Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Ancient and ArchaeologyΒ  permalink

Thirty pieces of silver.

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by nastychestycough (U13796779) on Thursday, 10th December 2009

  What could that buy 2,000 years ago?
  
  
  
  

  Link to this forum: Thirty pieces of silver.

  Report message1

• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by fascinating (U1944795) on Thursday, 10th December 2009

  30 pieces of silver will be, I think 30 denarii. The denarius was supposedly the standard day's wage at that time (Remember the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, who each got one denarius for their work?). In fact the evidence is that most workers would have been paid less than that, even Roman soldiers were only paid 225 denarii a year.
  
  Most of the money that ordinary people were paid would have been spent on food. At this time it was said that very poor people in Egypt spent only 25 denarii on food for a full year, but these people can only have been very malnourished. The standard price of grain was 3 denarii a bushel, so one denarius would give some 20lbs (say 10kg) of grain, but that then had to be baked into bread.
  
  

  Link to this forum: Thirty pieces of silver.

  Report message2

• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by nastychestycough (U13796779) on Thursday, 10th December 2009

  Many thanks. So Judas hardly got a great fortune for his actions.

  Link to this forum: Thirty pieces of silver.

  Report message3

• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by fascinating (U1944795) on Thursday, 10th December 2009

  No, but on the other hand all he had to do was kiss someone on the cheek, to identify him, whereas the average guy had to labour for 30 days from dawn till dusk for the same amount.
  
  I have replica coins here and you may be surprised to learn that a denarius, though pure silver, was very small coin, no bigger than the modern 5p piece. Before the discovery of the gold and silver of the New World in the 15th century, these precious metals were relatively very valuable.
  

  Link to this forum: Thirty pieces of silver.

  Report message4

Back to top