Legionary pay in modern money

[petrinus]

An eight year old in Stroud, UK,asked me a question that had me completely stumped.

"How much would a Roman legionary and auxillary be paid in today's money?"Any ideas?

Hi Caballo,

A couple of your chaps in the RMRS were telling me, once, that in
the 1st c., a legionary was paid the equivalent of a modern skilled
craftsman. Say 30-40 k (that's pounds, of course :wink: ). Which
makes sense, if they were the target trades for recruitment. After
all, you wouldn't expect them to take a pay cut on enlistment. Ah,
but then there were all those 'deductions'...

Mike

ah like the real army, of which i have the displeasure of currently serving in, ive spent so much of my own loot cause they issue us crap, so after ive added up everything i spent i feel a lot like a legionare!