The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World

I am a retired professor of Classics. My speciality was ancient Greek and Latin poetry, not history. So, I can review this book with more knowledge than most, but not as much knowledge as some. Its contributors are among the world's leading ancient historians; and their contributions provide both a broad survey and an intensive analysis of a subject that is more interesting and important than many people realize.

We can disagree sometimes about the arguments or the data presented by individual authors, but the book is a very nice synthesis of the last twenty years of research in the field. The price of hardcover edition is unusually expensive, but the book was wrote by the leading figures of the ancient economic history and assemble much information dispersed in articles and specialized monographies published in German, Italian, French, Spanish, and, of course, in English. So if you are really interested in the contemporary debate in the field you must buy this book.

Themes are well classified in the book. The compilation of different University studies on each theme makes it easy to read and good reference book for research or consultation.Good explanation of methodology applied, limitations of data collection and sources of information.Chapters of Technology applied in Agriculture and manufacturing of consumer goods and construction materials are quite interesting and well researched.It provides good description and analysis of the economic laws of the Roman Empire, Greece and Near East empires, such as the primitive forms of companies/partnerships and family business. It also has insightful information of the contracting and employment. There are Interesting tables, maps and figures with useful information illustrate properly the ideas and conclusions presented by qualified scholars.It shed's light on the advent of the banking industry in the west, particularly in Greece in the last centuries before the fall of the Roman Empire. The book covers areas such as Urbanization, use of Metals, advanced large scale agriculture, trade, co\nsumer product distribution, taxation and production of basic goods.There is a practical focus on regional economics, based on very local natural resources, political and institutional developments and technological capacity.A highly recommended literature for those interested in the economic, sociological and technological aspects of the Western and Near East civilizations in the Hellenistic and Roman eras.

Save your pounds, dollars, loonies, kiwis, aussies and even your declining euros! This tome isn't worth its price. Among the numerous errors of this poorly edited and poorly proofed text; one is geographical, locating Marseilles between the Rhone and the Pyrenees, another chronological, the Assyrians capturing Tyre in 578 when their empire had fallen by 608, and another demographic, Marseilles having 15-20,000 inhabitants before the Roman period, whenever that began and (always) larger than Palermo, Naples, Ostia and New Carthage. Then, the learned demographers who edited this collection estimate the average age of first marriage of Roman males at about 30 when it actually was under 20, and of females at 19 when it was actually14 to 15 (as if it were constant over centuries). In fact, no one has ever been able to cite even a single Roman pagan male who married for the first time after 30. They also misestimate the average age of first marriage for Greek males of all classes at 33 (over millennia) when it was actually raised around 630 BC from about 20 to about 30. As is increasingly noticeable these days in classical studies, grand theories, such as in this case of immutable life tables, are trumping actual evidence. Don't waste your money on this expensive book filled both with inaccuracies and cockeyed analysis. For a full review, see [...]