Economy and supply

A review of the contribution that the study of London makes to our understanding of the ancient economy. It explores the economic impact of the large-scale movement of goods and supplies required to support military advance, and to meet the expectations of the unusually large garrison stationed in Britain. The underwriting of these food supplies can be treated as an early form of military annona, sharing characteristics with arrangements made for the feeding of larger cities. It is argued that London’s economy and port, revolved around the needs of annona supply embracing military and civilian consumers. The infrastructure developed to support the annona stimulated a wider trade in luxury imports, best evidenced by the pottery carried to and through London (such as Samian and amphorae). This long-distance supply is the most archaeologically evident aspect of London’s Roman economy. The use of coin is another, and this chapter reviews the use of small change within London’s internal economy and local taxes. Coin-based market economies may not have penetrated far into the surrounding countryside, where subsistence and peasant farming was allowed to persist and rent and tax could be obtained through sharecropping and other ‘in kind’ arrangements.

Plant Economy in the Westernmost Territory of the Roman State Through Waste: The Wet Site of O Areal (Vigo, Spain)

The Roman economy of the Iberian Peninsula has habitually been characterised in terms of prestige goods and economic activities such as trade, mining and metallurgy. The analysis of plant-based foods –less prestigious but more essential in everyday life– has commonly been marginalised in state-of-the-art reviews. The O Areal saltworks is exceptional in terms of the large number of organic materials it preserves, and the excellent state of that preservation. After its abandonment (end of the 3rd/4th century AD), the saltworks was briefly used as a dumping ground for the surrounding area. The site's archaeobotanical remains, preserved under anoxic, waterlogged conditions, consist of the building materials used at the saltworks, tools and other artefacts, organic objects employed in activities such as fishing, and refuse. The assemblage suggests a wide diversity of species to have been introduced into northwestern Iberia during the Roman Period, including the mulberry, peach, fig, plum, grapevine, and melon. The notable presence of other edible fruit species that normally grew wild during this period, such as chestnut, walnut, stone pine, and cherry trees, might be related to the start of their cultivation.

The Roman Hinterland Project: Integrating Archaeological Field Surveys around Rome and Beyond

This article presents the background to and prospects for a new initiative in archaeological field survey and database integration. The Roman Hinterland Project combines data from the Tiber Valley Project, Roman Suburbium Project, and the Pontine Region Project into a single database, which the authors believe to be one of the most complete repositories of data for the hinterland of a major ancient metropolis, covering nearly 2000 years of history. The logic of combining these databases in the context of studying the Roman landscape is explained and illustrated with analyses that show their capacity to contribute to major debates in Roman economy, demography, and the longue durée of the human condition in a globalizing world.

Taskscapes, Landscapes, and the Politics of Agricultural Production in Roman Mosaics

In recent years archaeologists have put forward explanations of the design and impact of mythological and allegorical scenes in mosaics as part of elite Roman visual culture. While scenes of labor have served as evidence to accompany archaeological data on rural life, depictions of labor have received comparatively less attention as part of Roman ideological structures. Through an analysis of mosaics of the imperial period, this article demonstrates the value of adapting Timothy Ingold’s concept of taskscape for understanding the elite strategies of cultural hegemony underlying depictions of agricultural work in Roman art and showcases an approach to the Roman economy rooted in this particular body of anthropological theory. Elites used a set of visual strategies, Roman taskscape features, to promote their ongoing control over agricultural production, a strategy that endured across the Roman world for generations.

Why Cato did not want to feed the sick slaves, or Some observations on the Roman economy of slavery

The article is devoted to the study of the Second Chapter Agriculture of Cato the Elder. The author pays the main attention to the advice of Cato not to give full rations to sick slaves, which became widely known thanks to the biographical work of Plutarch. Not denying the possibility the existence of such a practice, the author attempts to identify its roots, originating in the traditions of traditional medicine, which is reflected in the 126-157 chapters of Catos Agriculture. In particular, attention is drawn to the author's repeated mention that medication should be taken on an empty stomach, for which Cato consistently uses the Latin term ieiunus. In particular, the author draws attention to the fact that Cato often mentions that the intake of medicines should be made on a empty stomach, for which the Roman author often uses the Latin term ieiunus. In general, the text of Catos work reflects work reflects as archaic beliefs and norms, as well as new concepts and values.