The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World [Hardcover]

Walter Scheidel (Editor), Ian Morris (Editor), Richard P. Saller (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521780535 | ISBN-13: 978-0521780537 | Publication Date: January 21, 2008

In this, the first comprehensive one-volume survey of the economies of classical antiquity, twenty-eight chapters summarise the current state of scholarship in their specialised fields and sketch new directions for research. The approach taken is both thematic, with chapters on the underlying determinants of economic performance, and chronological, with coverage of the whole of the Greek and Roman worlds extending from the Aegean Bronze Age to Late Antiquity. The contributors move beyond the substantivist-formalist debates that dominated twentieth-century scholarship and display a new interest in economic growth in antiquity. New methods for measuring economic development are developed, often combining textual and archaeological data that have previously been treated separately. This important work represents a major advance in our understanding of the economic expansion that made the civilisation of the classical Mediterranean world possible.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By presenting current scholarship and its prospective future course, the editors have produced a very important work. Prodigious bibliography (148 pages). Summing up: Highly recommended."
--Choice

"This is certainly an extraordinary book on the Ancient Mediterranean economies that ought to be read and quoted by all historians who work in the field of pre-industrial economics. This excellent project was brought to completion by its 3 editors and 27 contributors over the span of a decade." --BMCR

Book Description

This important work reflects a new interest in economic growth in antiquity and represents a major advance in our understanding of the economic expansion that made the civilisation of the classical Mediterranean world possible.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 958 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (January 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521780535
• ISBN-13: 978-0521780537
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,338,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, May 27, 2008

By 

Steven Farron (Johannesburg, Gauteng South Africa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World (Hardcover)

I am a retired professor of Classics. My speciality was ancient Greek and Latin poetry, not history. So, I can review this book with more knowledge than most, but not as much knowledge as some. Its contributors are among the world's leading ancient historians; and their contributions provide both a broad survey and an intensive analysis of a subject that is more interesting and important than many people realize.

4 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Piece of Junk, January 31, 2010

By 

William A. Percy "William A. Percy" (Professor of History, UMass Boston) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World (Hardcover)

Save your pounds, dollars, loonies, kiwis, aussies and even your declining euros! This tome isn't worth its price. Among the numerous errors of this poorly edited and poorly proofed text; one is geographical, locating Marseilles between the Rhone and the Pyrenees, another chronological, the Assyrians capturing Tyre in 578 when their empire had fallen by 608, and another demographic, Marseilles having 15-20,000 inhabitants before the Roman period, whenever that began and (always) larger than Palermo, Naples, Ostia and New Carthage. Then, the learned demographers who edited this collection estimate the average age of first marriage of Roman males at about 30 when it actually was under 20, and of females at 19 when it was actually14 to 15 (as if it were constant over centuries). In fact, no one has ever been able to cite even a single Roman pagan male who married for the first time after 30. They also misestimate the average age of first marriage for Greek males of all classes at 33 (over millennia) when it was actually raised around 630 BC from about 20 to about 30. As is increasingly noticeable these days in classical studies, grand theories, such as in this case of immutable life tables, are trumping actual evidence. Don't waste your money on this expensive book filled both with inaccuracies and cockeyed analysis. For a full review, see [...]