Skilled Labour and Professionalism in Ancient Greece and Rome

Edmund Stewart, Edward Harris, David Lewis

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781108839471
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108880879
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This book is a history of ancient Greek and Roman professionals: doctors, seers, sculptors, teachers, musicians, actors, athletes and soldiers. These individuals were specialist workers deemed to possess rare skills, for which they had undergone a period of training. They operated in a competitive labour market in which proven expertise was a key commodity. Success in the highest regarded professions was often rewarded with a significant income and social status. Rivalries between competing practitioners could be fierce. Yet on other occasions, skilled workers co-operated in developing associations that were intended to facilitate and promote the work of professionals. The oldest collegial code of conduct, the Hippocratic Oath, a version of which is still taken by medical professionals today, was similarly the creation of a prominent ancient medical school. This collection of articles reveals the crucial role of occupation and skill in determining the identity and status of workers in antiquity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part I Professionals and Professional Identity in Greece and Rome
• Part II Specialization and the Division of Labour in the Ancient City
• Part III Case Studies of Professions 1: Sculpture
• Part IV Case Studies of Professions 2: Music and Athletics
• Part V Case Studies of Professions 3: A Profession of Arms?
• Index