AR105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Vindolanda Tablets, Falernian Wine, Roman Economy
Document Summary
The roman world had an economy predominantly based on agriculture. Markets ourished across the empire for both subsistence and luxury gods. How do we document these economic activities. Most roman products were perishable and not preserved in the archaeological record. One exception is pottery- can serve as a proxy for understanding economic connections. Edict on maximum prices in ad 301. Set maximum price for over 1,000 items (over 60% of which are clothing related) Purple dyed silk = most expensive item. By mid - 5th century, promo-coinage in roman world was aes rude (rough bronze) Coinage became prominent with establishment of military pay in 400 bc (no consistent denominations) Nero was rst emperor tp debase silver coinage (mid- rst sen. By mid-third century, silver content down to less than 10% in most coins. Number of active mints varied signi cantly between 1st and 3rd century ad. Theory that most important coins in roman economy were gold.