Values and Costs in History: A Case Study on Estimating the Cost of Hadrianic Aqueduct’s Construction

G.-Fivos Sargentis, Panos Defteraios, Nikos D. Lagaros and Nikοs Mamassis
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G.-Fivos Sargentis: Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Resources Development, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytechneiou 9, 157 80 Zographou, Greece
Panos Defteraios: Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Resources Development, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytechneiou 9, 157 80 Zographou, Greece
Nikos D. Lagaros: Institute of Structural Analysis and Antiseismic Research, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytechneiou 9, 157 80 Zographou, Greece
Nikοs Mamassis: Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Resources Development, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytechneiou 9, 157 80 Zographou, Greece

World, 2022, vol. 3, issue 2, 1-27

Abstract: The pursuit of wealth has been a basic occupation of humans; as it turns out, wealth increases life expectancy. Analyzing global data, we show that money, probably connected with medical care, increase life expectancy. However, the base of real wealth is access to the Water–Energy–Food nexus, and the access to this also increases life expectancy. The first objective of this study was to compare the present values of wealth with antiquity, and we showed that about 1.4 billion people live in the present under the average lower wages of antiquity. As a case study, we analyze the construction of the Hadrianic aqueduct. We present a detailed description of the construction and the used methods, and we identify the total requirement of labor–time. Then, we investigate the wages of various occupations in the first century AD. The second objective of this study was the estimation of the total cost of daily wages for the construction of the project and the effect of the aqueduct on Athenians’ quality of life. Finally, we show that, today, about two billion people live with less available water than Athenians had with the Hadrianic aqueduct in the second century A.D.

Keywords: socioeconomic; economy; antiquity; infrastructures; Hadrianic aqueduct (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G17 G18 L21 L22 L25 L26 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 R51 R52 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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