The introduction of the antoninianus unleashed inflation. The antoninianus was then debased and eventually was made of just bronze, although sometimes washed with silver. The antoninianus initially was made of silver and was set at two denarii. The debasement of the denarius continued with the introduction of the antoninianus in 215 AD under the emperor Caracalla (198-217). Under the emperor Commodus (177-192 AD), the silver content fell to 70%, and then following a brief period of civil war, the emperor Septimus Severus (193-211) lowered the silver content to 45%.įoreign wars, a vast empire to police and finance, a restless population where there were soon more on the dole than there were working gave rise to a series of monetary crises. It continued to be lowered under later emperors but it was towards the end of the third century AD that a more serious debasement got under way. Under Nero (54-68 AD) it was reduced again, to 3.4 grams. Under the emperor Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) the silver content fell to 3.9 grams. Its debasement began near the end of the Republican period and the start of the period known as the Roman Empire. It formed the backbone of the Roman Republic. In terms of measurement, it contained 4.5 grams of silver. Initially, the denarius contained roughly 90% silver. Two-and-a-half asses were equivalent to a sestertius 25 denarii equalled a gold aureus. The denarius was set at a price of 10 bronze asses (no jokes, please). It came into use around 212 BC and was a kind of successor to the Greek drachma, which was the reserve currency during the period of the Greek empire. The Roman denarius was the reserve currency of the Roman Empire. It reminded me of the chart of the loss of US$ purchasing power since 1774. I found the chart showing the decline of the silver content of the Roman denarius quite fascinating. Trajan Decius (249-251 AD) followed Phillip the Arab (244-249 AD). That period saw the reign of Trajan (98-117 AD). If you had $7.04 billion available to repay a debt, you would be #102 in the 2010 Forbes list of billionaires.Source: Note: on the chart above, the listing of Trajan Decius between the emperors Titus (79-81 AD) and Hadrian (117-138 AD) looks to be a mistake. and second richest in the world, has a net worth of $53 billion as of 2010: $35,200 x 200,000 = $7,040,000,000 $7.04 billionįor perspective, $7.04 billion is approximately one-eighth of the total wealth of Bill Gates. Therefore, if 100 denarii equaled four months’ salary, at current minimum wage, it would be equivalent to $11,733.33, which is substantially more than the NIV footnote of “a few dollars.”Įarning $35,200 per year at minimum wage, how much would you earn in 200,000 years to equal 10,000 talents? Thus, their annual wage, assuming they work 50 weeks as above, would be: $704 per week x 50 weeks = $35,200 Under California law, they would be paid 40 hours a week at $8 an hour and 32 hours of overtime at $12 an hour for a weekly wage of $704. From Matthew 20:1-16, we know that laborers worked 12 hours per day, which is 72 hours per week. What would 100 denarii and 10,000 talents look like in today’s dollars? Currently, California’s minimum wage is $8.00 per hour. You only have 9,999 more talents to go.”įrom this, we can easily see that if it takes 20 years to earn one talent, then repaying 10,000 talents would require working 200,000 YEARS! How absurd then for the servant to beg for mercy and tell the king that he would “pay back everything.” As a day laborer, he had no hope-almost literally “not in a million years”-of ever repaying his debt. You have worked for 20 years and have now earned 6,000 denarii. After 20 years of such labor, you will have earned 6,000 denarii.Īt this point, the king would say to his debtor, “Congratulations. Now suppose you continued to work as a day laborer earning 300 denarii each year. Therefore, 100 denarii was one-third of a year’s salary, or four months’ wages. Allowing approximately two weeks for various Jewish holidays, the typical laborer worked 50 weeks of the year and earned an annual wage of 300 denarii (50 weeks x 6 days). The denarius was one day’s wage for a typical day laborer, who worked six days a week with a Sabbath day of rest. The NIV footnotes usually say that this is equivalent to “several million dollars” versus “a few dollars.”Ī more accurate comparison is based on how much time it would take to earn these respective amounts of money. Matthew 18:23-35 records the parable of the two debtors: one owed the king 10,000 talents, and one owed his fellow servant 100 denarii.
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