Drachma And Ancient Jobs

[Jesus The Inane]

I was wondering; how much could I buy with four drachma's in ancient Greece? I read that a hoplite was paid one drachma, so I take it that was enough to buy dinner? Which brings me to the relevant question of; where there restaurants in ancient Greece?

How much did a hoplon, breastplate, helmet, and greaves cost in terms of drachmas?

And, what other professions apart from the military where there in ancient Greece, and how was the income in the other professions? Surely they had to had bakers (bread-makers), farmers, and people who make clothes, but what else? And most importantlly, how much did they get paid?

Thanks for any information.

a javelin, 2 drachmai; a spear without a butt, 1 drachma 4 obols. By comparison, the rate of hoplite pay about that time was a drachma a day plus an allowance for food.

http://www.amorgosgreece.com/armourweapons.htm

[rez]

well off the top of my head i can answer one of those questions. Eventually a days work in the juries of the law courts payed 3 obols. Considering this was a ful days work away from your normal proffesion i would assume that 3 obols is enough to get you through a days living. (source Aristophanes "the Wasps")

However there is a problem in that i have no idea how many obols there are to a drachma

[Red Harvest]

1 drachma = 6 obols.

Barley was typically priced at about 3 drachmas per medimnos (~52 liters) in 329 BC, and wheat about 6 dr/mediminos. 1 medimnos will provide a healthy grain ration to an active adult male for about 48 days.

A javelin is listed at about 2 drachmas and 5 obols.

A horse was worth about 500 drachmas.

The hoplite panoply was about 100-300 drachmas.

Considering that cavalrymen also tended to have a 2nd mount and some sort of help/slave/squire, and that they had to feed their mounts each day you can see how expensive maintaining cavalry was for city states like Athens (and Rome) and why only the wealthiest citizens were able to serve in that manner.

[conon394]

Athenian/Attic Monetary System:

1 Talent = 60 Minas = 6000 Drachmas = 36,000 Obolos = 288,000 Chalkoi

So that is 1 Drachma = 6 Obolos.

[antaeus]

nice... the romans left detailed pricing plans at time.. aurelian and diocletian tried to arrest romes massive inflation problem by setting prices, unfortunately inflation was so bad that nobody accepted money anyway - especially soldiers.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Off the top of my head-

One day's pay as a juror was raised by Kleon to three obols a day.

A street walking prostitution would charge three obols for doggy style sex.

[conon394]

where there restaurants in ancient Greece?

Yes there were, the Kapeloi - wine shopes/taverns.

You don’t here much about them since most historians happily pass on the propaganda of the ‘good and beautiful’ that everyone ate at the aristocratic symposiums (or at least everyone who really mattered). Taverns have a somewhat plebian and democratic air, the oligarchs on Thasos for example tried to banned them. At the neighborhood tavern citizens, men and women, slaves and foreigners mixed together to have a drink and eat dinner - anathema to the right sort of person who happens to have provided the lion’s share of ancient Greek literary evidence…

Some more weapon/amour prices (from Keos from around the beginning of the 3rd century – presumably high quality items since they were prizes). The figures noted earlier are derived from Attic stelai and presumably represent normal weapons in inventory. A very good spear was thus about 15.5 ob, compared to the earlier Attic spear of 10 ob: The question is how much of the difference is quality and how much is the result of inflation caused as a result of Alexander putting 200 years worth of Persian tribute bullion into circulation – not mention the potential for inflation do the steadily improved output of silver from Athens over the whole second half of the 4th century.

Bow:7 dr
Bow and quiver: 15 dr
Spearhead: 3.5 ob
Spear pole: 2 dr
Shield: 20 dr

Athenian cleruchs sent to Salamis circ 500 BC were required to have arms/amour worth
30 drachmas. If you assume they were hoplites roughly half of that figure is consumed by just a spear and shield.

Some relatively reliable wage figures:

A 2 dr. legal limit for flute-girls (per performance (?)) sometime before 322 BC at Athens. The imposition of a ceiling tends to suggest the market price was higher; there is a debate as to if ‘other services’ were included in the price or would be result in an additional charge.

Second Half of the 4th Century Athens: Overseers of the water supply paid 1 dr. p.d.

A street walking prostitution would charge three obols for doggy style sex

Or more generally seems to have been the average price for and average street walker. Some of the fairly reliable evidence that supports the 3 obols rate also suggests that more acrobatic sex (including facing the customer) could run as high as 1 dr.

Between 409 - 407 BC the Athenians paid 1 dr p.d. to workers and craftsmen who worked on the Erechtheion. This is often used as the basis for a standard Athenian/Greek wage of 1 drachma per day (combined with the std. 5th century soldier wage) but it should really not be taken as such. The fact that skilled workers were paid the same as laborers rather indicates the wage was special for some reason. At Eleusis around 329 BC skilled workers received 7.5 ob – 15 ob While laborers only around 9 ob. (the low number for skilled workers may be a mistake or perhaps a payment for a half day worked since every other skilled worker received at least 12 ob+. In addition this particular bit of evidence is also explicit in noting that the workers in question are providing their own rations, so even non-military 4th century wages seem to have adopted the wage/ration distinction).

I take it that was enough to buy dinner?

Besides working backwards from food prices as Red Harvest suggests, you can also look at some other data:

Late in the Peloponnesian war Athens instituted a dole of 2 ob p.d for citizens rendered desperate by the loss of Euboea and the permanent Spartan occupation of Attika. If you assume that 2 ob represents just about the minimum needed to survive per day, than you can figure the standard Athenian pay for soldiers was in 4th century terms (when it was more common to distinguish rations from pay) was 2 ob for rations and 4 ob for wages. Altogether something less than half of what a skilled worker might make in a day, but on a par with what Athens was willing to pay state employees.

In the 5th century Athens seems to have set something of a standard of paying 1 dr p.d. to soldiers (1 dr to sailors, 2 dr hoplites to cover their servant/squire/slave), but I don’t think you can over generalize from the Athenian evidence. For example when Athens, Argos, Elis and Mantinea formed alliance after the peace of Nicias broke down, they agreed on a wage for soldiers to be paid by the ally seeking aid after 30 days.

Hoplites, Archers and Light Infantry: 3 Aiginetan ob (= 4.325 Attic ob).
Cavalry: 1 Aiginetan dr p.d ( = 8.65 Attic ob).

The pay scale seems to have been low for hoplites but higher for cavalry, than the one at Athens (except for mounted archers who received 2 dr p.d. in Attica – but than again the Peloponnesians had none of those anyway)…

[removeduser_487563287433]

Three obols for doggy style was the cheapest service on offer. It is the position that brings the man to climax the quickest and these were busy girls.

[conon394]

Three obols for doggy style was the cheapest service on offer. It is the position that brings the man to climax the quickest and these were busy girls.

Busy no doubt, but as to “It is the position that brings the man to climax the quickest”, that seems a tad subjective. I would rather look to the service provider for the price rather than the service purchaser…

‘doggy style’ allows a prostitute to avoid (largely) acting, that is any pretense of interest and intimacy. She could for all intensive purposes be watching TV or the Athenian equivalent while her customer worked away. Perhaps more importantly considering that the same kind of evidence (comedy where the joke appears not to be based on the price of sex) also suggests 3 ob. for an inexperienced boy/transvestite; 3 ob might well be considered to be buying only anal sex - something a working prostitute might well prefer since it would avoid the risk of pregnancy…

Altogether I don’t disagree that 3 ob may well represent the cheapest option available from a relatively independent prostitute – but the evidence is somewhat equivocal as to weather 3 ob is an average around the late 5th to mid 4th century or a floor.

Even at 3 ob for the low end of sexual services it still puts the 1 dr p.d. for a soldier in perspective, Since by comparison a skilled flute girl willing to turn at least one trick after a performance might well make as much as 15 -18 ob (or more). Thus a moderately skilled sex worker looks to have made more than 2 times what a hoplite was getting for sitting around Potidaea in the winter (and even a faily low skill street walker need only turn two tricks too equal the same gross pay).