All Categories
Product Description In this, the first comprehensive one-volume survey of the economies of classical antiquity, twenty-eight chapters summarise the current state of scholarship in their specialised fields and sketch new directions for research. The approach taken is both thematic, with chapters on the underlying determinants of economic performance, and chronological, with coverage of the whole of the Greek and Roman worlds extending from the Aegean Bronze Age to Late Antiquity. The contributors move beyond the substantivist-formalist debates that dominated twentieth-century scholarship and display a new interest in economic growth in antiquity. New methods for measuring economic development are explored, often combining textual and archaeological data that have previously been treated separately. Fully accessible to non-specialist, the volume represents a major advance in our understanding of the economic expansion that made the civilisation of the classical Mediterranean world possible. Review "By presenting current scholarship and its prospective future course, the editors have produced a very important work. Prodigious bibliography (148 pages). Summing up: Highly recommended." --Choice "This is certainly an extraordinary book on the Ancient Mediterranean economies that ought to be read and quoted by all historians who work in the field of pre-industrial economics. This excellent project was brought to completion by its 3 editors and 27 contributors over the span of a decade." --BMCR Book Description This is the first comprehensive one-volume survey of the economics of classical antiquity. It explores new methods for measuring economic development and represents a major advance in our understanding of the economic expansion that made the civilisation of the classical Mediterranean world possible. About the Author Walter Scheidel is Dickason Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Classics and History at Stanford University. His publications include Measuring Sex, Age and Death in the Roman Empire (1996), Death on the Nile: Disease and the Demography of Roman Egypt (2001) and, as editor, Debating Roman Demography (2001) and The Ancient Economy (2002, with Sitta von Reden). Ian Morris is Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and Professor of History at Stanford University and directs Stanford's excavation at Monte Polizzo, Sicily. His publications include The Greeks: History, Culture, and Society (2005, with Barry Powell) and The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models (2005, with Joe Manning). Richard Saller is Kleinheinz Family Professor of European Studies and Professor of Classics and History and the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. His publications include Personal Patronage under the Early Empire (Cambridge, 1982) and Patriarchy, Property and Death in the Roman Family (Cambridge, 1994) and he is co-author of The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture (1987).