Unit 11: The Roman Economy

Unit 11

11.1 General; Sources & Nature of

the Roman Economy
11.2 Wealth, Poverty, Manual
work & the slave
labor force
11.3 Areas of the Roman Economy
11.4 Money, Investing, Banking,
Taxation
 11.1
General; Sources & Nature of the
Roman Economy
 What is Rome?

 The City of Rome

 Rome and its (shifting)
territories/provinces
 The Roman Republic
 The Roman Empire
 The Phenomenon that was Rome and
Roman Civilization and the world
dominated by it
 Rome: City / City-State / Empire
(Atkins & Osborne 2006)

The City of Rome

“The size of the city of Rome – the first western city to reach a
million inhabitants* – created issues of food supply quite unlike
those faced by Greek city-states or even the great Hellenistic
cities …” (1)
“The concentration of people in Rome created demands for both
foodstuffs and other basic necessities of life, such as clothing
and housing, and also for the goods required to secure and
display status in a place where all ranks of society gathered” (7)
Maximum Roman Expansion
[Link]
 Rome: City / City-State / Empire
(Atkins & Osborne 2006)

The Roman World / Empire

“[T]he Roman world gradually transformed itself from a

collection of semi-autonomous cities subordinated to the power
of an alien Rome … to a single political and economic unit”
(Atkins & Osborne 2006, 1, 7, 9)
Importance of Roman Economy

“[T]he Roman period

was the only time in history when the whole of the

Mediterranean and much of Europe was contained
within a single state,

and a similar economic environment was not seen

again until the late Middle Ages”

(Gibbs 2014, 331).

 Importance of Roman Economy
(Morley 2006)

• In 18-19th Century, Rome seen as “similar to us”, well

documented: useful for modern economic theory and practice
• David Hume (mid-18th Cent): Roman poor idle, immoral; poor
relief pernicious (21)
• Adam Smith (late 18th Cent): Roman economy shows the poor
can be relieved through economic growth (22)
• Edmund Burke (late 18th Cent): French Revolution & fall of
Roman Republic: private property must be safeguarded (23)
• Thomas Malthus (early 19th Cent): majority will always be
poor; drew on Roman history to argue his point (23-24)
 Importance of Roman Economy
(Morley 2006)

Late 18th Cent writers: Roman “poor” = plebs/populus; overall Rome as

“the mob, the group of poor whose grievances left them alienated
from the rest of society & who were thus susceptible to rabble-rousing
& manipulation; [they viewed] the poor as a potential threat to social
stability, whose acquiescence had to be bought by indulging their
idleness at the expense of the Empire’s subjects” (25)
 Sources
• Information spread over very large area and long period of time
(Republic, Empire)
• Literary, archaeological, papyrological and epigraphical
evidence (see Gibbs 2014, 31-2)
• Contradictory sources (Gibbs 2014, 329-30):
– Cicero on Cato the Elder and profit from property ownership
(priorities 1, 2, and 3) versus money lending (like murder)
– Plutarch on Cato: agriculture not profitable, so turned to money-
lending

• “Interpretation of silence”: eg evidence for poverty in city of

Rome not include free-born poor (Morley 2006, 31)
 “Economy”
• Economy <= from Greek oikos –
"household" and nemomai –
"manage”; also, “the management
of public revenues” (Finley 1985,
20)
• Greek didactic poet, Hesiod,
Works and Days: farming advice;
• Xenophon, Oikonomicos (mid 4th
Cent BCE): “a guide for the
gentleman landowner” (Finley
1985, 17).
 Modern Debate
(Gibbs 2014, 332-33; McGeogh 2004, 301-02)

1. Rodbertus (1898) & Bücher (1902): ancient economy based

on household self-subsistence (oikos in Greek)
2. Rostovtzeff (1957): Roman economy similar to modern
economy (profit-seeking) but smaller scale
3. Polyani (1957): Roman economy “embedded” into social
structure (“substantivists” vs “formalists” = distinct sphere)
4. Finley (1985): Roman economy nothing like modern economy;
subsistence agriculture (farming) to survive; lack of economic
rationality, cycles, statistics, interconnected markets etc
5. Hopkins (1980): influenced by Finley, but emphasized
developing trade markets between 200 BCE – 200 CE
Finley: “Economy”
• Ancient western world “lacked the
concept of an “economy” [in the
modern sense]” (21), i.e. “an
enormous conglomeration of
interdependent markets” (Finley 22)
• No “interlocking behavior and
responses over wide areas” (34)
• “The economic language and
concepts we are all familiar with…the
‘principles’…the models we employ,
tend to draw us into a false account”
(23)
 Finley on “Economy”
what they did not have
• No Business cycles (Finley 23)
• Variations in wage rates and interest rates (fairly stable across
long periods of time)
• No “labor market”, “money market”, investment models; no
firms, companies, corporations (Akgrigg 2017, 136)
• General lack of reliable statistics (Finley 23); few extant examples
do not an “economy” make (25)
• But registers of fighting forces, census (for tax and political
purposes).
• Near East neighbors: palace-centred societies; owned agriculture,
military etc: “rationing” out produce, goods (28)
 The Roman Economy

u s o n “ th e “it is
e d to foc know not nece
N e
t y p e s , th e
d o m i n a n t
o des orde ever ssary to
a c te risti c m r to ything
c h a r n ley som
h aviou r ” ( Fi ethin unders in
o f b e Geer g” tand
2 9 ) . tz) (Cliff
19 8 5 , ord
 General Remarks
Economies Ancient and Modern

• Modern economies: post-Industrial Revolution, majority of

people disconnected from primary production; few people
produce their own food, clothes, tools, etc.
• Ancient economies: Most people engaged in primary
production; they grow their own food, make their own
clothes and tools etc.; limited by human/animal muscle;
markets for surplus production and luxury items.
• Ancient economy pre-industrial, agricultural
• “Underdeveloped” (modern term-Atkins & Osborne 2006, 4):
greater poverty, malnutrition, poor public health, but “relatively
stable throughout...classical antiquity” (Garnsey 1998, 43).
 They did have … Private Property

“the Greco-Roman world

was essentially and
precisely one of private
ownership, whether a
few acres or of the
enormous domains of
Roman senators and
emperors, a world of
private trade, private
manufacture” (Finley 29).
 Modern Debate

6. Recent: “a more advanced and multi-faceted Roman economy,

with some areas enjoying relatively sophisticated economic
practices and others suffering from a distinct lack of progression…
There were regional and structural differences between the
provinces and between the eastern and western halves of the
empire. In other words, the Roman economy was not a single,
simple system managed by an all-embracing policy instituted by
the Roman administration. On the contrary, the Roman economy
was made up of several complex, interconnected, and integrated
regional economies” (Gibbs 2014, 333).
 Pre-Industrial Agriculture

“The basis of the

Roman economy
was Agriculture”
(McGeogh 2004,
97)
 The ‘Fertile Crescent’
& the ‘Neolithic Revolution’
 Neolithic Revolution

• Neolithic (“Agricultural”) Revolution (ca. 6,000 BCE in Italy):

“domestication” – agriculture (crops, animals), towns (100s
then later several 1000s): settled rather than roaming

• Plough: allowed large scale cultivation of grain, olives, grape

by ca. 3000 BCE
• Property, inheritance, inequalities of wealth, social
hierarchies, weapons, fortifications, war (esp. after 3000 BCE)
• Urban development, Monumental architecture (ca. 2500
BCE)
 Uneven Distribution of Wealth
(Matthew Shaer, The Smithsonian, March 2018, p.16)

• The “Gini Coefficient” measures wealth distribution

(fraction of 1: “0” = no inequality)
• Archaeologists researching wealth distribution in ancient
societies confirm invention of agriculture led to
increasing inequality
• 2700 BCE Mesopotamia = .37
• 1930 BCE Egypt = .68 (anomaly due to local conditions)
• 79 CE Pompeii = .54
• 2016 CE USA = .81
Neolithic Revolution: Greece & Rome

• Fertile Crescent: rivers and

irrigation;
• Greece: much drier
• Rome: more diverse climate
and soil conditions than
Greece, Asia Minor. Soils
heavier, more fertile (esp.
around Latium and
Campania); can support
large populations, more
agriculture.
 Economy and Population

• Level of economic activity depends on size of population:

grew with empire
• Census: in 131 BCE 318,823 adult Roman males; in 28 BCE
4,063,000 (but includes women & children??)
• City of Rome: grew from 750,000 (130 BCE) to over 1,000,000
including slaves (28 BCE)
• Empire: estimated 45.5 million men, women, children (14 CE)
grew to 60-70 million (164-65 CE) (Gibbs 333-34)
• Figures may not be reliable
 Economy
and
Population
 11.2
Wealth, Poverty, Manual Work, Slaves
 Wealth and Poverty in Rome
(Atkins & Osborne 2006)

• Roman socio-political hierarchy based on wealth levels

• Obvious inequalities of wealth, extreme luxury & social
privilege etc primarily determined by land ownership
• “The Poor” as distinct social group emerged only in late
Republic/Principate: no longer seen primarily as moral
depravity (idleness, sedition) but in need of systematic
alleviation (2); influence of Jewish/Christian belief systems? (3)
 Wealth and Poverty in Rome
(Atkins & Osborne 2006)

But from mid-Republic, growth of plebeian (not identical but

overlapping with “poor”) power & influence: “in [the city of] Rome
the poor had become a political force as they had never been in any
other city” (14)
Patterns of Land Ownership and Farming

• “Throughout the Republic and Empire, land – particularly

the agricultural and rural variety [as opposed to urban
land holdings] – was the primary form of investment and
wealth, as well as the principle and relatively stable
source of affluence in Roman society” (Gibbs 2014, 335)
• Agriculture requires land – which carries privileges (i.e.
census rating) – but also obligations (i.e. military service).
• Land a frequent cause of civil strife (i.e. Gracchi’s land
reform bills; Settlement of veterans).
• Variation of ownership patterns in different parts of the
empire.
 Land and the Food Supply
(Atkins & Osborne 2006)

• Large land ownership = resources to survive crop failures,

drought conditions; access to surplus etc markets (4-5)
• “Many people…had reason to be anxious about food, but for
those who had access to land the threat of hunger was episodic,
not endemic” (5).
• Garnsey (1988): Famine (catastrophe) rare, but food crises
(rising prices, hunger bordering on starvation) common (6-7)
• Grain (esp. corn) handouts for popular support, but also as
essential relief; grain riots frequent (Atkins & Osborne 2006, 7)
• Consequences of food shortage for poor: hunger, desperation,
death (hunger, disease), selling oneself / children into slavery
 “Poverty”
(Morley 2006)

• Definition of “poor” contested: relative (eg in ancient Greek

society); absolute (but according to what criteria?)
• Distinguish between “structural” (born and remain poor) and
“conjectural” poverty (fall on hard times but can recover);
poverty (can survive) and destitution (little chance of survival)
• Compared to modern world most/all antiquity poor (28-29)
• Characteristics:
– Vulnerability: to food shortage, disease etc
– Exclusion: from participating fully in society, governance
– Shame: at “slave-like” manual labor, lack of status…and slaves
Attitudes toward Work and Trade
• Attitudes to work and money affects economic activity
• Ambivalent and contradictory attitude
• General disdain for manual labor, but hard agricultural
work (for oneself) thought to breed character (i.e. The
Elder Cato)
• Surviving sources mostly scorn those who work for living
• Many workers artisans, tradesmen; vital to Roman
economy
• Does not mean that working classes felt this way
• Wages state-regulated from the reign of Diocletian
 Cicero on Vulgar Work
“We generally accept as true the following statements about
trades and occupations, with regard to which are suitable for
gentlemen and which are vulgar. First of all, those occupations
are condemned which bring upon you people’s hatred, such as
tax collecting and usury. Also vulgar and unsuitable for gentlemen
are the occupations of all hired workmen whom we pay for their
labor, not for their artistic skills; for with these men, their pay is
itself a recompense for slavery. Also considered to be vulgar are
retail merchants, who buy from wholesale merchants and
immediately turn around and resell; for they would not make a
profit unless they lied a lot. And nothing is more shameless than
lying. All craftsmen, too, are engaged in vulgar occupations, for a
workshop or factory can have nothing genteel about it. And the
most shameful occupations are those which cater to our sensual
pleasures, fish sellers, butchers, cooks, poultry raisers, and
fishermen, as Terrence says. Add to these, if you like, perfume
makers, dancers, and all vaudeville.” (Cicero, An Essay About
Duties 1.42. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 163)
 Cicero on Honest Work
“However, occupations which involve a greater degree of intelligence
or which provide no small service to society – such as medicine or
architecture or teaching of liberal arts – these are proper for men
whose social position they suit. Trade, however, if it is small scale,
must be considered vulgar; but if it is large scale, and involves
importing many different items from throughout the world, and
bringing many things to many people without lying or
misrepresentation, it should not be greatly censured. Indeed it
appears that large-scale trade could even be praised under the most
stringent law of respectability if a man engaging in it, once he was
tired of it, or rather once he felt satisfied that he had achieved his
goals, then moved himself from harbor to country estate, as he had
often moved from deep sea into harbor. For, of all the occupations
from which profit is accrued, non is better than agriculture, none
more profitable, none more delightful, none more suitable to a free
man.” (Cicero, An Essay About Duties 1.42. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc.
163)
 The Slave Workforce

• General Roman disdain for manual labour: Slaves occupied all

manner of occupation; gradually make up “working class” of
Rome
• “Slaves at work shaped the Roman economy and social order,
and the labor assigned by slaveholders shaped the slaves
themselves and their experience of slavery” (Joshel 2010, 163).
• Varied according to size/wealth of household
• “Extreme job specialization” (Shunka 2014, 83) in agricultural
duties, domestic/personal duties, market duties
 The Slave Workforce
• Market/Commerce: crafts people, financial services (banking),
overseeing commerce
• Small shops: bakers, butchers, barbers, fullers (very punishing,
unhealthy), jewelers, household items; luxury items, etc;
• Bars, taverns, brothels
• Forum stalls of all kinds
• Storage
• Transport, docks and shipping
• More …
The Slave Workforce

• Agricultural: harvesters, vintagers,

herdspeople, beekeepers, animal
doctors, provisioners, smiths,
managerial staff (estate manager =
vilicus; his wife = vilica)
• In Rome, slavery “allowed the
elite to increase the discrepancy
between the rich and poor
without alienating the free citizen
peasantry from their willingness
to fight in wars for the further
expansion of the Empire” (Joshel
2010, 9).
 The Use of Hired Farm Workers

“All fields are tilled by men – either slaves, or free men or

both. Free men are either (1) those who till their own fields,
as many poor people do with the help of their families, or (2)
those who are hired when the major farming operations,
such as vintage and haying, are performed with the
assistance of hired free men, or (3) those who are working
off debts. There are still many in this final class in Asia,
Egypt, and Illyricum. With regard to all these classes of free
men, I have this to say: it is more profitable to work
unhealthy areas with hired workers than with slaves.” (Varo,
On Agriculture, 1.17.2,3. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 188)
 Poverty in the City of Rome
(Morley 2006)

• Huge population of Rome: increased risk of poverty -2 factors

1. Concentration of population in condensed area: feeding
logistically difficult, expensive (transport long distance, ships
clogging Tiber River); housing; spread of disease etc
2. Traditional Republican networks of client-patron strained,
replaced by reliance on cash (and fewer work opportunities
for free men to work in the city) (37-38).
• Move out of countryside into Rome cut people off from rural
life, traditions; seeded discontent? Worse for immigrants
• Augustan grain/cash handouts up to 320,000 (his Res Gestae).
 11.3
Areas of the Roman Economy
 Areas of the Roman Economy

• Land and Agriculture

• Crafts, Production and Trade
• Transport
• Coins & Money
• Banking, Moneylending and interest rates
• Taxation
 Agriculture

• Agriculture remained the

single most important
element of the Roman
economy for most of the
Republic and Empire
 The Art of Farming
(McGeogh 2004, 99-101)

• Two principal kinds (dependent on prevailing climate

and soil conditions)
1. Dry farming: issues of water management
(Mediterranean climate: unpredictable rainfall); terracing
techniques; light plough and simple hand tools
• Two field/two year system; planting in Oct-Dec.
Harvesting in Jun-Jul.
2. Wet farming: typical of Northern Europe; heavier plough
pulled by draft animals
• Less work-intensive, more predictable, higher yields
 The Art of Farming
(McGeogh 2004, 99-101)

• Cereals (esp. wheat and barley) crucial to the Roman diet;

large estates often produced cash crops; grain increasingly
imported from abroad starting in later Republic (esp. from Egypt).
• Animals crucial:

1. Oxen supply the muscle.

2. Cattle, sheep, pigs important source of meat.
3. Sheep more important for textile production.
4. Manure used as fertilizer;
• Pastoralism often conducted separately from (and often in
competition with) agriculture.
 Agriculture and the Population
• How many free men (and
women) involved in
agriculture?
• Most non-elite men?
Slaves as “working class”
• Or did the huge, elite
“latifundia” (estates) take
up substantial part of
agricultural production
(therefore far fewer non-
elites involved)?
 The Family (subsistence) Farm
• Most common form of land ownership from early
Republic
• Seen as ancient tradition by Romans: the hard-
working, no-frills basis of Roman success
• Produce just enough to make ends meet; Good years
produce surpluses to be sold in market.
• “The survival of the peasantry depended upon their
success in following a low-risk production strategy,
and in establishing and making the most of social and
economic links with their equals and superiors in
society” (Garnsey 1998, 43)
 The Family (subsistence) Farm
• Worked primarily by
owners (i.e. the
family), sometimes
assisted by one or
more slaves.
• Marius (107 BCE)
admits populus to
army: manpower
• Subject to weather, price shortage kept farms
fluctuations small, sometimes
• Farming often romanticized – non-viable (Morley
by the rich. 2006, 37)
The Romantic Imagery of Vergil
“What makes the cornfield smile; beneath what star
Maecenas, it is meet to turn the sod
Or marry elm with vine; how tend the steer;
What pains for cattle-keeping, or what proof
Of patient trial serves for thrifty bees;—
Such are my themes. O universal lights
Most glorious! ye that lead the gliding year
Along the sky, Liber and Ceres mild,
If by your bounty open earth once changed
Chaonian acorn for the plump wheat-ear,
And mingled with the grape, your new-found gift,
The draughts of Achelous; and ye Fauns
To rustics ever kind, come foot it, Fauns
And Dryad-maids together; your gifts I sing.”
(Vergil, Georgics 1.1-15. Trans. J.B. Greenough, 1900)
 The Life of a Small Farmer: The Reality
“And now night had completed twice five winter hours, and the winged sentry
announced the new day with his crowing. Simulus, the peasant farmer of a meager
little plot, worried about gnawing hunger on this coming day. He slowly raised his weary
limbs from his ugly little cot. With anxious hand he groped through the stagnant
darkness and felt his way to the fireplace, burning his hand when he touched it. One
tiny spark remained from a burned log, but the ashes concealed the glow of live flames
underneath. Stooping over, he moved his lamp forward, close to these embers, and
drew out with a needle the dry wick. With frequent huffs and puffs, he stirred up the
sluggish fire….He unlocked the cupboard door with a key. Spread out on the cupboard
floor was a paltry pile of grain. From this he took for himself as much as his measuring
bucket held. He moved over to the mill and put his trusty lamp on a small shelf built
onto the wall for the purpose. The he slipped off his outer garment and, clad only in a
shaggy goatskin, he swept the stones and the inner portion of the mill. He put both
hands to his work…The grain which was ground by the rapid blows of the millstone
poured out as flour…At times he sang songs and eased his labor with a rural tune. Or
he shouted for Scybale. She was his only companion, an African woman…He called
her and told her to put firewood on the fireplace and to heat up some cold water…
Meanwhile, hardworking Scybale plucked the bread out of the fireplace. Simulus
happily took a piece in his hand. Now that he put aside the fear of hunger and was free
of anxiety, at least for this day, he tied his leggings on his legs, covered his head with a
leather cap, yoked his obedient oxen, drove them into the field, and sank his plow into
the earth.” (Moretum, Anonymous 1-24, 27, 29-37, 52-54, 117-122. Jo Ann Shelton,
Doc. 191).
Latifundia
 Latifundia
• Massive estates run by gangs of slaves.
• Increasingly prominent from the age of the Gracchi.
• Farming manuals written by aristocracy (Cato, Varro,
Columella) for running latifundia
• Produced massive surpluses for commercial purposes.
• Often produced cash crops (i.e. grapes, olives, figs, nuts,
vegetables).
• Often a cause of tremendous social dislocation: large
estates better equipped to survive uncertain seasons;
diversification of properties and crops possible
• Drive down prices; buy up smaller farmers who cannot
compete, who become urban poor
 Appian on the Growth of Latifundia in the Time of the
Gracchi and its Consequences
“However, something quite different happened. Wealthy men took
over the majority of the undistributed public land and were
encouraged by the passage of time to think that they would never be
evicted. Moreover, they gained possession of adjacent plots and
whatever little parcels were farmed by poor families, sometimes
persuading the person to sell, sometimes taking it by force. Thus
they were farming vast acreages instead of small plots and using
slaves as farmworkers and herdsmen because free workers could be
taken away from agriculture for military service. At the same time,
their ownership of slaves brought them considerable profit because
the slaves had many children with no threat of being called for
military service. And therefore certain powerful men became
extremely wealthy, and the class of slaves increased throughout the
country, but the Italian people decreased in numbers and strength
since they were hard pressed by poverty, taxes, and military
service.” (Appian, Civil Wars 1.1.7,9,10,11. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc.
187)
 Tenant Farming and Sharecropping
• Increasingly common from the early 2nd century CE.
• Latifundia run by slaves often economically inefficient
(all their needs met by owner); slave supply shrinking (?).
• Large estates divided into smaller plots and leased to
tenants in exchange for cash rent, labor, % of the crop.
• Less supervision by owner; especially suitable for plots
far away
• Lasted well into Medieval period: possibly strong
influence on feudalism (also influenced by Germanic
social structures)
 Columella on the Advantages of Tenant
Farmers
“Particular care is required of the landowner in other matters, but
especially in dealing with people, by which I mean either the tenant
farmers or the slaves (either chained or unchained). He should deal
courteously with the tenants and make himself accessible, and
demand hard work more insistently than rent payments, since this
behavior is less offensive an yet, in general, more profitable. For
when farmland is cultivated carefully, it most often brings a profit, and
never a loss unless major destruction by storm or a vandal occurs…I
myself remember hearing Publius Volusius…declare that the most
productive estate was one which had tenants who were born there
and were bound as if to ancestral property by ties of long familiarity,
as far back as even the cradle…On far-off estates, to which visits by
the owner are not very easy, it is in the long run preferable to keep the
land under free tenant farmers rather than under slave overseers.”
(Columella, On Agriculture 1.7.7-3, 6-7. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 189)
 Sharecropping
“…I am detained by the necessity of leasing my estates and
settling these lease arrangements for several years to come.
I must adopt a new system. During the past five years,
despite considerable decreases in rents, the arrears
increased. As a result, many of my tenants are no longer
concerned about reducing their debts to me since they feel
they have no hope of being able to pay them off. They even
seize and eat the produce of the land…One way for
remedying them would be to lease the land not for cash but
for a share of the produce, and to place some of my own
men as overseers to supervise the work and guard the
produce…This experiment demands great honesty, keen
watchfulness, and many working hands.” (Pliny the Younger,
Letters 9.37. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 190)
 Crafts and Production
(McGeogh 2004, 101-05)

• High degree of job specialization: more

than 200 job areas in archaeological
record; esp. urban dwellers
• Evidence: archaeological remains, visual
depictions, literary descriptions,
inscriptions etc
• Mining and Quarrying: for precious ores
(from which metals extracted); huge
scale; sites in poor condition, hard to
date; preference for above-ground work;
also vertical shafts; unpleasant: labor
force mainly slaves, condemned criminals
 Crafts and Production
(McGeogh 2004, 101-05)

• Metallurgy: creating usable objects from

metal extracts; investment in materials,
equipment, manpower; processing from
ores (very high heat), mixing of metals (eg
bronze = tin + copper), casting into ingots;
later melting down, shaping; hammering,
engraving, cast into molds, etc
• Carpentry and Woodworking: high demand
for boats, carts, tools, housing, furniture etc
• Pottery
• Textiles: in the home or large scale commercial; wool, flax,
hemp; spinning, weaving; washing, treating (urine!); leather.
Metal Workers
 Trade and Markets

Earning a living through trade alone

was regarded as disreputable.
Senators were forbidden by law.
 But Traders could become
very wealthy
n Scenes of Roman Trade
Activity
 Trade and Markets
• Small farmers & large estates sell surplus in local markets
• Craftsmen and artisans sell goods in local markets
• Different markets in different places, different days
(nundinae)
• Equestrian families, wealthy freedmen frequently engaged
in large scale trade (i.e. banking, shipping, import/export of
luxury items; supplying army; slave trade) – Negotiatores.
• Smaller traders (Mercatores) sold goods in shops in local
markets.
• Negotiatores and Mercatores could also be slaves /
employees of wealthier individuals.
 Market Days (Nundinae)

“In time of peace he accustomed them to remain at

their tasks in the country, except when it was
necessary for them to come to market, upon which
occasions they were to meet in the city in order to
traffic, and to that end he appointed every ninth day
for the markets.” (Dionysius, Roman Antiquities,
2.28. Trans. E. Cary, 1937)
Shop fronts, Fortuna St, Pompeii

[Link]
More Modest Market Scene

[Link]
Trajan’s Market (114 CE)

[Link]
 Trajan’s
Market
(114 CE)

[Link]
Weights and Measures
Market Stalls in Pompeii

[Link]
 Door to Door Mercatores
“Wherever you go nowadays, you see more wagons in front of city
homes than you would see in the country if you went to visit a
farm. But even this is a welcome sight compared to the tradesmen
and craftsmen come around to collect payment. On your doorstep
stand the clothes cleaner, the clothes dyer, the goldsmith, the
wool weaver, the man who sells lace and the man who sells
underwear, makers of veils, sellers of purple dye, sellers of yellow
dye, makers of muffs and shoemakers who add balsam scent to
their shoes, linen retailers, bootmakers, squatting cobblers, and
slipper makers, sandal makers, and fabric stainers. They all
demand payment – the cleaners, the dyers, the tailors, the belt
makers, and the girdle makers. And just when you think you’ve
paid them all, they leave, but others appear…” (Plautus, The Pot
of Gold 502-522. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 164)
 International Trade
(McGeogh 2004, 106-08)

• Important from very early on; grew with Roman expansion

• Containers survived, not the goods in them
• Shipwrecks
• Early / Republic: informal, between major familiae
• Pompey defeats Mediterranean pirates: facilitates a higher
volume of international trade
• Empire: more important component of the economy
• Rome the centre of international trade networks from India,
China to Scandinavia (material evidence discovered there)
 Rome the Centre of Mediterranean Trade
“Large continents lie all around the Mediterranean, and from them, to you, flow
constant supplies of goods. Everything is shipped to you, from every land and from
every sea – the products of each season, of each country, of each river and lake, the
crafts of Greeks and other foreigners. As a result, if anyone wants to see all these
items, he must either travel through the whole world to behold them, or live in this
city. Everything that is grown or manufactured by each people is not only always
present here, but is present in abundance. So many ships land here bringing cargo
from all over, during every season, after every harvest. And thus the city seems like a
common market for the world. You can see so many cargoes from India or, if you
wish, Arabia Felix, that you might think the trees in those countries had been left
permanently bare and that the inhabitants would have to come to Rome if they
needed anything, to beg for their own goods. Clothing from the Babylonians and
ornaments from foreign lands beyond arrive here in greater quantity and more easily
than goods shipped from Naxos or Cythnos to Athens. Egypt, Sicily, and the
cultivated part of Libya are your farms. The arrival and the departure of ships never
cease. And consequently it is amazing that there is enough room in the sea, much
less the harbor, for the ships…Everything comes together here: trade and
commerce, the transportation industry, agriculture, metallurgy, every skill which
exists now and has existed, all that is produced and grows.” (Aelius Aristides, 3rd
Cent CE; In Praise of Rome 200,201, 349-351. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 172)
Unloading a ship
 How Trimalchio Became Rich
“But like I was saying, friends, it’s through my business sense
that I shot up. Why, when I came here from Asia, I stood no
taller than that candlestick there….For fourteen years I was my
master’s pet. But what’s the shame in doing what you’re told to
do? But all the same, if you know what I mean, I managed to
do my mistress a favour or two. But mum’s the word….Well
then heaven gave me a push and I became master in the
house. I was my master’s brains. So he made me joint heir
with the emperor to everything he had, and I came out of it with
a senator’s fortune….To cut it short, I had five ships built. Then
I stocked them with wine – worth its weight in gold at the time –
and shipped them off to Rome….I shipped a cargo of wine,
bacon, beans, perfume, and slaves….On that voyage alone I
cleared about five hundred thousand. Right away I bought up
all my old master’s property. I built a house, I went into slave-
trading and cattle buying…..” (Petronius, Satyrica – Lim &
Bailkey, 2005)
 11.4
Money, Finance, Banking, Taxation
 Money
• Before 3rd Century BCE, Roman coins consisted of the aes
rude (a lump of raw bronze).
• Proper coinage emerges in early 3rd Century BCE; the As
the base currency.
• Initially square pieces of bronze stamped by the moneyer and
made to a specific weight.
• Rome’s military expansion in 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE
increased the monetization of the economy.
• Denarius (silver coin) minted from the 2nd Punic War.
• Aureus (gold coin) minted from the late Republic.
Aureus of Augustus
(24-20 BCE)

• Coins used in Rome for:

standard of value, storage
of wealth, economic
transactions
• Used full range of coin
denominations: use by all?
• Smaller scale usage than
modern economies
• More in urban settings
than rural and some
provinces
 Money
• Minting coins monopolized by the imperial family starting
in the Principate
• Iconography a powerful propaganda tool.
• Little understanding of fiscal theory; fiscal needs met
by:
1. Minting more coins.
2. Playing with weight.
3. Playing with precious metal content; all three can lead to
(hyper)inflation.
• Esp. problematic at the accession of Diocletion (284 CE).
Roman Denarii
Aureus of Septimius Severus
 Taxes and Taxation
• Taxes existed on a variety of items; aim to increase state
income; money, services, goods in kind; Land the most
significant.
• Early Republic: ager publicus main source of taxation.
• Tributum (tribute: personal) implemented with Roman
expansion.
• Principate – no separation between state revenues and the
emperor’s personal revenues (i.e the imperial fiscus); imperial
fiscus administered by appointees (freedmen or equestrians).
• Tax collection auctioned off to publicani; guaranteed a
stable source of state revenue.
 Investment Activity
• Real estate the most
common type of
investment for excess
capital; both agricultural
and urban; profit derived
through rents etc.
• “For the wealthier
Romans, those for
whom investment was
an option, business
life revolved around
• Some evidence of real the patrimonial estate”
estate speculation. (McGeogh 2004, 111)
 Investment Activity
• Government contracts (i.e. for roads, aqueducts etc)
potentially lucrative.
• Publicanus bids on a state contract; puts up land as
guarantee of work.
• Societas = a group of publicani; pooled resources to bid on
a contract together.
• Money lending – Wealthy individuals/group of individuals
lend money to individuals or even towns; charge rate of
interest (regulated by law); a dishonorable profession.
• Patron-Client system crucial to business activity; Rome’s
elite circumvent stigma of business activities through the use
of agents (esp. freedmen).
Bankers/Moneychangers
• Republic: minting and
deposits of coins in
temples
• Empire: in private
depositories
• Argentarius: banker,
money-changer
• Stalls in courtyards,
forum; bench = bancu
• “Bank”
A Rental Advertisement:
CIL 4.138 (ILS 6035)

The Arrius Pollio Apartment

Complex owned by Gnaeus
Allius Nigidius Maius FOR
RENT from July 1 streetfront
shops with counter space,
luxurious second-story
apartments, and a townhouse.
Prospective renters, please
make arrangements with
Primus, slave of Gnaeus Allius
Nigidius Maius.” (J. Shelton,
1998)
 Crassus the Real Estate Speculator
“Most of his money, if one must tell the truth, however scandalous,
he acquired through fire and war, making public disasters his
greatest source of income. For example, when Sulla took control of
Rome and sold off the property of those men proscribed by him,
considering it and calling it “spoils of war” he wanted to implicate in
his crime as many of the most influential men as he could. And
Crassus was not at all hesitant to accept or to buy property from
Sulla. In addition, since he realized how familiar and how common
at Rome were calamitous fires and collapses of buildings because
the structures were too heavy and too close together, he bought
slaves who were architects and builders. When he had over five
hundred such slaves, he used to buy houses that were on fire, and
houses next to those on fire, since the owners would sell at a very
low price because of their fear and uncertainty. Thus, the greater
part of Rome came into his possession…” (Plutarch, Life of
Crassus 2.1-6. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 177)
 A Government Contract at Puteoli (105 BCE)

“Contract for building a wall in the vacant lot in front of the temple of
Serapis across the road: the contractor shall provide bondsmen and shall
register their properties as securities at the discretion of the duovirs. In the
middle of this wall, which is the vacant lot across the road and which is
near the road, he shall make an opening for a doorway. He shall make it
six feet wide and seven feet high. From the wall he shall extend out
toward the sea two columns two feet long and one foot three inches thick.
Above the doorway he shall place a lintel of oak wood eight feet long, one
foot three inches wide, and nine inches thick…He shall complete the
whole project at the discretion of the duovirs and the council of ex-duovirs
who govern Puteoli, provided that not less than twenty members are
present when the matter is discussed. Whatever is approved of by twenty
of them on oath shall be legally binding; whatever is not approved of by
them shall not be legally binding. Day for the work to begin: Next
November 1. Day of Payment: one half the total payment shall be made
when the properties of the bondsmen have been registered. The other half
shall be paid when the work has been completed and approved.” (ROL 4,
pp. 274-278, CIL 1.2.698. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 178)
 A Loan Agreement (Dacia, 162 CE)
“Julius Alexander, the lender, required a promise in good faith that
the loan of 60 denarii of genuine and sound coin would be duly
settled on the day he requested it. Alexander, son of Cariccius,
the borrower, promised in good faith that it would be so settled,
and declared that he had received the sixty denarii mentioned
above, in cash, as a loan, and that he owed them. Julius
Alexander required a promise in good faith that the interest on this
principal from this day would be one percent per thirty days and
would be paid to Julius Alexander or to whomever it might in the
future concern. Alexander, son of Cariccius, promised in good
faith that it would be so paid. Titius Primitius stood surety for the
due and proper payment of the principal mentioned above and the
interest. Transacted at Alburnus Maior, October 20, in the
consulship of Rusticus (his second consulship) and Aquilinus.”
(FIRA 3, p. 393, CIL 3, pp. 934, 935. Jo Ann Shelton, Doc. 173)
 A Loan Company in Dacia (167 CE)
“A partnership for moneylending has been formed between
Cassius Frontinus and Julius Alexander, to continue from
December 23 of last year, when Pudens and Polio were consuls,
until next April 12. They agreed that they would be obligated to
assume in equal proportions whatever happened to the capital
investment in this partnership, whether profit or loss occurred.
Julius Alexander contributed to this partnership 500 denarii…and
Secundus, slave and agent of Cassius Palumbus, contributed 267
denarii for Frontinus…In this partnership, if either member has
been discovered to have perpetrated a fraud with malice
aforethought, he will be obligated to pay the other one denarius
for each as, and 20 denarii for each denarius. And when the term
of the agreement has expired, they will obligated to recover the
sums mentioned above, allowing for loans still outstanding, and to
divide up any profit…This agreement was made at Deusara on
March 28 in the consulship of Verus (his third consulship) and
Quadratus.” (FIRA 3, p.481. CIL 3, pp. 950,951, 2215. Jo Ann
Shelton, Doc. 174)
 Sources
• Gibbs, Matt. “The Economy.” Themes in Roman Society and
Culture, edited by Gibbs, Nikolic & Ripat. OUP, 2014, pp.329-54
• Andreau, Jean. Banking and Business in the Roman World. CUP,
1999.
• Finley, M.I. The Ancient Economy. U of California P, 1985.
• McGeogh, Kevin M. The Romans: An Introduction. OUP, 2004
• Ward, Allen M; Fritz M. Heichelheim & Cedric A. Yeo. A History
of the Roman People, 6th Ed. Pearson, 2014.
• Atkins, Margaret & Robin Osborne, eds. Poverty in the Roman
World. CUP, 2006.
 Sources
• Morley, Neville. “The Poor in the City of Rome.” Atkins &
Osborne 2006, 21-39)
• Garnsey, Peter. Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman
World. CUP, 1988.
• Garnsey, Peter & Richard Saller. The Roman Empire: Economy,
Society and Culture. Duckworth. 1987.