Compitum

Miko Flohr et Andrew Wilson (éd.), The Economy of Pompeii, Oxford, 2016.

Éditeur : Oxford University Press
Collection : Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy
464 pages
ISBN : 9780198786573
95 £

This volume presents fourteen papers by Roman archaeologists and historians discussing approaches to the economic history of Pompeii, and the role of the Pompeian evidence in debates about the Roman economy.
Four themes are discussed. The first of these is the position of Pompeii and its agricultural environment, discussing the productivity and specialization of agriculture in the Vesuvian region, and the degree to which we can explain Pompeii's size and wealth on the basis of the city's economic hinterland. A second issue discussed is what Pompeians got out of their economy: how well-off were people in Pompeii? This involves discussing the consumption of everyday consumer goods, analyzing archaeobotanical remains to highlight the quality of Pompeian diets, and discussing what bone remains reveal about the health of the inhabitants of Pompeii. A third theme is economic life in the city: how are we to understand the evidence for crafts and manufacturing? How are we to assess Pompeii's commercial topography? Who were the people who actually invested in constructing shops and workshops? In which economic contexts were Pompeian paintings produced? Finally, the volume discusses money and business: how integrated was Pompeii into the wider world of commerce and exchange, and what can the many coins found at Pompeii tell us about this? What do the wax tablets found near Pompeii tell us about trade in the Bay of Naples in the first century AD? Together, the chapters of this volume highlight how Pompeii became a very rich community, and how it profited from its position in the centre of the Roman world.

Introduction: Investigating an Urban Economy, Miko Flohr and Andrew Wilson
Part I: City and Hinterland
1: The Agricultural Economy of Pompeii: Surplus and Dependence, Girolamo Ferdinando de Simone
2: Quantifying Pompeii: Population, Inequality, and the Urban Economy, Miko Flohr
Part II: Quality of Life
3: Consumer Behaviour in Pompeii: Theory and Evidence, Nick M. Ray
4: Sewers, Archaeobotany, and Diet at Pompeii and Herculaneum, Erica Rowan
5: Skeletal Remains and the Health of the Population at Pompeii, Estelle Lazer
Part III: Economic Life and its Contexts
6: Measuring the Movement Economy: A Network Analysis of Pompeii, Eric Poehler
7: Urban Production and the Pompeian Economy, Nicolas Monteix
8: Wealthy Entrepreneurs and the Urban Economy: Insula VI 1 in its Wider Economic Contexts, Damian Robinson
9: The Economics of Pompeian Painting, Domenico Esposito
Part IV: Money and Trade
10: Reevaluating Pompeii's Coin -Finds: Monetary Transactions and Urban Rubbish in the Retail Economy of an Ancient City, Steven J. R. Ellis
11: Bes, Butting Bulls, and Bars: The Life of Coinage at Pompeii, Richard Hobbs
12: Currency and Credit in the Bay of Naples in the First Century ad, Koenraad Verboven
13: Conflicts, Contract Enforcement, and Business Communities in the Archive of the Sulpicii, Wim Broekaert
Part V: Discussion
14: Pompeii Revisited, Willem Jongman

Source : Oxford University Press