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Published by EH.NET (January 2003)
Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden, editors, _The Ancient Economy_.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002. xxi + 282 pp. £16.99
(paperback), ISBN: : 0-7486-1321-8; £45 (hardback), ISBN: 0-7486-1322-6.
Reviewed for EH.NET by Morris Silver, Professor Emeritus, Department of
Economics, City College of the City University of New York.
In 1973, the classical scholar Moses Finley (1973, 1985, 1999) unveiled a
view of the economic underpinnings of ancient economies in which markets
and economic motivations played little if any role. Status and civic
ideology governed the allocation of scarce resources. Hence, the
application of economic theory to the ancient economy was at best a futile
exercise and at worst a source of grave misunderstandings. By "ancient
economy" Finley had in mind only the economy of classical civilization --
i.e., of the Graeco-Roman area beginning roughly in the earlier first
millennium BC. However, Finley's perspective found completion and
generalization in the works of the economic historian Karl Polanyi (1981).1
Polanyi argued forcefully that the ancient Near East did not know markets
and, like Finley, he was implacably opposed to the application of economic
theory to ancient economic life. Thus was formed a new orthodoxy.
Suggestions in the literature of ancient market behavior or economic
motivation might simply be ignored or dismissed in a condescending manner
as mere "anachronism." The latter criticism was found devastating by Greek
and Roman scholars.
The world of scholarship is rarely completely static, however. Scholars
came forward with new evidence and new interpretations pointing to a
significant role for markets. In their "Introduction" Scheidel and von
Reden* explain that
Critics question the real-life impact of elite mentality and identify
apparent tensions between the historical record and the model that was
meant to make sense of it. They tend to emphasize the considerable scale of
economic activities (above all trade) and, make a case for significant
economic growth in the Roman imperial period when political and fiscal
unification boosted market exchanges. (p. 3)
This, it may be added, represents only the tip of the critical iceberg.
Thus, the study of the ancient economy became an "academic battleground."2
As a result of this battle the influence of the Finley/Polanyi orthodoxy
has unquestionably waned.3 At present the study of the ancient economy
might be compared to a minefield, full of perils for the unsuspecting
scholar.
Thus it is most encouraging to learn from the publisher's website that the
Greek and Roman scholars involved in the publication of _The Ancient
Economy_ aim to move the debate beyond "partisan controversies."4 Scheidel
and von Reden seem to second the call for studies moving the debate beyond
the Finley/Polanyi agenda and benefiting from "the conceptual and
analytical repertoire of modern economics" (pp. 3-4). Obviously, a new
synthesis is badly needed even if, to begin with, it is confined to the
Greek and Roman periods.
Concerning the realities of the volume, it is certainly not reassuring
that in the lead article (originally published in 1998), Greek specialist
Paul Cartledge (p. 15) takes as a given Finley's view that "the categories
of neoclassical economic analysis" have "no useful application to 'the
ancient economy'." Cartledge goes on to consider how we should "set about
formulating usable and useful models."5 We search his contribution vainly
for the citation of even one example in which the predictions of economic
theory are falsified by economic events in the Graeco-Roman economy. No
synthesis, no new evidence and no usable new model can be detected here!
Turning to the closing (previously unpublished) article, as is my wont in
collections of this kind, Roman specialist Richard Saller (p. 253) agrees
with Finley that modern economic theory is inappropriate for antiquity
because of an "incomparability in economic organization."5 The problem,
Saller suggests, is the absence in antiquity of integrated markets: Had the
markets been fully integrated, there should not have been desperate grain
shortages in individual cities, at the same time as other cities were well
supplied. In such cases hungry urban dwellers did not depend solely on
higher market prices to draw larger supplies from elsewhere in the [Roman]
Empire. but resorted to imperial intervention. In an integrated market,
this sort of supervision would have been superfluous because pricing would
have drawn grain to areas in need (p. 254 with n. 2).
Understandably, not being imbued with the trained suspicions of the modern
economist, it does not occur to Saller that imperial "supervision" and not
the absence of "fully integrated markets" kept the grain away from hungry
cities! The classic example is provided by a serious famine at Antioch in
AD 362/3. Despite the enlightened protests of Libanius and others, Emperor
Julian had responded to rising grain prices caused by a severe and
prolonged drought with an edict of maximum prices and the sale of imported
grain at prices below the market-clearing level. These well-meant but
counterproductive measures served mainly to misallocate the available stock
of grain (see Downey 1951: 315-19; de Jonge 1948). They also operated to
discourage large landowners (and other speculators) from storing grain.7
The problem here was not transport costs/fragmented markets but a much more
significant problem: failure to understand the economic facts of life.8
The remainder of Saller's contribution includes some cautionary
observations on the scale of Roman economic growth. The ancients did of
course accumulate material and human capital and they introduced important
technical innovations. Clearly, the industrial era's increased reliance on
scientific knowledge and its increased range and variety of fixed capital
goods have steeply accelerated the rate of technical progress and material
growth. It must not be overlooked, however, that dramatic improvements in
living standards are attainable through improvements in economic
organization. The evidence demonstrates that ancient civilizations
experienced lengthy periods of market activity and prosperity, including
even affluence, interspersed with periods of pervasive economic regulation
by the state and, ultimately, economic retrogression. There can be no
doubt, for example, that something very important happened to Roman living
standards between Romulus and Remus and Diocletian!
Perhaps there is more evidence of a move beyond partisan controversy
towards a new synthesis in some of the contributions positioned between
Cartledge and Saller. I proceed selectively and begin with a useful,
previously published article by historian Reger because of its possible
bearing on the question of integrated markets raised by Saller. Reger
compares time-series of prices for a number of imported commodities (oil,
perfume, papyrus, pitch). The price data are taken from priestly
inscriptions on the island of Delos dating to the Hellenistic period in the
third and second centuries BC. The prices of the various commodities
display markedly different patterns. This finding is understood by Scheidel
and von Reden (pp. 133-34) to undermine the view that the Hellenistic
market was integrated (Reger 145). The assumption underlying this
conclusion seems to be that economic integration requires prices to be
determined by "general economic trends" and/or "broader interregional
developments" meaning, apparently, that all prices must change in the same
direction. Have Scheidel and von Reden identified price inflation/deflation
with economic integration? Obviously, integration across spatially distant
markets is quite consistent with an unchanged general level of prices
combined with pronounced changes in relative prices -- i.e., perfume rises
in price, oil prices decline. Indeed, such changes are commonplace in the
contemporary economy and in no way indicate an absence of integrated
markets.
The beginning of a trend toward synthesis can indeed be seen in the
(previously published) contribution by the French historian Andreau. I
especially appreciated his suggestion that
To contrast, term by term, everything pre-industrial with everything
modern, and endlessly to scour antiquity for all possible and imaginable
signs of archaism, results in a very reductionist view of history. Besides,
whether deliberate or not, such an approach has the effect of providing
present-day institutions and situations with an intellectual justification
which they do not always merit, and of strengthening our reassuring (but
illusory) impression that they are eternal, or at least immortal, since we
have now entered modernity (p. 35).9
While there is room for disagreement, Andreau's article merits close and
respectful attention.
A (previously published) article by archaeologist Halstead also is helpful.
He sees "famine-brokering" as a partial answer to "what is arguably the
most important problem in the ancient economy 'how did rich Greeks and
Romans in classical antiquity acquire their wealth?'" (p. 68) Selling
stored grain on the market in periods of exceptionally high prices "may
well hold the key to the original emergence of a rich minority, _given that
current ancient historical orthodoxy seems ... to have ruled out all the
obvious alternatives_" (p. 69) (emphasis added). Of course, the "obvious
alternatives" for becoming wealthy would be reinstated in any new
synthesis! Thus, archaeologist Hitchner (p. 76) in his discussion of growth
in the olive oil industry in the Roman provinces of North Africa observes
the proliferation of small farms with one or two presses often in close
proximity to oileries, and frequently on agricultural marginal lands....
That is, the decision to construct a large stone lever press ...
particularly when much more modest means of extracting oil for subsistence
needs were available, implies that surplus oil production was the ultimate
objective of the small farm occupants. Although the capital for these
presses is likely, in many instances, to have come from the owners of the
nearby oilieries interested in the oleocultural development of marginal
lands in or around their estates, we may also see in these arrangements _an
effort by the farms' occupants, whether independent small-holders, free
tenants or even slaves, to better their lot_ (emphasis added).
Let it be noted that Hitchner published these words in 1993 when proponents
of the idea that members of the ancient public might become rich by means
of productive activity were still likely to risk being derided as
"anachronistic."10 With respect to the sources of Athenian wealth in the
fourth century BC Osborne (pp. 128-30) tentatively raises the
possibilities, "against firmly held modern convictions," that manufacture
was of some importance and that agriculture was actually profitable.
_The Ancient Economy_, much to my surprise, actually does include a number
of contributions (Andreau, Halstead, Hitchner plus the "Introduction") that
move the discussion beyond partisan controversy toward a new synthesis. The
volume has the additional merit of bringing together in one place valuable
previously published articles by Hopkins, Panella/Tchernia, and Rathbone.
On the other hand, the articles by Saller and, especially, Cartledge cling
to the Finley/Polanyi orthodoxy. Their strategic placement in the book,
first and last chapters, betrays a serious tension in the conception of the
editors. To conclude, this is a collection that scholars of the ancient
world should be pleased to have in their libraries.
I do have one strong complaint. The editors (p. 4) note that "It goes
without saying that it is impossible for a collection of this kind to cover
all the bases." Agreed, but why in a volume devoted to economic history do
we find classicists, historians, archaeologists and even a philosopher but
not a single contribution by a professional economist? The omission is
glaring and revealing.
Notes:
*About the Editors: Walter Scheidel, formerly Moses and Mary Finley
Research Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge, currently teaches Ancient
History at the University of Chicago; Sitta von Reden is Senior Lecturer in
Classics and Ancient History at the University of Bristol.
1. I have relied upon Polanyi's posthumously published manuscript entitled
_The Livelihood of Man_ (1981). The editor of this volume, Harry W.
Pearson, has included material on Polanyi's life and has contributed a
useful introduction citing Polanyi's major publications and placing his
thought in perspective.
2. The "Suggestions for further Reading" include recent contributions on
both sides of the controversy.
3. Interestingly, as their empirical base deteriorated some scholars loyal
to this "primitivist/substantivist" school began to denigrate the use of
empirical evidence and, more and more, to stress the importance of "erudite
models" (see note 6 below). Indeed, even Finley (1985: 182) in "Further
Thoughts," appealed to historical and anthropological/sociological "models"
as opposed to "the continual evocation of individual 'facts'."
4. http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/cgi/odbic.exe?input=NewWeb/Books/2175.htm
5. In modern economic models are conceptual structures capable of being
manipulated to make predictions, which may be tested against empirical
evidence. For Finley/Polanyi scholars, however, a model is "a heuristic
device for organizing data into an intelligible whole" (Stager 2001: 625)
As Finley (1985: 182) explained in "Further Thoughts," "models" are
"valuable in obscuring incidental detail and in allowing fundamental
aspects of reality to appear." "Model" serves as an objective-sounding name
for _a priori_ positions that are employed to sift, shape, interpret or
avoid the evidence.
6. With two exceptions the articles included in _The Ancient Economy_ were
originally published elsewhere. The editors contribute an introduction and
chapter commentaries. With one exception the contributions are authored by
classicists, historians and archaeologists. The exception is a reprinted
contribution by philosopher Scott Meikle who, while critical of modern
economic theory, is quite adept at manipulating the Marxist categories of
"use value" and "exchange value."
7. Halstead (p. 69) notes that the Roman writer Varro advised landowners to
store grain in order to take advantage of high market prices in times of
famine.
8.Readers interested in market integration in the Roman world might consult
Temin (2001).
9. One might consider in the light of Andreau's remarks Douglass North's
(1991: 98) pursuit of the "Holy Grail" of a once-and-for-all incremental
evolution of efficient institutions.
10. Hitchner (pp. 80-81) was well aware of the professional risk he was
taking in citing empirical evidence for significant growth in the Roman
economy.
References:
Downey, Glanville (1951). "The Economic Crisis at Antioch under Julian the
Apostate." In P.R. Coleman-Norton (editor), _Studies in Roman Economic and
Social History_. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 312- 21.
Finley, Moses (1973, 1985, 1999). _The Ancient Economy_. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
de Jonge, P. (1948). "Scarcity of Corn and Corn Prices in Ammianus
Marcellinus." _Mnemosyne_, 1, 238-45.
North, Douglass C. (1991). "Institutions." _Journal of Economic
Perspectives_, 5, 97-112.
Polanyi, Karl (1981). _The Livelihood of Man_. Harry W. Pearson (editor).
New York: Academic.
Stager. Lawrence E. (2001). "Port Power in the Early and the Middle Bronze
Age: The Organization of Maritime Trade and Hinterland Production." In
Samuel R. Wolff (editor), _Studies in the Archaeology of Israel and
Neighboring Lands_. Chicago: Oriental Institute, 625-38.
Temin, Peter (2001), "A Market Economy in the Early Roman Empire." _Journal
of Roman Studies_, 91, 169-81.
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Bleiberg, Edward (1995). "The Economy of Ancient Egypt." In Jack M. Sasson,
John Baines, Gary Beckman, and Karen S. Rubinson (editors), _Civilizations
of the Ancient Near East_, Vol. III. New York: Scribner's Sons, 1373-85.
Cartledge, Paul, Edward E. Cohen, and Lin Foxhall (editors) (2002). _Money,
Labour and Land: Approaches to the Economies of Ancient Greece_. London:
Routledge.
Castle, Edward W (1992). "Shipping and Trade in Ramesside Egypt." _Journal
of the Economic and Social History of the Orient_, 35, 239-77.
Cohen, Edward E. (1992). _Athenian Economy and Society: A Banking
Perspective_. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Dercksen, Jan Gerrit (editor) (1999). _Trade and Finance in Ancient
Mesopotamia_. Leiden: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te
Instanbul.
Donlan, Walter (forthcoming). "Homer and Hesiod on Commerce and Trade". In
Rollinger and Ulf (editors), _Commerce and Monetary Systems in the Ancient
World_.
Engels, Donald (1990). _Roman Corinth: An Alternative Model for the
Classical City_. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Figueira, Thomas J. (1984). "Karl Polanyi and Ancient Greek Trade: The Port
of Trade." _Ancient World_, 10, 15-30.
Greene, Kevin (2000). "Technological Innovation and Economic Progress in
the Ancient World: M.I. Finley Re-considered." _Economic History Review_,
53, 29-59.
Hudson, Michael and Baruch A. Levine (editors) (1999). _Urbanization and
Land Ownership in the Ancient Near East_. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
Hudson, Michael and Marc Van De Mieroop (editors) (2002). _Debt and
Economic Renewal in the Ancient Near East_. Bethesda, Maryland: CDL Press.
Mattingly, David .J. (1988). "Oil for Export? A Comparison of Libyan,
Spanish, and Tunisian Olive Oil Production in the Roman Empire." _Journal
of Roman Archaeology_, 1, 33-56.
Mattingly, David J., David Stone, Lea Sterling and Nejib Ben Lazreg (2001).
"Leptimus (Tunisia): A 'Producer' City?." In David J. Mattingly and John
Salmon (editors), _Economies Beyond Agriculture in the Classical World_.
London: Routledge, 66-89.
Menu, Bernadette (2001a). "Economy: Overview." In Redford (editor), _The
Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt_. Vol. 1, 422-6.
Menu, Bernadette (2001b). "Economy: Private Sector". In Redford (editor),
_The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt_. Vol. 1, 430-3.
Millett, Paul (1991). _Lending and Borrowing in Ancient Athens_. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Olivier, Jean-Pierre (1987). "Des Extraits De Contrats De Vente D'Esclaves
Dans Les Tablettes De Knossos." In John T. Killen, José L. Melena, and
Jean-Pierre Olivier (editors), _Studies in Mycenaean and Classical Greek_.
Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 479-98.
Purcell, Nicholas (1990). "Mobility and the Polis." In Oswyn Murray and
Simon Price (editors), _The Greek City from Homer to Alexander_. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 29-58.
Redford, Donald B. (editor) (2001). _The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient
Egypt_. 3 volumes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rollinger, Robert and Christoph Ulf (editors) (forthcoming). _Commerce and
Monetary Systems in the Ancient World_ (5th International MELAMMU
Conference, Innsbruck Oct. 3rd-8th 2002).
Silver, Morris (1995). _Economic Structures of Antiquity_. Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
Silver, Morris (forthcoming). "Modern Ancients". In Rollinger and Ulf
(editors), _Commerce and Monetary Systems in the Ancient World_.
Morris Silver is Professor Emeritus of Economics in the City College of the
City University of New York. His most recent publications about ancient
economies are _Taking Ancient Mythology Economically_ (Leiden: Brill, 1992)
and _Economic Structures of Antiquity_ (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Press, 1995). "Modern Ancients" is forthcoming in Rollinger and Ulf
(editors), _Commerce and Monetary Systems in the Ancient World _, Fifth
Annual Melammu Conference 2002. Professor Silver maintains a website on
"Ancient Economies" at http://sondmor.tripod.com/index-html.
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