Trade in Classical Antiquity

Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-521-63416-8
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 136 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 209 g

Reihe: Key Themes in Ancient History

Historians have long argued about the place of trade in classical antiquity: was it the life-blood of a complex, Mediterranean-wide economic system, or a thin veneer on the surface of an underdeveloped agrarian society? Trade underpinned the growth of Athenian and Roman power, helping to supply armies and cities. It furnished the goods that ancient elites needed to maintain their dominance - and yet, those same elites generally regarded trade and traders as a threat to social order. Trade, like the patterns of consumption that determined its development, was implicated in wider debates about politics, morality and the state of society, just as the expansion of trade in the modern world is presented both as the answer to global poverty and as an instrument of exploitation and cultural imperialism. This 2007 book explores the nature and importance of ancient trade, considering its ecological and cultural significance as well as its economic aspects.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Morley, Neville

Cartledge, P. A.

Garnsey, P. D. A.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Trade and the ancient economy; 2. Ecology and economics; 3. Commodities and consumption; 4. Institutions and infrastructure; 5. Markets, merchants and morality; 6. The limits of ancient globalisation.

Über Autor(innen)

Morley, Neville
Neville Morley is a Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Bristol. His previous publications include Metropolis and Hinterland: the City of Rome and the Italian Economy (Cambridge University Press, 1996) and Models and Concepts in Ancient History (2004).