Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy

by Richard Duncan-Jones

Overview

This book by the author of The Economy of the Roman Empire: Quantitative Studies considers important interlocking themes. Did the Roman Empire have a single 'national' economy, or was its economy localised and fragmented? Can coin and pottery survivals demonstrate the importance of long-distance trade? How fast did essential news travel by sea, and what does that imply about Mediterranean sailing-patterns? Further subjects considered include taxation, commodity-prices, demography, and army pay and manpower. The book is very wide-ranging in its geographical coverage and in the evidence that it explores. By analysing specific features of the economy the contrasting discussions examine important questions about its character and limitations, and about how surviving evidence should be interpreted. The book throws new and significant light on the economic life of Europe and the Mediterranean in antiquity, and will be valuable to ancient historians and students of European economic history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521354776
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/12/1990
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.87(d)

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Preface; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Time and Distance: 1. Communication-speed and contact by sea in the Roman empire; 2. Trade, taxes and money; 3. Separation and cohesion in Mediterranean trade; 4. Stability and change; Part II. Demography and Manpower: 5. Age-awareness in the Roman world; 6. Roman life-expectancy; 7. Pay and numbers in Diocletian's army; Part III. Agrarian Patterns: 8. Land and landed wealth; 9. The price of wheat in Roman Egypt; Part IV. The World of Cities: 10. The social cost of urbanisation; 11. Who paid for public building?; Part V. Tax-Payment and Tax-Assessment: 12. Taxation in money and taxation in kind; 13. Land, taxes and labour: implications of the iugum; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.