Other

All Edda-Earth material belongs to Deborah L. Davitt, copyright 2012-2014. All rights are reserved. All information in block quotes taken from Wikipedia or relevant and cited websites.


Monetary System

Rome has never abandoned the gold standard. Everything is linked directly to the value of a pound of gold. Worth is not imaginary, and economics isn't largely a product of imagination.

Physical money

Almost all money, besides in Qin, is still coins. Paper money has just never caught on. There are checks available, and credit cards will be invented in about 1970 AC.

Because coins can be counterfeited, almost all coins are weighed when they come into a bank. Counterfeiters usually work with adulterating metals or filing the edges of coins to render them less valuable, while taking the scraps to make new, adulterated coins.

There is an entire division of the Praetorian Guard dedicated to counterfeiting.

Stamps are the only legal tender that is not made of metal, and these are, indeed, made of paper. They are often traded in lieu of coins.

Assarius/Assarii
Bronze coins. 10 of them make a Denarius.

"Half a silver denarius for a couple of glasses of wine. Rome was… expensive to live in."

Wine is usually fairly cheap, all things considered. Adam considers this expensive, but it's about 5 bucks a glass, in real terms… except money goes much further in Edda.

Sestertius/Sestertii
No longer in use by 1954 AC. Originally a silver coin in the era of the Republic, it became a brass coin in the Empire, worth about 2.5 assarrii. Largely existed for breaking denarii more easily.

Denarius/Denarii

Silver coins. 10 of them make up a Solidus. Each worth about 10 bucks, in real terms.

Solidus/Solidi

Gold coins. 10 of them make up an Aureus. About 100 bucks.

Adam bets Sigrun half a solidus that something won't happen. That's like betting 50 bucks.

Aureus/Aurei

Gold coins. One of them is worth about 1,000 bucks. 2 of these for an evening with an upscale prostitute is… expensive. And that's the base cost, before the extra services, like the feather. *cough*

Money Change in Ass. Change in Den. Change in Sol. modern $ equivalent Real Value
Assarius (Bronze) 1 = 1 buck
Sestertius/Sestertii (silver or brass) 2.5 assarii 2.5 bucks No longer in use by 1954 AC
Denarius (silver) 10 assarius 1 = 10 bucks Cost in Rome in 1954, for a glass of wine, half-denarius. Adam considers this expensive
Solidus (gold) 100 assarius 10 denarius 1 = 100 bucks 2 solidus a month = rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in a major city
Aureus (gold) 1000 assarius 100 denarius 10 solidus 1 = 1,000 bucks Adam makes 4 aureus a month in 1954. 4,000/month; by becoming head of detail, 5. By 1970, 7/month, or 7,000
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License