I have a silver tetradrachma from the reign of Ptolomey X and while I know how much it is worth today, I wonder what it was worth back then? What could you buy with it? A hotel room for a night or a week? How many meals? etc. Anybody got a clue?
According to this,and it is somewhat subjective,in the first centuries BC and AD, a tetradrachm would be worth $128 in today's money or 1-4 days work for the average Joe. It's a general rule of thumb that a Roman denarius was a day's pay and since the tetradrachm is 4-5 times bigger,this makes sense. http://www.apostolic-ministries.net/bibleaids.htm#pagehh
Thanks mikJo0 for the quick reply. I guess the follow on question is related to the standard of living at the time. What for instance was the cost of a loaf of bread or a glass of wine? To me, the magic of an old coin like my tetradrachma is to hold it and imagine the uses to which it was put so long ago.
Well they say a denarius,which is roughly equivalent to a drachm would buy 8 loaves of bread and a pint or two of wine.Multiply that by Tetra=4X and you basically have enough for close to a week.Now consider that your coin is from Greek- Egypt 110-88BC and it might be a bit more in value than in Rome.So if you use your imagination,that Tetradrachm probably purchased 7 days of food,cloth,rent and entertainment.Sound familiar?
By the way,Ptolemy X was quite a character.I might have to add him to my "Ancient Kook Of The Week" list for later but basically,his mother Cleopatra III deposed his brother Ptolemy IX and made Ptolemy X king,Ptolemy IX then turned around and deposed them so Ptolemy X married his niece Bereniece and along with his Mom,they once again deposed Ptolemy IX.Then he had his mother killed and a couple of years later,after he died,Bereniece took over until Ptolemy IX deposed her.Patience won out in the end.
I remember reading that there was a "price list" found in Pompey which stated that a denarius would buy a girl for one night.
