Our Pompeii friend who lost his head when a boulder fell on it had some denarii on him. https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2018/06/leather-pouch-containing-coins-found.html
As we write this the news reports there are still people in Hawaii cut off from escape by road by lava flows. Today we get advance notice and have last minute helicopter rescue for those who delay the decision to evacuate. In Pompeii, an old man with a limp had few options other than to put his entire fortune in his bag and wait for the rock to fall. The expert values his denarii at 500 euros today. Because of credit cards, few of us have 500 euros in cash or anything approaching all our money in the house but if the volcano on my street started acting up, I would put what cash I have in my pouch and limp as best I could. The expert says a merchant might carry that amount. On that day, many people might grab what they could. I'm surprised they have not found more skeletons with life savings grabbed in haste. If your net worth today is 500 euros, you are not a merchant.
Well, saying 80 denarii in 79 CE was equivalent to 500 Euros today kind of misses the point. I guarantee you that you cannot sustain a family of 3 in any seaside resort town in Europe today for 14 or 15 days with 500 Euros, while those 80 denarii did just that in Pompeii in 79 CE. A more accurate figure based on today's modern economy, comparing the cost of living in a European resort town today, would probably be more like 1,500 Euros to 2,000 Euros, depending on the country we place that town in. What those archaeologists don't take into account when they say those 80 denarii, which would sustain a family of 3 for up to 15 days in Pompey, is equivalent of 500 Euros today, is that the ancient family did not have to pay for electricity, water, gas, cable/satellite TV and internet, transportation in the form of a car or mass transportation via bus/rail, etc. That ancient family in Pompey would have been content with a bag of grains, some wine, money for rent, and that's about it.
When I was being sent TDY to places some people thought were high end (Beverly Hills etc.) we always made friends with the telephone installers and local police who always had suggestions where to go to eat reasonably. We usually ended up in places called "Dave's" where Dave did the cooking and Mrs. Dave was the only waitress. We don't know if the limper was a merchant with his usual pocket change, a poor person who had just dug up his life savings or a pickpocket who took that bag off the corpse that fell a few feet to the left. Theories are fun. The value of a denarius differed from place to place just like it does today.
More proof that too much money makes you lose your head. But seriously, that's a nice find. It's not often that we find ancient coins in such a personal context and with such an exact date.
We are now beginning to see the fruits of the moratorium on large scale excavations being lifted last year in Region V. The 'fugitive' (the man with the limp) is just the tip of the iceberg.
Looks like our man lost his head post mortem.... https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/30/europe/pompeii-victim-new-findings/index.html
