Living Through the Roman Empire: An Economic History of the 90%

FAIN: FEL-281918-22

Kimberly Diane Bowes
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA 19104-6205)

Research and writing leading to a book on the economic history of the poor in the Roman empire (2nd century BCE to 3rd century CE).

This project presents the first economic history of working people and the poor during the Roman empire. Examining everything from small-farm agriculture and the nature of wages to the physical bodies of the working poor, it considers how the advent of a global, monetized economy impacted everyone from peasants and artisans to the mass of seasonal workers. It argues for daily survival strategies that blurred legal and gender categories, including those between the enslaved and the free, producing an intersectional economic space defined by shared strategies for getting by. The book thus not only proposes a wholly new perspective on the Roman economy, but also one which speaks to the challenges of laborers and “gig” workers today, getting by in a complex global world.

Associated Products

How did most people in the Roman empire get by? (Radio/Audio Broadcast or Recording)
Title: How did most people in the Roman empire get by?
Director: Anthony Kaldelis
Abstract: A conversation with Kim Bowes (University of Pennsylvania) about production and consumption in the Roman world, especially by the 90% of the population who are less represented in our literary sources. How did they get by from day to day? What alternatives does the evidence suggest to the "subsistence" model that many ancient historians have used?
Date: 08/04/2022
Primary URL: http://https://byzantiumandfriends.podbean.com/e/77-how-did-most-people-in-the-roman-empire-get-by-with-kim-bowes/
Access Model: Open access podcast
Format: Web

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