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In September 2021, an amateur archaeologist found a treasure trove of 1290 Roman coins of the IV century in Switzerland. According to the researchers, this money was equivalent to two months of earnings of a Roman legionnaire. 

Let’s calculate the purchasing power of a Roman legionnaire in terms of our money!

The value of all the coins found roughly corresponded to one gold solid. The exchange rate of the gold solid was changing, but suppose you could buy 30 – 40 modii of wheat with it.

1 modium = 6.73 kg of wheat.

This is where the fun begins. The Industrial Revolution has significantly reduced the cost of a kilogram of wheat. Having bought 20 tons of wheat, you can count on the cost of 25 rubles per kilo. However, let’s focus on retail, where the cost of wheat for germination reaches 200 – 300 rubles per kilo.

Based on these data, we can calculate the approximate purchasing power of the found treasure and the approximate salary of a Roman legionnaire per month in terms of our money.

And for dessert – try looking up the cost of one solid on the Internet.