Highest-Paid Athlete Hailed From Ancient Rome

Discovery News ^ | 9/1/10 | Rossella Lorenz1

[njslim]

sesterces were worth 1/4 of silver denarius - which was
daily pay of Roman soldier or skilled laborer as
comparision

[wagglebee]

Well, it says he was illiterate, so he obviously wasn’t one of the “lucky” ones with a hot teacher.

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Textide]

==== ________
CCCLDCCCLXMMMCXX

Took some liberty with the double overline above CCCL. It was suggested on a site, but couldn't find any examples. A single overline (like over the DCCCLX indicates *1000), so a double indicates *1,000,000 (*1000*1000).

Had flashbacks to Catholic School there and a sudden urge to watch Blues Brothers....

[JRios1968]

Michaelus Jordanus?

[wagglebee]

Marcus Licinius Crassus was an supporter of Julius Caesar and is generally thought to be one of the ten wealthiest men in hostory had a fortune of 200 million sesterces.

[wagglebee]

Probably some spinners.

[Ciexyz]

Go Maximus!

[Clock King]

And you can bet he was getting paid in REAL Gold, not fiat money.

[SES1066]

If life imitates life, then I will wager that a lot of his money went to managers, gambling, bling, women, hanger-ons, relatives, drink and by no means least - TAXES!!! Do you suppose that he had any left in his old age, assuming he lived into it?

[oldbill]

I had to dig around and yours was creative, but I don’t really think they had a way of expressing such huge numbers. I never saw the double bar multiplier.

I think a Roman would have said “numerus maximus, ultra descriptionum” (a humungous number so big you can’t describe it).

Sister Agnes would be ashamed of both of us.

[SES1066]

Is that you King Richard? I think that this is late 60s and may be Daytona? Can you believe it, you can actually see the paint job, not the decals!

[Brett66]

I bet Spartacus would have been paid more, but he broke his contract at the very end......

[Drawsing]

I think it’s Circus Maximus not Circus Maximum.

[SES1066]

And you can bet he was getting paid in REAL Gold, not fiat money.

Permit me to give you a caveat on this. Two ways of 'false money' in that era were gold-over-lead 'slugs' and 'clipped' coinage. Both were considered forms of counterfeiting although the lead slug was an invitation to immediate judgement and death. As for 'clipping', that is why you see most non-ancient high-value coins being 'reeded' (the mini cog-wheel ridging along the edges, credited to Sir Isaac Newton). In ancient times, a bit cut off of silver and gold coins was a common way to make money "go farther" so long as the coins could be still exchanged for "face value".

[SunkenCiv]

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[Antoninus]

and i bet he didn’t have a sex tape circulating either... ; )

Uh, I wouldn't count on that. They probably did a pantomime show about him in the theaters.

[Antoninus]

In ancient times, a bit cut off of silver and gold coins was a common way to make money "go farther" so long as the coins could be still exchanged for "face value".

Yup. Under Justinian, there was an official in Italy named Alexander "the Scissors" who was famous for just this type of operation.

[Lonely Bull]

I have his rookie card.

I had his rookie card, but it was defaced by Vandals. :(