What Did A Fel Temp Reparatio Buy In ~350?

I guess the best option to take here is to estimate the value of gold in the empire at that time - the Solidi and Aurei having their value from metal content (while many roman coins became so debased that they cant have taken their value from the copper content, or they would be functionally worthless, like the penny). The Follis is supposed to be 1/180th of a solidus - the FEL TEMP originally was struck as full follis size, but I'm not sure about the reduced folles that it eventually became.

This is a difficult one to answer, as I'm sure you are aware currencies can fluctuate a great deal even in the short term and over the longer term inflation generally reduces the buying power of any given unit.

The Romans 're-valued' and altered their systems a number of times over the years so the best info we have on what coins were worth in real terms come for contemporary writings.

One of the best of these is Diocletian's edict on maximum prices in 301AD. The following link is an excellent resource on the subject:

http://ancientcoinsforeducation.org.../view/79/98/

The full mechanics of the decree have been lost but it was a partial attempt to standardise prices in the Empire and reduce inflation. It ultimately failed, it may have even caused greater inflation but what it gives us is an incredible snapshot of economic life in the Empire at the beginning of the 4th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict...ximum_Prices

I collect coins from this very period (give or take 5 years) so I found it fascinating. I was particularly interested in what a soldiers life would be like and discovered the following during my research:

Soldier's lot in 301AD

Basic Pay:1800 Denarii
Donative (4 per year): 2500 Denarii
Grain Annona: 600 Denarii

Total remuneration: 12400 Denarii

So that is 12 of these:


...or 250 of these:


...or 1000 of these:


...or 5000 of these:


Admittedly some additional extras would be paid in grain or equipment but compare this to an average unskilled labourer earning just 7500 denarii a year and soldiering starts to look OK.

1000 denarii a month was pretty good. A pound of sausages and five glasses of Egyptian beer was only 20 denarii. Celtic beer was twice the price of Egyptian costing 4 denarii, the measures would have been 1 sextarius or 1.1 Pints.

For those with more discerning tastes a fattened goose and a pint of spiced wine would set you back 224 denarii, weeks pay!

A soldier's winter tunic and a pair of shoes would cost 150 denarii. Getting a haircut to finish off your dapper look would cost only 2 denarii.

A scribe would charge you 1 Denarius for about 6 lines of text so sending a letter home was not too bad, whoever you sent it to would probably have to pay someone to read it to them though.

White silk (per pound) would cost a soldier his entire yearly pay, purple silk would cost 150000 denarii and could only be used at the direction of the Emperor.

These figures can't really help you with your 350AD Fel Temp but do paint a vivid picture of 50 years earlier.

Thanks Doucet!

I should add, as it looks a little odd in the write up, that the radiate at the bottom of the list was worth 2.5 denarii at the time in question. It can be a confusing period as I think the coinage was 're-valued' about 3 times in 8 years.

It is such a shame a complete edict has never been found, all we know has been pieced together from various fragments, I wonder what else may have been on a full version