Ebook: Trading Communities in the Roman World: A Micro-Economic and Institutional Perspective

Ancient Roman trade was severely hampered by slow transportation and by the absence state help in enforcing contracts. Here Terpstra offers a new explanation of how traders in the Roman Empire overcame these difficulties. Previous theories have focused heavily on dependent labour, arguing that transactions overseas were conducted through slaves and freedmen. Taco Terpstra argues on the contrary that the key to understanding long-distance trade in the Roman Empire is not patron-client or master-slave relationships, but the social bonds between ethnic groups of foreign traders living overseas and the local communities they joined. Geographical origin thus formed the key bond in constructing trade networks, with expulsion from such networks the ultimate sanction for traders who did not fulfill their contracts.