In this study we evaluate the role that Mediterranean Medieval trade with Africa and the Middle-East still plays today in Italian politics by shaping the attitudes towards migrants of individuals that live close to Medieval ports. Trade connections between Medieval ports and Muslim Africa and...

Urban areas confront a chronic shortage of housing, especially in the low-rent segment. This precarious situation is further exacerbated by major challenges, like the destruction of housing by wars and natural catastrophes, rapid increase of demand, or pandemics cutting incomes. In response, the...

During the Hadrianic period (117-138 CE), Attalos Adrastos of Aphrodisias left two generous endowments to fund civic and reli- gious services. Although private donations are common means of civic up-keeping, at a closer look Adrastos employed financial de- vices that allowed him to profit from...

There has been supreme importance to the religious institution in the lives of the populations as it represents one of the most vital factors affecting the course of their lives and the way their civilization progresses. Religious beliefs delineated the wide-ranging structure of human behavior...

In the last two decades, an increasing amount of papyrological findings have begun to shed more light on the demographic and economic consequences of the Antonine Plague in Roman Egypt. However, both results and conclusions on this subject remain quite controversial. This paper reinterprets the...

For scholars seeking to understand political transitions, ancient Greece – the birthplace of democracy and home to dynamic political entrepreneurs – represents a potentially invaluable source of information. Until recently, however, that information was too dispersed topermit systematic...

The most spectacular and attractive items of personal adornment of people is jewellery. The colour, brightness, lasting value, and the scarcity of the materials for these specialties, jewelleries attract man. From the hoary past, men used jewellery made of various materials. Various parts of the...

IntroductionPART I :THE EMERGENCE OF THE EGYPTIAN STATE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INSTITUTIONS1.Concepts of 'the state' and ancient Egypt2.The administrative field of power3.The administrative field, symbolic power and social connectivityPART II:THE INTERNAL ECONOMY OF EGYPT4.The Egyptian economy: The...

The article deals with one of the most difficult theoretical problems of legal science - the problem of developing a unified methodological approach to the study of the historically first sources of international law related to the local legal system of Ancient Rome. The subject of the study is...

The establishment of Christianity in the late- and post-Roman world caused an economic as well as a religious revolution, but, while a great deal of attention has been paid to the religious developments of the period, the impact of the establishment of the Church on the economy has attracted...

The paper seeks to throw light at two discrete phenomena that were deemed as decisive for the development of the ancient Hellenic world and for urbanization in that part of the world via the emergence of sovereign urban entities, the Greek poleis. Although distinct, they are two conceptually and...

What caused the rise of ancient Greek city-states? To answer this question, I develop a model that synthesizes neo-institutionalist, neo-physiocrat, and neo-classical theories of development and advances a trade-based explanation consistent with the writing of classicists. Then, with a new...

The present paper is inspired by the notions of "financial risk" and "financial uncertainties" and transfers their basic reasoning to social science analysis; that is, it develops a theoretical analysis in order to explain social and political change. We know that the degree of social and...

Did long-distance trade in the Roman world operate on a sufficiently big scale to increase the overall size of markets, enabling specialization of labor and thus Smithian growth? Although the Malthusian model represents the dominant view to describe the economic performance of the ancient world,...

Urban areas are confronted with a chronic shortage of housing, especially in the low-rent segment. This precarious situation is further exacerbated by major challenges, like the destruction of housing by wars and natural catastrophes, rapid increase of demand, or a pandemic cutting incomes. In...

In 1785, a Frankfurt Jew brought a credit dispute between himself and a local Jewish couple before the Imperial Aulic Council in Vienna. Intra-Jewish cases were often appealed to the Council, but here the plaintiff argued the suit should be decided based on Jewish law and the Imperial Aulic...

"The story of the Roman Empire's enormous wine industry told through the remarkable ceramic storage and shipping containers that made it possible. The average resident of ancient Rome drank two-hundred-and-fifty liters of wine a year, almost a bottle a day, and the total annual volume of wine...

"Roman merchants, artisans, and service providers faced substantial prejudice. Contemporary authors labeled them greedy, while the man on the street accused merchants of lying and cheating. Legally and socially, merchants were kept at arm's length from respectable society. Yet merchants were...

"Brings a borderlands perspective to the history of China. From the eighth to thirteenth centuries along Chinas rugged southern periphery, trade in tribute articles and an interregional horse market thrived. These ties dramatically affected imperial Chinas relations with the emerging kingdoms in...

""Here I lie, a matron... I was wife to Fortunatus, my father was Veturius. Unlucky woman, born twenty-seven years ago and married for sixteen - one bed, one marriage - I died after six births, just one child remains." This epitaph of a Roman woman named Veturia, who died in the 3rd century BCE,...

1. Introduction: Models, Methods, and Morality in the Study of Ancient Mediterranean Economies -- Part I Methods and Historiography -- 2. For Those Who Curse the Candle: A Culturally and Historically Relativistic Proposal for Rethinking the Approach to the Ancient Economy (via Archaic Rome) --...

Urknall – Wie alles begann und dann weiterging -- Die Erde – Als unser Planet Prügel bezog -- Pflanzen – Die unterschätzten Eroberer -- Tiere – Ein Albtraum aus Giften, Klauen und Stacheln -- Menschenarten – Wir waren mal viele, jetzt sind wir allein -- Kommunikation – Vom Homo...