DOCSLIB.ORG

Trade in the Roman Empire: a Study of the Institutional Framework

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Trade in the Roman Empire: a Study of the Institutional Framework Trade in the Roman Empire: A Study of the Institutional Framework Taco T. Terpstra Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2011 © 2011 Taco Terpstra All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Trade in the Roman Empire: A Study of the Institutional Framework Taco Terpstra The leading question behind this dissertation is: how did trade operate in the Roman Empire under conditions of imperfect government enforcement in private contracting, and of imperfect information? The Roman State, unlike modern states, did not employ the powers at its disposal to enforce private contracts made under the rules of its legal system. Given the lack of government support, information on merchants’ reliability and trustworthiness was extremely important in conducting long-distance trade. However, under pre-industrial conditions information could only travel slowly, making it difficult for merchants to assess risk. This dissertation offers a micro-economic model of how these problems were solved in the Roman Empire. It argues that information circulated within networks defined by geographical origin, with the loss of one’s reputation or trading position within those networks forming the instrument of enforcement. The discussion consists of three main parts: intra- community trade in the Italian harbor-city of Puteoli; inter-community trade between the provinces and Puteoli, Ostia, and Rome; and finally inter-community trade between Italian merchants and the provinces. Introduction 1 I. Intra-community exchange and the use of law in Puteoli Intra-community exchange in Puteoli 8 The Murecine tablets: archive and archaeology 11 Commerce and social standing in ancient Puteoli 16 Reputation-based versus law-based institutions 26 Path dependence: ‘history matters’ 36 Path dependence: ‘sunk’ organizational capital 43 Path dependence: satisfactory outcomes 51 Conclusion 57 II. The role of trading stations in overseas exchange in Puteoli Intra- and inter-community trade 60 Inter-community exchange and the debate on the Roman economy 63 Medieval inter-city trade 66 Individual legal responsibility; the Murecine tablets 71 A micro-economic model of long-distance exchange 78 The Tyrian trading station 84 Tyrian agents as a trading ‘bridge’ 94 Overseas agency as a general system of exchange in Puteoli 101 Conclusion 112 i III. Coalitions of foreign merchants and shipowners in Ostia The Maghribis’ coalition and medieval trade 115 Comparing the Maghribis and trade networks in the Roman Empire 119 The Ostian material evidence: the ‘piazzale delle corporazioni’ 121 Settlers from overseas living in Ostia 140 Conclusion 149 IV. Overseas trade and the city of Rome Orbis in urbe 152 Stationes on the Forum Iulium 156 Stationes on the Sacra Via 164 Ephesians in Rome 178 Palmyrenes in Rome 183 Syrians in Rome 194 The western provinces and Africa 199 Conclusion 203 V. Roman traders in the province of Asia The Roman East as a case-study 208 Law and life of Asia 216 Romans resident in Ephesus 236 Romans resident in Magnesia and Tralles 240 Romans resident in Apamea 248 ii The Roman settlers’ social position 253 Conclusion 269 Conclusion 272 Abbreviations & Bibliography 276 List of illustrations Fig. 1 ‘Piazzale delle corporazioni’ 151 Fig. 2 Forum Iulium with Clivus Argentarius 206 Fig. 3 Forum Iulium, Imperial fora, and Sacra Via 206 Fig. 4 Stationes on the Sacra Via 207 Fig. 5 Roman Asia Minor 271 iii Acknowledgements In the course of writing this dissertation I have incurred many debts of gratitude. First and foremost I am deeply indebted to my academic advisors, William Harris and Roger Bagnall, who over the years have provided me with essential guidance, comments, and criticism. During my seven years in Graduate School, their mentorship has been a constant reminder to me just how lucky and privileged I was, working with scholars and mentors of their stature. A number of people have contributed to this work with enthusiastic and critical comments. I would like to thank in particular: Justin Dombrowski, Emily Holt, Willem Jongman, Marco Maiuro, David Ratzan, Peter Temin, and Arjan Zuiderhoek. All of them have read parts or all of the manuscript and have provided me with valuable feedback. My deep gratitude also goes to the two dissertation committee members not so far mentioned: Adam Kosto and Ronald Findlay. I am very thankful to both for lending me their expertise; my dissertation is much the better for it. I would further like to express my gratitude to Columbia University for providing me with a Thompson Fellowship for research at the American Academy in Rome during the academic year 2008/2009. I would not have been able to write the third and fourth chapters of this dissertation as they now stand without this generous support. I would also like to thank Columbia’s Center for the Ancient Mediterranean for providing me with the opportunity to visit Turkey’s west coast during the Center’s field-trip in June 2008. The knowledge acquired on this trip has been of great help to me in writing chapter five. Finally I would like to thank my parents who, throughout my time in Graduate School, have been unwavering in their support for me. Their encouragement has been crucial; their sense of pride has been heartwarming. This dissertation is dedicated to them. New York, April 2011 iv Voor P&M v 1 Introduction This dissertation investigates Roman trade, more specifically – as the subtitle indicates – the institutional framework of Roman trade. Abstract though that may sound, the problems addressed are really very down-to-earth and concrete. The leading question behind the whole work can be summed up in a single sentence: how did trade operate in the Roman Empire under conditions of imperfect government enforcement and imperfect information? In the course of this dissertation I will elaborate further on this question, but let me here briefly explain what I mean. The Roman State commanded awe-inspiring powers of physical violence, and did not shy away from using them. However, unlike modern states it did not employ the powers at its disposal to enforce private contracts drawn up by ordinary individuals. The Roman legal system, in that sense, can be said to have been ‘imperfect’. A party to a contract confronted with a default could not call upon the help of the Roman authorities to make a contractual partner honor his obligations. Of course, he could take a defaulter to court, but even with a favorable verdict in hand the vindicated litigant was still pretty much on his own. Ordinarily, no police or military unit would have been available to back him up in putting the court’s ruling into effect. This is not to say that such help will never have been granted. There will doubtless have been instances where the Roman administration – central or provincial – for whatever reason thought it expedient to lend some muscle to an individual litigant. But the point here is that any such help would have been random and arbitrary; it could not be relied upon. Government enforcement simply did not form part of the Roman legal institution in the way it forms part of the legal institution of, for instance, the United States. 2 Since the lightning-fast means of communication we take for granted were unavailable to the Romans, information could only move as fast as sails and legs would allow. The slowness with which information traveled formed a serious constraint on overseas business, a constraint felt increasingly with growing distance. For anyone intending to enter into a transaction with someone in a far-away place it was difficult to assess risk; the data were few, and evaluating their accuracy was a slow and challenging task. How, then, was Empire-wide trade conducted if merchants could not count on third-party enforcement of their contracts, and could not easily gather information on trading conditions in overseas locales? This dissertation offers a model of how such trade operated. Put in the briefest of terms, the argument put forward is that information circulated within small but far-reaching groups defined by origin, with loss of reputation or trading position within those groups forming the instrument of enforcement. In broad outline, the discussion moves geographically outward from the imperial center, consisting of three main parts. The first looks at trade at an intra-community level in a city at the very heart of the Empire: Puteoli (chapter 1). Within a relatively small community, information will have been readily available, although government enforcement was still lacking. I will argue that in the Puteolan community, Roman law was the default mode for economic interaction and conflict resolution, a situation that was the result of a ‘path-dependent’ process; the rules of the Roman imperial legal system had become deeply imbedded as a social convention, creating further behavior that conformed to that particular convention. The ‘embeddedness’ of the rules ensured that they would be followed continuously, in effect ensuring enforcement of private contracts. The second part brings the wider world outside Italy into the discussion, focusing on long-distance inter-community trade. The goal of this second part is to study how traders from 3 the provinces managed to do business in Italian cities. Chapter 2 builds on the findings from the first chapter, analyzing how merchants from other communities managed to trade in Puteoli. It will argue that exchange was conducted through local ‘colonies’ of immigrant merchants domiciled permanently in the city. Chapter 3 then addresses the question how long-distance trading networks operated internally, and how behavior was regulated within them. The chapter takes Ostia as an example, considering most of all the evidence from the so-called ‘piazzale delle corporazioni’.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Calendrical Calculations: Third Edition
    Notes and Errata for Calendrical Calculations: Third Edition Nachum Dershowitz and Edward M. Reingold Cambridge University Press, 2008 4:00am, July 24, 2013 Do I contradict myself ? Very well then I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.) —Walt Whitman: Song of Myself All those complaints that they mutter about. are on account of many places I have corrected. The Creator knows that in most cases I was misled by following. others whom I will spare the embarrassment of mention. But even were I at fault, I do not claim that I reached my ultimate perfection from the outset, nor that I never erred. Just the opposite, I always retract anything the contrary of which becomes clear to me, whether in my writings or my nature. —Maimonides: Letter to his student Joseph ben Yehuda (circa 1190), Iggerot HaRambam, I. Shilat, Maaliyot, Maaleh Adumim, 1987, volume 1, page 295 [in Judeo-Arabic] Cuiusvis hominis est errare; nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare. [Any man can make a mistake; only a fool keeps making the same one.] —Attributed to Marcus Tullius Cicero If you find errors not given below or can suggest improvements to the book, please send us the details (email to [email protected] or hard copy to Edward M. Reingold, Department of Computer Science, Illinois Institute of Technology, 10 West 31st Street, Suite 236, Chicago, IL 60616-3729 U.S.A.). If you have occasion to refer to errors below in corresponding with the authors, please refer to the item by page and line numbers in the book, not by item number.
    [Show full text]
  • Waters of Rome Journal
    TIBER RIVER BRIDGES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF ROME Rabun Taylor [email protected] Introduction arly Rome is usually interpreted as a little ring of hilltop urban area, but also the everyday and long-term movements of E strongholds surrounding the valley that is today the Forum. populations. Much of the subsequent commentary is founded But Rome has also been, from the very beginnings, a riverside upon published research, both by myself and by others.2 community. No one doubts that the Tiber River introduced a Functionally, the bridges in Rome over the Tiber were commercial and strategic dimension to life in Rome: towns on of four types. A very few — perhaps only one permanent bridge navigable rivers, especially if they are near the river’s mouth, — were private or quasi-private, and served the purposes of enjoy obvious advantages. But access to and control of river their owners as well as the public. ThePons Agrippae, discussed traffic is only one aspect of riparian power and responsibility. below, may fall into this category; we are even told of a case in This was not just a river town; it presided over the junction of the late Republic in which a special bridge was built across the a river and a highway. Adding to its importance is the fact that Tiber in order to provide access to the Transtiberine tomb of the river was a political and military boundary between Etruria the deceased during the funeral.3 The second type (Pons Fabri- and Latium, two cultural domains, which in early times were cius, Pons Cestius, Pons Neronianus, Pons Aelius, Pons Aure- often at war.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Rome
    Ancient Rome William E. Dunstan ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK ................. 17856$ $$FM 09-09-10 09:17:21 PS PAGE iii Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright ᭧ 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All maps by Bill Nelson. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. The cover image shows a marble bust of the nymph Clytie; for more information, see figure 22.17 on p. 370. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dunstan, William E. Ancient Rome / William E. Dunstan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7425-6832-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7425-6833-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7425-6834-1 (electronic) 1. Rome—Civilization. 2. Rome—History—Empire, 30 B.C.–476 A.D. 3. Rome—Politics and government—30 B.C.–476 A.D. I. Title. DG77.D86 2010 937Ј.06—dc22 2010016225 ⅜ϱ ீThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/ NISO Z39.48–1992. Printed in the United States of America ................
    [Show full text]
  • Bullard Eva 2013 MA.Pdf
    Marcomannia in the making. by Eva Bullard BA, University of Victoria, 2008 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies Eva Bullard 2013 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Marcomannia in the making by Eva Bullard BA, University of Victoria, 2008 Supervisory Committee Dr. John P. Oleson, Department of Greek and Roman Studies Supervisor Dr. Gregory D. Rowe, Department of Greek and Roman Studies Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee John P. Oleson, Department of Greek and Roman Studies Supervisor Dr. Gregory D. Rowe, Department of Greek and Roman Studies Departmental Member During the last stages of the Marcommani Wars in the late second century A.D., Roman literary sources recorded that the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was planning to annex the Germanic territory of the Marcomannic and Quadic tribes. This work will propose that Marcus Aurelius was going to create a province called Marcomannia. The thesis will be supported by archaeological data originating from excavations in the Roman installation at Mušov, Moravia, Czech Republic. The investigation will examine the history of the non-Roman region beyond the northern Danubian frontier, the character of Roman occupation and creation of other Roman provinces on the Danube, and consult primary sources and modern research on the topic of Roman expansion and empire building during the principate. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee .....................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Large-Scale Mapping in the Early Empire
    13 · Roman Large-Scale Mapping in the Early Empire o. A. w. DILKE We have already emphasized that in the period of the A further stimulus to large-scale surveying and map­ early empire1 the Greek contribution to the theory and ping practice in the early empire was given by the land practice of small-scale mapping, culminating in the work reforms undertaken by the Flavians. In particular, a new of Ptolemy, largely overshadowed that of Rome. A dif­ outlook both on administration and on cartography ferent view must be taken of the history of large-scale came with the accession of Vespasian (T. Flavius Ves­ mapping. Here we can trace an analogous culmination pasianus, emperor A.D. 69-79). Born in the hilly country of the Roman bent for practical cartography. The foun­ north of Reate (Rieti), a man of varied and successful dations for a land surveying profession, as already noted, military experience, including the conquest of southern had been laid in the reign of Augustus. Its expansion Britain, he overcame his rivals in the fierce civil wars of had been occasioned by the vast program of colonization A.D. 69. The treasury had been depleted under Nero, carried out by the triumvirs and then by Augustus him­ and Vespasian was anxious to build up its assets. Fron­ self after the civil wars. Hyginus Gromaticus, author of tinus, who was a prominent senator throughout the Fla­ a surveying treatise in the Corpus Agrimensorum, tells vian period (A.D. 69-96), stresses the enrichment of the us that Augustus ordered that the coordinates of surveys treasury by selling to colonies lands known as subseciva.
    [Show full text]
  • Barking Riverside, London First Options Testing of Options: Sketch (Neighborhood Scale)
    CLIMATE-RESILIENT URBAN PLANS AND DESIGNS QUEZON CITY Tools for Design Development I - Urban Design as a Tool Planning Instruments •Philippine Development Plan / Regional Development Plan Comprehensive Plans, NEDA – National Economic and Development Authority •The Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) ~1:40 000 - 1: 20 000 strategic planning approach, specific proposals for guiding, regulating growth and development; considers all sectors significant in the development process consistent with and supportive of provincial plan provides guidelines for city/municipality, including •Zoning Ordinances (implementing tool of the CLUP) divides a territory into zones (residential, commercial, industrial, open space, etc) and specifies the nature and intensity of use of each zone. It is required to be updated every 5 years. •Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) Medium-term plan of action implementing the CLUP (3-6 years), covers the social, economic, infrastructure, environment and institutional sectors •Barangay Development Plan (BDP) socio-economic and physical plan of the barangay; includes priority programmes, projects and activities of the barangay development council enumerates specific programmes and projects and their costs; justifies the use of the Barangay’s share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) coming from the national government. Usually a list of projects. Urban Design “CityLife Masterplan” - Milano II - The Design Brief as Tool for Resilient Urban Design Instruments per Scale, New ZealandMetropolitan City-wide (urban area) Urban District PrivateNeighborhood Space Street Purpose of the Design Brief 1. The Task specifies what a project has to achieve, by what means, in what timeframe so the design team works towards the right direction (e.g. environmental targets, programme, demands for m²) 2.
    [Show full text]
  • 200 Bc - Ad 400)
    ARAM, 13-14 (2001-2002), 171-191 P. ARNAUD 171 BEIRUT: COMMERCE AND TRADE (200 BC - AD 400) PASCAL ARNAUD We know little of Beirut's commerce and trade, and shall probably continue to know little about this matter, despite a lecture given by Mrs Nada Kellas in 19961. In fact, the history of Commerce and Trade relies mainly on both ar- chaeological and epigraphical evidence. As far as archaeological evidence is concerned, one must remember that only artefacts strongly linked with ceram- ics, i.e. vases themselves and any items, carried in amphoras, (predominantly, but not solely, liquids, can give information about the geographical origin, date and nature of such products. The huge quantities of materials brought to the light by recent excavations in Beirut should, one day, provide us with new evi- dence about importations of such products in Beirut, but we will await the complete study of this material, which, until today by no means provided glo- bal statistics valid at the whole town scale. The evidence already published still allows nothing more than mere subjective impressions about the origins of the material. I shall try nevertheless to rely on such impressions about that ma- terial, given that we lack statistics, and that it is impossible to infer from any isolated sherd the existence of permanent trade-routes and commercial flows. The results of such an inquiry would be, at present, worth little if not con- fronted with other evidence. On the other hand, it should be of great interest to identify specific Berytan productions among the finds from other sites in order to map the diffusion area of items produced in Beirut and the surrounding territory.
    [Show full text]
  • Percorsi Bici Depliant
    The bicycle represents an excel- lent alternative to mobility-based travel and sustainable tourism. The www.turismoroma.it Eternal City is still unique, even by some bicycle. There are a total of 240 km INFO 060608 of cycle paths in Rome, 110 km of useful info which are routed through green areas, while the remainder follow public roads. The paths follow the courses of the Tiber and Aniene rivers and along the line of the coast at Ostia. Bicycle rental: Bike sharing www.gobeebike.it www.o.bike/it Casa del Parco Vigna Cardinali Viale della Caffarella Access from Largo Tacchi Venturi for information and reservations, call +39 347 8424087 Appia Antica Service Centre Via Appia Antica 58/60 stampa: Gemmagraf Srl - copie 5.000 10/07/2018 For information and reservations, call +39 06 5135316 www.infopointappia.it Rome by bike communication Valley of the Caffarella The main path of the Valley of the Caffarella, scene of myths and legends intertwined with the history of Rome, features a wide range of biodiversity as well as important historical heritage, such as a part of the Triopius of Herod Atticus. Entering the park via the Via Latina entrance in correspondence with Largo Tacchi e Venturi, head right up to Via della Caffarella and follow the path to the Appia Antica, approxima- tely 6 km away. Along the way you'll encounter: the Casale della Vaccareccia, consisting of a medieval tower and a sixteenth century farmhouse, built by Caffarelli who, in the sixteenth century, reclaimed the area; the Sepolcro di Annia Regilla, a sepulchral monument shaped like a small temple, and the meandering Almone river, a small tributary of the Tiber, thought to be sacred by the ancient Romans.
    [Show full text]
  • Representations of Veterans in the Imperial Cult in Gallia Narbonensis, 46 BC-79 AD
    Representations of veterans in the imperial cult in Gallia Narbonensis, 46 BC-79 AD Dennis Hermans s4165527 15-08-2017 Master thesis Eternal Rome Index Introduction p. 2 Chapter 1 – Creating a corpus regarding veterans and the imperial cult p. 10 1.1 Baeterrae p. 15 1.2 Narbo Martius p. 19 1.3 Arausio p. 22 1.4 Forum Iulii p. 24 1.5 Arelate p. 26 1.6 Cularo p. 29 1.7 Geneva p. 30 1.8 Alba Helviorum p. 33 1.9 Allebaece Reiorum Apollinarum p. 34 1.10 Vienna p. 36 1.11 Nemausus p. 38 1.12 Massilia p. 43 Chapter 2 – Inscriptions and the career path for equites and nobiles p. 45 Conclusion p. 54 Bibliography p. 57 Appendix p. 63 1 Introduction1 ‘I settled colonies of soldiers in Africa, Sicily, Macedonia, both Spains, Achaea, Asia, Syria, Gallia Narbonensis, Pisidia. Moreover, Italy has twenty-eight colonies founded under my auspices which have grown to be famous and populous during my lifetime.’2 The quote above comes from the Res Gestae divi Augusti, the works or deeds of the deified Augustus, published after his death in 14 AD. Much like the rest of the Res Gestae, the quote above contains a boasting and propaganda element: Augustus has settled soldiers in colonies all over the world and they have all become great and grew very large. This gives an insight into the image that Augustus wanted to portray about his deeds and himself. Although Augustus has settled veterans in many colonies, he was definitely not the first to do so, as the process of establishing veteran colonies already started around 100 BC.
    [Show full text]
  • Romans Had So Many Gods
    KHS—History Knowledge Organiser—Half Term 2 - Roman Empire Key Dates: By the end of this Half Term I should know: 264 BC: First war with Carthage begins (There were Why Hannibal was so successful against much lager three that lasted for 118 years; they become known as and superior Roman armies. the Punic Wars). How the town of Pompeii disappeared under volcanic 254 - 191 BC: Life of Hannibal Barker. ash and was lost for 1500 years. 218—201 BC: Second Punic War. AD 79: Mount Vesuvius erupts and covers Pompeii. What life was like for a gladiator (e.g. celebrities who AD 79: A great fire wipes out huge parts of Rome. did not always fight to the death). AD 80: The colosseum in Rome is completed and the How advanced Roman society was compared with inaugural games are held for 100 days. our own and the technologies that they used. AD 312: Emperor Constantine converts to Christianity. Why Romans had so many gods. And why they were AD 410: The fall of Rome (Goths sack the city of Rome). important. AD 476: Roman empire ends. What Roman diets were like and foods that they ate. Key Terms Pliny the Younger: a Roman statesman who was nearby when the eruption took place and witnessed the event. Only eye witness account ever written. Pyroclastic flow: after some time the eruption column loses power and part of the column collapses to form a flow down the side of the mountain. Lanista: Trainer of Gladiators at Gladiatorial school. Aqueduct: A bridge designed to carry water long distances.
    [Show full text]
  • History in French Liberal Thought, 1814-1834: the Contribution of Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer
    CLASS, SLAVERY AND THE INDUSTRIALIST THEORY OF HISTORY IN FRENCH LIBERAL THOUGHT, 1814-1834: THE CONTRIBUTION OF CHARLES COMTE AND CHARLES DUNOYER DAVID MERCER HART KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE MAY 1990 DECLARATION OF LENGTH OF THE DISSERTATION I declare that the length of the dissertation "Class, Slavery and the Industrialist Theory of History in French Liberal Thought, 1814-1834: The Contribution of Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer" does not exceed eighty thousand words, excluding footnotes and bibliography. David Mercer Hart Faculty of History King's College, Cambridge Signed: Date: DECLARATION I declare that this dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. Signed: Date: ii ABSTRACT The work of Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer spanning the years from 1814 to 1834 demonstrates that a reassessment of the nature of nineteenth century liberalism in general, and early nineteenth century French liberalism in particular, is required. The picture of nineteenth century liberalism which emerges from traditional accounts does not prepare one for the kind of liberalism advocated by Comte and Dunoyer, with their ideas of class analysis, exploitation, the relationship between the mode of production and political culture, and the historical evolution from one mode of production to another through definite stages of economic development. We have been told that liberals restricted themselves to purely political concerns, such as freedom of speech and constitutional government, or economic concerns, such as free trade and deregulation, and eschewed the so-called "social" issues of class and exploitation. I will argue in this thesis that there was a group of liberals in Restoration France which does not fit this traditional view.
    [Show full text]
  • STEM Leads to Rome
    All STEM Leads to Rome: Teaching Roman Technology to Middle School Students of Color STEM is all the rage now in pre-collegiate education - STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) has become a buzzword for innovation and career preparation. Schools have added STEM coordinator positions to their faculty, robotics programs to their curricula, and makerspaces to their libraries. Grant money from major industries has poured into schools for classes and after-school programs that teach kids about STEM. Most elementary schools in the US have STEM or STEAM programs built into their curricula or offer after-school programs. Classics can benefit in many ways from a closer alliance with STEM education. Lucky for the field of classics, the Romans (and Greeks) were STEM geniuses. In this paper, I’ll present two full-year, elective curricula of my creation in which middle school students explore the ancient classical world through the lens of STEM. The aim of these curricula is to broaden the scope of classics instruction and draw in students who learn more deeply by doing and making. Without the constructs, and constraints, of language instruction, students learn about the classical world in physical ways. In one course, called Roman Technology, students read ancient Roman texts (in translation) for STEM inspiration and then use experimental archaeology to reproduce the products and processes of the ancient Romans. Each class is a hands-on workshop using real tools, bringing ancient Roman technology to life. Topics covered include common Roman engineering marvels such as concrete, arches, hydraulics, and road construction, but also those which have less obvious STEM connections such as hair styling, writing, and mosaic design.
    [Show full text]