The Ancient Economy 9781474472326

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THE ANCIENT ECONOMY

EDINBURGH READINGS ON THE ANCIENT WORLD GENERAL EDITORS

Michele George, McMaster University Thomas Harrison, University of St Andrews ADVISORY EDITORS

Paul Cartledge, University of Cambridge Richard Saller, University of Chicago This series introduces English-speaking students to central themes in the history of the ancient world and to the range of scholarly approaches to those themes, within and across disciplines. Each volume, edited and introduced by a leading specialist, contains a selection of the most important work, including a significant proportion of translated material. The editor also provides a guide to the history of modern scholarship on the subject. Passages in ancient languages are translated; technical terms, ancient and modern, are explained. PUBLISHED

Sparta Edited by Michael Whitby Greeks and Barbarians Edited by Thomas Harrison The Ancient Economy Edited by Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden IN PREPARATION

Ancient Slavery Edited by Keith Bradley Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome Edited by Mark Golden and Peter Toohey Ancient Myth Edited by Richard Gordon Alexander the Great Edited by Simon Hornblower The 'Dark Ages' of Greece Edited by Ian Morris Roman Religion Edited by Clifford Ando Augustus Edited by Jonathan Edmondson

THE ANCIENT ECONOMY Edited by

Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS

© Editorial matter and selection Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden, 2002 Transferred to Digital Print 2012 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh Typeset in Sabon by Norman Tilley Graphics, Northampton Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY A CIP Record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN ISBN

o 7486 1322 6 (hardback) o 7486 1321 8 (paperback)

The right of the contributors to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Contents

Acknowledgements Note to the Reader Abbreviations Glossary Maps

Vll Vlll

IX Xlll XVlll

Introduction

I

PART I

AFTER FINLEY

I

The Economy (Economies) of Ancient Greece Paul Cartledge

2

Twenty Years after Moses I. Finley's The Ancient Economy Jean Andreau; translated by Antonia Nevill PART II

II

33

PRODUCTION

3 Traditional and Ancient Rural Economy in Mediterranean Europe: plus ~a change? Paul Halstead

53

4 Olive Production and the Roman Economy: The Case for Intensive Growth in the Roman Empire Robert Bruce Hitchner

7I

PART III

MONEY AND MARKETS

5 Money and Mythic History: The Contestation of Transactional Orders in the Fifth Century BC Leslie Kurke

Contents

VI

6 Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Subsistence: Exchange and Society in the Greek City Robin Osborne

II4

7 The Price Histories of Some Imported Goods on Independent Delos Gary Reger

I33

8 The Ancient Economy and Graeco-Roman Egypt Dominic Rathbone PART IV

55

TRADE AND TRANSFER

9 Agricultural Products Transported in Amphorae: Oil and Wine Clementina Panella and Andre Tchernia; translated by Antonia Nevill IO

I

I73

Rome, Taxes, Rents and Trade Keith Hopkins PART V

THE NATURE OF THE ANCIENT ECONOMY

I I

Modernism, Economics and the Ancient Economy Scott Meikle

I2

Framing the Debate over Growth in the Ancient Economy Richard Saller Intellectual Chronology Guide to Further Reading Index

2 33

Acknowledgements

The sources of the readings in each chapter are given in the footnotes. The editors and publishers thank the copyright holders for permission to include the material in this book. The editors and publishers also thank Cambridge University Press for permission to reprint maps 1-3, which are taken from P. Jones and K. Sidwell, The World of Rome, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1997, maps I, 2 and 3· We are grateful to Leslie Kurke and Richard Saller for providing us with previously unpublished work for this volume, to an anonymous reader for perceptive comments that encouraged us to broaden the scope of our selection, to Antonia Nevill for speedy and competent translations from the French, and to John Davey of Edinburgh University Press for his patient support and advice.

Vll

Note to the Reader

The articles included in this volume were, with two exceptions, originally published in a range of different journals and books. A degree of uniformity has been imposed (for example, in the abbreviations used), but many of the conventions of the original pieces have been preserved. This applies to spelling and punctuation (UK or US) and to different modes of referencing: chapters using the Harvard system (giving name and date) are followed by individual bibliographies, whereas those using 'short titles' usually have footnotes and no bibliography. (In Chapter Io, the author uses Harvard-style references as 'short titles'.) The two exceptions published here for the first time are Chapters 5 and I 2. The latter, by Richard Saller, will appear shortly after the publication of this volume in J. Manning and I. Morris (eds), The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models, Stanford University Press. Editorial notes and translations of ancient texts are introduced either within square brackets [ ] or in daggered footnotes t. Some Greek terms, especially those in use in English, have been transliterated. All abbreviations of ancient texts, modern collections, books and journals used in this volume are listed and explained on the pages following. Full references to the works of ancient authors given in the original articles have not been changed. We hope that the absence of abbreviations from the 'Guide to Further Reading' will make it easier to use.

Vlll

Abbreviations

1 ABBREVIATIONS OF REFERENCES TO ANCIENT SOURCES Aelian VH Arist. Pol. Aristoph. Ath. Pol. Athen. B Afr. Cato, De Agr. Cod. Theod. Columella, Rust. Dig. D.S. Gal. Hdt. Hes. Theog. W&D Mart. NE Nep. Them. Or. Paus. Pin dar 0. P. Plin. Ep. Plin. HN

Aelian, Varia Historia (Miscellany) Aristotle, Politics Aristophanes Aristotle, Athenaion Politeia (Athenian Constitution) Athenaeus [Caesar], Bellum Africanum (African War) Cato, De Agri Cultura (On Farming) Codex Theodosianus (Theodosian Code) Columella, De Re Rustica (On Farming) Digesta (Digest) Diodorus Siculus Galen Herodotus Hesiod Theogony Works and Days Martial Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Cornelius Nepos Themistocles Aelius Aristides, Orationes (Speeches) Pausanias Pin dar Olympian Ode Pythian Ode Pliny (the Younger), Epistulae (Letters) Pliny (the Elder), Historia Natura/is (Natural History) lX

Abbreviations

X

Plut. Arist. Them. Ps.-Xenoph. Ath. Pol.

Sen., Ep. SHA Theoph[r]. Char. Hist. pl. Thuc.

Plutarch Life of Aristides Life of Themistocles Pseudo-Xenophon, Athenaion Politeia (Athenian Constitution) Seneca, Epistulae (Letters) Scriptores Historiae Augustae Theophrastus Characters Historia Plantarum (Research into Plants) Thucydides

2 ABBREVIATIONS OF REFERENCES TO JOURNALS AND MODERN EDITIONS ABSA Acta Antiqua Hung. AHR AION (archeol.) AJA A]AH A]P Annates ESC Annates HSS ANRW AntAfr ARHE

BA BAR BASP BCH BE FAR BIFAO CA

Annual of the British School at Athens Acta Antiqua Academiae Hungaricae American Historical Review Annali Istituto Orientale di Napoli: Archeologia e Storia Antica American Journal of Archaeology American Journal of Ancient History American Journal of Philology Annates: Economies, Societes, Civilisations Annates: Histoire, Sciences Sociales Aufstieg und Niedergang der Romischen Welt Antiquites Africaines Amphores Romaines et Histoire Economique. Dix Ans de Recherches. CEFR, rq, Rome, r989 Bollettino di Archeologia British Archaeological Reports Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique Bibliotheque des Ecoles Fran(:aises d'Athenes et de Rome Bulletin de l'Institut Fran(:ais d' Archeologie Orientale (Cairo) Classical Antiquity

Abbreviations

CAH CAS CEFR CIL C] ClAnt CPICPh CR G&R ID IG ]AOS ]EA ]HS JNES ]RA ]RS

]S LGPN MBAH MEFRM MelRome OGIS Pap. Colon. Pap. Lugd.-Bat. P. Cair. Isid.

P. Dian.

Perry

Cambridge Ancient History Cahiers d'Archeologie Subaquatique Collection de l'Ecole Franfaise de Rome Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Classical journal Classical Antiquity Classical Philology Classical Review Greece and Rome Inscriptions de Delos Inscriptiones Graecae journal of the American Oriental Society Journal of Egyptian Archaeology journal of Hellenic Studies journal of Near Eastern Studies Journal of Roman Archaeology journal of Roman Studies Journal des Savants Lexicon of Greek Personal Names Munstersche Beitrage zur antiken Handelsgeschichte Melanges de l'Ecole Franfaise de Rome: Moyen Age Melanges de l'Ecole Franfaise de Rome: Italie et Mediterrannee Orientis Graecae Inscriptiones Selectae Papyrologica Coloniensia Papyrologica Lugduno-Battavia A. E. R. Boak and H. C. Youtie, The Archive of Aurelius Isidorus in the Egyptian Museum, and the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor 1960 E. Boswinkel and P. W. Pestman, Les archives privees de Dionysios, fils de Kephalas. Leiden 1982 B. E. Perry, Aesop: Aesopica: A Series of Texts Relating to Aesop or Ascribed to him Closely Connected with the Literary Tradition which Bears his Name. Urbana,

Ill. P. Kron.

Xl

D. Foraboschi, I:archivio di Kronion. Milan 1971

Xll

PMG P. Oxy. Proc. Int. Cong. Pap. P. Soterichos P. Tebt. QS RA Radt RAN RE

REA REG SIC Snell-Maehler

YCS ZPE

Abbreviations D. L. Page, Poetae Melici Graeci. Oxford 1962 The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Proceedings of the International Congress of Papyrologists S. Omar, Das Archiv von Soterichos. Opladen 1979 Tebtunis Papyri Quaderni di Storia Revue Archeologique S. Radt, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, vol. iv. Berlin 1977 Revue Archeologique de Narbonnaise A. Pauly, G. Wissowa and W. Kroll (eds), Realencyclopadie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft (Stuttgart 1893-1978) Revue des Etudes Anciennes Revue des Etudes Grecques W. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum. 3rd edn. B. Snell, 8th rev. edn H. Maehler, Pindar. Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana. Leipzig and Stuttgart 1987-8 Yale Classical Studies Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik

Glossary

aggregate amphora

see per capita two-handled jar used for storage and transport Annales School school of thought associated with the French historians Marc Bloch, Fernand Braude! and Lucien Febvre and their journal Annales who argued that environmental and demographic factors have a major bearing on social, economic and political history, and strongly favoured quantitative methods (histoire serielle) public grain supply in Rome annona corn measure in Graeco-Roman Egypt of artaba C.40 1* square measure in Graeco-Roman Egypt of aroura c.2 760 square metres Roman gold coin (equivalent to 25 denarii) aureus Athenian liturgy involving the production of a choregia chorus at the musical or dramatic festivals classical economics generally refers to the body of economic ideas stemming from the works of Adam Smith and David Ricardo in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries argumentative method where particulars are deduction inferred from general principles or a model (contr. induction) local district or village in Greece deme the study of human populations with respect demography to their size, structure and development Roman silver coin (equivalent to 4 sestertii) denarius Xlll

XIV

Digest drachma (dr) Dressel (Dr)

embedded/ disembedded economy

eisphora epigraphy eranos ethnoarchaeology

garum HS horos induction tUgerum kotyle (pl. kotylia) liturgy

medimnos metretes micro/macro economzcs

mna (mina) modius neo-classical economtcs

Glossary

compilation of Roman civil law in fifty volumes (published in AD 53 3) Greek silver coin (equivalent to 6 obols) typological classification system for Roman amphorae devised by and named after the German scholar Heinrich Dressel refers to the distinction made by Karl Polanyi between economies which are embedded in social and political relationships, and those which are based on anonymous market relationships tax on capital levied especially when the city was at war inscriptions, the study of inscriptions friendly loan the archaeological study of recent or contemporary peasant societies; used for comparison with the ancient world fermented fish sauce sestertius boundary stone marking debt on land mode of reasoning from particular cases, or evidence, to general conclusions Roman square measure of c.2500 square metres'' Greek liquid measure of c.o.25 1~· in Athens an institution which required wealthy men to undertake certain work for the state at their own expense Attic corn measure of c. 54- 5 l >:· Greek liquid measure of c.30.4 1~· micro-economics is concerned with the economy of individual economic units (households, companies, etc.) while macroeconomics focusses on the interplay of these units and the economy of a state or region as a whole Greek monetary unit equivalent to roo drachmae; also a unit of weight'' Roman corn measure of c.8.62l':· refers to the enhanced version of classical economics that was developed in the late

Glossary

XV

nineteenth century primarily by Alfred Marshall and Leon Walras; introduced the idea of the supply-and-demand mechanism as a regulation of prices New Archaeology school of thought, especially among prehistoric archaeologists, promoting a deductive and comparative approach to archaeology administrative subdivision or local district in nome Graeco-Roman Egypt the study of coins numismatics nummular tesserae see tesserae nummulariae Greek fractional coin equivalent to one-sixth obol (ob) of a drachma ancient household, comprising family, slaves, oikos house and land architectural structure consisting of upright opus africanum pillars separated by sections of smaller stones or rubble small potsherds used in antiquity for everyday ostraka notes, in particular receipts (Egypt) and voting (democratic Athens) the biological study of fossil plants and palaeobotany animals palaeoethnobotany the biological study of fossil plants and animals in low-technology societies 'by heads'; average production, consumption, per capita etc. of each individual, in contrast to 'gross', 'aggregate' or total Greek city-state consisting of an urban centre polis and its hinterland belief in absolute truths or knowledge in positivism contrast to relativism where knowledge is taken to be dependent on the observer and his/her way of understanding Roman base metal coin (copper-zinc alloy) sestertius Roman monetary gold unit introduced by solidus Diocletian stadion a fixed standard of length of c.r77 m'' an economic system in which most of the subsistence population produce enough for their own economy sustenance, but little or no surplus for sale in Athens a group of men liable to pay symmory

XVI

talent (tal) tesserae nummulariae trierarchy

Glossary

eisphora or liturgies Greek monetary unit equivalent to 6ooo drachmae; also a unit of weight* short inscribed rods affixed to sealed coin containers as proof of authenticity Athenian liturgy involving responsibility for a warship (trireme) for a year

,. Weights and measures could vary widely from place to place.

Maps

XVIIJ

ADRIATIC SEA

[\) MAGNA I GRAECIA

,:

-

'j).

Ct?d m us ~

r:? •

•

MEDITERRANEAN

LIBYA

Map r: Greece and the Near East

oSiwa

(J 0

0

Rhodes

Rhodes

B L A C

K

S E A

PARTHIA

OPalmyra

LEBANON

Tyre

S E A

0 Damascus

Nazaretho \pALE STINE OBastra

Caesare/ osamaria

~ SRAEL~

Jerusalem 0

JUDAEA (JUDAH)

A R A B I A 200

100 100

Maps

XX

ATLANTIC

0 C E AN

Co,.ica(}

~f) T E R ~ROCCO MAURETANIA

s E

TUNISIA

ALGERIA

Sabrarha

TRJPOLITANA LeposMagna 0

zoo

•oo

>-------'0

•oo

300 200