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Message:: [QUOTE="Parthicus, post: 3789793, member: 81887"]There are some good responses already on how we know the denominations of ancient coins.  Our knowledge of ancient purchasing value is similarly spotty, mostly based on scattered references in surviving texts  that mention in passing how much something costs.  In the opening chapter of his excellent book Biblical Coins and their Values, Hendin lists some surviving prices from 1st and 2nd century AD Judaea. (Example: "Josephus reported that one amphora of olive oil from the Galilee cost one Tyrian drachma, the equivalent of one denarius.") One special document that I know of is Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices, issued in 301 AD by the Roman emperor Diocletian in an attempt to prop up the weak Roman economy.  It lists maximum prices that could be charged for various goods and services, in terms of denarii.  (Keep in mind that by this point the denarius had degraded to basically a bronze coin with a thin silver wash.)  Here's a good page on the Edict:<a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Edict%20of%20Diocletian%20Edict%20on%20Prices" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Edict%20of%20Diocletian%20Edict%20on%20Prices" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Edict of Diocletian Edict on Prices</a>[/QUOTE]