<story><title>Salt and salary: Were Roman soldiers paid in salt? (2017)</title><url>http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2017/01/salt-and-salary.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>throwaway1492</author><text>I never understood the &amp;quot;salt scarcity in antiquity&amp;quot; idea. As in they could just use a splash brine water from the sea if you physiologically need salt. And transport sea water inland as needed.</text></item><item><author>empath-nirvana</author><text>There are lots of slang words for wages today that have to do with food: &amp;quot;cheddar&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;cabbage&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;dough&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;bread&amp;quot; &amp;quot;bacon&amp;quot; -- maybe future etymologists will assume that we were paid in bread and cheese.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Ekaros</author><text>It really wasn&amp;#x27;t any more scarce than let&amp;#x27;s say wheat. And price seems to have been around same level with wheat take or leave some depending on distance from production.&lt;p&gt;What really made it special was that it was commodity with possibly limited production locations, that kept extremely well and was in steady demand. So it is one thing that everyone uses and is relatively easy to tax. And the price likely was much more stable compared to food and other goods.&lt;p&gt;The large scale demand also lead to it being desirable as military target, once you control the production you are good.</text></comment>
<story><title>Salt and salary: Were Roman soldiers paid in salt? (2017)</title><url>http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2017/01/salt-and-salary.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>throwaway1492</author><text>I never understood the &amp;quot;salt scarcity in antiquity&amp;quot; idea. As in they could just use a splash brine water from the sea if you physiologically need salt. And transport sea water inland as needed.</text></item><item><author>empath-nirvana</author><text>There are lots of slang words for wages today that have to do with food: &amp;quot;cheddar&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;cabbage&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;dough&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;bread&amp;quot; &amp;quot;bacon&amp;quot; -- maybe future etymologists will assume that we were paid in bread and cheese.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>andrewflnr</author><text>Transporting water from a well is already a pain in the neck. You think they&amp;#x27;re going to transport bulk seawater deep inland just to make their food soggy?</text></comment>