08-10-2016, 06:42 AM
why would be roman rowers not payed? what would be their motivation then? roman rowers were not slaves.. naval service was not a walk in the park... if your ship is captured, you end up being slave, and that is actually better fate than drown somewhere as happened quite often with entire fleets... nobody would enlist as rower if not compensated appropriately.
and of course you cannot draw direct line, but you can compare prices. multiple items are mentioned by Roman and Greek historians, and those can be compared. Similarly, we have sources that state the cost of armor during early Medieval period (cost of suit of mail to be similar as cost of milking cow - Smith, K.P., Ore, Fire, Hammer, Sickle: Iron Production in Viking Age and Early Medieval Iceland Skre, D. (Chapter 3) Silver Economies, Monetisation and Society in Scandinavia, AD 800-1000)
Amount of work was the same, so was amount of material. If medieval armorers asked for certain sum, its not that far fetched assuming, ancient armorers would ask at least for similar amount.
and of course you cannot draw direct line, but you can compare prices. multiple items are mentioned by Roman and Greek historians, and those can be compared. Similarly, we have sources that state the cost of armor during early Medieval period (cost of suit of mail to be similar as cost of milking cow - Smith, K.P., Ore, Fire, Hammer, Sickle: Iron Production in Viking Age and Early Medieval Iceland Skre, D. (Chapter 3) Silver Economies, Monetisation and Society in Scandinavia, AD 800-1000)
Amount of work was the same, so was amount of material. If medieval armorers asked for certain sum, its not that far fetched assuming, ancient armorers would ask at least for similar amount.
Jaroslav Jakubov
