07-24-2006, 05:21 PM
Caballo,
Talk to me at the next show and I will point you in the direction of two rather well argued (and opposing) articles, one by M.A. Spiedel and the other by R. Alston on the subject of pay.
Incidentally, I think that the 300 denarii per year from Domitian to Severus is an assumption. The same assumption in fact that brings other people to say that the figure was 400 denarii per year. If I remember rightly (and as I am working without my sources as I write this I may not be), in Caesar's time pay was set at 150 denarii / 600 sestertii per year, paid in three installments. I think that it was Augustus who doubled this figure to 300 denarii / 1200 sestertii, still paid in three installments. As I understand it, what we are told about Domitian's change to army pay is that he arranged that soldiers should be paid four times, rather than three times per year. Some people have chosen to see this as evidence that pay was increased by a third, thus becoming 400 denarii / 1600 sestertii per year, whilst others contend that they simply recieved less per installment and the overall figure remained the same. As all our literary information on pay rates (as far as I know) is in terms of multiples of the basic rate in Augustus' time, this means that the impass created by the differing interpretations of the change from three installments to four per year creates a blockage we cannot pass in terms of understanding the real pay rates of later times. We simply cannot be sure how much money Severus was doubling and Caracalla was doubling again.
Crispvs
Talk to me at the next show and I will point you in the direction of two rather well argued (and opposing) articles, one by M.A. Spiedel and the other by R. Alston on the subject of pay.
Incidentally, I think that the 300 denarii per year from Domitian to Severus is an assumption. The same assumption in fact that brings other people to say that the figure was 400 denarii per year. If I remember rightly (and as I am working without my sources as I write this I may not be), in Caesar's time pay was set at 150 denarii / 600 sestertii per year, paid in three installments. I think that it was Augustus who doubled this figure to 300 denarii / 1200 sestertii, still paid in three installments. As I understand it, what we are told about Domitian's change to army pay is that he arranged that soldiers should be paid four times, rather than three times per year. Some people have chosen to see this as evidence that pay was increased by a third, thus becoming 400 denarii / 1600 sestertii per year, whilst others contend that they simply recieved less per installment and the overall figure remained the same. As all our literary information on pay rates (as far as I know) is in terms of multiples of the basic rate in Augustus' time, this means that the impass created by the differing interpretations of the change from three installments to four per year creates a blockage we cannot pass in terms of understanding the real pay rates of later times. We simply cannot be sure how much money Severus was doubling and Caracalla was doubling again.
Crispvs
Who is called \'\'Paul\'\' by no-one other than his wife, parents and brothers. :!: <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_exclaim.gif" alt=":!:" title="Exclamation" />:!:
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