Civic Order and Contract Enforcement

2019 ◽  
pp. 125-167
Author(s):  
Taco Terpstra
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Emergent Property ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Contract Enforcement ◽  
Enhancing Effect ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Single State ◽  
Enforcement Costs ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

This chapter looks at contract enforcement and transaction costs under the Roman Empire. The unification of the Mediterranean Basin by a single state ameliorated economic conditions in practical ways: monetary and metrological systems were standardized, removing costly barriers to trade. Legal rules were standardized as well, which held the potential for an even greater transaction-cost-reducing effect. However, without third-party enforcement, private means still had to be employed to enforce contracts. It is therefore not immediately clear why transacting parties would adopt the Roman legal system. The chapter then argues that contracts drawn up in accordance with imperial law and in the presence of witnesses were “publicly embedded,” which increased their enforceability and reduced enforcement costs. Indeed, this enforcement-enhancing effect was an “emergent property,” the result of legal, social, and ideological factors interacting in an undesigned and unintended fashion.

Roman Magic Figurines from the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire: An Archaeological Survey

Britannia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 93-110
Author(s):  
Magali Bailliot
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

AbstractThis paper deals with magic figurines from the Western provinces of the Roman Empire based on an inventory of twelve figurines and their archaeological context. It underlines the place of the figurines in the ritual ofdefixioand demonstrates that complex curse rituals such as those described in the Greek Magical Papyri (GMP) were not performed only in the Mediterranean basin. It also notes that these magic Western figurines are often found in important places (such as cities and large villas) and in late contexts.

Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua M. White
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Comprehensive Examination ◽  
Legal Space ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
First Time ◽  
Eastern Half ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the shape and impact of piracy in the eastern half of the Mediterranean and the Ottoman Empire’s administrative, legal, and diplomatic response. In the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, piracy had a tremendous effect on the formation of international law, the conduct of diplomacy, the articulation of Ottoman imperial and Islamic law, and their application in Ottoman courts. Piracy and Law draws on research in archives and libraries in Istanbul, Venice, Crete, London, and Paris to bring the Ottoman state and Ottoman victims into the story for the first time. It explains why piracy exploded after the 1570s and why the Ottoman state was largely unable to marshal an effective military solution even as it responded dynamically in the spheres of law and diplomacy. By focusing on the Ottoman victims, jurists, and officials who had to contend most with the consequences of piracy, Piracy and Law reveals a broader range of piratical practitioners than the Muslim and Catholic corsairs who have typically been the focus of study and considers their consequences for the Ottoman state and those who traveled through Ottoman waters. This book argues that what made the eastern half of the Mediterranean basin the Ottoman Mediterranean, more than sovereignty or naval supremacy—which was ephemeral—was that it was a legal space. The challenge of piracy helped to define its contours.

Unfinished and Less Authored Texts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew D. C. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Jewish Writers

The concept of textual unfinishedness played a role in a wide variety of cultures and contexts across the Mediterranean basin in antiquity and late antiquity. Chapter 2 documents examples of Greek, Roman, and Jewish writers reflecting explicitly in their own words about unfinished texts. Many writers claimed to have written unfinished texts on purpose for specific cultural reasons, while others claimed to have written texts that slipped out of their hands somehow with their permission.

The Alphabet and its Legacy

2019 ◽  
pp. 240-255
Author(s):  
Madadh Richey
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Generative Power ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Alphabetic Writing ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

The alphabet employed by the Phoenicians was the inheritor of a long tradition of alphabetic writing and was itself adapted for use throughout the Mediterranean basin by numerous populations speaking many languages. The present contribution traces the origins of the alphabet in Sinai and the Levant before discussing different alphabetic standardizations in Ugarit and Phoenician Tyre. The complex adaptation of the latter for representation of the Greek language is described in detail, then some brief attention is given to likely—Etruscan and other Italic alphabets—and possible (Iberian and Berber) descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. Finally, it is stressed that current research does not view the Phoenician and other alphabets as inherently simpler, more easily learned, or more democratic than other writing systems. The Phoenician alphabet remains, nevertheless, an impressive technological development worthy, especially by virtue of its generative power, of detailed study ranging from paleographic and orthographic specifications to social and political contextualization.

scholarly journals Edible Insects and Global Food Security

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 472
Author(s):  
Fabio Verneau ◽  
Mario Amato ◽  
Francesco La La Barbera
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Central America ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Edible Insects ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Global Food ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Starting in 2008 and lasting up until 2011, the crisis in agricultural and, in particular, cereal prices triggered a period of riots that spread from the Mediterranean basin to the rest of the world, reaching from Asia to Central America and the African continent. [...]

scholarly journals Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO): Quality, Safety, Authenticity, and Adulteration

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 995
Author(s):  
Theodoros Varzakas
Keyword(s):  
Food Intake ◽  
Olive Oil ◽  
Mediterranean Diet ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Virgin Olive Oil ◽  
Extra Virgin Olive Oil ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

The prevention and bioactivity effects associated with the so-called “Mediterranean diet” make olive oil the most consumed edible fat in the food intake of the Mediterranean basin [...]

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