Constructing Communities in the Late Roman Countryside

"This book is aimed at filling that gap. In the process, it seeks to reconnect the agrarian history of the ancient Mediterranean world with agrarian histories of other periods and other regions. I do this on the assumption that all parties might have useful insights to offer each other on questions of common interest, and with the intention of exploring certain problems that have become politically or philosophically fraught in contemporary contexts"--

Autorentext

Cam Grey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where his research covers the social and economic history of the Later Roman Empire. He is also a co-director of 'The Roman Peasant Project', an archaeological project located in southern Tuscany that amounts to the first systematic, interdisciplinary attempt to analyze the houses, farms and lived experiences of the Roman peasantry.

Klappentext

The first comprehensive treatment of the 'small politics' of rural communities in the Late Roman world.

Inhalt

Introduction: studying rural communities in the Late Roman world; 1. Constituting communities: peasants, families, households; 2. What really matters: risk, reciprocity, and reputation; 3. Small politics: making decisions, managing tension, mediating conflict; 4. Power as a competitive exercise: potentates and communities; 5. Resistance, negotiation, and indifference: communities and potentates; 6. Creating communities: taxation and collective responsibility; 7. Unintended consequences: taxation, power, and communal conflict; Conclusions.