Money in Imperial Rome - Legal Diversity and Systemic Complexity

This book offers an in-depth examination of the institutional framework within which money operated as an economic agent in the Roman empire, emphasising its systemic complexity. Analyses focus on classical Roman law as reflected in the writings of Roman jurists from the second and early-third centuries AD.

List of contents

• List of Abbreviations


• Part I: Overview


• 1: Methods and Approaches


• 2: Studying Roman Money


• Part II: Money and Other Valuable Things


• 3: Defining Price in Roman Law 1: pretium


• 4: Defining Price in Roman Law 2: merces


• 5: Defining Price: Testimony from Jewish Legal Sources


• Part III: Other People's Money


• 6: Interest as a Financial Instrument


• 7: Deposits


• 8: Credit Money


• Part IV: The Bigger Picture


• 9: Understanding Institutional Diversity as a Complex System


• Bibliography


• Index

About the author

Merav Haklai received her BA in Economics and History and her MA in Ancient History from Tel Aviv University. In 2014 she received her DPhil in Ancient History from the University of Oxford and has since been teaching History at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Her main research focus lies within legal, economic, and monetary history of the Roman empire. She has published on aspects of Roman monetary history during the imperial period, Roman law and practicalities of economic conduct, and the interaction between legal traditions under Roman regime, focusing on Roman, Egyptian-Hellenistic, and Jewish law during Roman imperial period.

Product details

• Authors: Merav Haklai, Merav (Lecturer Haklai
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 12.09.2025
• EAN: 9780198912002
• ISBN: 978-0-19-891200-2
• No. of pages: 416
• Series: Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; Social sciences, law, business > Business > General, dictionaries; HISTORY / Ancient / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, LAW / Legal History, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, Economic history, Ancient World, Legal History, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, Archaeology by period / region, Classical Greek & Roman archaeology