The Roman Bazaar: A Comparative Study of Trade and Markets in a Tributary Empire

by Peter Fibiger Bang

• ISBN13: 9780521855327
• ISBN10: 0521855322
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-01-05
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

It has long been held by historians that trade and markets in the Roman Empire resembled those found later in early modern Europe. Using the concept of the bazaar, however, Peter Bang argues that the development spawned by Roman hegemony proves clear similarities with large, pre-colonial or tributary empires such as the Ottoman, the Mughal in India, and the Ming/Ch'ing in China. By comparing Roman market formation particularly with conditions in the Mughal Empire, Bang changes our comparative horizons and situates the ongoing debate over the Roman economy firmly within wider discussions about world history and the 'great divergence' between east and west. The broad scope of this book takes in a wide range of topics, from communal networks and family connections to imperial cultures of consumption, and will therefore be of great interest to scholars and students of ancient history and pre-industrial economics.

Table of Contents

List of figures and tables	p. viii
A note about abbreviations	p. x
Preface	p. xi
Key dates and terms in Mughal history	p. xiii
Roman weights, measures and coins	p. xv
Prolegomena	p. 1
The Roman Empire And The Comparative Study Of Pre-Industrial Society	p. 15
Beyond The Ancient Economy? Trade in the Roman Empire and the problem of comparative history	p. 17
An agrarian empire between market and tribute: situating interregional trade in the Roman world	p. 61
Imperial Bazaar	p. 129
A rough trading world: opaque, volatile and discontinuously connected markets	p. 131
A thin line: portorium, protection and predation	p. 202
Community: cult, courts, credit and collaboration in the bazaar	p. 239
Epilegomena: taking stock-the world of goods	p. 290
Bibliography	p. 307
Index	p. 351
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