Leidwanger, Justin
Sessions 4–5, Single Contributions
Economic aspects permeate all areas of public and private life in ancient societies, whether in urban development, religion, art, housing, or in death. Research on ancient economies has long played a significant role in ancient history. Increasingly in the last decades, awareness has grown in archaeology that the material culture of ancient societies offers excellent opportunities for studying the structure, performance, and dynamics of ancient economic systems and economic processes. Therefore, the main objective of this congress was to understand economy as a central element of classical societies and to analyse its interaction with ecological, political, social, religious, and cultural backgrounds. The theme of the congress was addressed to all disciplines that deal with Greco-Roman civilization and their neighbouring cultures from the Aegean Bronze Age to the end of Late Antiquity.
In this collective volume, single contributions of sessions 4 and 5 deal with questions on the exploitation of resources such as metals and marble in the Roman imperial period and also on distribution, trade and networks in general in antiquity. Thematically, the studies range from trade and cultural contacts in the Iron Age and Archaic Mediterranean, Greek and Roman coinage, to Roman trade and transport systems.