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Slavery


Guest spartacus

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Guest spartacus

Which countries were valued as having the best people for slaves? Which nationalities were priced higher than another?

 

Would, say a young slave be more valuable than, say, an older, educated slave?

 

What sort of prices were put on slaves at market?

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Guest spartacus

Thanks Longbow for your input! :D

 

Very informative!

 

I take it by your answer you have not got a clue? :blink:

 

 

( as for the babe, I would prefer a younger version of Kim Basinger :P )

 

 

Hopefully the post may generate a more serious debate!

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Thanks Longbow for your input! :D

 

Very informative!

 

I take it by your answer you have not got a clue? :blink:

 

 

( as for the babe, I would prefer a younger version of Kim Basinger :P )

 

 

Hopefully the post may generate a more serious debate!

your welcome :sniper:

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Son_of_Belial

I think I can answer that question. In Augustan Rome they made 84 denarii from a pound of silver according to Pliny. At the time of typing a pound of silver is worth ~USD$113.97 (Converter). Divide that by 84 and a denarius is therefore worth ~USD$1.36. Multiply that by 6,000 and your slave-girl will cost you ~USD$8,160. Pretty expensive though, and that's not taking inflation into account! With inflation you need to do the math with the world-wide currency arbiter; gold. Now we know that 40 aurea were minted from a pound of gold. On today's market (at the time of typing) a pound of gold will cost you exactly USD$6,843.31. If we divide that figure by 40 we get ~USD$171.08 for one aureus. Now if one aureus is worth 25 denarii that values one denarius, taking inflation into account at ~USD$6.84. Multiply that by 6,000 and your slave-girl, going by today's standards, would cost you ~USD$41,040! What all this basically means is that if you were to go back in time and buy a slave-girl she'd cost you about USD$8,000. However, to an Augustan Roman, that price engenders roughly the same reaction that we'd give to a price-tag of about USD$40,000. It doesn't seem so expensive to us, but to them that's a fair whack. I hope this has been of assistance.

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Guest Son_of_Belial

OK, but imagine the price of your Gallic couple?! You'd be paying something nearing 15,000 denarii for the pair, and how do you know that the wife isn't barren or that he's shooting blanks? Factor infant mortality rates into the equation, that's a risky investment...

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