1st Edition
Space, Movement and the Economy in Roman Cities in Italy and Beyond
How were space and movement in Roman cities affected by economic life? What can the study of Roman urban landscapes tell us about the nature of the Roman economy? These are the central questions addressed in this volume.
While there exist many studies of Roman urban space and of the Roman economy, rarely have the two topics been investigated together in a sustained fashion. In this volume, an international team of archaeologists and historians focuses explicitly on the economics of space and mobility in Roman Imperial cities, in both Italy and the provinces, east and west. Employing many kinds of material and written evidence and a wide range of methodologies, the contributors cast new light both on well-known and on less-explored sites. With their direct focus on the everyday economic uses of urban spaces and the movements through them, the contributors offer a fresh and innovative perspective on the workings of Roman urban economies and on the debates concerning space in the Roman world.
This volume will be of interest to archaeologists and historians, both those studying the Greco-Roman world and those focusing on urban economic space in other periods and places as well as to other scholars studying premodern urbanism and urban economies.
PART I: Introducing the themes
1. Introduction: space, movement and the economy in Roman cities
ARJAN ZUIDERHOEK AND FRANK VERMEULEN
2. Economic space and movement between Roman towns, their suburbia and territories: the regional perspective
FRANK VERMEULEN
PART II: Spaces
3. Beyond Pompeii and Ostia: commerce and urban space in Roman Italy
MIKO FLOHR
4. Market buildings in Asia Minor: old assumptions and new starting points
DORIEN LEDER- SLOTMAN
5. Do economic activities impinge on Roman urban matrices in Asia Minor? A new style/ function debate
JEROEN POBLOME AND RINSE WILLET
6. Elites and economic space in Roman Imperial Asia Minor
ARJAN ZUIDERHOEK
7. Making space for commerce in Roman Britain: reevaluating the nature and impact of the forum/ basilica complex
CHRISTOPHER P. DICKENSON
8. The Roman colony of Sena Gallica: urban space and economic activities
GIUSEPPE LEPORE AND MICHELE SILANI
9. Aquileia’s market spaces
PATRIZIA BASSO
PART III: Movement
10. Finding your way towards the Macellum : the spatial organization of a Roman type of market building
ADELINE HOFFELINCK
11. How open was the Roman city? Movement and impediments to movement in the street system
ANDREW WALLACE- HADRILL
12. Transport and trade: an energy expenditure approach for the distribution of marble in Central Adriatic Italy in Roman times
DEVI TAELMAN
13. “This mule will ruin me”: the economy of mobility in Roman towns
CRISTINA CORSI
14. Munigua’s place in the operational chain: some considerations regarding the movement of people and goods and the division of labour in the lower Guadalquivir Valley during the Roman period
THOMAS G. SCHATTNER
15. Understanding Rome as a port city
SIMON MALMBERG
16. Space, accessibility and movement through the Portus Romae
SIMON KEAY, PETER CAMPBELL, KATHERINE CRAWFORD AND MARIA DEL CARMEN MORENO ESCOBAR
PART IV: Conclusion
The economics of space and mobility in Roman urbanism
FRANK VERMEULEN AND ARJAN ZUIDERHOEK
Biography
Frank Vermeulen is a professor of Roman archaeology and archaeological methodology at the Department of Archaeology of Ghent University, Belgium.
Arjan Zuiderhoek is an associate professor of ancient history at the Department of History of Ghent University, Belgium.
"This book offers a variety of interesting and valuable contributions to our knowledge of the Roman economy. It is especially noteworthy for its use of GIS and social network modelling in order to analyze economic activities and networks, showing the value of such approaches for our knowledge of the ancient world." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"This volume makes a significant contribution to the much-needed integration of archaeological evidence within historical debates. This can only be achieved by collaboration between archaeologists and historians, for which the volume sets a laudable example." - The Classical Review
