Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ancient Pay Stub Shows Workers Were Paid In Beer

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm David Greene. Think your bosses don't pay you enough? Well, imagine if you could be paid entirely in beer. The British Museum has got its hands on a 5,000-year-old pay stub from ancient Mesopotamia. It recorded the amount of beer paid to a worker as income. This practice was not uncommon in the ancient world. It happened in ancient Egypt as well. But think again before you get too envious. Historians say this brew was thick and starchy, basically liquid bread. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

More Stories