Commerce and Social Standing in Ancient Rome / / John H. D'Arms.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter HUP e-dition: Complete eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: D'Arms, John H.,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2013]; ©1981
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Edition: Reprint 2013
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (201 p.) :; illustrations

John D'Arms explores here a question of central importance for the social economic history of the Roman world: which sectors of society were actively engaged in trade? In the late Roman Republic and early Empire senators were prohibited by law from direct participation in seaborne commerce; trade was not considered a respectable pursuit. Yet large fortunes were amassed by men of rank through a variety of lucrative enterprises. Exploiting the evidence of literature, archaeology, and inscription, D'Arms constructs case histories which reveal how senators realized commercial profits by indirect involvement: freedmen, municipal notables, and "friends" often served as the equivalent of partners or agents of aristocrats with large holdings in land. In demonstrating a flexibility in upper-class attitudes toward commercial activity, he offers a study in the adaptation of a social system to economic realities.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Contents -- Figures -- Abbreviations -- 1. Traders in Roman Society: Two Approaches -- 2. Attitudes, Conduct, and Commercial Organization in the Late Republic -- 3. Senators and Commerce -- 4. Luxury, Productivity, and Decline: Villa Society on the Bay of Naples -- 5. The "Typicality" of Trimalchi -- 6. The Freedmen of Puteoli and Ostia in Imperial Economy and Society -- 7. Attitudes, Conduct, and Commercial Organization in the Early Empire -- Appendix. Augustales of Puteoli and Ostia -- Bibliography -- Index