- The Natural Environment: Relief, climate, seismic activity.
- People: Fertility, mortality, gender imbalances. Interconnections between the natural environment and demographic data. Agricultural production: Olive trees, vineyards, cereals, and other crops. Animal husbandry, land ownership, resource and land distribution. Fisheries, craft industries, capital, and innovation. The logic of production. Markets, supply and demand, development. Energy and transportation costs. Land and sea routes. Navigation and shipbuilding: Winds, sea currents, canals, and transport passages.
The functioning of markets within and beyond the city. Market supervisors and control of transactions and prices. Uncertainty and innovation. Currency: From metal to monetary tools. Currency as an institution. Loans and taxation on goods. Customs duties. Certainties and uncertainties in international trade networks. Trade networks: Center and periphery, trade and the division of labor. Tradable goods, metals, fruits, and textiles. The logic of exchange and profit.
The course explores the ancient economy through theoretical and historical debates, including the contrast between primitivists and modernists, from
Max Weber and
Moses I. Finley to the
neo-institutional approach to ancient economies. The objective is to introduce students to social phenomena of "other societies," particularly those of the ancient and partially medieval world.
The course aims to foster an understanding of contemporary phenomena by projecting them onto pre-Christian and post-Christian Euro-Mediterranean societies. It also investigates the origins, emergence, evolution, disruptions, continuities, or disappearances of conditions and values.
A particular focus is given to aspects of daily life in primarily rural communities of the ancient world and specifically to the economic life of ancient city-states. Topics include natural resources, demographics, agricultural production, transportation, capital creation and innovation, institutions, currency, and trade networks.
The course includes a detailed discussion of how the subject has been addressed by 20th-century historiography. It is noted that the lack of quantitative data limits the application of methods typical of economic analysis for recent centuries.
