Ancient Economy
Get a comprehensive view of your particular area of interest through these scholarly handbooks and guides
These resources can help you come up with dates, names, additional vocabulary and variant spellings for your research. They can also help you develop a better understanding of your topic or give you ideas for comparisons and contrasts.
- Oxford Companion to ArchaeologyNewest edition published in 2012 at Museum Library reference. This edition also available through Oxford Reference Online Premium
- Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization ONLINEProvides an authoritative survey of the Greek and Roman worlds in all their aspects, including articles on diverse fields such as, history and politics; ethics and morals; law and punishment; social and family life; language, literature, and art; religion and mythology; technology, science, and medicine.
- Brill's New PaulyEncyclopedic entries on most aspects of the ancient world.
- Oxford Handbooks Online: Classical StudiesCurrently more than 35 handbooks with nearly 1,400 articles (chapters) covering as many discrete topics within broad fields within Classical Studies.
- Cambridge CompanionsA little more difficult to navigate than the Oxford Handbooks -- you'll need to browse through titles or do key word searches
- Wiley-Blackwell Companions to the Ancient WorldIndividual volumes on discrete topics, available in print and in some cases electronically. Located on the shelves in Van Pelt or via the Web. Coverage of literature, history, and culture.
Penn Libraries
- PENN LIBRARIES CATALOG SEARCHSearch Franklin connects you to all Penn Libraries collections. Van Pelt focuses on humanities and social sciences (but not exclusively). Includes books for history, literature, philosophy, politics, economics. Archaeology can be found in Fine Arts Library (buildings, vases...), and The Museum Library (sites, communities, social and cultural discoveries and more)
Required texts available online
- The Ancient EconomyMoses Finely, 1999
- Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman WorldWalter Scheidel, et al.
- Classical Landscape with Figures: The Ancient Greek City and its CountrysideRobin Osborne, 1987
- Athenian Economy and Society: A Banking PerspectiveEdward Cohen, 1992
- A History of MoneyGlynn Davies and Duncan Connors. The 2016 4th edition is now online as is the 2002 3rd edition is online.
- Crises and the Roman EmpireOlivier Hekster, et al. (2006)
- Cambridge Companion to the Roman EconomyWalter Scheidel, editor, 2012
Research Assistance
Rebecca Stuhr is the librarian specialists for Classical Studies.
You can arrange individual appointments or ask questions by email by contacting Rebecca at stuhrreb @ upenn.edu or click the button just below to find a time that works for you:
Open the Humanities box, and scroll down to Rebecca Stuhr
Rebecca has office hours in the Classics Lounge, Cohen Hall 2nd floor: Spring 2023 Thursdays 12:00-1:00. Feel free to drop in any time.
Use keywords or subject terms to search article databases
Examples of keywords or subject terms to combine and use as you search Franklin Catalog or databses listed below.
Use an * to truncate words (gree*=greece or greek; farm*=farm, farms, farmstead) for better searching.
- greece, greek, rome, roman
- agriculture, econom*, trade, farm*, animals, [type of animal], crops, food [specific crops or food]
- networks, connections, routes, transport*
- coins, treasurey, finance
- domestic, home, labor, work, textiles
- famil*, children,
- archaeolog*, bioarchaeolog*, zooarchaeolog*
- disease, mortality, plague, illness, death
- rural, urban, countryside, [locations], landscape
- enviornment*, eco*, geograph*
These databases will also uncover book chapters along with articles in journals
- JSTORJSTOR provides access to about 119 archaeology journals and 78 classical studies journals. It can be tricky to find just the right articles because it is searching every word in every article in the database. You may want to watch this short video on how to search JSTOR for classical studies.
- L'Annee PhilologiqueThe standard database for research in the broad area of Classical Studies. It indexes the current scholarship from over 1,500 journals and as well as books, edited volumes and conference papers. (Compare with JSTOR). Watch a short video on how to search L'Annee Phil.
- Oxford Bibliographies Online ClassicsAn online resource to academic articles. Focused on multiple aspects of ancient studies including archaeology, history, literature, economics, and more. For a quick tour on how best to use, see this short video.
Gynaeceum scene: women weaving.
Detail from an Attic black-figure epinetron
Photography by Marie-Lan Nguyen
- Google ScholarUse this link to search Google Scholar to incorporate Penntext access to Penn subscribed and owned resources. Scroll through at least several pages for best results.
- Articles+Penn Libraries' equivalent to Google Scholar -- all of our subscribed and open access content. Search by keyword and subject terms or search authors and titles -- connect to online content or find print in Penn Libraries collections
Digital Loeb
- Digital LoebDigital Loeb provides fully searchable access to the entire bilingual Loeb library of critical editions of Greek and Latin text.
- Oxford Scholarly Editions OnlineLike Loeb, provides bilingual editions of the ancient Greek and Latin authors. Follow this link, then scroll down to see link for "only classical authors." Follow this link, then click on "Browse authors."
Data
- Project MercuryProject MERCURY-SIMREC develops and shares resources to encourage the use of computational modelling in Roman economy studies
- Oxford Roman Economy Project
The Cities Database
The Karanis Tax Rolls Database
The Mines Database
The Olive Oil and Wine Presses Database
The Shipwrecks Database
The Stone Quarries Database
The Water technology database - Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval CivilizationsHarvard University
- Energetic Calculator for Ancient Buildingsa tool used to measure the energy required in pre-industrial construction projects.
- Brainplants: Botanical Records of Archeobotany Italian Networkan interactive database including archaeological sites with microscopic and macroscopic remains
- Perseus Digital LibraryTry clicking on Collections/Texts and take a look at the Art and Archaeology Artifact Browser
- Heidelberg Latin Inscriptions Databaseabout 80.000 inscriptions
- Papyrus DatabasesLinks to many sites created by the University of Chicago classics librarian
- Eagles Latin Inscription Databaseimages, text, place of origin, current location
- Greek Economic Inscriptionsin-progress collection of Greek Inscriptions of Economic content, covering a period from the 6th to the 1st century BC.
- Attic Inscription in EnglishEnglish translations of the inscriptions of ancient Athens and Attica.
Useful books from the Penn Libraries collections
- Use the link above to search the libraries catalog -- using keywords or subject terms, authors, or titles.
- Not finding what you are looking for? Check in with Rebecca for further assistance.
- You can link to online content directly. You'll be asked to log in with pennkey and password. Let me know if you are having problems, or send a question through ask a question.
- Roman Agricultural Economy: Organization, investiment, and production ONLINENew analyses of the nature and scale of Roman agriculture
- Quantifying the Roman Economy: Methods and Problems ONLINEfocuses on the economic performance of the Roman empire, analysing the extent to which Roman political domination of the Mediterranean and north-west Europe created the conditions for the integration of agriculture, production, trade, and commerce across the regions of the empire.
- Economics of the Roman Stone Trade ONLINEAn examination of the production, distribution and use of carved stone objects in the Roman world
- Trade, Commerce, and the State in the Roman World ONLINEPapers by leading Roman historians and archaeologists discuss trade within the Roman Empire and beyond its frontiers between c.100 BC and AD 350
- Urban Craftsmen and Traders in the Roman World ONLINESheds new light on approaches to the economic history of urban craftsmen and traders in the Roman world
- Oxford Handbook of Roman Law and Society ONLINEAll things Roman law!
- Rome's Economic Revolution ONLINEEconomic change in Rome between the Second Punic War and the middle of the 1st century BC
- Settlement, Urbanization, and Population ONLINENew analyses of data and evidence for population and settlement patterns, particularly urbanization, in the Mediterranean world from 100 BC to AD 350.
- Oxford Handbook of Papyrology ONLINEUnderstanding evidenced derived from documentary and literary texts written on papyri and potsherds, in Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Persian
- Economy of Pompeii ONLINEIncludes the chapter: Amphorae in the Roman Economy
- Rome's Imperial Economy ONLINEWas the economy of Rome a success by the standards of pre-modern economies?
- Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy ONLINEBy Richard Duncan-Jones.
- Money and Government in the Roman Empire ONLINEby Richard Duncan-Jones
The Open Sea: The Economic Life of the Ancient Mediterranean World from the Iron Age to the Rise of Rome by Call Number: Online title (read, print, download)ISBN: 9781400890224Publication Date: 2018Economic history of the ancient Mediterranean world from Phoenician trading to the beginning of Imperial Rome.
Children and Everyday Life in the Roman and Late Antique World by Call Number: ONLINEISBN: 9781472464804Publication Date: 2016
The Ancient City ONLINE by Call Number: ONLINE COPYISBN: 9780521198356Publication Date: 2016The Urban economy of the ancient city
Tracing Childhood: Bioarchaeological Investigations of Early Lives in Antiquity by Call Number: Online title (read, print, download)ISBN: 1306685370Publication Date: 2014Questions the nature and quality of children s lives: social identity, economic lives, health, and community
Two Oxen Ahead: Pre-mechanized Farming in the Mediterranean by Call Number: Online title (read, print, download)ISBN: 1405192836Publication Date: 2014Analyzes recent farming practices in communitiesaround the Mediterranean to enhance understanding of prehistoric and Greco-Roman societies.
The Ancient Mediterranean Environment Between Science and History by Call Number: Online title (read, print, download)ISBN: 9004254056Publication Date: 2013
Maritime Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean World by Call Number: Online copy, read online, print and downloadISBN: 9781108429948Publication Date: 2018Uses network analysis to test the paradigm of connectivity. From prehistory into the Byzantine period.
The Economic Integration of Roman Italy: Rural Communities in a Globalizing World by Call Number: ONLINEISBN: 9789004325906Publication Date: 2017Through a variety of source materials (e.g. pottery, settlement patterns, environmental data), highlights the complexity of rural settlement and economies
The Monetary Systems of the Greeks and Romans by Call Number: Online text (read, print, download)ISBN: 9780199233359Publication Date: 2008Also available in print at the Museum Library HG237 .M658 2008
