The Amount of Wages Paid to the Quarry-Workers at Mons Claudianus

Cuvigny, Hélène

doi:10.1017/s0075435800057464

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…The ostraca (documents written on potsherds) found at this site refer to four groups of people: soldiers and officials (the site was administered by the army); skilled, civilian workers (stone masons, smiths, quarrymen); unskilled workers; and women and children (Bingen et a/., 1992(Bingen et a/., , 1997. The skilled workers and many of the soldiers came from villages in the Nile valley and it is clear from the ostraca that their families still lived there (Biilow-Jacobsen, 1992;Cuvigny, 1996). The evidence from Mons Porphyrites is still being studied, but first results suggest a situation not dissimilar to that at Mons Claudianus ( Van Rengen, 1996, 1997a, 1998.…”

Section: The Roman Quarry Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three types of document, found in the same refuse and midden deposits as the biological remains, are particularly informative: the entolae, the bread receipts and the private letters (Bingen, 1997;BiilowJacobsen, 1992BiilowJacobsen, , 1997Cuvigny, 1992Cuvigny, , 1996Van Rengen, 1996, 1997a, 1998. These ostraca demonstrate that, at Mons Claudianus, both skilled and unskilled workmen were present: the civilian workmen (pagani) were the skilled craft specialists from the Nile valley: they included stone-masons, smiths and quarrymen.…”

Section: The Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These ostraca demonstrate that, at Mons Claudianus, both skilled and unskilled workmen were present: the civilian workmen (pagani) were the skilled craft specialists from the Nile valley: they included stone-masons, smiths and quarrymen. Their pay consisted of a monthly allocation of wheat (l artaba = c. 40 liters), a wine ration, and a salary of (usually) 47 drachmae (Cuvigny, 1996). Once a month they wrote down instructions to the quartermaster (on ostraca) specifying which foods they wanted and how they wanted their wages spent.…”

Section: The Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once a month they wrote down instructions to the quartermaster (on ostraca) specifying which foods they wanted and how they wanted their wages spent. From these documents (entolae) we learn that they usually arranged for their wheat allocation to be given to their female relatives in the Nile valley, to be turned into bread before being brought to the site, and that their salary was used to buy oil, lentils, onions and dates (Cuvigny, 1992(Cuvigny, , 1996. It is worth noting here that the craft specialists at Mons Claudianus earned considerably more than their counterparts in the Nile valley, where the average wage was 25 drachmae (Cuvigny, 1996); it is, therefore, likely that they had money not only for the purchase of essential foods, but also for luxuries.…”

Section: The Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From these documents (entolae) we learn that they usually arranged for their wheat allocation to be given to their female relatives in the Nile valley, to be turned into bread before being brought to the site, and that their salary was used to buy oil, lentils, onions and dates (Cuvigny, 1992(Cuvigny, , 1996. It is worth noting here that the craft specialists at Mons Claudianus earned considerably more than their counterparts in the Nile valley, where the average wage was 25 drachmae (Cuvigny, 1996); it is, therefore, likely that they had money not only for the purchase of essential foods, but also for luxuries. Such entolae have also been found at Mons Porphyrites; they are all dated to the 2nd century AD (primarily AD 136-146), with the earliest one dated to AD 128 (Cuvigny, 1996;Van Rengen, 1998), indicating that, at least during the Antonine period, the two sites were organized in more or less the same way ( Van Rengen, 1996: 18).…”

Section: The Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Food and Fodder Supply to Roman Quarry Settlements in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

Veen

1999

The Exploitation of Plant Resources in Ancient Africa

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The analysis of botanical remains from two Roman quarry settlements has demonstrated that, despite their location in the remote Eastern Desert of Egypt, the workforce had access to a healthy and well-balanced diet, comprising carbohydrates, protein, sugars, fats, minerals and vitamins. Both staple foods and luxuries have been identified, demonstrating that the food supply to these sites was concerned with much more than basic survival and human nutrition. Some of the foods were supplied in kind, but the workmen also received a salary with which purchases of further foods, luxuries and other goods could be made. Remarkably, some foods, i.e. vegetables, were locally grown, highlighting the value attached to fresh 'greens'. The results provide new evidence for a highly developed food economy in Roman Egypt, able to support substantial non-agricultural communities.

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Section: The Roman Quarry Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Food Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Food and Fodder Supply to Roman Quarry Settlements in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

Veen

1999

The Exploitation of Plant Resources in Ancient Africa

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The Role of Historical Context in Understanding Past Climate, Pollution and Health Data in Trans‐disciplinary Studies: Reply to Comments on More et al., 2017

Spaulding

Bohleber

et al. 2018

GeoHealth

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Understanding the context from which evidence emerges is of paramount importance in reaching robust conclusions in scientific inquiries. This is as true of the present as it is of the past. In a trans-disciplinary study such as More et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GH000064) and many others appearing in this and similar journals, a proper analysis of context demands the use of historical evidence. This includes demographic, epidemiological, and socio-economic data-common in many studies of the impact of anthropogenic pollution on human health-and, as in this specific case, also geoarchaeological evidence. These records anchor climate and pollution data in the geographic and human circumstances of history, without which we lose a fundamental understanding of the data itself. This article addresses Hinkley (2018, https://doi.org/10.1002/2018GH000105) by highlighting the importance of context, focusing on the historical and archaeological evidence, and then discussing atmospheric deposition and circulation in the specific region of our study. Since many of the assertions in Bindler (2018, https://doi.org/10.1002/ 2018GH000135) are congruent with our findings and directly contradict Hinkley (2018), this reply refers to Bindler (2018), whenever appropriate, and indicates where our evidence diverges. Plain Language SummaryThis article highlights the crucial importance of historical and archaeoscientific data in trans-disciplinary studies of planetary health, in the form of a reply to two comments to a previous article (More et al., 2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GH000064). This reply emphasizes the crucial importance of geographic and historical context in assessing the significance and reach of scientific findings. The article also showcases the growing role of "Big-Data" scale data sets of demographic, epidemiological, and historical records for understanding how past pollution and climate data affected populations, especially when cutting-edge methods (e.g., laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) in climate science provide an ever more detailed chronology of past crises and long-term pollution trends.

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The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire

Temin

2004

Journal of Interdisciplinary History

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The available evidence on wages and labor contracts supports the existence of a functioning labor market in the early Roman empire, in which workers could change jobs in response to market-driven rewards. Slaves were included in the general labor market because Roman slavery, unlike that in the United States and in Brazil, permitted frequent manumission to citizen status. Slaves' ability to improve their status provided them with incentives to cooperate with their owners and act like free laborers. As a result, the supply and demand for labor were roughly equilibrated by wages and other payments to most workers, both slave and free.

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The Amount of Wages Paid to the Quarry-Workers at Mons Claudianus

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

The Food and Fodder Supply to Roman Quarry Settlements in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

The Food and Fodder Supply to Roman Quarry Settlements in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

The Role of Historical Context in Understanding Past Climate, Pollution and Health Data in Trans‐disciplinary Studies: Reply to Comments on More et al., 2017

The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire

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