CLASS 7756 - [The Roman Economy]

(crosslisted) ARKEO 7756

Spring. Next Offered: 2020-2021. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Undergraduates should contact the professor prior to registration.

A. Van Oyen.

How did a large-scale pre-industrial empire like the Roman feed its citizens? How were its consumer goods produced and traded? How did town and countryside engage in this trade? Can we detect economic growth in the Roman world? What was the role of standardization? Was the Roman economy anything like the modern one, and can we use modern economic theory to study its dynamics? This course examines central questions in the study of the Roman economy, with a particular emphasis on theoretical and epistemological assumptions, and on assessing the potential of different types of evidence.