The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World by Walter Scheidel (PDF)

Description

In this, the first comprehensive one-volume survey of the economies of classical antiquity, twenty-eight chapters summarise the current state of scholarship in their specialised fields and sketch new directions for research. The approach taken is both thematic, with chapters on the underlying determinants of economic performance, and chronological, with coverage of the whole of the Greek and Roman worlds extending from the Aegean Bronze Age to Late Antiquity. The contributors move beyond the substantivist-formalist debates that dominated twentieth-century scholarship and display a new interest in economic growth in antiquity. New methods for measuring economic development are explored, often combining textual and archaeological data that have previously been treated separately. Fully accessible to non-specialist, the volume represents a major advance in our understanding of the economic expansion that made the civilisation of the classical Mediterranean world possible.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “By presenting current scholarship and its prospective future course, the editors have produced a very important work. Prodigious bibliography (148 pages). Summing up: Highly recommended.” –Choice”This is certainly an extraordinary book on the Ancient Mediterranean economies that ought to be read and quoted by all historians who work in the field of pre-industrial economics. This excellent project was brought to completion by its 3 editors and 27 contributors over the span of a decade.” –BMCR Book Description A major advance in our understanding of the economic expansion that made the civilisation of the classical Mediterranean world possible. About the Author Walter Scheidel is Dickason Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Classics and History at Stanford University. His publications include Measuring Sex, Age and Death in the Roman Empire (1996), Death on the Nile: Disease and the Demography of Roman Egypt (2001) and, as editor, Debating Roman Demography (2001) and The Ancient Economy (2002, with Sitta von Reden).Ian Morris is Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and Professor of History at Stanford University and directs Stanford’s excavation at Monte Polizzo, Sicily. His publications include The Greeks: History, Culture, and Society (2005, with Barry Powell) and The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models (2005, with Joe Manning).Richard Saller is Kleinheinz Family Professor of European Studies and Professor of Classics and History and the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. His publications include Personal Patronage under the Early Empire (Cambridge, 1982) and Patriarchy, Property and Death in the Roman Family (Cambridge, 1994) and he is co-author of The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture (1987). Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Themes are well classified in the book. The compilation of different University studies on each theme makes it easy to read and good reference book for research or consultation.Good explanation of methodology applied, limitations of data collection and sources of information.Chapters of Technology applied in Agriculture and manufacturing of consumer goods and construction materials are quite interesting and well researched.It provides good description and analysis of the economic laws of the Roman Empire, Greece and Near East empires, such as the primitive forms of companies/partnerships and family business. It also has insightful information of the contracting and employment. There are Interesting tables, maps and figures with useful information illustrate properly the ideas and conclusions presented by qualified scholars.It shed’s light on the advent of the banking industry in the west, particularly in Greece in the last centuries before the fall of the Roman Empire. The book covers areas such as Urbanization, use of Metals, advanced large scale agriculture, trade, consumer product distribution, taxation and production of basic goods.There is a practical focus on regional economics, based on very local natural resources, political and institutional developments and technological capacity.A highly recommended literature for those interested in the economic, sociological and technological aspects of the Western and Near East civilizations in the Hellenistic and Roman eras.

⭐I am a retired professor of Classics. My speciality was ancient Greek and Latin poetry, not history. So, I can review this book with more knowledge than most, but not as much knowledge as some. Its contributors are among the world’s leading ancient historians; and their contributions provide both a broad survey and an intensive analysis of a subject that is more interesting and important than many people realize.

⭐We can disagree sometimes about the arguments or the data presented by individual authors, but the book is a very nice synthesis of the last twenty years of research in the field. The price of hardcover edition is unusually expensive, but the book was wrote by the leading figures of the ancient economic history and assemble much information dispersed in articles and specialized monographies published in German, Italian, French, Spanish, and, of course, in English. So if you are really interested in the contemporary debate in the field you must buy this book.

⭐Save your pounds, dollars, loonies, kiwis, aussies and even your declining euros! This tome isn’t worth its price. Among the numerous errors of this poorly edited and poorly proofed text; one is geographical, locating Marseilles between the Rhone and the Pyrenees, another chronological, the Assyrians capturing Tyre in 578 when their empire had fallen by 608, and another demographic, Marseilles having 15-20,000 inhabitants before the Roman period, whenever that began and (always) larger than Palermo, Naples, Ostia and New Carthage. Then, the learned demographers who edited this collection estimate the average age of first marriage of Roman males at about 30 when it actually was under 20, and of females at 19 when it was actually14 to 15 (as if it were constant over centuries). In fact, no one has ever been able to cite even a single Roman pagan male who married for the first time after 30. They also misestimate the average age of first marriage for Greek males of all classes at 33 (over millennia) when it was actually raised around 630 BC from about 20 to about 30. As is increasingly noticeable these days in classical studies, grand theories, such as in this case of immutable life tables, are trumping actual evidence. Don’t waste your money on this expensive book filled both with inaccuracies and cockeyed analysis. For a full review, see […]

⭐Un seul mot: colossal ! Une série d’études sur l’économie gréco-romaine par d’éminents universitaires sans aucun équivalent en français. 5 étoiles parce que je ne peux mettre 6…

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