Banking and Business in the Roman World (Key Themes in Ancient History) [Paperback]

Jean Andreau (Author), Janet Lloyd (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521389321 | ISBN-13: 978-0521389327 | Publication Date: November 13, 1999

This is the first book to present a synthetic view of Roman banking and financial life from the fourth century BC to the end of the third century AD. It describes the business deals of the elite and the professional bankers and the interventions of the state. It shows to what extent the spirit of profit and enterprise predominated over the traditional values of Rome, what economic role these financiers played, and how that role compares with that of their later counterparts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The judicious surveys of research in the book provide an excellent introduction to the major issues of contention in the field by a master who thoroughly understands the implications of individual pieces of evidence." Allen Kerkeslager, Saint Joseph's University

"With Banking and Business in the Roman World Andreau, who is working on a comprehensive history of banking from antiquity through the medieval period, has given us an excellent, wieldy introduction to the financial activities of the Roman Republic and the first three hundred years of the Empire. Substantivists will especially appreciate Andreau's approach, but I repeat that Andreau's exceptional openness and generosity toward divergent points of view leaves something, or rather everything, for everyone. Economic historians of all periods and of all dispositions will reap benefit from this survey of the practices of the ancient Romans...every serious economic or sical historian should buy it." EH.NET

Language Notes

Text: English
Original Language: French --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521389321
• ISBN-13: 978-0521389327
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,121,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Roman banking: nuts and bolts, September 13, 2007

By 

Anthony W. Fox "Cranham" (Rancho La Costa, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Banking and Business in the Roman World (Key Themes in Ancient History) (Paperback)

The nuts and bolts of money lending and banking in the Roman empire are explained here. But beyond that, this book is almost a sociology of how people dealt with money in the Roman era.

Three major themes emerge, largely in comparison with how banking systems have developed in the modern era. First, the government had no large banks to resort to when funding deficit spending, and where there were no bills of exchange (i.e., money was metal, although there might have been a secondary market in personal notes of moderate sums of indebtedness). Second, there was a prevalent attitude that, with the exception of a small number of professionals (who are described very well), money was seen as a secondary asset (ascribed presumptively simply to attitude, rather than with any better explanation). Third, unlike modern governments, the largess of Emperor and senate is a suprisingly large economic factor.

If there are two criticisms, then the first is that, at times, the assertion of opinion and the potshots taken at other writers, both being often without supporting evidence, can create skepticism; perhaps this reflects the Gallic academic background of the author. Second, in the absence of any separate treatment elsewhere, the opportunity to compare Roman 'maritime' loans with modern marine insurance systems has been missed.

If you want to understand how monetary systems worked during the Roman empire, then this is your book. And the current liquidity crisis in the modern international banking system (late summer 2007) generates even more to reflect upon within these fascinating pages.

Tony Fox