Ancient Economy

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Article

luxury (luxuria)  

Catharine Edwards

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
25 March 2021
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy

While the definition of luxury might be contested, high-value goods played a crucial role in articulating social distinction and political power in Greece and Rome. Particularly in ancient Rome, where imperial expansion brought increased wealth and access to a wider range of goods, luxury was often the object of moralizing criticism, both as a personal vice and as a general threat to the well-being of the state.

Originally a term to characterize the exuberant growth of plants (see OLD 1), the Roman word luxuria (cf. luxus, luxuries), applied to human behaviour, is regularly associated with the desire for and consumption of high value ephemeral items, such as food, drink, and perfume, costly fabrics and accessories, precious artworks and furnishings, beautiful slaves, and private residences constructed on a large scale and/or out of precious materials.1 The pursuit of luxury is often presented as inimical to manliness and (particularly in the historical discourse of the late Roman republic and early principate) features as a causal factor in accounts of political crisis and moral decline.

Article

maritime loans  

Dominic W. Rathbone

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Greek Law
  3. Roman History and Historiography
  4. Roman Law
In the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, centred as they were on the Mediterranean, maritime transport was far more practical than land transport for long- and even medium-distance trade. Most ships seem to have been of medium size (around 70 tonnes burden) and to have been owned and run by a shipper who both carried goods as freight and traded on his own account. There were also many individual merchants who hired shipping as needed for their ventures. Then as now, the major expense in trading was the investment in purchasing goods; roughly, one cargo of wheat was worth as much as the ship. Hence a merchant, whether or not also a shipowner, often needed third-party finance, for which, because of the peculiar risks involved, a special type of loan was used. This was the maritime loan—nautikon daneion in Greek, nauticum faenus or mutua pecunia nautica in Latin.The maritime loan is first attested in 4th-century bce Athens, in four speeches attributed to Demosthenes, of which the most informative is the prosecution of the brother of a pair of merchants for fraudulent default on a loan (Dem.

Article

markets and fairs, Roman  

Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy

The Forum was originally (i.a.) a market-site, the word surviving in this sense in the specialized markets of Rome (e.g. *forum Boarium), although by the 1st cent. bce macellum was the usual term for an alimentary market. A daily retail market existed in Rome by 210 bce (Livy 26. 27. 1–4) and later was joined by others; wholesaling took place at the riverine Emporium, built in 193 bce (Livy 35. 10. 12). The state supervised Rome's markets through *aediles. State-authorized periodic markets and fairs (nundinae, mercatus) have recently been shown to be commoner than usually thought in the Roman world. In cities they included both weekly (‘peasant’) markets, as for instance in some 25 towns in central Italy of the first cent. ce (attested by inscribed market-calendars), and also regional fairs, as with those following annual games at Rome itself (Inscr. Ital.

Article

markets and fairs, Greek  

David Tandy

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy

The single Greek word for market, agora, did not originally refer to a place for exchange; rather, it was a place for the gathering of chattel (as early as Linear B, e.g., Knossos Co 903) and of people. In Homer, the agora is strictly a place of gathering for political action, including military muster. The heroes in epic do not buy and sell; there are no regular markets for the acquisition of food and other necessary things. Heroes take what they want from neighbouring communities by raids. On the fringes of the narratives, however, Homer reveals the presence of one-time or spot markets, most clearly at Iliad 7.467ff.:

Many ships from Lemnos filled with wine lay at anchor, which Jason’s son Euneos had sent … On the side Jason’s son gave the Atreidae Agamamnon and Menelaos a thousand measures of wine to carry off. There the flowing-haired Achaeans got wine, some with skins, others with whole cows, others with spear-captives. And they threw themselves a jolly feast.

Article

measures  

Frederick Norman Pryce, Mabel L. Lang, and Michael Vickers

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
30 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Measures (of length), capacity, and weight were linked to water weight in ancient systems of mensuration. The basic units are recorded in near eastern sources from the early third millennium bce.Measures of length were based on parts of the human body, with the foot as unit both for fractions like finger and palm and for multiples like pace and arm-span. *Pylos tablets designate tables as six-footers (we-pe-za) or nine footers (e-ne-wo-pe-za); whether this is a measure or description of supports is uncertain. Homer is acquainted with the foot-standard, but the length of his foot is unknown. In historic Greece many standard feet are found, the absolute values for which are derived from surviving stadia (preserved with starting and finishing lines; see stadium)), and literary evidence providing correspondences with the Roman foot. The Olympic foot, said to have been taken from that of *.

Article

mercenaries, Greek and Hellenistic  

John F. Lazenby

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
For there to be mercenaries, three conditions are necessary—*warfare, people willing to pay, and others to serve. Warfare existed almost throughout Greek history, and there were probably also always those whom love of adventure, trouble at home, or poverty made willing to serve. Alcaeus's (1) brother, Antimenidas, and *Xenophon (1) himself are, perhaps, examples of the first; the latter's comrades, the Spartans *Clearchus (1) and Dracontius, of the second. But in the heyday of the city-state, when military service was the duty of all citizens, mercenaries usually only found employment with tyrants or with near eastern potentates. *Psammetichus I of Egypt, for example, used *Carians and *Ionians to seize power around 660 bce, and Pabis of Colophon and Elesibius of *Teos were among those who carved their names on the statue of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, while serving Psammetichus II.There was probably always also a market for specialist troops like Cretan *archers and Rhodian *slingers, particularly when warfare became more complex.

Article

mercenaries, Roman  

Jonathan Coulston

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy

Contact with foreign powers such as *Carthage and Macedon exposed Rome's weakness in cavalry and light-armed troops. This deficiency she remedied principally by obtaining contingents outside Italy. Some came from independent allies like *Masinissa, others were raised by forced levies or paid as mercenaries. Gauls served in the First *Punic War, 600 Cretan archers fought at Lake *Trasimene, Numidian cavalry (see Numidia) turned the scale at the battle of *Zama. During the next two centuries the number and variety of contingents increased. Spain was a favourite recruiting-ground for cavalry and light infantry, while Caesar obtained his cavalry from Numidia, Gaul, and Germany, and his archers and slingers from Numidia, Crete, and the Balearic Islands.

Under the Principate such troops became formalized within the *auxilia, but supplementary irregular troops were always employed on campaign (Germans, Cantabrians, Dacians, Palmyrenes, Sarmatians, Arabs, Armenians, Moors, etc.).

Article

metics  

David Whitehead

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Greek Law
As the Greek *polis evolved it sought to differentiate, amongst its inhabitants, between insiders and outsiders. Insiders par excellence were its own members, the citizens; palpable outsiders were its slaves, indigenous or imported (see slavery); but this simple dichotomy would have sufficed only for communities like *Sparta which discouraged immigration. Elsewhere it was necessary to recognize free persons who lived, temporarily or permanently, in the polis without becoming its citizens. Several-oikos words are attested of such persons, with metoikos (‘metic’) most common. The precise nature and complexity of metic-status doubtless varied from place to place; evidence approaches adequacy only for Athens, atypical in its allure and, consequently, the numbers of those who succumbed thereto (half the size of the (reduced) citizen body of c.313 bce (Ath. 272c); perhaps proportionately larger in the 5th cent. bce (R. Duncan-Jones, Chiron 1980, 101 ff.)). With *Solon having created only indirect incentives to immigration, Athenian metic-status probably owes its formal origins to *Cleisthenes (2), after whom the presence of metics was recognized in law and could develop in its details at both city and local (*deme) level.

Article

metrology, Roman  

Andrew M. Riggsby

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
31 August 2021
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Science, Technology, and Medicine
  3. Roman History and Historiography

There is a large body of evidence for Roman use of weights and measures. In theory, they would have been able to measure a variety of quantities with great precision, given the variety of different-sized units at their disposal and an elaborate system of fractional subdivisions of those units. Moreover, those measurements could have been accurate with respect to a shared system because of publicly available exemplary standards, a theoretical connection between the definitions of the most important measurements, and the existence of state officials who could enforce the standards. As a result, Romans could, in principle, have conveyed very specific metrological information across a great deal of space and time. In practice, measurement was considerably less predictable and less precise. Actual measurement did not necessarily avail itself of the full resources of the theoretical system, and sometimes did not appeal to any general system. Moreover, overtly competing systems coexisted with the “official” ones at all times. Finally, it is not clear how coherent that official system was, nor were the actual systems of enforcement particularly robust. As a result, measurement was often imprecise and/or tightly localized (which probably generated weak expectations of being able to replicate measurement across different contexts).

Article

mines and mining, Greek  

John Ellis Jones

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Greeks obtained *gold and *silver and ‘utility’ metals, copper, *tin (for bronze), *iron and *lead by mining and by trade; *colonization extended their scope for both. Literary evidence for mining is mainly historical not technical; later references to Egyptian and Roman methods are only partly applicable. Epigraphical, archaeological, and scientific evidence has extended knowledge of industrial organization and techniques, and proved the early exploitation of certain ore-fields. Climate, geography, and geology dictated methods: panning for gold (as in Asia Minor and Black Sea regions) and hushing of placer deposits were rarely practicable in Greece and its islands, while low rainfall reduced mine-drainage problems and accounted for the elaborate catchment channels, cisterns and ore-washeries designed to recycle water in the *Laurium area. There the Athenian lead-silver mines were extremely extensive (copper and iron ores were also exploited). *Thoricus has revealed sherd evidence for mining in the early bronze age (third millennium bce), late Mycenaean (see mycenaean civilization), and late Roman times, with marks of prehistoric hammer-stones and later metal chisels and picks.

Article

mines and mining, Roman  

Linda R. Gosner

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Science, Technology, and Medicine
Rome came into possession of a wide variety of mineral resources as a result of imperial expansion. Large mines were opened up in many provinces, especially in the Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, Britain, the Danubian provinces, and Asia Minor. Pollution records show that the scale of mining in antiquity peaked during the Roman period and was not matched again until the Industrial Revolution. The main minerals exploited were gold, silver, copper, and tin, which were used to mint coinage. Lead was mined for pipes and other utilitarian purposes, while iron was used often for tools. The techniques and organization of mining varied by period and geological conditions. The most common techniques included opencast (open air) mining, underground (shaft-and-gallery) mining, and placer (alluvial) mining. While individuals and municipalities could own mines, mining districts (metalla) increasingly came under the control of the state. Concessions to work state-owned mines could be leased out to individuals, small associations, or larger societates who worked the mines and turned over a portion of their profit to the state.

Article

mobility, economic  

Claire Holleran

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
24 May 2023
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Ancient Geography

Whilst the enforced movement of enslaved workers was by far the largest example of economic mobility in the ancient world, there is also plenty of evidence for more voluntary economic movement. This relates particularly to traders and skilled workers, for whom mobility could provide specific economic benefits, opening up new markets, enabling further training, increasing prestige, and maximizing income by moving to wherever their skills or goods were most in demand. Less positively, mobility could also be a necessity when work such as construction was episodic and, to a certain extent, seasonal. Other economic opportunities, such as agricultural labour at harvest time, or porterage in maritime and riverine harbours and cities, were also seasonal, with demand for labour following a relatively predictable annual schedule, whilst extractive industries such as mining and quarrying typically had to bring in workers from elsewhere. Much of this movement was temporary in nature, and so is best thought of as mobility rather than migration, although movement likely ranged from permanent migration at one extreme to near-constant itinerancy at the other.

Article

money  

Colin P. Elliott

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
06 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Money is any object that is used as a medium of exchange, but moneys often also function as stores of value, accounting units, and means for making payments. Through the use of physical money—especially coinage stamped with symbols of society, state, and the divine—individuals were connected to a wider framework composed of strangers, governments, deities, and customs.1 In classical antiquity, money comprised a range of materials and goods, both physical and virtual, and these moneys performed a variety of economic, social, and cultural functions. Money was issued by different polities and powers, mostly by states but also by economic and religious elites and institutions.Aristotle insists that money use arose out of barter—certainly a possibility, although the archaeological record is ambiguous at best. The earliest known coin hoard, dated to the mid to late 7th centurybce and found in western Asia Minor, contains standardized globules of electrum which are both stamped (“coins”) and unstamped, giving credence to Aristotle’s claim that early coins “had a certain stamp, to save the trouble of weighing, and to express its value” (Arist.

Article

monopolies  

Paul C. Millett

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Monopolies, in the sense of exclusive control of the supply of a product or service, were known in antiquity, but restricted in scope. In no case was the declared aim an increase in productivity through efficient planning or economies of scale. Instead, monopolistic control aimed above all at increasing revenues and was the prerogative of the state: ‘cornering the market’ by individuals was an almost mythical occurrence (Arist.Pol. 1259a5 ff.). State control and leasing of silver deposits in Attica (see Laurium) marks a long-term revenue-raising monopoly. Other Greek states invented and sold monopolies in time of fiscal emergency ([Arist.] Orationes Philippicae2). In Ptolemaic *Egypt, monopoly control of goods and services, usually by sale and lease of rights, was a way of life (from oil and textiles to beer and goose-breeding). In the Roman empire, sale of monopolies by cities was a regular revenue-raising device. See economy, Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman.

Article

munus  

Arjan Zuiderhoek

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
In the sense most commonly encountered in our sources, munus (pl. munera) means a public service rendered by a citizen to his community, in the form, for instance, of a (financial) donation, military service, or holding public office. Under the empire, munera was the term for those civic public contributions or services carried out by citizens that did not necessarily bring prestige (dignitas), unlike magistracies (honores), which did. The term munera covered an extraordinarily wide range of public duties. Best known among these are the financial contributions, often tied to particular offices, made by members of the city councils (decuriones, curiales). An especially notable munus was the organizing and financing of gladiatorial shows, for which the term munera became shorthand.Munus (pl. munera) originally means a gift, an act of kindness, or a service freely and dutifully rendered (e.g., to the gods, in the form of sacrifice; or to the dead, in the form of proper burial or funeral games), yet it was most commonly used as a term for a public service provided by a citizen to his civic community. This might for instance encompass a public gift, military service, or the holding of a magisterial post. .

Article

Muziris papyrus  

Dominic W. Rathbone

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 March 2019
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
The “Muziris” papyrus (PVindob. G40822) provides unique details about the trade between Roman Egypt and India. It was purchased in 1980 for the Austrian National Library, and first published in 1985, and has been much discussed since then.1 Its provenance is unknown, but was probably middle Egypt. It preserves parts of two texts, one on its front (recto) and one on its back (verso), written in two different hands which have both been assigned to the middle decades of the 2nd century ce.The first text is part of a contract, from near the contract’s end, between a merchant (“I” in the text) and a financier (“you”), who was apparently based in Alexandria; this contract accompanied a separate contract between them for a maritime loan “to Muziris.”2 Muziris was a port in the Malabar region of soutwest India (Kerala), which Periplus of the Red Sea, ch.56, from the mid-1st-century ce, says was visited by large ships from Egypt to acquire pepper and malabathrum (a cinnamon-like plant, whose leaves were pressed to make a perfume), and also pearls, ivory, silk, nard, and gemstones.

Article

navicularii  

Dominic W. Rathbone

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy

Navicularii were private shipowners. In the Principate navicularii who contracted to provide a certain minimum tonnage for the service of the annona, the public *food supply of Rome, were given special rewards by emperors: *Claudius offered benefits of status, and by the time of *Hadrian the great boon of exemption from the public liturgies imposed locally by cities had been added (see liturgy, roman). Most of the known navicularii were members of municipal élites, often freedman or their descendants. The navicularii were encouraged to form associations (collegia or corpora: see clubs, roman) which made it easier for the state to supervise their activities and check entitlement to the privileges. In the late empire shipment for the annona (now to *Constantinople too) became a public obligation imposed corporately on these associations, whose membership was made hereditary.

Article

negotiatores  

Jeremy Paterson and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Negotiatores, the businessmen of the Roman world. In literary sources of the republican period, most notably *Cicero, negotiatores, or people who negotia gerunt (‘conduct business deals’), are found as members of resident communities of Italian and Roman citizens in all the provinces of the empire, most frequently in the major urban centres and ports. The term is used very broadly and is rarely defined in any particular way. It is clear that many who are described by Cicero as negotiatores were of high equestrian status (see equites). There were close links and involvement with the work of the *publicani (tax companies), bankers, landowners, and shipping. Indeed, one rhetorical remark of Cicero's (Font. 46) about ‘all the publicans, farmers, cattle-breeders, and the rest of the negotiatores’ suggests that the term negotia could cover all those activities. The considerable expansion of trade in the Mediterranean in the Roman period depended upon organization of markets, investment in shipping, and, in a world where the money-supply was uncertain, *credit to facilitate deals (see also banks; maritime loans).

Article

nummularius  

Michael Crawford

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy

Nummularius, a banker, whether one who exchanged coins of different monetary systems or one who tested coins to see whether they were forgeries; and in the 3rd cent. ce a mint official, though it is not clear whether he tested incoming or outgoing coin. The principal surviving evidence for the activities of a nummularius has been seen since the work of R. Herzog in the small bone or ivory labels now known as tesserae nummulariae (see tessera). They typically bear the name of a slave, his owner, the statement spectauit, ‘he inspected’, and a date by day, month, and year; and they are supposed to have been attached to sealed bags of coin which had been inspected. The interpretation is attractive, but not without problems, since it is quite unclear why it should matter on which precise day a bag of coin had been inspected. See banks.

Article

olive  

Lin Foxhall

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
06 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy

The olive is probably native to the Mediterranean region. It is long-lived and highly drought-resistant, though sensitive to frost, and thrives best at relatively low altitudes. Olives generally only crop every other year, and usually trees are regionally synchronized. Despite the attempts of farmers from antiquity to the present to break this habit, it has never successfully been circumvented.

Olives are easily propagated by cuttings, ovules (trunk growths, Gk. premna), or by grafting, a well-known technique in the classical world. Domesticated scions were frequently grafted onto wild stocks. Trees grown from cuttings planted in a nursery beds seem to have been more characteristic of Roman than Greek regimes. Greek farmers apparently preferred planting ovules, which have a greater success-rate under conditions of water-stress than cuttings. Olives do not grow true to type from seed. Many varieties were known and cultivated for both oil and table use in classical antiquity.