# Origins and evolution of Democracy **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 21, 2025, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-and-evolution-of-democracy/1022366 "2025-08-21T16:01:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 40
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-and-evolution-of-democracy/1022366/40 "2025-08-24T20:05:56Z")
There’s an old SDMB thread that asked this question. > [@How much is a million sesterces in 2015 dollars?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-million-sesterces-in-2015-dollars/724632/): > > I recall reading at several points in Colleen McCullough’s [Masters of Rome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_Rome) novels that in the late Roman Republic, to qualify for the Senate, a man had to have a fortune of at least a million sesterces (and it had to be in the form of a million sesterces worth of land; trade was un-Senatorial). How much is that in modern terms? The answers wander all over the place from a sesterce equaling $10 to “unknowable,” with the latter far more believable to me. However, @Jim_s_Son provides useful information, albeit a century after Augustus. > [@How much is a million sesterces in 2015 dollars?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-a-million-sesterces-in-2015-dollars/724632/15): > > You could do some calculations based on values from Pompeii in 79 A.D. loaf of bread = half a sestertius half liter of wine= half to one sestertius 6.67 kg wheat = 7 sestertii a bucket = 2 sestertii Here’s a better site that gives daily pay in asses, and a sesterce is said to be worth 2.5 asses (hence the name), so this refers to the Republic. There were 4 asses to one sesterce in the Empire. > **[Ancient Salaries: How Much Were Romans Getting Paid?](https://premium-ancient-coins.com/en-us/blogs/news/ancient-salaries-how-much-were-romans-getting-paid?srsltid=AfmBOoqmif4SdZTeup_DlIZAyrPBt3Not2PKfw5MUkp4y2mF8GMQlApD)** > > Ancient Rome was famous for its widespread prosperity and complex economic systems. Based on its famous wealth, you may be wondering: how rich really were the Romans? That is – how much money were they making? Thankfully, the Romans wrote a whole lot... An artisan made 12 asses a day. But a legionary makes 10 asses a day or four sesterces and that’s much more than 900 a year. So compare with caution. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-and-evolution-of-democracy/1022366)._