Salt

• Salt formed an important part of the economy of the Ancient World. It was used as a form of payment and was taxed by Governments.
• Salt travelled to the cities along Salt Roads from inland Salt Mines or coastal salterns.

Origin of Salt

• There are two types of Salt:
  • Rock salt:
    • This is extracted by underground mining or it can emerge as Brine, where underground springs pass through the Rock Salt creating a salt solution. This solution is then boiled until only the salt crystals remain.
  • Sea salt:
    • This is produced by evaporating salt water in evaporation ponds known as salterns, located along the coastlines, then sent by river and pack mule inland.

Salt on Food

• It was used to flavour food.
• Salt was used in the preservation of meat.
• It was also used in the manufacture of fish sauce called Garum.

Salt in Tanning

• Salt was used in Tanning. After skinning, the Hide was either immersed in a salt bath to kill off any remaining bacteria, or dry packed in salt blocks for four weeks to remove excess moisture.

Salt as Currency

• Salt was extremely valuable in the Ancient World, and could be used as a Currency in payment for Goods.
• Salt travelled along the ‘Salt Roads’, like the Via Salaria, throughout all the periods of history.
• Pliny the Elder states the soldiers were originally paid in Salt, and the Latin word ‘Salarium’ (‘Salary’) derives from this.

Taxation of Salt

• In China, a Book called ‘Guanzi’ dating from 300 BCE, explains various methods of collecting a Tax on Salt, which the Emperors of China then put into practice. Over half of Imperial Chinese Revenue was derived from the Salt Tax, and helped finance the Great Wall of China.
• Unlike the Chinese Emperors, the Roman Emperors did not impose a monopoly on Salt.
• ‘Annona Salaria’ In 204 BCE, the Roman Republic introduced a Tax on Salt described by Livy (29.37.3).

Vastatio

• Vastatio was the Roman scorched earth policy whilst conducting a War, which consisted of razing enemy cities to the ground and destroying their surrounding crops.
• Although the Roman Senate voted to use Vastatio in 146 BCE against Carthage, the story of placing Salt in the earth is a persistent myth.

Salt Roads in the Roman Empire

Italia

• The Via Salaria meaning ‘Salt Road’, brought salt from Castrum Truentium on the Adriatic, to Rome.

Germania Inferior

• Salt was imported from the Morini and Menapians.

Dalmatia

• The Josephina Road was a Salt Road connecting the Baltic with the Pannonian Plain via two Passes through the Dinaric Alps:
  • The Vratnik Pass, altitude 2,300 ft (700m) and length 14 miles (22km) between Senj and Brinje.
  • The Kapela Pass altitude 2,910 ft (887m) between Brinje and Modrus.

Salt Mines in the Roman Empire

Britannia

• Middlewich in Cheshire, supplies over 50% of the UK market today.
  • Cheshire still has salt mines, where salt still exists as rock salt. These mines were worked throughout the Roman Period.
• Droitwich (called Salinae Dobunorum by the Romans) in Worcestershire.
  • Droitwich is located on a large deposit of salt and has brine springs. The Romans boiled off the water, which yielded large quantities of salt inexpensively and on an industrial scale. Salt is still produced here today.
  • A Salt Road existed via Stratford upon Avon to the south of England.

Noricum

1. Altaussee Salt Mine
2. Hallstatt Salt Mine
3. Hallein Salt Mine
   • Located in Austria, near Salzburg (Latin name ‘Juvavum’)
   • The Mine was worked for 7,000 years until recently and produced Rock Salt Crystals, which were easy to transport.
   • Salzburg in German means ‘Salt Fortress’ and the river Salzach means ‘Salt River’, down which the Salt was transported.
   • Today it is a Museum.
   • Hallein Salt Mine

Salt in the Medieval World

• Britain:
  • The Domesday Book (1086 CE) mentions Salt Taxes.
  • Between 1693-1825 CE a Salt Tax was enforced by the English Monarchs.

• France:
  • ‘La Gabelle’ was a Tax on Salt raised by the King of France Charles V in 1286 CE and only formally abolished in 1945 CE. It was abolished in 1790 CE then reinstated in 1806 CE, being abolished again for only one year in 1846 CE.

• China:
  • A Book called ‘Guanzi’ from 300 BCE explains various methods of collecting a Tax on Salt, which the Emperors of China then put into practice. Over half of Imperial Chinese Revenue was derived from the Salt Tax and helped finance the Great Wall of China.
  • Between 618-907 CE, the Tang Dynasty operated a State Monopoly on Salt, and used a Salt Commission to collect Tax from the Salt.

• India:
  • For 5,000 years, the Great Rann of Kutch in Gujarat has been a salt marsh on the west coast of India. It produces large amounts of Salt from coastal marshy lagoons, which flood during the Monsoon and then dry out in the Summer. The Salt is collected as a dried crust. On the East coast, Orissa, produces an even finer quality of salt from salt marshes.
  • The British in India imposed a Salt Tax in 1764 CE, which was only abolished in 1946 CE, just before Independence.

• Mali in Africa:
  • A Salt Road from Timbuctu crossed the Sahara to Morocco and existed until the 1950’s. Hundreds of Camels were used in the caravans.

Droitwich Brine Springs