(Cross-posted from a post on 8/22/14 from my other blog, Attestation Update. I’m accumulating all my posts on transportation time and prices in the past here on this blog. Someday plan to link them together to tell a larger story.)
Hadn’t thought about that question too much, but when Jacob Soll mentioned it in his book, The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations, it got me thinking.
He gives the following info:
In his Natural History, Pliny states that in 49 BCE , the year Caesar crossed the Rubicon, the Roman treasury contained 17,410 pounds of gold, 22,070 pounds of silver, and in coin, 6,135,400 sesterces.
Soll, Jacob (2014-04-29). The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations (Kindle Locations 276-277). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
I don’t think in terms of pounds of gold or silver and I don’t know what a sesterce is or what it is worth. But I do know how to search the ‘net.
I share this on my Nonprofit Update blog and cross-post it here at Attestation Update because I enjoyed it and think it might be some fun trivia for accountants and people working in the faith-based community.
By the way, Prof Soll’s book is superb. Just got started reading it and think I will find lots of little tidbits to share. More on that idea in my next post.
How much is that worth?
Here’s my calculation of how much that would be worth at today’s market prices:
- $267,480,276 – gold
- $ 5,180,270 – silver
- $ 88,963,300 – sesterces
- $361,623,849 – rough estimate of value stored in Roman treasury in 49 BC.
So, about a third of a billion dollars.
Bonus: annual revenue for the Roman Empire
The Reckoning also tells us that Caesar Augustus reported the annual revenue for Rome was 500 million sesterces.
At my estimate of $14.50 for one sesterce, that would be annual revenue of $7.25 billion dollars.
Show your work
Remember your high school algebra teacher saying show your work? Here goes:
First, since we are talking precious metals, I will assume the weights are in troy pounds, which have 12 troy ounces to the pound. The troy system has been used to measure precious metals since Roman times.
Second, what in the world is a sesterce? It is a Roman coin equal to one-fourth of a denarius. It rhymes with disperse.
Third, let’s deal with a denarius. That is a coin used in the Roman era. A denarius is mentioned in the bible as a day’s wage for common laborer; see Matthew 20:2 and John 12:5. Wikipedia suggests it was a day’s pay for an unskilled laborer or common soldier.
Let’s use the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. For an eight-hour day, which is standard in the U.S., that would be $58 a day. A sesterce would therefore be about $14.50.
So, here is my work:
gold
- 17,410 pounds of gold
- x 12 troy ounces to a troy pound
- = 208,920 troy ounces
- x $1,280.30 gold price per WSJ on 8/21/14
- = $267,480,276 current value of gold then
silver
- 22,070 pounds of silver
- x 12 troy ounces to a troy pound
- = 264,840 troy ounces
- x $19.56 silver price per WSJ on 8/21/14
- = $5,180,270 current value of silver then
coins
- 6,135,400 sesterces
- x $14.50 approximate pay for 1/4th day of unskilled labor
- = $88,963,300 current value of sesterces then
You want inequality? Let me show you some real inequality
Inequality in pay has been around a long time. The Wikipedia article above says Julius Caesar doubled the pay for a common soldier to 225 denarii. A centurion was a commander of 100 soldiers. From comments in the Holy Bible, we know a centurion was in a powerful and prestigious position. The lowest pay for centurion was 3,750 denarii and the highest ranking centurions received 15,000 denarii, according to the Wikipedia article. That is a ratio of between 16.7:1 and 66.7:1.
I estimate a centurion would be comparable to a captain or major in the US military, or a second or third level supervisor in the business world. Think middle management.
If a denarius is equal to $58, that would put the range of centurion pay at between $217,500 and $870,000. Keep in mind, above the centurion would be a cohort, or maniple, commander (~600 men), then a legion commander (~6,000 men), and perhaps army commanders. I’m guessing there were a lot of people who got paid more than those amounts. Presumably Pontius Pilate would have been paid a multiple of the highest ranking centurions.
Your thoughts? Did I miss something?
How would you revise the calculations?