gems, history of gemology, gem prices

Issued between November 20 and December 10 in the year 301 AD, the Price Edict established maximum prices for over 1,200 items, including products, raw materials, labor and services, transportation, animals, and even slaves. The prices varied widely, from just 1 denarius communis for fresh green animal fodder to as much as 150,000 denarii for a male lion or for purple-dyed silk. Together with a monetary edict issued a few months earlier, this effort represented an attempt by the emperor to curb rampant inflation. The edict survives today through fragments of inscriptions carved into stone slabs, most of which have been discovered at sites in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, where Emperor Diocletian resided.