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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gam3rBlake, post: 7310683, member: 115909&quot;]Are you sure a 4.5 gram solidus was a soldiers <i>annual </i>wage?</p><p><br /></p><p>That doesn’t seem like much at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>I apologize for the misunderstanding.</p><p>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 &amp; services.</p><p><br /></p><p>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.</p><p><br /></p><p>But I mean how rich would someone have to be to make enough money to save a denarius a month?</p><p><br /></p><p>According to the Bible the average laborer made 1 denarius per day.</p><p><br /></p><p>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.</p><p><br /></p><p>Like military officers, tax collectors, doctors, merchants, and other higher paying jobs at the time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Obviously the dirt poor couldn’t dream of doing it (heck the dirt poor in the city of Rome relied on <i>free </i>monthly wheat&nbsp; 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?</p><p><br /></p><p>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.</p><p><br /></p><p>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.</p><p><br /></p><p>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).</p><p><br /></p><p>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.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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