Cities, Peasants and Food in Classical Antiquity: Essays in Social and Economic History

by Peter Garnsey, Walter Scheidel

Overview

This is a collection of essays in the social and economic history of Greece and Rome by a leading historian of classical antiquity. They are grouped in three overlapping sections, covering the economy and society of cities; peasants and the rural economy; and food supply and famine. The essays, all previously published, are presented together with bibliographical addenda by Walter Scheidel that summarize and assess scholarly reaction to the author's work. The range of subject matter and approach is wide and the treatment original and provocative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521591478
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/28/1998
Pages:	356
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

Part I. Cities: 1. Aspects of the decline of the urban aristocracy in the empire; 2. Independent freedmen and the economy of Roman Italy under the Principate; 3. Economy and society of Mediolanum under the Principate; 4. Urban property investment in Roman society; 5. An association of builders in late antique Sardis; Part II. Peasants: 6. Peasants in ancient Roman society; 7. Where did Italian peasants live?; 8. Non-slave labour in the Roman world; 9. Prolegomenon to a study of the land in the later Roman empire; 10. Mountain economies in southern Europe; Part III. Food: 11. Grain for Athens; 12. The yield of the land in ancient Greece; 13. The bean: substance and symbol; 14. Mass diet and nutrition in the city of Rome; 15. Child rearing in ancient Italy; 16. Famine in history.

Editorial Reviews

"...this book is useful as an auxiliary text for university students in religion, history, classics, anthropology, and other social sciences as well." Susan Maki-Wallace, Religious Studies Review

"...Peter Garnsey's scholarship on the material foundations okf ancient Greek and Roman life is a pleasure to read and a valuable addition to our knowledge of the subject." Michael Kucher, H-Net Reviews

From the Publisher