic means.

[krf384]

how many here hold ancient coins in silver??

we have several over the years, maybe a quart mason jar of raw and cleaned and probably a few fakes.. will search em all someday, we usually just pick em up, check silver and then place away.....someday we will go through them all....


INVA

Where in VA are you?