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This book explores the impact of Alexander the Great's introduction of coined money on the economy and society of Egypt and its political implications for the formation of the Ptolemaic state. It argues that the introduction of coinage happened slowly, spreading gradually from Alexandria into the chora. Under Ptolemy II, however, Egypt was aggressively monetised. Using both numismatic and papyrological evidence, the workings of a rural monetary economy are reconstructed where coinage was in high demand, but in short supply. It is argued that by the middle of the third century BC Egypt was much more thoroughly monetised than is usually assumed, but that the degree of monetisation was sustained only by an extensive credit economy as well as ad hoc commutation of monetary payments into kind. Contextualising the complexities of credit and banking in rural Egypt, the book offers a fresh picture of their function in the ancient economy.

This book was the first to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the impact of money on the economy, society and culture of the Greek and Roman worlds. It uses new approaches in economic history to explore how money affected the economy in antiquity and demonstrates that the crucial factors in its increasing influence were state-formation, expanding political networks, metal supply and above all an increasing sophistication of credit and contractual law. Covering a wide range of monetary contexts within the Mediterranean over almost a thousand years (c.600 BC-AD 300), it demonstrates that money played different roles in different social and political circumstances. The book will prove an invaluable introduction to upper-level students of ancient money, while also offering perspectives for future research to the specialist.

This book was the first to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the impact of money on the economy, society and culture of the Greek and Roman worlds. It uses new approaches in economic history to explore how money affected the economy in antiquity and demonstrates that the crucial factors in its increasing influence were state-formation, expanding political networks, metal supply and above all an increasing sophistication of credit and contractual law. Covering a wide range of monetary contexts within the Mediterranean over almost a thousand years (c.600 BC-AD 300), it demonstrates that money played different roles in different social and political circumstances. The book will prove an invaluable introduction to upper-level students of ancient money, while also offering perspectives for future research to the specialist.

'Kosmos' is the word the ancient Greeks used for human social order. It has therefore a special application to the Greeks' peculiar social and political unit of communal life that they called the 'polis'. Of the many hundreds of such units in classical Greece the best documented and the most complex was democratic Athens. The purpose of this collective 1998 volume is to re-evaluate the foundations of classical Athens' highly successful experiment in communal social existence. Topics addressed include religion and ritualization, political friendship and enmity, gender and sexuality, sports and litigation, and economic and symbolic exchange. The book aims to make a major contribution, theoretical as well as empirical, towards understanding how the social order of community life may be sustained and enhanced.

'Kosmos' is the word the ancient Greeks used for human social order. It has therefore a special application to the Greeks' peculiar social and political unit of communal life that they called the 'polis'. Of the many hundreds of such units in classical Greece the best documented and the most complex was democratic Athens. The purpose of this collective 1998 volume is to re-evaluate the foundations of classical Athens' highly successful experiment in communal social existence. Topics addressed include religion and ritualization, political friendship and enmity, gender and sexuality, sports and litigation, and economic and symbolic exchange. The book aims to make a major contribution, theoretical as well as empirical, towards understanding how the social order of community life may be sustained and enhanced.

This book explores the impact of Alexander the Great's introduction of coined money on the economy and society of Egypt and its political implications for the formation of the Ptolemaic state. It argues that the introduction of coinage happened slowly, spreading gradually from Alexandria into the chora. Under Ptolemy II, however, Egypt was aggressively monetised. Using both numismatic and papyrological evidence, the workings of a rural monetary economy are reconstructed where coinage was in high demand, but in short supply. It is argued that by the middle of the third century BC Egypt was much more thoroughly monetised than is usually assumed, but that the degree of monetisation was sustained only by an extensive credit economy as well as ad hoc commutation of monetary payments into kind. Contextualising the complexities of credit and banking in rural Egypt, the book offers a fresh picture of their function in the ancient economy.

A global history of economic exchange across ancient AfroeurasiaBeyond the Silk Road presents a new economic history of ancient empires from East Asia to the Mediterranean and North Africa during a period of intense empire building, transformation, and interaction. Leaving behind the obsolete idea of an ancient Silk Road, the book reveals how transimperial exchange was shaped by special social and political networks, frontier societies, and inner-imperial economic developments involving a wide range of people—including kings, emperors, diplomats, soldiers, pastoralists, and traders. What emerges is a new explanation of why, for example, we find Chinese silk in Palmyra, Egyptian glass goblets in Afghanistan, and Roman coin pendants in Thailand.Through a detailed examination of a wide variety of evidence about economic behavior in different parts of Afroeurasia from 300 BCE to 300 CE, Sitta von Reden shows that the relationships between imperial centers and their frontiers had a greater effect than trade routes in determining the directions and flows of long-distance exchange. She demonstrates the critical role of frontier zones by introducing the most important ones: the Nabataean kingdom of northern Arabia, Barygaza in northwestern India, Sogdiana under the Kangju, and the Eastern Desert of Egypt.Based on a decade of collaborative research using new approaches to archaeological, monetary, and textual sources in many different languages, Beyond the Silk Road puts ancient economies in a new global perspective.

Introducing students to current controversies over the nature of the ancient economy, this volume brings together twelve influential studies by leading experts in the field. In 1973, Moses Finley unveiled a comprehensive model of the economic underpinnings of classical civilisation. Since then, supporters and critics have turned the study of the ancient economy into what has been called ‘an academic battleground’. In recent years, however, a growing number of scholars have aimed to move the debate beyond partisan controversies. This volume takes stock of these developments. Embracing a wide range of interdisciplinary perspectives derived from ecology, economics and cultural studies and drawing on literary, documentary and archaeological evidence, the contributions address crucial issues from agricultural production, the uses of money and the creation of markets to the scale of long-distance trade and economic growth in the Greek and Roman periods. In a general introduction and separate headnotes for each chapter, the editors provide a concise survey of recent debates, seeking to situate the different contributions in the broader context of contemporary scholarship. This is the first collection of its kind. It is designed to acquaint beginners as well as more advanced students with a variety of thematic and methodological approaches to the study of economic processes in the ancient world. All terms in foreign or ancient languages have been translated into English or explained in a comprehensive glossary. An up-to-date bibliographical essay covering pertinent scholarship in English offers guidance for further reading and the preparation of term papers.

This is the most comprehensive introduction to the ancient Greek economy available in English. A team of specialists provides in non-technical language cutting edge accounts of a wide range of key themes in economic history, explaining how ancient Greek economies functioned and changed, and why they were stable and successful over long periods of time. Through its wide geographical perspective, reaching from the Aegean and the Black Sea to the Near East and Egypt under Greek rule, it reflects on how economic behaviour and institutions were formed and transformed under different political, ecological and social circumstances, and how they interacted and communicated over large distances. With chapters on climate and the environment, market development, inequality and growth, it encourages comparison with other periods of time and cultures, thus being of interest not just to ancient historians but also to readers concerned with economic cultures and global economic issues.

This is the most comprehensive introduction to the ancient Greek economy available in English. A team of specialists provides in non-technical language cutting edge accounts of a wide range of key themes in economic history, explaining how ancient Greek economies functioned and changed, and why they were stable and successful over long periods of time. Through its wide geographical perspective, reaching from the Aegean and the Black Sea to the Near East and Egypt under Greek rule, it reflects on how economic behaviour and institutions were formed and transformed under different political, ecological and social circumstances, and how they interacted and communicated over large distances. With chapters on climate and the environment, market development, inequality and growth, it encourages comparison with other periods of time and cultures, thus being of interest not just to ancient historians but also to readers concerned with economic cultures and global economic issues.

The Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires are usually studied separately, or else included in broader examinations of the Hellenistic world. This book provides a systematic comparison of the roles of local elites and local populations in the construction, negotiation, and adaptation of political, economic, military and ideological power within these states in formation. The two states, conceived as multi-ethnic empires, are sufficiently similar to make comparisons valid, while the process of comparison highlights and better explains differences. Regions that were successively incorporated into the Ptolemaic and then Seleucid state receive particular attention, and are understood within the broader picture of the ruling strategies of both empires. The book focusses on forms of communication through coins, inscriptions and visual culture; settlement policies and the relationship between local and immigrant populations; and the forms of collaboration with and resistance of local elites against immigrant populations and government institutions.

The Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires are usually studied separately, or else included in broader examinations of the Hellenistic world. This book provides a systematic comparison of the roles of local elites and local populations in the construction, negotiation, and adaptation of political, economic, military and ideological power within these states in formation. The two states, conceived as multi-ethnic empires, are sufficiently similar to make comparisons valid, while the process of comparison highlights and better explains differences. Regions that were successively incorporated into the Ptolemaic and then Seleucid state receive particular attention, and are understood within the broader picture of the ruling strategies of both empires. The book focusses on forms of communication through coins, inscriptions and visual culture; settlement policies and the relationship between local and immigrant populations; and the forms of collaboration with and resistance of local elites against immigrant populations and government institutions.

The second volume of the Handbook describes different extractive economies in the world regions that have been outlined in the first volume. A wide range of economic actors – from kings and armies to cities and producers – are discussed within different imperial settings as well as the tools, which enabled and constrained economic outcomes. A central focus are nodes of consumption that are visible in the archaeological and textual records of royal capitals, cities, religious centers, and armies that were stationed, in some cases permanently, in imperial frontier zones. Complementary to the multipolar concentrations of consumption are the fiscal-tributary structures of the empires vis-à-vis other institutions that had the capacity to extract, mobilize, and concentrate resources and wealth. Larger volumes of state-issued coinage in various metals show the new role of coinage in taxation, local economic activities, and social practices, even where textual evidence is absent. Given the overwhelming importance of agriculture, the volume also analyses forms of agrarian development, especially around cities and in imperial frontier zones. Special consideration is given to road- and water-management systems for which there is now sufficient archaeological and documentary evidence to enable cross-disciplinary comparative research.