Living In Roman London

A late 4th-century document similar to a civil service handbook, the Notitia Dignitatum, provides a list of military and civilian posts under the empire. The Notitia records that the Director of the Treasury (Praepositus thesaurorum Augustensium) was stationed in London and that London, by that date named Augusta, was where the treasury was based. The imperial treasury remained in London until at least AD395. 

Under the ultimate control of the vicarius there were also other officials connected with the treasury which included the Chief of Staff (Princeps) and Principal Secretary (Cornicularius).

Information survives indicating prices and salaries at certain dates. This helps to gauge the buying power of Roman coinage at different times. For example, the basic annual pay of a legionary soldier is recorded as 225 silver denarii in the 1st century AD. This was later raised to 300 silver denarii in the 2nd century. Silver coins must have been the main unit of currency as the pay of a soldier was calculated in denarii.

Examples of prices taken from literary sources give an indication of the cost of living. For example, 25 denarii would buy 400 litres of cheap wine; 25 denarii would buy 200 pounds of flour; in AD118, 40 denarii would buy 5 acres of woodland in Kent (see Legal dispute in Londinium Lite); and around the same date, 600 denarii could buy a young female slave called Fortunata (see Slave girl in London in Londinium Lite).

By the end of the 3rd century, rampant inflation had devalued the coinage to such an extent that Diocletian reformed it and in an effort to control prices issued an edict of maximum prices, setting out standardised prices for goods and services empire-wide. It is not known whether this edict was adhered to everywhere in the empire but provides a very good indication of the prices of not just goods but of services as well.

The Diocletian Price Edict even listed some British goods that were exported to the rest of the empire. These included British beer and woollen textiles, including a version of a type of duffle coat (byrrus Britannicus) and a wool rug (tapete Britannicum). However, his attempt to set empire-wide maximum prices failed as did his attempt to impose a universal single currency.