Ch. 3, The Roman World

Ch.3 The Roman World
1. Were the Romans ignored by the economic historian?
2. city of Rome: never a great commercial or industrial center
3. Rome was a sponge, received tribute, took goods from the conquered
4. agriculture, industry, trade: Rome made few improvements

Birth of the Roman Economy
1. farmers in Latium
2. Etruscans in the N.
3. Etruscans: well developed agriculture, mining, industry & trade
4. Etruscan/Greek society were more advanced
5. patricians ran the government & did the fighting
6. plebian class: small landowner, tenant, artisan, trader
7. 7 easy hills to protect
8. all roads by land & sea led to Rome
9. 500 BC, Rome becomes a republic
10. patrician: agriculture, politics, war
11. Sicily: rich in grain, oil & sulphur
12. 1st Punic War: Rome won Sicily, destroyed Carthage’s sea power
13. 2nd Punic war: destroyed Carthage’s rule of Spain
14. 3rd: Carthage, Corinth destroyed, people made into slaves
15. 5 centuries of warfare to build the empire

Costs Of War
1. peacetime maintenance of the navy & army 
2. expenses: human & material of campaigns
3. the defense & administration of conquered colonies
a. patricians had expensive armor, horses, chariots, weapons. 
b. infantry became important, a militia was developed
c. poor men were given weapons & paid a wage
d. 2* some campaigns were costly
e. life, property were massively destroyed in the 2nd Punic War
f. 3* a lot of infrastructure + more citizens were needed to restore conquered communities
g. Hellenistic monarchs had plenty of gold Romans took
h. Spain, Britain, Gaul: little loot
i. 10% of crops were taken + poll & sales tax
j. public lands could go to veterans 
k. 2nd punic war: Italian farmers suffered
l. import depressed grain prices
m. patricians were banned from trade, public contracting & banking
n. latifundum, unit of soil
o. cheap land, cheap labor & plenty of capital
p. war > Pax Romana > slaves were no longer cheap
q. baking, weaving, building: domestic careers, luxury goods were imported
r. Tiberius & Caius, program for the poor
s. landless peasants got land from eminent domain + urban poor received grain @ half price. 
t. financiers collected the tribute
u. 57 BC, grain was free, 300,000 were getting free bread & circuses
v. imperial rule: less confusion, corruption, strife than the republican period
w. two centuries of relative peace & prosperity
x. 1,300,000 square miles of land became a political unit
y. intertribal wars of Gaul & Britain stopped
z. roads were built, patrols reduced theft

1. uniform coinage, weights & measured were introduced
2. products that could be transported had a larger market
3. retired soldiers became settlers
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a. officials developed estates
b. more lead, tin, iron deposits were mined from Great Britain
c. Gaul, a lot of fertile land
d. Spain: chief metal mine
e. miners at New Carthage, 40,000 workers
f. grain, wine, oil & fruits were produced
g. Germans: new farming methods, learned some handicrafts
h. Eastern Provinces: Hellenians were more advanced, production, trade, sciences, arts.
i. Athens became a university town
j. peace was worth paying tributes for
k. a whole portion of Egypt went to the Roman emperor
l. Augusta: wanted rent/taxes for grain
m. tributes & profits from capitalists supported the city of Rome
n. flour, bread, cloth, luxury goods, building, unloading of ships, entertaining populace, domestic service, government service
o. only exports: law & government
p. Asis: spices, incense, ointments, drugs, cottons, Indian metals, precious stone, Chinese silk, dyes, horses, parrots, wild beasts for the circus
q. direct shipping from Red Sea to India became possible
r. transport costs on land were high, lower on water
s. Gaul: had its own glass & pottery industry
t. small weight/size goods were imported for the rich
u. inter-province trade might occur with high-bulk of goods on rivers/seaways
v. Rome’s construction industry-well-developed
w. reservoirs, aquaducts, pipelines supplied water
x. temples, forums, triumphal arches, amphitheaters, stadia, markethalls, baths, villas with central heating: required a large amount of architectural skill
y. cement & long beams were utilized
z. fradulent contractors built an aquaduct that didn’t work

1. eastern Mediteranean craftsman were superior
2. war, politics, agriculture: for aristocrats
3. slaves did most of the making and selling
4. slavery widespread in Italy & Greece
5. slaves often became freedman and amassed great wealth
6. guilds: common ideas, faith, economic interest, pleasure. 
7. friendly society, burial brotherhood & luncheon club
8. 1st two centuries of the Christian era: peace, prosperity
9. a lot of able, hard-working, intelligent people in charge
10. merchants, financiers, contractors, investors, large landowners prospered

AD 200
 1. borders were not defended
2. 6,000 miles of frontier is a lot to defend
3. areas behind the Danube & Rhine had to be abandoned
4. Diocletian tried to rescue the empire
5. Constantine ruled the eastern half
6. western half: barbarians were filtering in
7. economy was mainly agricultural
8. little technical innovation to improve productivity
9. more taxation: bad, less productivity & less income, bad
10. plague, civil war, barbarian attacks destroyed capital & labor in nearly every province
11. a larger army & civil service were required
12. debasement of currency, unbalanced budgets, taxation, forced unpaid labor.
13. poll tax, land tax, duties, sales tax, inheritance tax, 
14. emperor, civil service, army, municipality: 4 pillars of empire
15. middle class felt overtaxed
16. guilds gave out bread, oil, wine, 
17. guilds were exempt from military service but had to do unpaid service
18. membership in the guild was hereditary, couldn’t escape
19. land, reasserted itself as a source of income
20. Spain, Gaul, Britain, Rumania: many land grants to veterans
21. peace reduced slave labor
22. coloni: free tenants
23. smaller plots to slaves, servi
24. colunus was originally free, 332: bound to the estate
25. free peasants, runaway slaves, & harassed townsmen might seek protection under the landlord
26. landlord: erected barriers, defended property, collected taxes, tried cases in his own court.
27. self-sufficient economic & administrative unit
28. market, church, mill & jail
29. Rome: patricians, small farmers & slaves