Comparisons and Silver Content
It is problematic to give even rough comparative values for money from before the 20th century, as the range of products and services available for purchase was very different. The coin's purchasing power in terms of bread in the first century AD has been estimated as equivalent to US$21 in 2005. Classical historians often say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire the daily wage for an unskilled laborer and common soldier was 1 denarius (with no tax deductions) or about US$20 in bread. By comparison, a laborer earning the minimum wage in the United States makes US$58 for an 8-hour day, before taxes. The silver content of the denarius under the Roman Empire was about 50 grains, or 1⁄10 troy ounce. In June 6, 2011, this corresponded to approximately US$3.62 in value if the silver were 0.999 pure.
The fineness of the silver content varied with political and economic circumstances. By the reign of Gallienus, the antoninianus was a copper coin with a thin silver wash.
Read more about this topic: Denarius
Famous quotes containing the words comparisons, silver and/or content:
“Decade after decade, artists came to paint the light of Provincetown, and comparisons were made to the lagoons of Venice and the marshes of Holland, but then the summer ended and most of the painters left, and the long dingy undergarment of the gray New England winter, gray as the spirit of my mood, came down to visit.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessèd plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Nothing can or shall content my soul
Till I am evened with him, wife for wife,
Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
At least into a jealousy so strong
That judgment cannot cure.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)