> Back in the day people used a lot more salt than we do.[0]
Nobody needed 4-10kg salt per day (what a semi-skilled labourer and above could supposedly afford by ~300AD). The cost of salt by volume was about the same as wheat. So it was very cheap. Due to the bulkininess it was one of the worst medium of exchange someone could imagine. Just try to imagine having to transport to all the places where the army was stationed in. Absurd..
> Before refrigeration, salting (brining) was the primary method of preserving meat and fish in damp climates. Salt was used to treat olives for consumption
Yes. Not something legionaries probably engaged that much themselves in. Also their diet (just like everyone else's) was mainly grain based.
> Maybe they could make do with less than 200 liters a year. If they were economical with it.
I don't think this claim can be substantiated at all.
I couldn't find soldier salaries for ~300 AD but for semi-skilled labourers by it might have been up to 7 liters per day. The 4 per week figures seems to be based by using salaries from the early to mid 200 and price from 300 AD which is probably inaccurate considering there was significant inflation in that period.
In any case as far as we can tell the price of salt by volume was equivalent to that of wheat. Soldiers couldn't have been paid the equivalent (in coins not salt) of 4 liters of wheat per week.
> have been made to the home/family of the soldier rather shipped out to them personally.
I doubt soldiers generally had families in living far away from where they were station and nobody paid them in salt anyway.
Nobody needed 4-10kg salt per day (what a semi-skilled labourer and above could supposedly afford by ~300AD). The cost of salt by volume was about the same as wheat. So it was very cheap. Due to the bulkininess it was one of the worst medium of exchange someone could imagine. Just try to imagine having to transport to all the places where the army was stationed in. Absurd..
> Before refrigeration, salting (brining) was the primary method of preserving meat and fish in damp climates. Salt was used to treat olives for consumption
Yes. Not something legionaries probably engaged that much themselves in. Also their diet (just like everyone else's) was mainly grain based.
> Maybe they could make do with less than 200 liters a year. If they were economical with it.
I don't think this claim can be substantiated at all.