Why were soldiers in Ancient Rome sometimes paid with salt?

grey fox · Jun 26, 2020

Soldiers in Ancient Rome were sometimes paid with salt. This is the origin of the expression "worth his salt." I know that soldiers in ANcient Rome could use salt to preserve meat from spoiling, but this hardly seems like a worthy enough use of salt to justify paying soldiers in salt. The Ancient Romans actually had coined money and did not only use a barter system of trade. Salt could also be used to spice up food, but again, this hardly seems like something that would justify by soldiers in salt.

Why were soldiers in Ancient Rome sometimes paid with salt? What was the essential use of salt that made the soldiers satisfied to sometimes be paid with salt instead of money?

NordicDemosthenes · Jun 26, 2020

grey fox said:
Soldiers in Ancient Rome were sometimes paid with salt. This is the origin of the expression "worth his salt." I know that soldiers in ANcient Rome could use salt to preserve meat from spoiling, but this hardly seems like a worthy enough use of salt to justify paying soldiers in salt. The Ancient Romans actually had coined money and did not only use a barter system of trade. Salt could also be used to spice up food, but again, this hardly seems like something that would justify by soldiers in salt.

Why were soldiers in Ancient Rome sometimes paid with salt? What was the essential use of salt that made the soldiers satisfied to sometimes be paid with salt instead of money?

What time period are you talking about? Salt is a valuable commodity under the right circumstances (such as when you’re away on campaign, or live along the frontier).

I haven’t heard this, but if it’s true I can imagine two possibilities. 1) it is used during the republic when Rome’s armies are primarily yeoman farmers and the economy is not that monetized 2) it is used during the 3rd century when money becomes inflated (or seems to do so as the silver content decreases dramatically) as a substitute.

grey fox · Jun 26, 2020

NordicDemosthenes said:
What time period are you talking about?

I don't have any time period more specific than the time period of Ancient Rome, which is from around 500 B.C. to around 476 A.D. as I recall.

Salt is a valuable commodity under the right circumstances (such as when you’re away on campaign, or live along the frontier).

Other than salt's use for preserving meat and for spicing up food, what about salt makes salt a valuable commodity when you're away on campaign or living along the frontier? Or are those two uses alone valauble enough to justify paying soldiers with salt sometimes?

I haven’t heard this, but if it’s true I can imagine two possibilities. 1) it is used during the republic when Rome’s armies are primarily yeoman farmers and the economy is not that monetized 2) it is used during the 3rd century when money becomes inflated (or seems to do so as the silver content decreases dramatically) as a substitute.

I thought all Ancient Rome fans knew about how Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt. I did not know that money became inflated in the 3rd century Rome. You probably know more about Ancient Rome than I do. I am surprised you did not know that Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt.

NordicDemosthenes · Jun 26, 2020

grey fox said:
I don't have any time period more specific than the time period of Ancient Rome, which is from around 500 B.C. to around 476 A.D. as I recall.

Right.

grey fox said:
Other than salt's use for preserving meat and for spicing up food, what about salt makes salt a valuable commodity when you're away on campaign or living along the frontier? Or are those two uses alone valauble enough to justify paying soldiers with salt sometimes?

Those two uses be enough, perhaps, if salt is difficult to come by and you really need to preserve your food, while living in a dreary, forested garrison farm in Germania or sonething. (During the later Roman Empire they tried creating a system of garrison troops more or less permanently stationed on the frontier. There is plenty of indication economic activity diminshed severely in the West beginning in the 3rd century, so maybe some places were quite subsistence-level).

grey fox said:
I thought all Ancient Rome fans knew about how Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt. I did not know that money became inflated in the 3rd century Rome. You probably know more about Ancient Rome than I do. I am surprised you did not know that Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt.

I did not, actually. I mean, they did get grainrations from the state, I believe - as part of their payment. So, come to think of it that is maybe a better and much less convoluted explanation, that it is just a phrase meaning “worth his ration” - i.e. pulling his weight. It would also make sense that it’d be a republican expression then (the republican romans gave us more good sayings...), as soldiers were not professional during most of this era.

I’m just not an expert in Roman military logistics....

Offspring · Jun 26, 2020

It's just a theory by Pliny that they were paid in salt in an unspecified time period, in the distant past.

Nemowork · Jun 26, 2020

grey fox said:
Soldiers in Ancient Rome were sometimes paid with salt. This is the origin of the expression "worth his salt." I know that soldiers in ANcient Rome could use salt to preserve meat from spoiling, but this hardly seems like a worthy enough use of salt to justify paying soldiers in salt. The Ancient Romans actually had coined money and did not only use a barter system of trade. Salt could also be used to spice up food, but again, this hardly seems like something that would justify by soldiers in salt.

Why were soldiers in Ancient Rome sometimes paid with salt? What was the essential use of salt that made the soldiers satisfied to sometimes be paid with salt instead of money?

No, you've got the basics of why salt was so important.

Theres no refrigeration, if you want to preserve food so you have any quality of life over the winter you need salt. You need salt for many everyday cooking tasks and for basic body function. It is essentially the most important commodity available at the time except maybe gold and steel.

Its a valuable commodity, you can use it yourself or you can trade it with locals who provide services you want because you might have rations but villagers need to preserve meat as well.

Matthew Amt · Jun 26, 2020

They were not paid in salt. There was apparently an extra allowance *for* salt, called the salaria, hence our word "salary", but I don't think this was a regular thing. It's not something that shows up in the known pay accounts from Egypt, etc.

Matthew

Philliposeur · Jun 26, 2020

grey fox said:
Soldiers in Ancient Rome were sometimes paid with salt. This is the origin of the expression "worth his salt." I know that soldiers in ANcient Rome could use salt to preserve meat from spoiling, but this hardly seems like a worthy enough use of salt to justify paying soldiers in salt. The Ancient Romans actually had coined money and did not only use a barter system of trade. Salt could also be used to spice up food, but again, this hardly seems like something that would justify by soldiers in salt.

Why were soldiers in Ancient Rome sometimes paid with salt? What was the essential use of salt that made the soldiers satisfied to sometimes be paid with salt instead of money?

They almost certainly weren't. The idea seems to have arisen sometime around the late 18th or early 19th century and was based on a mis-translation or misinterpretation of a phrase in Pliny the Elder's "Natural History ". As part of a discussion about salt he wrote:
"Therefore, Heaven knows, a civilised life is impossible without salt, and so necessary is this basic substance that its name is applied metaphorically even to intense mental pleasures. We call them sales (wit); all the humour of life, its supreme joyousness, and relaxation after toil, are expressed by this word more than by any other. It has a place in magistracies also and on service abroad, from which comes the term " salary " (salt money);"

Dan Howard · Jun 26, 2020

Yep. Romans were never paid in salt. On occasion they were given an allowance for salt.

Matthew Amt · Jun 27, 2020

Philliposeur said:
They almost certainly weren't. The idea seems to have arisen sometime around the late 18th or early 19th century and was based on a mis-translation or misinterpretation of a phrase in Pliny the Elder's "Natural History ". As part of a discussion about salt he wrote:
"Therefore, Heaven knows, a civilised life is impossible without salt, and so necessary is this basic substance that its name is applied metaphorically even to intense mental pleasures. We call them sales (wit); all the humour of life, its supreme joyousness, and relaxation after toil, are expressed by this word more than by any other. It has a place in magistracies also and on service abroad, from which comes the term " salary " (salt money);"

Aha! If that bolded part is the root of the whole myth, then it doesn't even specify the military! "Service abroad" could easily mean governorships and other civilian posts in the provinces, which were generally held to be VERY lucrative--keeping yourself in salt, as it were.

Thanks for digging that up!

Matthew

AlpinLuke · Jun 27, 2020

The Italian word "salario" [which indicates the sum of money that a worker obtains] comes from that time when Roman legionaries got partially payed with salt [in Italian salt is "sale", so from it ... "salario"].

Salt wasn't the real salary of a legionary, it was a part of it. But it gained a dominating historical position.

I cannot say, probably in medieval time the value of salt was so important to distort a bit its role in Roman time.

Dan Howard · Jun 27, 2020

Roman legionaries were never paid in salt. As noted above, it was a dodgy 19th century theory based on a mistranslation of Pliny. On occasion they were given an allowance to buy salt but never were they paid directly in salt. Think about it rationally. Why would they drag along many carts of salt in the baggage train when the equivalent value could be carried in one chest of coins?

It is a ridiculous myth that salt was expensive in the Roman or any other time period.
1. Livy 29.37.3 reports that in 204 BC, a Roman pound of salt cost a sextans, or a 96th of a denarius.
2. Polybius 6.39.12 reports that in the mid-100s BC a foot-soldier's daily pay was ‘two obols’, or a third of a denarius.

So taking the above two facts into account, we can determine that one day's pay could buy around 10 kg or approx. 22 lbs of salt during the Roman Republican period. In the Imperial and Medieval periods it was even cheaper. Can we now squash this nonsense once and for all?

sculptingman · Jun 27, 2020

Roman soldiers and commanders on campaign were issued salt the same way US soldiers on campaign in WWII were issued condoms, chocloate bars and nylons. An italian villager would not accept US script-for fear of germans retaking his town... but a pair of nylons was as good as gold.
On the frontier- Roman coinage was not always useful. But SALT is as negotiable as gold everywhere the roman army marched. Locals not wanting to be caught trading with roman soldiers could accept salt without fear.

Its NOT about preserving meat. Its not even about the 'value' of salt. Without salt, human beings DIE. And many places in europe, salt was hard to come by. For ROME, salt was cheap. Commanders of legions and regional governors were issued large consignments of salt and doled it out to every man under their command.

Like chocolate bars in WWII- the soldier was free to USE it himself to season his own food... or to trade it for other considerations.

Salary... is not the same as "wages". Originally it meant a fixed sum you were paid regularly- regardless of your actual labor. Like an allowance or even a per diem. Later it came to mean payroll for workers who did not punch a time clock but were paid a negotiated amount regardless of their hours of labor.
Legionnaires were paid wages in roman coin. They were given a salary, but only on campaign. They were also issued food.
A salt allowance was just that, An allowance. It was given out because on campaign soldiers were in places where salt was often hard to find... ( and costly ) and Romans knew salt was essential to the health of their men. And because salt was cheap for Rome... and yet Soldiers could barter with it where roman money was undervalued or avoided.

Philliposeur · Jun 27, 2020

Matthew Amt said:
Aha! If that bolded part is the root of the whole myth, then it doesn't even specify the military! "Service abroad" could easily mean governorships and other civilian posts in the provinces, which were generally held to be VERY lucrative--keeping yourself in salt, as it were.

Thanks for digging that up!

Matthew

Actually, looking a bit more closely at the Latin text I think the translation I provided is somewhat misleading. I got it from vol. VIII of the Loeb edition, pages 432/433, which has parallel Latin and English texts. I didn't, unfortunately, look closely enough at the Latin text which reads, when the conclusion of the sentence is added:
"ergo, Hercules, vita humanior sine sale non quit degere, adeoque necessarium elementum est uti transierit intellectus ad voluptates animi quoque nimias sales appellantur, omnisque vitae lepos et summa hilaritas laborumque requies non alio magis vocabulo constat. honoribus etiam MILITIAEQUE interponitur salariis inde dictis magna apud antiquos auctoritate, sicut apparet ex nomine Salariae viae, quoniam illa salem in Sabinos portari convenerat"

It's Book XXXI 88-89.

Having noticed the militiaeque in there I ran it through an online translator which came up with the following pidgin English:
Therefore, in truth, can not, without salt, and to live a more human life, and, therefore, it is necessary to use the pass through, then the understanding of that element is the excessive salts, too, are called to the pleasures of the mind, the hilarity of our labors; and all the rest is not thing more than the life of the term and in the greatest charm is evident. Among the ancients, by the authority of the words of the great honours, from there, too, and in MILITARY SERVICE is lodged salaries, as is clear from the name of the Salariae of the way, because they would have to carry the salt to Lazio, gathered together there.

So it would seem he was referring to the military specifically and not service abroad. It would be nice if we have someone watching this thread who could come up with a better translation though.

Pruitt · Jun 27, 2020

I thought Roman Soldiers had the cost of their rations deducted from their salary? I figured it was a bookkeeping item.

Pruitt

Matthew Amt · Jun 28, 2020

Pruitt said:
I thought Roman Soldiers had the cost of their rations deducted from their salary? I figured it was a bookkeeping item.

Pruitt

Yes, I believe pay records do show deductions for food. It's quite possible that soldiers could opt (when in garrison, maybe?) to provide their own food, and not have their pay docked, but we simply don't know what the system was in any detail. We also have the Vindolanda letters which show a brisk trade in food, but no way to tell if that was all private stock, or legitimate swapping of stores between units or posts, or black market dealings in army food for private gain.

Bottom line, we need to be VERY careful about throwing around words like "issued". Many of the laws requiring soldiers to equip and provide for themselves are still in place and applicable right into the 3rd century AD. There's a lot we don't know for certain.

Matthew

sparky · Jun 28, 2020

Salt has been a boon to government taxation since forever

salt is critical to a rural life based on mostly vegetables food , as vital element and as food preservative
smoking or curing work good too but salt or brine is real needed
as a point if a legionary was getting a salt ration on the Rhine border , at Roman government price
he probably could make money re-selling it to the locals for more

Olleus · Jun 28, 2020

This thread is another remind of the rule "Don't ask why X happened until you're sure that X happened"

sculptingman said:
Roman soldiers and commanders on campaign were issued salt the same way US soldiers on campaign in WWII were issued condoms, chocloate bars and nylons. An italian villager would not accept US script-for fear of germans retaking his town... but a pair of nylons was as good as gold.
On the frontier- Roman coinage was not always useful. But SALT is as negotiable as gold everywhere the roman army marched. Locals not wanting to be caught trading with roman soldiers could accept salt without fear.

Its NOT about preserving meat. Its not even about the 'value' of salt. Without salt, human beings DIE. And many places in europe, salt was hard to come by. For ROME, salt was cheap. Commanders of legions and regional governors were issued large consignments of salt and doled it out to every man under their command.

Like chocolate bars in WWII- the soldier was free to USE it himself to season his own food... or to trade it for other considerations.

Salary... is not the same as "wages". Originally it meant a fixed sum you were paid regularly- regardless of your actual labor. Like an allowance or even a per diem. Later it came to mean payroll for workers who did not punch a time clock but were paid a negotiated amount regardless of their hours of labor.
Legionnaires were paid wages in roman coin. They were given a salary, but only on campaign. They were also issued food.
A salt allowance was just that, An allowance. It was given out because on campaign soldiers were in places where salt was often hard to find... ( and costly ) and Romans knew salt was essential to the health of their men. And because salt was cheap for Rome... and yet Soldiers could barter with it where roman money was undervalued or avoided.

Interesting, but do you have a source for this or is it speculation? My understanding was that (like almost all armies in antiquity), when in foreign territory the roman army took/plundered/...../burnt whatever they wanted and rarely cared about making the locals like them and would settle for being feared.

sparky · Jun 28, 2020

It would be logical to believe that on a long campaign in far off land , deep in enemy territory
the legion commissary had more pressing transport issue than large quantity of salt as wage
then again, with all the marching , they would need salt themselves
the situation might be different once settled in garrison

Dan Howard · Jun 28, 2020

You guys are seriously overestimating the amount of salt that a person needs in his diet. One of the primary components of Roman army rations is salted pork. This would have provided more than enough sodium for their dietary needs. They had no need to cart salt around and there is no evidence to say that they did. If they needed salt (or anything else), they would buy it from friendly settlements or take it from unfriendly ones.

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Why were soldiers in Ancient Rome sometimes paid with salt?

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