{"id":780,"date":"2020-06-03T15:39:14","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T19:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/?post_type=back-matter&p=780"},"modified":"2020-08-13T12:49:15","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T16:49:15","slug":"appendix-v-roman-prices","status":"publish","type":"back-matter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/back-matter\/appendix-v-roman-prices\/","title":{"raw":"Appendix IV: Roman Prices","rendered":"Appendix IV: Roman Prices"},"content":{"raw":"All figures are given in sesterces. Please remember that calculating costs and figures for ancient Rome is very difficult and it is very hard to be precise \u2013 it is pretty much impossible to express these in terms of any modern currency.\r\n

Incomes in Rome<\/h2>\r\n

Julio-Claudian<\/h3>\r\nImperial income: 400 million sesterces per annum?\r\n\r\nDay laborer\u2019s income: 3-4 sesterces a day (city of Rome)[footnote]Wages were lower elsewhere: in rural Egypt, for example, labourers earned c. 1 sesterce a day. However, costs of living were also lower outside Rome.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nRoman soldier\u2019s income: 900 sesterces a year\r\n\r\nEquestrian estate (minimum):[footnote]This is the annual income required to belong to the equestrian or senatorial class; many members of this class had incomes much higher than this. Senators had to have at least 1 million sesterces from land; there was no such restriction on equestrians.[\/footnote] 400,000\r\n\r\nSenatorial estate (minimum): 1,000,000 (from land in Italy)\r\n\r\nAugustus\u2019 estate at death (14 CE): over 1,000 million sesterces\r\n\r\nTiberius\u2019 estate at death (37 CE): 2,700 million sesterces\r\n\r\nGDP: Estimates vary from 10,000-20,000[footnote]10,000 (Peter Temin), 12,500 (Keith Hopkins); 20,000 (Raymond Goldsmith),[\/footnote]\r\n

Flavian<\/h3>\r\nDomitian\u2019s (81-96 CE) imperial income: 1-1.2 billion sesterces per annum?\r\n\r\nRoman soldier: 1,200 sesterces a year\r\n\r\nPatrons\u2019 payments to clients for daily visit (reign of Domitian): 6 \u00bc sesterces\r\n

Elite estates<\/h2>\r\nTitus Antistius (quaestor 50 BCE): 18 million\r\n\r\nMarcus Crassus the Triumvir (c. 114-53 BCE): c. 200 million\r\n\r\nLucius Lucullus (118-56 BCE): c. 100 million\r\n\r\nPompey the Great (106-46 BCE): over 200 million\r\n\r\nCicero (106-43 BCE): \u00a0c. 13 million\r\n\r\nGnaeus Cornelius Lentulus (50s BCE-25 CE): 400,000 million\r\n\r\nPliny the Younger (61-112s CE): c. 16 million estate; lifetime gifts to his home town of Comum: 1.6 million sesterces\r\n\r\nSeneca the Younger (d. 65 CE): 300,000 million\r\n\r\nGaius Caecilius Isidorus, freedman of Gaius Caecilius (d. 8 BCE): estate of 60 million sesterces + over \u00bc million cattle and oxen\r\n\r\nNarcissus, freedman of the Emperor Claudius (d.54 BCE): estate of 400,000 million","rendered":"

All figures are given in sesterces. Please remember that calculating costs and figures for ancient Rome is very difficult and it is very hard to be precise \u2013 it is pretty much impossible to express these in terms of any modern currency.<\/p>\n

Incomes in Rome<\/h2>\n

Julio-Claudian<\/h3>\n

Imperial income: 400 million sesterces per annum?<\/p>\n

Day laborer\u2019s income: 3-4 sesterces a day (city of Rome)[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Roman soldier\u2019s income: 900 sesterces a year<\/p>\n

Equestrian estate (minimum):[2]<\/sup><\/a> 400,000<\/p>\n

Senatorial estate (minimum): 1,000,000 (from land in Italy)<\/p>\n

Augustus\u2019 estate at death (14 CE): over 1,000 million sesterces<\/p>\n

Tiberius\u2019 estate at death (37 CE): 2,700 million sesterces<\/p>\n

GDP: Estimates vary from 10,000-20,000[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Flavian<\/h3>\n

Domitian\u2019s (81-96 CE) imperial income: 1-1.2 billion sesterces per annum?<\/p>\n

Roman soldier: 1,200 sesterces a year<\/p>\n

Patrons\u2019 payments to clients for daily visit (reign of Domitian): 6 \u00bc sesterces<\/p>\n

Elite estates<\/h2>\n

Titus Antistius (quaestor 50 BCE): 18 million<\/p>\n

Marcus Crassus the Triumvir (c. 114-53 BCE): c. 200 million<\/p>\n

Lucius Lucullus (118-56 BCE): c. 100 million<\/p>\n

Pompey the Great (106-46 BCE): over 200 million<\/p>\n

Cicero (106-43 BCE): \u00a0c. 13 million<\/p>\n

Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus (50s BCE-25 CE): 400,000 million<\/p>\n

Pliny the Younger (61-112s CE): c. 16 million estate; lifetime gifts to his home town of Comum: 1.6 million sesterces<\/p>\n

Seneca the Younger (d. 65 CE): 300,000 million<\/p>\n

Gaius Caecilius Isidorus, freedman of Gaius Caecilius (d. 8 BCE): estate of 60 million sesterces + over \u00bc million cattle and oxen<\/p>\n

Narcissus, freedman of the Emperor Claudius (d.54 BCE): estate of 400,000 million<\/p>\n

  1. Wages were lower elsewhere: in rural Egypt, for example, labourers earned c. 1 sesterce a day. However, costs of living were also lower outside Rome. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. This is the annual income required to belong to the equestrian or senatorial class; many members of this class had incomes much higher than this. Senators had to have at least 1 million sesterces from land; there was no such restriction on equestrians. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  3. 10,000 (Peter Temin), 12,500 (Keith Hopkins); 20,000 (Raymond Goldsmith), ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":683,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"back-matter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-780","back-matter","type-back-matter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/back-matter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/683"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/780\/revisions\/1121"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/780\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"back-matter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter-type?post=780"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=780"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/spectaclesintheromanworldsourcebook\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}