bob bobato
L'imparfait
Could someone explain to me what ancient roman money coins were, how much they were worth and how much things cost? And how much money would an average person make?
An average days work for an unskilled laborer or soldier in the Roman army was one silver denarius. A denarius was worth ten asses,.
So an unskilled worker made about 25 auri(?) a year? That doesn't seem like a lot.Assuming you don't mind Wikipedia links. As this isn't anything controversial, I don't see a problem.
An average days work for an unskilled laborer or soldier in the Roman army was one silver denarius. A denarius was worth ten asses, if you can believe the name. Twenty-five denarius, or 250 asses, made one gold aureus.
So an unskilled worker made about 25 auri(?) a year? That doesn't seem like a lot.
Aurei, and 365/25 =14.6, not 25.
I didn't know currency was that common until the 13th century. Was barter mostly a thing of the past by the time of the Roman Empire?
But what if my chickens are fatter and tastier than yours?There's a very interesting discussion of the purpose of currency in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Normally one would think that currency is supposed to replace bartering, but Aristotle thinks it developed to make it easier: you could assign a numerical value to each item, and that would allow everyone to agree on (say) how many chickens there were to the cow.
I didn't know currency was that common until the 13th century. Was barter mostly a thing of the past by the time of the Roman Empire?
So it would be nice to see the prices of the goods.
Adler