Diocletian, in a failed attempt to curb the rampant inflation of the times, issued an Edict on prices. This document survives and gives the
price of goods from all over the Empire at that time.
Silk was by far the costliest textile, but cloaks from the Nervii retailed for 10,000
denarii against cloaks from
Africa which retailed at 1,500
denarii. I guess they
had designer labels even then
.
The rates of pay, for various professions, are also recorded.
For example, labourers, herdsmen, mule-drivers and sewer-cleaners got 20 - 25
denarii per day, enough to buy two pounds of pork, or three pints of plain wine. Three days
work would buy a
cheap pair of shoes, nearly a month, a shirt.
Carpenters, bakers, plasterers and tessellated floor workers all get double this, about the same as an elementary school teacher, who is paid 50
denarii a month
per pupil. A scribe of the best
writing got 25
denarii per 100 lines.
With rarer skills and higher education the rates rise considerably. A figure painter earned 150
denarii a day, a teacher of rhetoric 250 a month
per pupil, an advocate 1,000 for pleading a case (nothing changes
). In practice, most likely a herdsman would be paid below
his maximum, wheras the tessellated floor worker or figure painter could probably expect to exceed theirs.
I won't rattle on any longer (the Edict is a considerable length).
Alex.