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Provides the first systematic treatment of the exploitation of various marine resources in the Roman world and its role within the ancient economy. Bringing together literary, epigraphic, and legal sources, with a wealth of archaeological data collected in recent years, Marzano shows that these marine resources were an important feature of the Roman economy and, in scope and market-oriented production, paralleled phenomena taking place in the Roman agricultural economy on land.
List of contents
Acknowledgements; List of Figures; Introduction; 1 Fishing; 2 Large-scale Fishing; 3 Fish-salting; 4 Salt production; 5 Murex, purple dye production, and other fruits of the sea; 6 Oysters and shell-fish; 7 Aquaculture; 8 The sea and fishing in Roman law and juridical thought; 9 Demand, prices, and distribution; 10 Conclusions; Appendix; Appendix II; Bibliography; Index
About the author
Annalisa Marzano is a Professor of Ancient History at the University of Reading. She focuses in particular on the social and economic history of the Roman world and is author of Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History (2007).
Summary
Harvesting the Sea provides the first systematic treatment of the exploitation of various marine resources, such as large-scale fishing, fish salting, salt and purple-dye production, and oyster and fish-farming, in the Roman world and its role within the ancient economy.
Bringing together literary, epigraphic, and legal sources, with a wealth of archaeological data collected in recent years, Marzano shows that these marine resources were an important feature of the Roman economy and, in scope and market-oriented production, paralleled phenomena taking place in the Roman agricultural economy on land. The book also examines the importance of technological innovations, the organization of labour, and the use of the existing legal framework in defence of economic interests against competitors for the same natural resource.
Additional text
Not only does Marzano provide an excellent starting point for those interested in studying more traditional aspects of the marine economy, but by including other more overlooked aspects such as oysters or sea-silk she in turn encourages further discussion and research.
