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Konstantine Panegyres, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Western Australia

‘Weights of gold in bullion’: how the ancients invested in precious metals

CE Gold silver Caligula Suetonius Virgil
Sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, CC BY

“All I want is an income of 20,000 sesterces from secure investments”, proclaims a character in a poem by Juvenal (1st-2nd century CE), the Roman poet.

Today, 20,000 sesterces would be equivalent to about A$300,000 in interest from investments. Anyone would be very happy with this much passive annual income.

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