- "Structural Determinants of Economic Performance in the Roman World" (SDEP) is a Scientific Research Network funded b... more"Structural Determinants of Economic Performance in the Roman World" (SDEP) is a Scientific Research Network funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (Belgium) (FWO). Besides four Flemish research teams (from Ghent, Brussels and Leuven), SDEP brings together ten international reasearch groups (see the members page for the full list). Our aim is to study what drove economic development and how this in turn changed Roman society. Our ambition is to combine data derived from economic archaeology and natural science research with new theoretical frameworks drawn from neo-institutional and development economics and to put these in a comparative and longue durée perspective.edit
Epigraphy on Ceramics Thursday 17th - Friday 18th December 2015 Rozier 44, room 2.50 From the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, throughout the Mediterranean Basin, inscriptions were being written or painted on ceramic objects. These texts... more
Epigraphy on Ceramics
Thursday 17th - Friday 18th December 2015
Rozier 44, room 2.50
From the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, throughout the Mediterranean Basin, inscriptions were being written or painted on ceramic objects. These texts include short administrative data, religious dedications, property indications etc. Because the inscriptions are often short, difficult to read and hard to contextualize, epigraphy on ceramics tends to remain the playing field of a small number of experts and the potential for broader research questions often fails to be recognized. This conference will highlight the importance of epigraphy on ceramics by discussing its contribution to ancient economic history, religious history and linguistics. For each of these thematic strands, we invite contributions focusing on the Greek world, the Roman world, Late Antiquity and contact zones between Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean civilizations (including e.g. the Indian and Arabian world). With this chronological and thematic approach, the conference intends to stress the relevance of epigraphy on ceramics for many disciplines in ancient history.
Thursday 17th - Friday 18th December 2015
Rozier 44, room 2.50
From the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, throughout the Mediterranean Basin, inscriptions were being written or painted on ceramic objects. These texts include short administrative data, religious dedications, property indications etc. Because the inscriptions are often short, difficult to read and hard to contextualize, epigraphy on ceramics tends to remain the playing field of a small number of experts and the potential for broader research questions often fails to be recognized. This conference will highlight the importance of epigraphy on ceramics by discussing its contribution to ancient economic history, religious history and linguistics. For each of these thematic strands, we invite contributions focusing on the Greek world, the Roman world, Late Antiquity and contact zones between Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean civilizations (including e.g. the Indian and Arabian world). With this chronological and thematic approach, the conference intends to stress the relevance of epigraphy on ceramics for many disciplines in ancient history.
Research Interests:
No one today doubts anymore the value of archaeological data to ancient economic history. They reflect human behaviour and choice, acting out within the dimensions of landscape, natural resources, ecology and climate. However, the... more
No one today doubts anymore the value of archaeological data to ancient economic history. They reflect human behaviour and choice, acting out within the dimensions of landscape, natural resources, ecology and climate. However, the ‘translation’ of these data into economic indicators (such as GDP or Gini-co-efficients) remains a huge challenge. Rather than focus on quantitative changes, increases or decreases in recorded (or recordable) data, we wish to study whether and how the data show processes that reveal the dynamics of economic systems in the Roman world. (see below for our position paper.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
History is a reality that can be observed only through the traces it has left. Some are words and images (on parchment, papyrus, stone or any other bearer) conveying us the emotions and reflections of people in the past. Others are the... more
History is a reality that can be observed only through the traces it has left. Some are words and images (on parchment, papyrus, stone or any other bearer) conveying us the emotions and reflections of people in the past. Others are the scars and leftovers of human lives and actions, scattered in the landscape, buried or sunk under water. Historians and archaeologists are experts in restoring the damage done to a body of evidence by time or human manipulation. We are trained empiricists, wont to look down and think bottom-up. Economic history, however, requires us to do more: we need to look up. Economics is about explaining patterns in human interaction by detecting its causes and effects. However good our restored data are, the patterns they reveal will always be too fragmented and have too many loose ends to unveil reality. Economic history is always an act of imagination. The challenge is to ensure that it does not become an insubstantial pageant. Theories, models and comparative history help us to do that. They are explanatory frames and tools, showing the consequences of our assumptions and suggesting solutions to fill in the gaps. They do not diminish the need for empirical research methods. The output of any model depends on the reliability of its input data. This book discusses theories and models we believe are useful in economic history, but it also invites the reader to look at methods (both new and traditional) to ensure that input data are reliable, and offers case studies showing what can be done.
Research Interests:
Explanation of the success and failure of the Roman economy is one of the most important problems in economic history. As an economic system capable of sustaining high production and consumption levels, it was unparalleled until the early... more
Explanation of the success and failure of the Roman economy is one of the most important problems in economic history. As an economic system capable of sustaining high production and consumption levels, it was unparalleled until the early modern period.
This volume focuses on how the institutional structure of the Roman Empire affected economic performance both positively and negatively. An international range of contributors offers a variety of approaches that together enhance our understanding of how different ownership rights and various modes of organization and exploitation facilitated or prevented the use of land and natural resources in the production process. Relying on a large array of resources - literary, legal, epigraphic, papyrological, numismatic, and archaeological - chapters address key questions regarding the foundations of the Roman Empire's economic system. Questions of growth, concentration and legal status of property (private, public, or imperial), the role of the state, content and limitations of rights of ownership, water rights and management, exploitation of indigenous populations, and many more receive new and original analyses that make this book a significant step forward to understanding what made the economic achievements of the Roman empire possible.
This volume focuses on how the institutional structure of the Roman Empire affected economic performance both positively and negatively. An international range of contributors offers a variety of approaches that together enhance our understanding of how different ownership rights and various modes of organization and exploitation facilitated or prevented the use of land and natural resources in the production process. Relying on a large array of resources - literary, legal, epigraphic, papyrological, numismatic, and archaeological - chapters address key questions regarding the foundations of the Roman Empire's economic system. Questions of growth, concentration and legal status of property (private, public, or imperial), the role of the state, content and limitations of rights of ownership, water rights and management, exploitation of indigenous populations, and many more receive new and original analyses that make this book a significant step forward to understanding what made the economic achievements of the Roman empire possible.
Research Interests:
Die Wirtschaft der antiken Welt steht zunehmend im Mittelpunkt des Interesses der althistorischen Forschung. Obwohl seit Jahrzehnten vor allem um die quantitative wie qualitative Beurteilung des Handels in der Antike erbittert gerungen... more
Die Wirtschaft der antiken Welt steht zunehmend im Mittelpunkt des Interesses der althistorischen Forschung. Obwohl seit Jahrzehnten vor allem um die quantitative wie qualitative Beurteilung des Handels in der Antike erbittert gerungen wird, wird in der Forschungsliteratur häufig nicht scharf zwischen Handel und Distribution differenziert. Um die Auswertung des antiken Quellenmaterials aus dem Mittelmeerraum mit dem aus dem Vorderen Orient zu verbinden, fand im April 2013 in Marburg eine interdisziplinäre Tagung statt, die sich der Thematik am Beispiel des Handels und der Distribution von Textilien vom 2. Jahrtausend v.Chr. bis ins frühe 2. Jahrtausend n.Chr. widmete.
Textilien eignen sich in besonderer Weise dazu, Einblicke in die Funktionsweise des antiken Warenaustauschs zu erhalten. Zwar gibt es bereits in vielen Disziplinen Forschungen zu Handel und Distribution von Textilien, aber diese werden häufig über die jeweiligen Fächergrenzen hinaus nicht wahrgenommen. Der zur Tagung gehörige Sammelband vereint daher Analysen internationaler Expertinnen und Experten aus unterschiedlichen Fachdisziplinen: Alte Geschichte, Altorientalistik, Archäologie, Textilforschung und Naturwissenschaften bilden den analytisch-methodischen Rahmen. Gerade der neuere Ansatz, dokumentarische Quellen mit archäologischen Funden und naturwissenschaftlichen Analysemethoden zu verknüpfen, erlaubt einen tief greifenden Einblick in die Funktionsweise antiker Warendistribution, der Auskunft über das „Wer?“, das „Wie?“ und das „Warum?“ gleichermaßen gibt. Überlegungen zu Absatz- und Beschaffungsmärkten, Warenpreisen und involvierten Akteuren (Institutionen) geben zudem entscheidende Informationen über den Warenaustausch im engeren Sinne hinaus.
Textilien eignen sich in besonderer Weise dazu, Einblicke in die Funktionsweise des antiken Warenaustauschs zu erhalten. Zwar gibt es bereits in vielen Disziplinen Forschungen zu Handel und Distribution von Textilien, aber diese werden häufig über die jeweiligen Fächergrenzen hinaus nicht wahrgenommen. Der zur Tagung gehörige Sammelband vereint daher Analysen internationaler Expertinnen und Experten aus unterschiedlichen Fachdisziplinen: Alte Geschichte, Altorientalistik, Archäologie, Textilforschung und Naturwissenschaften bilden den analytisch-methodischen Rahmen. Gerade der neuere Ansatz, dokumentarische Quellen mit archäologischen Funden und naturwissenschaftlichen Analysemethoden zu verknüpfen, erlaubt einen tief greifenden Einblick in die Funktionsweise antiker Warendistribution, der Auskunft über das „Wer?“, das „Wie?“ und das „Warum?“ gleichermaßen gibt. Überlegungen zu Absatz- und Beschaffungsmärkten, Warenpreisen und involvierten Akteuren (Institutionen) geben zudem entscheidende Informationen über den Warenaustausch im engeren Sinne hinaus.