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What the Romans Did?

• Message 1.Ìý

  Posted by DopeyKaty (U6119029) on Friday, 13th October 2006

  How did the Romans make Salt?
  
  Where did they do it (location)?
  
  What's a Salary in relation to the above?

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• Message 2

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Saturday, 14th October 2006

  
  How did the Romans make Salt?
  Ìý
  They didn't. Nature makes salt. The Romans mined it.
  
  
  Where did they do it (location)?
  Ìý
  Roman salt mines were established just about everywhere salt was found to be mined. It was mostly prisoners' labour that was used to extract it.
  
  
  What's a Salary in relation to the above?
  Ìý
  Don't know what you mean by 'in relation to the above'. Salt was doled out to soldiers, not (as is commonly misunderstood) as a substitute for monetary payment, but rationed nonetheless as it was considered a valuable commodity. 'Salarium' rates were inconsistent, depending as they were on general supply, who was getting it, who was doling it out, and where the transactions were enacted (salt's importance as a dietary complement varied according to prevailing temperatures and staple food sources).
  

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  Posted by TwinProbe (U4077936) on Sunday, 15th October 2006

  Hi Nordmann,
  
  Salt was clearly vital for food preservation until the development of tinning and freezing in the modern era. In the UK Roman salt must have been mined in Cheshire, not for nothing did they call Droitwich by the name of Salinae.
  
  Salt must have been quite expensive to transport and so I think that it is important not to neglect coastal production from sea-water in salterns – a practice that continued from the Iron Age until the medieval period. Boiling brine to produce sea-salt used a good deal of fuel and produced signs of burning on stones and clay. The ‘Red Hills’ in Essex are an example.
  
  TP

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  Posted by Wendol (U4076986) on Sunday, 15th October 2006

  Another source of salt in ancient times was the sea. As the sea water evaporates from a salt pan the salt is left behind. The brine is then boiled to remove the last of the water.

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  Posted by Trillian (U5230370) on Sunday, 15th October 2006

  There are ancient salt pans on the Cumbrian coast

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• Message 6

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Monday, 16th October 2006

  Hi Nordmann,
  
  I know the Romans used salt mines, but weren't there salt flats and salt marshes near Ostia (the mouth of the Tiber) that they also used?
  
  Cheers,
  
  RF
  

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Monday, 16th October 2006

  I read an interesting book about salt one time (haven't a clue what it was called - probably "Salt") that went into detail about the Romans and their salt industry. Late republic and empire salt, I remember it mentioned, came not exclusively but almost completely from salt mines operated under the aegis of the military in the provinces. Salt flats (sea salt) were managed privately and had a much lower yield, even if the salt extracted there was considered superior to mineral salt.
  
  The reason however had nothing to do with taste. It had all to do with labour. Sea salt extraction was labour intensive, but it was unfeasible to use slaves or prisoners for the work. The job carried health hazards and decreased life expectancy implications that made it too expensive as a method of deploying slaves, and the areas involved made it difficult to hold on to prisoners detailed to the job - too much opportunity for scarpering. The mines (and the Romans seemed not to miss an opportunity to mine for salt) were even more labour intensive, with even less of a life expectancy, but were much easier to manage in that respect. As a result sea salt (and a lot of it came from Africa) acquired a snob value, and the 'farming' of it was strictly licenced, being often given out as a political favour or in return for military service, while mineral salt became the staple.
  
  Can't stand the stuff myself!

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• Message 8

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  Posted by RainbowFfolly (U3345048) on Monday, 16th October 2006

  as usual Nordmann. Interesting stuff and once the labour and economic factors come into play, it's totally understandable as to why they would prefer to mine it. I can also imagine how lucrative and desirable sea-salt farms would have been considering the fortunes that some Romans spent on food!
  
  Do you know much about Phoenician salt extraction? I'm sure I saw pictures of a pretty sophisticated salt-farm somewhere (Motya or Gades maybe?). It had large square, and very shallow reservoirs which seemed as if they would have been quite efficient.
  
  Cheers,
  
  
  RF

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  Posted by an ex-nordmann - it has ceased to exist (U3472955) on Monday, 16th October 2006

  Haven't a clue. But they were clever buggers who knew how to turn a penny so it wouldn't surprise me.

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