The Reputation of the Roman Merchant
The Reputation of the Roman Merchant

Author: Jane Sancinito

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2024-01-02

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0472221418

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Roman merchants, artisans, and service providers faced substantial prejudice. Contemporary authors labeled them greedy, while the Roman on the street accused merchants of lying and cheating. Legally and socially, merchants were kept at arm’s length from respectable society. Yet merchants were common figures in daily life, populating densely packed cities and traveling around the Mediterranean. The Reputation of the Roman Merchant focuses on the strategies retailers, craftsmen, and many other workers used to succeed, examining how they developed good reputations despite the stigma associated with their work. In a novel approach, blending social and economic history, The Reputation of the Roman Merchant considers how reputation worked as an informal institution, establishing and reinforcing traditional Roman norms while lowering the cost of doing business for individual workers. From histories and novels to inscriptions and art, this volume identifies common reputation strategies, explores how points of pride and personal accomplishments were shared with others, and explains responses to merchant activities on the small-scale. The book concludes that merchants invested heavily in their reputations as a way to set themselves apart from common, negative stereotypes without admitting that there was anything shameful about the work they did.

The Roman Market Economy
The Roman Market Economy

Author: Peter Temin

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2017-09-05

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0691177945

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What modern economics can tell us about ancient Rome The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. The Roman Market Economy uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana were critical to ancient Rome's prosperity. Peter Temin, one of the world's foremost economic historians, argues that markets dominated the Roman economy. He traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. Temin shows that a reasonably vibrant market for wheat extended throughout the empire, and suggests that the Antonine Plague may have been responsible for turning the stable prices of the early empire into the persistent inflation of the late. He vividly describes how various markets operated in Roman times, from commodities and slaves to the buying and selling of land. Applying modern methods for evaluating economic growth to data culled from historical sources, Temin argues that Roman Italy in the second century was as prosperous as the Dutch Republic in its golden age of the seventeenth century. The Roman Market Economy reveals how economics can help us understand how the Roman Empire could have ruled seventy million people and endured for centuries.

The Roman Market Economy
The Roman Market Economy

Author: Peter Temin

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 069114768X

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The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. The Roman Market Economy uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana were critical to ancient Rome's prosperity.Peter Temin, one of the world's foremost economic historians, argues that markets dominated the Roman economy. He traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. Temin shows that a reasonably vibrant market for wheat extended throughout the empire, and suggests that the Antonine Plague may have been responsible for turning the stable prices of the early empire into the persistent inflation of the late. He vividly describes how various markets operated in Roman times, from commodities and slaves to the buying and selling of land. Applying modern methods for evaluating economic growth to data culled from historical sources, Temin argues that Roman Italy in the second century was as prosperous as the Dutch Republic in its golden age of the seventeenth century.The Roman Market Economy reveals how economics can help us understand how the Roman Empire could have ruled seventy million people and endured for centuries.

Business Ethics from Antiquity to the 19th Century
Business Ethics from Antiquity to the 19th Century

Author: David George Surdam

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-01-29

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 3030371654

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This book combines elements of economic and business history to study business ethics from antiquity to the nineteenth century. This book begins with so-called primitive people, showing how humans began to exchange goods and commodities from trade as a way to keep peace and prosper. The ancients considered the value and ethics of business, and many of their reflections influenced medieval Catholic thinkers and business participants. Protestants elevated working and profit-making to the respectable and virtuous, and some groups, such as Quakers, came to exemplify good business ethics. This book draws on the work of economists and historians to highlight the importance of changing technologies, religious beliefs, and cultural attitudes, showing that what is considered ethical differs across time and place.

Rethinking Classical Indo-Roman Trade
Rethinking Classical Indo-Roman Trade

Author: Rajan Gurukkal

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780199460854

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This volume is a rethinking of the classical eastern Mediterranean overseas exchange relations with the Indian sub-continent. Characterizing the nature of exchanges in detail against extant sources and theories, the book maintains that the expression, 'Indo-Roman trade' is a misnomer in historiography. It argues that the chieftains and merchants in the sub-continent had neither institutional nor technological means to indulge in contemporary overseas trade, a heavily document based enterprise. It was not necessary either.

Popular Culture in Ancient Rome
Popular Culture in Ancient Rome

Author: J. P. Toner

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-04-25

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0745654908

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The mass of the Roman people constituted well over 90% of the population. Much ancient history, however, has focused on the lives, politics and culture of the minority elite. This book helps redress the balance by focusing on the non-elite in the Roman world. It builds a vivid account of the everyday lives of the masses, including their social and family life, health, leisure and religious beliefs, and the ways in which their popular culture resisted the domination of the ruling elite. The book highlights previously under-considered aspects of popular culture of the period to give a fuller picture. It is the first book to take fully into account the level of mental health: given the physical and social environment that most people faced, their overall mental health mirrored their poor physical health. It also reveals fascinating details about the ways in which people solved problems, turning frequently to oracles for advice and guidance when confronted by difficulties. Our understanding of the non-elite world is further enriched through the depiction of sensory dimensions: Toner illustrates how attitudes to smell, touch, and noise all varied with social status and created conflict, and how the emperors tried to resolve these disputes as part of their regeneration of urban life. Popular Culture in Ancient Rome offers a rich and accessible introduction to the usefulness of the notion of popular culture in studying the ancient world and will be enjoyed by students and general readers alike.