The Open Sea: The Economic Life of the Ancient Mediterranean World from the Iron Age to the Rise of Rome

443 Pages·2018·21.22 MB·English

by  J. Manning

The Open Sea
Frontispiece. Dog mosaic recently discovered at Alexandria. Copyright © Bibliotheca
Alexandrina Antiquities Museum/Photo by Mohamed Aly
T H E
O P E N
S E A
The Economic Life of the
Ancient Mediterranean World
from the Iron Age to the
Rise of Rome
J. G . M a n n i ng
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Copyright © 2018 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR
press.princeton.edu
Jacket illustrations courtesy of Adobe Stock (Juulijs)
Jacket design by Chris Ferrante
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Control Number 2017954509
ISBN 978- 0- 691- 15174- 8
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Garamond Premier Pro
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
In memory
of
Karl W. Butzer
(1934– 2016)
&
Mark Pagani
(1960– 2016)

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xxv
Chronology xxvii
Part I. History & Theory
Introduction. History, Theory, and Institutions:
Approaching the Ancient Economy 3
Chapter 1. New Directions and Broader Contexts in the
Study of Premodern Economies 17
Chapter 2. Ancient Economies: Taking Stock from Phoenician
Traders to the Rise of the Roman Empire 39
Chapter 3. Bronze, Iron, and Silver: Time, Space, and Geography
and Ancient Mediterranean Economies 72
Part II. Environment & Institutions
Chapter 4. Agriculture and Labor 109
Chapter 5. The Boundaries of Premodern Economies: Ecology,
Climate, and Climate Change 135
Chapter 6. The Birth of “Economic Man”: Demography,
the State, the Household, and the Individual 173
Chapter 7. The Evolution of Economic Thought in the Ancient
World: Money, Law, and Legal Institutions 193
Chapter 8. Growth, Innovation, Markets, and Trade 216
Chapter 9. Conclusions 262
Appendix. Climate Data 271
Notes 277
Key Readings 329
Bibliography 333
Index 405

Illustrations
Maps
Map 1. Phoenician trade networks 45
Map 2. Greek colonization 45
Map 3. The Nile River basin 98
Figures
Frontispiece. Dog mosaic recently discovered at Alexandria ii
Figure 1. The Antikythera mechanism 5
Figure 2. Karl Wittfogel (1896– 1988) 11
Figure 3. Moses I. Finley (1912– 86) 12
Figure 4. World economic history in one picture 21
Figure 5. Douglass C. North (1920– 2015) 28
Figure 6. Model “palace economy” for Crete, mid- second
millennium BCE 42
Figure 7. Greco- Bactrian silver coin of Demetrius I,
ca. 200– 180 BCE 66
Figure 8. Crocodile mummies from Tebtunis (Fayyum), Egypt,
Ptolemaic period 68
Figure 9. A Greek tax receipt ostracon. 69
Figure 10. Totals of dated documentary texts from Egypt,
8th century BCE– 8th century CE 70
Figure 11. Imperial upsweeps 81
Figure 12. Unity or diversity? Rainfall amounts and
Mediterranean vegetation types 86
Figure 13. Mount Etna, May 2015 91
Figure 14. The Libyan desert and the Gebel Akdar plain 93