Did you know?
Roman fish sauce cost almost as much as perfume
Garum was made by salting fish guts and scraps and letting them ferment. Pliny says the best, from Carthago Spartaria in Spain, cost nearly 1,000 sesterces for two congii, about six and a half litres; almost no liquid but perfume cost more.
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The Salt Almanac. (2026, November 8). Roman fish sauce cost almost as much as perfume. https://saltalmanac.com/did-you-know/garum-cost-like-perfume
“Roman fish sauce cost almost as much as perfume.” The Salt Almanac, 8 Nov. 2026, saltalmanac.com/did-you-know/garum-cost-like-perfume. Accessed [today's date].
“Roman fish sauce cost almost as much as perfume.” The Salt Almanac. Last modified November 8, 2026. https://saltalmanac.com/did-you-know/garum-cost-like-perfume.
Original sources
- Pliny the Elder. Natural History, Book 31, ch. 43. Bostock & Riley trans., 1855. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=31:chapter=43