Ancient Economy

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Article

traders  

Paul C. Millett

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Traders in the ancient Mediterranean relied heavily on sea transport, reflecting terrain and the location of communities. *Plato(1) describes the Greeks as huddled around the sea ‘like ants and frogs around a pond’ (Phd. 109b); his likening of traders to migrating summer birds (Leg. 952d) reminds us of the realities of the Mediterranean *climate and limitations of contemporary shipping, closing the seas for between six and ten months (Cod. Theod. 13. 9. 3. 3; Hes.Op. 663 ff.; cf. Acts 27: 9). Although in the Roman west extensive use was made of river and eventually even road transport, the primacy of sea trade was never challenged. In terms of status, traders were liable to be marginalized as ‘not belonging’. Homer's traders (predominantly *Phoenicians) were viewed with suspicion by the Greek élite (Od. 8. 14 ff.). Even after Greeks replaced Phoenicians, no formal bond existed between a *polis and those carrying on its trade: traders transporting goods to and from Athens were not necessarily Athenian citizens.

Article

travel  

Nicholas Purcell

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
06 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Levels of personal mobility varied greatly in the ancient Mediterranean. Certain categories of individual were regarded as mobile throughout: the emporos (*trader) was a recognizable figure already in the Homeric poems, and normally rootless wanderers of the archaic period include many types of technical expert (see dēmiourgoi), such as healers, seers, scribes, practitioners of the visual and performance arts, and (following a practice established since the bronze age) workers in special materials such as metallurgists or glassworkers. Traders remain a standard figure of mobility, from the great wanderers in *Herodotus(1), such as Colaeus, or Sostratus (for whom see aegina; trade, greek), to *negotiatores attested on Roman tomb-inscriptions.Two forms of human service were required in sufficient quantities to generate a more substantial displacement of people: the general *labour provided by the slave, and the fighting skills of the soldier. The Archaic period saw the development of structures for the recruitment of *mercenaries, through which large numbers of fighting men moved from Greece and Anatolia to Egypt, the Levant, and the Fertile Crescent; and the distribution of demographically significant numbers of humans by the nascent slave trade (as attested in *Solon's poems).

Article

tribuni aerarii  

Ernst Badian

Article

Publication History:

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

Tribuni aerarii, originally treasury officials concerned with the collection of *tributum and its disbursement as military *stipendium. The office disappeared, but the title may have been preserved. It reappears in 70 bce, for the third of the classes of jurors (after senators and *equites) under the lex Aurelia (see aurelius cotta, l.). These men had the same census qualification as the equites and are often subsumed under that description. It has been argued that they were men of equestrian census not enrolled by the censors in the equestrian centuries, but there is no real evidence on their definition. *Caesar removed them from the juries and the title then disappeared.

Article

tribute lists, Athenian  

Malcolm F. McGregor and P. J. Rhodes

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Greek History and Historiography
Tribute lists (Athenian), records of the aparchai (first-fruits; pl. of *aparchē) of one-sixtieth given as an offering to *Athena from the tribute paid by the members of the *Delian League after the treasury was moved from *Delos to Athens, very probably in 454/3 bce. (It is likely that previously an offering had been given to Delian *Apollo.) From 453 the offerings were calculated not simply on the total but separately on each member's tribute, and numbered lists of these offerings were inscribed in Athens: for the first fifteen years (453–439) on a single large block of marble, for the next eight (438–431) on another large block, and thereafter on a separate stele for each year. It is possible that no tribute was collected in 448, when war against Persia had come to an end and the future of the League was uncertain (whether one year is unrepresented in the sequence on the first block continues to be disputed); in 413 a 5% duty on all goods transported by sea was substituted for the tribute (Thuc.

Article

tributum  

Graham Burton

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Roman Law
Tributum was a direct tax paid by individuals to the Roman state. Until 167 bce citizens of Rome were liable to pay a tributum which was in principle an extraordinary (in contrast to the regular vectigalia) levy on their property and might be repaid. The total size of the levy was decided by the senate and varied from year to year. In some years, e.g. 347–345, no tributum was levied. After its suspension in 167 bce this form of tributum was only again levied in the exigencies of the civil wars after Caesar's murder. Under the emperors Rome and Roman Italy were exempt from direct taxation. After 167 bcetributum came to denote the direct taxes raised in the provinces, either in the form of a land-tax (tributum soli) or poll-tax (tributum capitis). These were paid by all inhabitants of the provinces, whether Roman citizens or not, except by citizens of coloniae (see colonization, roman) which normally possessed the *ius Italicum and were consequently exempt, usually from both taxes (Dig.

Article

trittyes, 'thirds'  

Arnold Wycombe Gomme, Theodore John Cadoux, and P. J. Rhodes

Article

Publication History:

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

Trittyes (‘thirds’), divisions both of the four old and of the ten new tribes at Athens. Little is known of the old trittyes; an ancient guess that they were identical with the *phratries seems to be mistaken; that each contained four of the *naukrariai is possible but far from certain. In *Cleisthenes(2)'s new locally based organization each of the ten tribes (*phylai) was divided into trittyes It is disputed whether each trittys was located entirely in one region (Ath. Pol. 21. 4) or the principle was modified to produce trittyes of approximately equal size; and how the trittyes of the prytaneis on duty for 24 hours (Ath. Pol. 44. 1) was composed. Each trittys consisted of one or more *demes, commonly but not invariably a block of neighbouring demes. The trittyes did not become active corporations to the same extent as the tribes and the demes, but they played some part in the organization of the navy, and possibly of the army, and in appointment to some of the larger boards.

Article

vectigal  

Graham Burton

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Vectigal meant primarily revenue derived from public land, mines, saltworks, etc., and in general, rents derived from state property. Such sources provided the basic revenues of the early republic, and remained the most important form of income for the municipia and civitates of the empire (see municipium; civitas). The term was also extended to cover indirect taxes of which only the *portoria and the vicesima libertatis, a tax of 5 per cent on the value of manumitted slaves, existed in the republic. In the Principate the number of vectigalia was increased, and they provided a considerable part of the state revenues. The inhabitants of Italy, who were exempt from *tributum, only paid vectigalia. The most important of the vectigalia were the portoria. A new document from Ephesus (AE1989, 681) of ce 62 on the portoria of Asia indicates the elaborate character of the regulations which in this case stretched back to 75 bce and concerned (e.

Article

via Salaria  

Edward Togo Salmon and T. W. Potter

Article

Publication History:

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

Via Salaria, an old-established route which facilitated the salt trade from the *Tiber mouth. It ran north-east from Rome to *Reate in the Sabine country. Later extensions,

(1) through Amiternum and

(2) through *Asculum Picenum, carried it to the *Adriatic.

Article

villa  

Michael L. Thomas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Roman Material Culture
Villa was the Latin word for a rural dwelling associated with an estate, and villas ranged in character from functional farmhouses to luxurious country seats for the élite (Varro, Rust. 1.11.1–1.12.4; 3.2.1–18).1 Most of the literary evidence for villas relates to Italy and primarily describes farms run for the benefit of urban-based proprietors (e.g., Vitr. De arch. 6.6.1), though the most opulent seaside villas of the Roman aristocracy were sometimes built solely for pleasure. Aristocratic enjoyment of rural retreats and pride in creating architectural splendours there are well attested (e.g., Plin. Ep. 2.17), but the classic Italian villa, comprising not only a luxurious dwelling for the use of the owner on visits to the estate (pars urbana) but also working farm buildings (pars rustica) and storage buildings and barns (pars fructuaria), is perfectly illustrated by the excavations at Settefinestre, which have uncovered an aristocratic domus (mansion), baths, slave quarters, wine and olive presses, a piggery, a substantial granary, and formal gardens (cf.

Article

wages  

Paul C. Millett

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
06 July 2015
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Wages, payment in cash or kind in return for labour services, are attested as early as the *thētes (landless labourers) of the Iliad and Odyssey. Homeric references point to the depressed status of the thēs: uncertain of receiving promised pay (Il. 21. 441 ff.) and, lacking protection of the oikos (household), they ranked even lower than slaves (Od. 11. 489 ff.). With significant exceptions, precariousness remained the characteristic of the wage-labourer through antiquity, dependent on availability of casual employment (e.g. at harvest time, on public building projects, in service as a *Mercenary ). The divisions between different types of *Labour were fluid, with *Peasants , *Artisans , and slaves (see slavery ) potentially doubling up as wage-labourers. In late 5th-cent. Athens, the *Metic Simias hired himself out along with his four slaves to work on the *Erechtheum . Roman law made special provision for the hiring out of slaves. In Athens, those looking for work gathered each day on a hill overlooking the *Agora .

Article

water  

Johan Harm Croon and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Water, in the mostly arid Mediterranean climate, by its local availability shaped patterns of settlement and, as erratic rainfall, determined harvest-fluctuations and food-shortages (see famine; food supply). In agriculture, although dry-farming was the norm in ancient Greece and Italy, *irrigation was by no means unknown (e.g. at Hellenistic Sparta: SEG 40. 348. For the Persian empire see ai khanoum). The use of hydraulic technology to increase the *water supply was an early concern of the *polis; some of the most spectacular installations (e.g. on *Samos) were the work of the Archaic tyrants (see also tyranny; theagenes (1) for *Megara); Rome pioneered raised *aqueducts. Communal fountains were a social focus (e.g. Eur.Med.68–9, about *Corinth's Pirene); in Roman times they were civic status-symbols liable to lavish architectural embellishment (see nymphaeum). Apart from drinking and *sanitation, ancient cities needed water for reasons of personal health (directions about baths figure in the Hippocratic On Regimen and Health 6.

Article

wealth, attitudes to  

John Davies

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Classical societies developed a range of responses to the universal ambition of individuals to amass property and possessions. One extreme response, characteristic of societies where the wealthy had retained or regained preponderant influence in public affairs, was to impose little or no restriction on accumulation: early Hellenistic Sparta and late republican Rome were examples. Conversely, Greek colonies were often founded on an ‘equal and like’ basis, and Roman colonial foundations regularly assigned the same land-area to each colonist. However, few colonies remained egalitarian for long (Diod. Sic. 5. 9. 4–5 for an exception, Lipara; see aeoliae insulae). See colonization, greek and roman.More normally, attitudes oscillated unsystematically within such extremes. Amassing wealth, possessing it, and spending it aroused differing responses, and varied also with the nature and the status of the gainful activity (Cato, Agr. pref.; Cic.Off. 1. 150 ff. and 2. 52 ff.). Greeks saw the rich as potentially hubristic, extravagant, profiteering, and soft, probably dishonest if newly wealthy and lucky rather than worthy if of longer standing, but also as prudent and as potentially generous and magnanimous benefactors (cf. Arist.

Article

wealth, Roman attitudes towards  

Gloria Vivenza and Neville Morley

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
20 November 2017
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Roman History and Historiography
Roman attitudes to wealth were complex and sometimes ambivalent. Wealth was an essential basis for political and social life, but also a topic of extensive debate, which focused on the proper uses of wealth and the proper ways of attaining it. These moral, philosophical, and literary debates had practical implications for how the Romans spent their wealth and how they acquired it.Wealth was a central theme in Roman politics and society. The citizen body was divided between different census classes on the basis of property holding, and access to political office and status depended on a formal assessment of personal wealth.1 Furthermore, winning election to office required considerable resources. Neither a long family tradition of public service nor individual political genius was enough, and Julius Caesar’s debt problems, partly due to his political campaigns, are well known. Conversely, a homo novus like Cicero, with no political tradition in his family, could engage in politics if he had .

Article

wetlands (bog, marsh)  

Giusto Traina

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2019
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Ancient Geography

The most common words to designate a marsh, a swamp, or a bog are helos in ancient Greek and palus in Latin; beside these terms, less common words were also employed. Literary and epigraphic texts give evidence for marshlands in the countryside, in the coastal areas, and also close to urban agglomerations. The sources often give evidence for drainage activity, but cases of extensive drainage are rare. In fact, they were possible only at public expense, by employing free or slave labor. On the other hand, several territories were characterized by a sort of marsh economy. Although rarely portrayed in literature, and despite the risk of malaria, marshy areas presented some economic potential: fishing, hunting, salt extraction, and farming. In many respects, the negative image of wetlands is a modern invention. The contrast between the rational order of the Roman countryside and the “barbaric” medieval landscape was introduced by the Enlightenment, and must be treated with caution.

Article

wine, Greek and Roman  

Dimitri van Limbergen

Article

Publication History:

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

Grape cultivation reached Greece towards the end of the 3rd millennium bce, and Italy around the beginning of the 1st millennium bce. From the 8th century bce onward, systematic viticulture expanded, and wine became deeply embedded in Greco-Roman society at all levels. It was the beverage of choice for both the wealthy and the poor, a major intoxicant in the ancient world, and an essential source of energy in the daily diet. Wine was widely used in religion, feasts, and medicine, and was considered a key marker of civilized culture. Combined with the vine’s high productive potential and its low agronomic needs, all this made wine a primary feature of the agrarian economy and an important product of (inter)national trade. Literature, iconography, and archaeology sketch a picture of significant Greek and Roman realizations in vine-growing techniques and winemaking technology, thus testifying to a level of scientific expertise unmatched until the 19th century. The consumption of wine was stratified and diversified, with the market divided between premium vintages for the rich, ordinary wines for the masses, and winery drinks for the lower classes.

Article

wool  

J. P. Wild

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
Wool (ἔριονlana), the principal textile fibre of the Mediterranean region, was taken from the coat of the European domestic sheep, descendant of the wild mouflon of western Asia. (Goat- and camel-hair, used by ancient weavers, are excluded from the definition.) The structure of wool makes it warm, water-resistant, and easy to spin; throughout antiquity fleece character was enhanced by selective breeding. The best wool was technically ‘generalized medium’ or ‘fine’; pigmented (brown) fibres gave way to un-pigmented (white), but fleece-weights rarely exceeded 1 kg. (unwashed). The beginnings of a Greek woollen industry may be seen in the flock records of Minoan *Cnossus (c.1380 bce), which reveal an advanced management-regime. Sheep were a core component of Greek upland agriculture. The highest accolades for wool quality went to *Miletus, and true ‘fine-wool’ has been identified in extant fabrics from Nymphaeum (mod. Geroevka) in the Crimea (5th cent. bce; see chersonesus(2)).

Article

zeugitai  

Arnold Wycombe Gomme, Theodore John Cadoux, and P. J. Rhodes

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Greek Law

Zeugitai (from zeugos, ‘yoke’), at Athens, Solon's third property class, said (perhaps by false analogy with *pentakosiomedimnoi) to comprise men whose land yielded between 200 and 300 medimnoi of corn or the equivalent in other produce (the other three classes were *pentakosiomedimnoi, *hippeis, *thētes). The name identifies them as those who served in the army in close ranks (cf. Plut.Pel.23), i.e. as *hoplites, or, less probably, as those rich enough to own a yoke of oxen. Despite recent doubts, this class probably included many of the farmers and craftsmen of *Attica, and provided the bulk of the hoplite army. Under Solon's constitution the zeugitai enjoyed full citizen rights except that they were not admitted to the highest magistracies (see magistracy, greek). The archon-ships (see archontes) were opened to them from 457/6.

Article

zooarchaeology  

Michael MacKinnon

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
19 July 2023
Subjects:
  1. Ancient Economy
  2. Greek Material Culture
  3. Science, Technology, and Medicine
  4. Roman Material Culture

Zooarchaeology/archaeozoology focuses on the investigation of animals in the past through analysis of recovered faunal remains, largely teeth and bones, from archaeological sites. As such zooarchaeological analyses can disclose much about the animals themselves, the environmental and ecological parameters in which they existed, as well as the cultures that kept, herded, controlled, hunted, manipulated, killed, ate, valued, symbolized, treated, and exploited them. The historical development of zooarchaeological study within classical archaeology showcases its expansion from earlier studies (in the 1970s and 1980s) that concentrated on reconstructing the core economic and ecological roles of animals in antiquity to its current state, which emphasizes more diversified, multidimensional investigations of animals across all spectra and components of ancient life. Key topics of interest in the discipline include ancient husbandry operations; the interaction between animals and ecological settings; the input of meat and other animal foodstuffs in ancient diets; the exploitation of non-consumable animal products, such as bones, hides, and wool in antiquity; breeding regimes and their effects on animals during Greek and Roman times; and the roles and characteristics of work, pet, and sacrificial animals in the past.