The Origins of the Roman Economy

From the Iron Age to the Early Republic in a Mediterranean Perspective

Gabriele Cifani

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781108478953
• eBook ISBN: 9781108800969
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

In this book, Gabriele Cifani reconstructs the early economic history of Rome, from the Iron Age to the early Republic. Bringing a multidisciplinary approach to the topic, he argues that the early Roman economy was more diversified than has been previously acknowledged, going well beyond agriculture and pastoralism. Cifani bases his argument on a systematic review of archaeological evidence for production, trade and consumption. He posits that the existence of a network system, based on cultural interaction, social mobility, and trade, connected Rome and central Tyrrhenian Italy to the Mediterranean Basin even in this early period of Rome's history. Moreover, these trade and cultural links existed in parallel to regional, diversified economies, and institutions. Cifani's book thus offers new insights into the economic basis for the rise of Rome, as well as the social structures of Mediterranean Iron Age societies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• One Introduction
• Two Notes on the Geographical Context of Early Rome
• Three The Beginnings of a Longue Durée
• Four The Early Iron Age (Latial Phases II and III)
• Five A Settlement Unlike Others: The Economic and Cultural Background to the Rise of Rome
• Six Latial Phase IV (730-580 BC)
• Seven Latial Phase IVA (730-640 BC)
• Eight Latial Phase IVB (640-580 BC)
• Nine The Archaic Phase (580-500 BC)
• Ten Modelling Demography and Consumption
• Eleven Places and Institutions in the Archaic Roman Economy
• Twelve The Economics of the Early Calendar
• Thirteen The Early Latins Overseas
• Fourteen The Fifth Century BC
• Fifteen Crisis and Opportunities in the Fifth Century BC
• Sixteen The Fourth Century BC
• Seventeen Fourth-Century Transformations and the End of the Archaic Economy
• Eighteen Epilogue
• Appendix A Geometric-Style Pottery Referred to Greek Production from Latium
• Appendix B Corinthian Pottery from Latium
• Appendix C Pithecusan-Cumaean POTTERY from Latium
• Appendix D Ionic-East Greek and Ionic-East Greek-Type Pottery from Latium
• Appendix E Laconian Pottery from Latium
• Appendix F Attic Pottery Dated to the Sixth Century BC from Latium
• Appendix G Attic Pottery Dated to the Fifth Century BC from Latium
• Appendix H Phoenician and Phoenician-Type Amphorae from Latium
• Appendix I SOS and ''À la brosse'' Amphorae from Latium
• Appendix J Laconian Amphorae from Latium
• Appendix K Corinthian Amphorae from Latium
• Appendix L Western Greek Amphorae from Latium
• Appendix M Ionian Amphorae from Latium
• Appendix N Unattributed or Uncertain Greek Amphorae from Latium
• Appendix O Etruscan Amphorae from Latium
• Appendix P Human Mask Group Vases with Known Provenance
• Appendix Q Latin Onomastic Outside Latium
• Appendix R Archaeozoological Data
• Appendix S Palaeobotany: Carpological Data
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index