Infrastructure Lessons from Venice

[Bengalzona]

Roman pay for individual soldiers varied from place to place and from different times. Initially, an average salary for a regular soldier would have been 112 denarii per year or approximately $313.60 current USD (https://www.reference.com/history/much-did-roman-soldiers-paid-b225d7c5ace6bf73).

But please take that conversion with a grain of salt (literally, as I'll explain later). It is very difficult to make a conversion from then to present due to things like the relative scarcity of comparable goods from each period (everything was generally much more scarce back then). During his time, Julius Caesar doubled soldiers' salaries to about 225 denarii ($630 USD). Domitian increased it to 300 denarri ($540 USD) around 75 AD and Septimius Severus increased it to 500 denarii ($900 USD) around 200 AD.

Centurians had much better pay, ranging from 3,750 to 15,000 denarii (primus pilus, $6,750 to $27,000). Officer salaries probably started around 15,000 dinarii, but are almost impossible to calculate due to the lack of standardization from the many perks and incentives they had available (the gap between classes in ancient Rome was massive).

In addition to their regular pay Roman soldiers were also 'paid' with an allotment of salt, a common additional currency at that time. Also, soldiers relied on a portion of booty from conquests to augment their salaries. Costs for food and their arms were deducted from soldiers' pay.

You weren't going to get rich as a Roman soldier. At the same time, the soldiers were paid in coin and coin was a preferable, but not always common currency throughout the Roman world. The fact that Roman soldiers would show up in an area en masse with coins was a powerful stabilizing economic factor throughout the Empire. The Roman Emperors also used the images on the coins themselves as tools to communicate political messages and propaganda (consider them as somewhat similar to politicians' signs in peoples yards today). Hence, Roman Emperors generally did a pretty good job of making sure the Roman soldiers got their pay.

Land grants were usually a retirement gift, or praemia. They were common and had the additional purpose of settling former soldiers on frontier land near borders. In addition to land grants, soldiers were additionally or alternatively granted a one time monetary gift ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 denarri ($5,400 to $9,000 USD).