Did normal middle class people have gold coins in Ancient times?

I was just looking at some old gold coins online like the Persian Daric, Roman Aureus and Byzantine Solidus and I’m wondering if these gold coins were possessed by the average citizen of the time?

Or was it only the rich and prominent who ever possessed or used gold coins and the average people stuck with silver & bronze and other lesser metals?

I do know that gold coins were NOT used often in day to day transactions (because they were too valuable to be used to buy things like a loaf of bread or stay at an inn) but what about like an average person’s life savings? Maybe they would keep it as a couple gold coins rather than a small bag of silver buried in the garden?

If only the rich had them does that mean collectors with Ancient gold coins are more likely to own coins held by prominent citizens (like nobility & military generals) of the time period than silver coins?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

A gold aureus equaled 25 denari, and a denarius was a day's wage for a soldier, whereas the common worker would've gotten around 2-3 sesterces/day. So a plebian had no need/means to own gold. Since gold coins were exclusively intended for large purchases, it's like if the US government made a 10,000 dollar bill solely for the government and the top 1% to spend, while the day-to-day needs can be met with a 100 dollar bill, which means no middle class person ever needs a $10,000 bill, but the large denomination is needed for large purchases like buying mercenaries, making weapons, building warships, and other infrastructure projects. And the 10k bill/gold coin would be payed to a wealthy contractor /merchant /warlord, who then issues $100bills/denarius to his workers. So it's no surprise that even though the Romans debased silver coins to almost 0% they still issued almost pure gold coins until the collapse, although reduced in weight over the centuries.

 

I have no experience regarding Roman coinage, but I do regarding Greek coinage.

Gold was mostly used for mercantile transactions, payment of government expenses (mercenaries, tribute and such), and donatives, either for services rendered to individuals or the state, or to religious foundations.

Even silver coinage (except the early tiny fractions such as the tetartemorion) were too much valued for buying a loaf of bread for example. Note that a drachm would purchase a month’s supply of Barley for an individual and two drachms about a month’s supply of wheat.
A single solder was paid around 4-5 tetradrachms per month (regular wage), this is excluding Sitarchia (provision money), which was another 4-5 tetradrachms per month.

A gold stater was worth around 5 tetradrachms or 25 drachms. So I am not surprised the average soldier, especially the solders in the service of Alexander the great were in possession of gold. I remember reading a part about a veteran from Alexander the great his army who came back into the Aegean from his long campaign and received 9000 or 10.000 silver drachms as payback and a talent bonus (~6000 drachms). We are talking here about 400 gold staters!
Another veteran was living in Kolophon with his huge pension and donated a massive amount of these drachms to build a new city wall.

We are talking about these staters:

Courtesy of CNG

 

I’m talking about as a life savings though: like maybe they put away 1 denarius per month for 20 years. That’s 240 denarii. Or ~10 Aureii.

I read in one of my books (Ab Urbe Condita by Titus Livy who lived in the 1st century in Rome) and he mentions that often Centurions & Praetorian Guard members were given hundreds or even thousands of Denarii when a new Emperor came to power. Especially the Praetorian Guard who acted as the Emperor’s personal body guard. The Emperor paid big money to keep and maintain their loyalty because losing it could result in an assassination of said Emperor.

I just am wondering if people maybe stored their life savings in gold even if they didn’t use it in day to day transactions.

You’d be surprised how much a single of amphora of garum/liquamen (fish sauce) cost.

 

Thanks for the info!

I am actually studying Classical History myself but my main focus is on Rome even though Ancient Greece fascinates me just as much.

The Greeks basically inspired almost everything great that the Ancient Romans adopted and I definitely respect them for that.

So what do you think this 20 Gold Stater coin was used for in Ancient Greece?

Im guessing a coin like this could’ve paid for a plot of land or a house.

Or maybe a religious tribute? Or ransom money for a high ranking hostage?

 

I think you answered your own questions without realizing. I would expect the Plebians had little to no savings and lived day to day jsut as many Americans do today.

 

From my understanding it depends heavily on the time and place. In the late roman and byzantine eras a 4.5 gram solidus would be a soldiers annual wage, so the closest most people would come would be dreaming of them. On the other hand a soldier fighting under Cyrus the Younger or Alexander III would net one or more darics/staters weighing nearly double that every month.

But of course, middle class people back then, much like today, would not have been swimming in gold coins or gold anything. It's impractical to pay for a day or even weeks worth of rations with even the smallest gold coin, so bronze and silver would have been the mainstays. Not to mention only the highest earners would have enough spare money to save a significant amount, with most people living hand to mouth and day to day (seems some things never change huh).

 

What do you mean I answered my own question?

I’m sure a lot of the poorest of the poor did live day to day with no savings.

But I’m sure there was also a “middle class” that could at least put away a Denarius a month in savings.

Like I’m sure everyone wasn’t either dirt poor or exorbitantly wealthy. There had to be upper middle class Romans too.

In fact in “Ab Urbe Condita” by Titus Livius (written in the 1st century AD) he mentions that the Romans did census taking and recorded every citizen’s total wealth/net worth.

The richest of the rich became Patricians (“fathers”) and they had a net worth of 100,000+ asses.

Then there was a second group that had a net worth of 75,000-100,000 asses.

It goes on and on but the point is there were many Romans in the middle between not dirt poor but not as rich as Crassus. (see what I did there? ).

Financial emergencies happened back then too (like say a tool breaks and a farmer needs to replace/repair it) so the middle class would probably have some sort of meager savings for such events no?

 

Are you sure a 4.5 gram solidus was a soldiers annual wage?

That doesn’t seem like much at all.

I apologize for the misunderstanding.
I didn’t mean to ask if normal citizens used gold coins in day to day transactions in which case you’re right it’s too valuable to use even the smallest gold coinage for most daily purchases like rations or other goods & services.

Heck even a tiny 1/10th oz American Gold Eagle is worth $170 in gold which would be too much to even buy a weeks groceries if I had to spend the whole thing at once.

But I mean how rich would someone have to be to make enough money to save a denarius a month?

According to the Bible the average laborer made 1 denarius per day.

So saving 1 days wages per month doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch. Especially for the many occupations that made more than 1 denarius per day.

Like military officers, tax collectors, doctors, merchants, and other higher paying jobs at the time.

Obviously the dirt poor couldn’t dream of doing it (heck the dirt poor in the city of Rome relied on free monthly wheat from the government called the “cura annonae”.) but maybe middle class merchants or officers in the Roman Army (like Centurions who made much more than ordinary legionaries) or members of the elite Praetorian Guard (who were bribed for loyalty often) could afford to?

Over a long period of time that would add up and so I’m curious if the person would’ve kept a bag of denarii or exchanged them for more portable aureii.

If a man saved 1 denarius per month for 20 years that’s 240 denarii. Or 11 aureii. It seems like it would be easier to carry (or hide) 11 gold coins than a bag of 240 silver ones.

Or maybe mix it up by getting a few aureii for larger purchases (like a cow for the farm) and keeping the rest as denarii for smaller daily transactions (like a couple loaves of bread).

The situation would be even harder if the person could save more than 1 denarius per month in which case their bag of denarii would be even heavier and bulkier.

 

@FrizzyAntoine is a bit on the low side but not wrong actually. Gold had significantly more value during the Byzantine and medieval times. It really depends on the time, it fluctuated immensely.

The average “modest” salary (including benefits in kind) was estimated by Morrisson and Cheynet (2002, p. 869) at about 1 solidus per month (10-12 solidi per year).

In the early 12th century, a protoasekretes (a medium level government official) was paid more than 30 solidi per year, a notary more than 20 solidi, a doctor about 9 solidi, and a servant 7.3 solidi. The highest officials were paid much more. Under Leo VI, the heads of most themes (largest administrative units into which the Empire was organized) were paid between 5 and 10 pounds of gold, or between 360 and 720 solidi, annually.

Morrisson and Cheynet (2002, p. 861) quote the annual salary of sailors and soldiers in the year 949. Their cash compensations ranged from the minimum of 3 solidi for ordinary sailors and soldiers (with no seniority) to 30 solidi for Toumarches (commander of a Tourma, or divison). Next to their salary, soldiers were receiving in-kind rations which are estimated to be worth about 6.5 solidi per year.
So yes, only 3 gold coins of 4.5g annually for a solider. Soldiers were not paid so handsomely compared to the ancient times.

 

Thank God we are living in this time period, now everyone can have gold coins, no matter if you cut grass for a living lile me, or you are a big shot Lawyer/ Doctor/ Dentist

 

I think a middle class appears more recently, along with the industrial revolution. Generally before that western societies were composed of a small group of haves a many have-nots.

 

Keep in in mind that according to Cassius Dio, Didius Julianus promised a donative of 25,000 sesterces to each member of the Praetorian Guard if they raised him to the office of emperor, which works out to over 6,000 denarii per man. After awhile, they realized he couldn't pay that much even though he was one of the wealthiest men in the Empire. So they made short work of him as Septimius Severus approached Rome with his army.

 

The US didn’t just get rid of large denominations of bills because they weren’t used as much but also because it made it easier for criminals to launder money and do drug deals, etc. When you think about it, it’s much easier to carry one $10,000 dollar bill than a stack of one hundred $100 dollar bills. Until 1969, the US made $500 and $1,000 dollar bills. Before that, we had $5,000 $10,000 and even $100,000 dollar bills. Obviously, these are all collectors items now and worth considerably more than face value. Although, they are still legal tender and technically you can pay with them or turn them into a bank. (I’ve heard that if a teller receives a US bill larger than $100, they are required to turn it in to the Treasury to be destroyed. Idk if that’s true or not.)

 

Maybe they will use "BITCOIN" instead of 10K Dollar notes

 

Your reply about later US citizens and large denomination notes rang a bell for me. Those who also collect US coinage and currency know that there were indeed US notes of very high denomination, from five hundred dollar notes on up. Some of these very large denomination notes were used for nothing more than transfers from one banking institution to another and never appeared in general circulation. Considering the average yearly wage of the average US worker at the start of the 20th Century his chances of having such bills in his possession were nil. But even looking at US coinage of gold coins in the early 19th century (before California gold changed this) the whole number of gold coins issued by the US mint was such that it would have been difficult for the average American to have accumulated any gold coins, considering the population of the US as compared to mint recorded issues. There really was a shortage all US coinage until the late 1830's and foreign coins were legal tender until 1857 to try to make up for the coin shortage. Larger denominations , and even small ones, were likely to have been met by privately issued notes and those of state chartered banks. Mutatis mutandis, in Rome the number of citizens who might be described as middle class and could accumulate disposable income was exceedingly small and such folks would have been fortunate to have a few sesterces left over after their tax payments, and in a good year, maybe a few silver denarii for the inevitable rainy day. I cannot see the average Roman (the percentage of the male population in the army was a small fraction of the whole population)or early Greeks having much likelihood of getting ahold of gold coinage through out most of ancient times. There may have been exceptions to this in unusual circumstances. Macedonian conquests in the East did bring numerous gold coins into circulation, at times so abundant that the price of gold fell in the marketplace, and maybe here the average inhabitants could pick up a few. Also extraordinary donatives or conquests (Dacia with its mines comes to mind) might have done the same thing. In America after 1849 the price of gold fell relative to silver and the quantity of gold coins n circulation increased dramatically and the US mint now issued twenty dollar gold pieces at one end and tiny gold dollars at the other. From this point to the end of the gold standard in the US workers could acquire and save gold coins. My paternal grandfather was a steel worker and he always took his pay in gold coins (at the corner tavern which acted as a bank for such workers). Bottom line? For most periods of history gold coinage was beyond the acquisition of most common laborers except for unusual circumstances.

 

Your reply about later US citizens and large denomination notes rang a bell for me. Those who also collect US coinage and currency know that there were indeed US notes of very high denomination, from five hundred dollar notes on up. Some of these very large denomination notes were used for nothing more than transfers from one banking institution to another and never appeared in general circulation. Considering the average yearly wage of the average US worker at the start of the 20th Century his chances of having such bills in his possession were nil. But even looking at US coinage of gold coins in the early 19th century (before California gold changed this) the whole number of gold coins issued by the US mint was such that it would have been difficult for the average American to have accumulated any gold coins, considering the population of the US as compared to mint recorded issues. There really was a shortage all US coinage until the late 1830's and foreign coins were legal tender until 1857 to try to make up for the coin shortage. Larger denominations , and even small ones, were likely to have been met by privately issued notes and those of state chartered banks. Mutatis mutandis, in Rome the number of citizens who might be described as middle class and could accumulate disposable income was exceedingly small and such folks would have been fortunate to have a few sesterces left over after their tax payments, and in a good year, maybe a few silver denarii for the inevitable rainy day. I cannot see the average Roman (the percentage of the male population in the army was a small fraction of the whole population)or early Greeks having much likelihood of getting ahold of gold coinage through out most of ancient times. There may have been exceptions to this in unusual circumstances. Macedonian conquests in the East did bring numerous gold coins into circulation, at times so abundant that the price of gold fell in the marketplace, and maybe here the average inhabitants could pick up a few. Also extraordinary donatives or conquests (Dacia with its mines comes to mind) might have done the same thing. In America after 1849 the price of gold fell relative to silver and the quantity of gold coins n circulation increased dramatically and the US mint now issued twenty dollar gold pieces at one end and tiny gold dollars at the other. From this point to the end of the gold standard in the US workers could acquire and save gold coins. My paternal grandfather was a steel worker and he always took his pay in gold coins (at the corner tavern which acted as a bank for such workers). Bottom line? For most periods of history gold coinage was beyond the acquisition of most common laborers except for unusual circumstances.

 

That Bactrian 20 stater gold coin probably was a posh gift by the king of Bactria to foreign ambassadors or heads of state. Coins like this were not circulating, they were a sign of trust by your godlike king, and you were proud - or some oil to lubricate negotiations between states, and it would vanish in the ambassador's deep pockets.

In the ancient world, probably also some types of coins were specially minted to be scattered at festivities or handed out as a gift to elected poor people (like Maundy money in more modern times). As I understand it, for instance Sasanid obols were used as scatter coins ("Auswurfsmünzen" in the German technical jargon of pioneer scientist Robert Göbl).



This is a 12 mm, 0.6 g silver coin, an obol of King of Kings Shapur II (309-379) that was scattered at Persian festivities.

Probably some Roman types were used like this, too.

 

@Gam3rBlake , Did you ever pick up that Daric you said you bought?

Would enjoy seeing it in hand.

 

Bitcoin seems to be the rage these days. One can buy a luxury box with access to all 81 Oakland A's home games for 1 bitcoin, or $60k.