Archaeologists Uncover Roman Soldier’s Paycheck

[Kali]

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/02/archaeologists-uncover-roman-soldiers-paycheck-at-masada/146215

Found this interesting.

[Al Kowsky]

2 hours ago, Kali said:

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/02/archaeologists-uncover-roman-soldiers-paycheck-at-masada/146215

Found this interesting.

Kali, thanks for sharing this article 😊. The subject of Roman army pay scales is complicated & evolved over time. For anyone interested in the subject, the essay published in Academia by Michael Speidel is an excellent read, see the link below.

https://www.academia.edu/1483788/Roman_Army_Pay_Scales

The coin type pictured below is typical for payday money given to a Roman legionnaire during the period discussed in the article you posted.

 

[kevikens]

I am a bit confused on this story. Were the troops paid in Roman denarii or in drachmas and if the latter, were they produced at a provincial mint, a travelling mint or were they minted in Rome itself? If the latter, would these drachmas pass current in trade in the West or would they have to be exchanged forf denarii?

[Al Kowsky]

7 hours ago, kevikens said:

I am a bit confused on this story. Were the troops paid in Roman denarii or in drachmas and if the latter, were they produced at a provincial mint, a travelling mint or were they minted in Rome itself? If the latter, would these drachmas pass current in trade in the West or would they have to be exchanged forf denarii?

Unfortunately the article posted by Heritage Daily, "ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER ROMAN SOLDIER'S PAYCHECK AT MASADA" gives us very little information on the actual paycheck discovered at Masada 🤨, instead it gives us a short overview on the 1st Roman-Jewish War & superfluous quotes by Josephus 🙄. We know the check belonged to a Roman Cavalryman who earned 150 sestertii more annually than a regular legionnaire, according to the essay by Michael Speidel. A Roman soldier's pay was denominated in sestertii, but the value of a drachma in relation to a denarius isn't clear. All we can assume is if a soldier wanted his pay in cash he would have been paid in tetradrachms if he was stationed in Judaea, & a drachm would have had the same buying power as a denarius. No doubt most Roman soldiers wanted some portion of their earned pay as disposable income, & that implies they would have received that pay in the local currency where they were stationed. 

[AussieCollector]

Wasn't the pay cheque approximately 1 denarius a day, equivalent to about 1 tetradrachm a week?

[Al Kowsky]

9 hours ago, AussieCollector said:

Wasn't the pay cheque approximately 1 denarius a day, equivalent to about 1 tetradrachm a week?

A.C., It appears that a tetradrachm would have been worth 4 denarii when this pay slip was made.

[Al Kowsky]

This morning I did a Google search about the discovered "paycheck found at Masada" & found about a dozen different articles on the subject. Most of these articles repeated the same info from the article Kali posted, however, some of the articles identified the Roman soldier by name as "Gaius Messius". Most of these articles identify this find as a "paycheck", which is probably not the case, it is most likely a stipendium (stipend). Gaius Messius undoubtably received this stipend in lieu of his regular paycheck because he was a Calvary soldier. Nearly all the articles I read from the Google search had a common theme, how stingy the Roman army was to it's soldiers 🤣. Military pay is stingy in any of the world's armies not just the Roman army. My first paycheck in the U.S. Army was a revelation too 😮. Instead of being charged for uniforms & necessary clothing, food, shelter, & transportation, the U.S. Army factored these expenses into the paycheck, leaving me with $56 for my first month's paycheck in January of 1967 😒.

 

 

[Broucheion]

Hi All,

The actual transcription and translation is at https://armyofromanpalestine.com/0022 . The papyrus was first published in 1991. Does anyone know why it was resurrected for this newspaper story in 2023?

 - Broucheion 

[AussieCollector]

6 hours ago, Broucheion said:

Hi All,

The actual transcription and translation is at https://armyofromanpalestine.com/0022 . The papyrus was first published in 1991. Does anyone know why it was resurrected for this newspaper story in 2023?

 - Broucheion 

Desperate journalists.

[Al Kowsky]

6 hours ago, Broucheion said:

Hi All,

The actual transcription and translation is at https://armyofromanpalestine.com/0022 . The papyrus was first published in 1991. Does anyone know why it was resurrected for this newspaper story in 2023?

 - Broucheion 

I don't think this payslip received a lot of attention back in 1991, especially with the internet still in it's early stage. The recent activity this find is receiving is nevertheless surprising. Magazines & newspapers are making a "feeding frenzy" about it lately....