The Ancient Economy

Undergraduate / Graduate

An investigation of the many factors of economic life in the ancient world: its ecological and demographic bases; production, trade, and consumption; the role of technology, infrastructure, and institutions; and the extent of inequality. We will focus on the societies of the Mediterranean basin but will also engage in comparisons with other parts of the world when relevant. Students will immerse themselves into the contentious scholarly debates over these topics, wrestling with the promise and limitations of methodologies and models that differ from later periods of analysis. All the while, we will interrogate just what abstract metrics mean for our understanding of the lived experience in antiquity.