The Ancient Economy introduces readers to the nature of economic life in the ancient world, and provides a valuable guide to scholarly debates on the subject. The book describes and examines the economic processes and fluctuations of the ancient world, and shows how these relate to political and social change and conditions. Leading experts address the central issues, from agricultural production to the uses of money and the creation of markets. Taken as a whole the book exemplifies the range of interdisciplinary perspectives on the ancient economy, and illustrates the methodological approaches scholars have deployed to understand it. In doing so it draws on literary, ecological and archaeological evidence.
Dickason Professor in the Humanities Professor of Classics and History Catherine R. Kennedy and Daniel L. Grossman Fellow in Human Biology
Walter Scheidel is the Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and a Kennedy-Grossman Fellow in Human Biology at Stanford University. The author or editor of sixteen previous books, he has published widely on premodern social and economic history, demography, and comparative history. He lives in Palo Alto, California.
Scheidel's research ranges from ancient social and economic history and premodern historical demography to the comparative and transdisciplinary world history of inequality, state formation, and human welfare. He is particularly interested in connecting the humanities, the social sciences, and the life sciences.
Don't read it. Really, it's not worth it, and I rarely say that. 1) Book is a collection of mostly older articles (between '95 and '02). Things have changed a lot, especially in the Roman area. 2) Most of the chapters are academics arguing over definitions, instead of discussing actual evidence.
There are 4 good chapters (4,7,9,10) so if you can get it for less than $5 it might be worth it.
As far as I can tell the only reason this is in print is to make poor undergraduates suffer.