FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
Numism => Help For the New Ancient Coin Collector => Topic started by: VonDrobac on July 26, 2022, 04:23:16 pm
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Last week I was on vacation in Thessaloniki and what a hot Sunday was that ... so I decided to find relief in dark rooms and around cold marble of archeological museum. As always at the end I'm going to souvenir shop but not for overpriced replicas or magnets but I'm digging through books. So I found this interesting small booklet : "How much does it cost ... Our Daily Bread from Ancient to Modern Times". It is focused on Greece region and there are noted some prices, wages and monetary systems for each period. Booklet is divided into five chapters :
1 - The Ancient Greek World
2 - The Roman World
3 - The Byzantine World
4 - Greece under foreign Rule
5 - Modern Greece
There are just basic information, not some kind of indeep study but nicely presented for everyone to understand. It gives us the answers that I also wondered at the beginning of collecting, and even today I get these questions often. So that's why I'm posting here.
As a bonus there are few recipes for those who like to cook :)
Regards
And don't forget to look for the books in museum souvenir shops ;)
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Fascinating!
Thank you.
PeteB
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You have to be very careful with such conversions. As you can see, a large part of the data comes from the Edict of Diocelcian, which was created in times of high economic instability and which, most likely, was not used for more than a few years (if some of its points were respected at all). Additionally, these were different financial realities than in the stable Ist-IInd centuries, so mixing prices from these periods looks a bit as if someone put together prices in German mark from period before WW1 and from the 1920s hyperinflation.
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A book like this would certainly interest me, especially the recipes!
Virgil
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I encourage everyone to try the ancient bread recipe. I made this loaf of bread according to Cato, De Agricultura CXXI last summer and it is delicious!
David
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Is that the recipe with the bay leaf/leaves stuck to the bottom?
SC
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I tried the recipe. The bread was ok, but I feel no need to do it again. Could be me, I'm admittedly no baker. Interesting though.
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So, for some reason, my message keeps disappearing. Third try. I made the bread recipe. I made a half recipe because I only had 250 g of feta. It was crumbled and cow milk, so I added a little water to make it creamier. Half the flour and the entire egg. It made a small loaf, so I cooked it less than the recipe called for., checking it often. In retrospect, it could have used 5 more minutes probably.
From the recipe, they had the amount of flour varied, depending if you wanted a pie or bread. I got a soft and creamy pie/bread. It rocks. Note, I am not the best baker in the world, but I do bake, including bread. My wife loves it, as do I. Some butter and that is all it needs. Would be great to dip in stew or other things.
Cheers,
Virgil
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Virgil, that looks fantastic!!
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Do they have a gluten free version? :)
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Thanks, Aeneas. Nick, I guess you could try, it would probably work with gluten free flour, but I will never know :) I will make this again and let it cook longer.. I also bet the Legionaires never had bread this good on the march. But maybe, if they found some nice cache of cheese.
Virgil