Attic talent
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The Attic talent (from Latin talentum), also known as the Athenian talent or Greek talent, is an ancient unit of mass equal to 25.992kg, as well as a unit of value equal to this amount of pure silver.[1] A talent was originally intended to be the mass of water required to fill an amphora[2] (39 liters).[1] At the 2009 price of $414/kg, a silver talent is worth $10,760. It was equivalent to 60 minae, 6,000 drachmae or 36,000 obols.[1]
During the Peloponnesian War, a trireme crew of 200 rowers was paid a talent for a month's worth of work, about 4.4 grams of silver per rower per day.[3] According to wage rates from 377BC, a talent was the value of nine man-years of skilled work.[4] This corresponds to 2340 work days or 11.1 grams of silver per worker per workday. A modern carpenter gets about $25,060/year or $226,000 for nine years of work.[5]
In 1800, building craftsman in urban Europe got an average wage of 11.9 grams of silver a day,[6] or about $0.49 a day.[7] Adjusted for inflation, this corresponds to $6 a day in 2007 money.[8] Assuming a European worker in 1800 to be as efficient as a worker in ancient Greece, the purchasing power of a talent in ancient times was about $14,000 in today's money.[9] The plausibility of this calculation is confirmed by the fact that a talent of silver was worth $1081 in 1800,[7] equivalent to $13,000 after adjusting for inflation.[8]
See talent (measurement).
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Herodotus, Robin Waterfield and Carolyn Dewald, The histories (1998), p. 593.
- ^ Talent (Biblical Hebrew), unit of measure, unitconversion.org.
- ^ Torr, Cecil, "Triremes", The Classical Review, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Mar., 1906), p. 137.
- ^ Engen, Darel. "The Economy of Ancient Greece", EH.Net Encyclopedia, 2004.
- ^ See careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/240/Carpenter.html
- ^ Calculated from Robert Allen's Wages New", p. 36.
- ^ a b Calculated from here.
- ^ a b Calculated from here.
- ^ See also footnote one in "Life of Crassus", which calculates the value of a talent as $20,000 in 2004 money.
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