Rome: Economic Change in the 2nd Century BC - The Context of Mosaic as a Luxury Product

Yıl 2017, , 101 - 116, 30.11.2017

Filipe Carmo

https://doi.org/10.26658/jmr.357018

Öz

To understand the Roman economy in the 2nd century BC is something that is not possible without being aware

of the process of how the Mediterranean World fused into a political whole, first under the influence and later

under the rule of the Roman State. Constructing the economic history of this period is not possible without

considering the globalisation that occurred in the Mediterranean political realm, as well as the major changes

in the social and economic spheres taking place in the Italian Peninsula.

This context makes it possible to lay down a relationship between the conquering process and the changes that

came about in the field of the land property and land cultivation. A second relationship may be established

between the deep changes that occurred in the distribution of urban and rural populations and the consumption

structure, the origin of corn supplies and the changes in the economic tissue in general. Further consideration

is given to the economic significance of the proceeds coming from the war along with the revenues that Roman

ruling officials and economic agents obtained while administering the imperial domain. The appetite for luxury

goods that resulted from this process led in particular to the building of wealthy houses where fine mosaic

pavements tended to be a common feature.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Roman economy, second century BC, economic complexity, state finances, Infrastructures, luxury and mosaics

Roma: İÖ 2. yüzyıl’da Ekonomik Değişim - Lüks Bir Ürün Olarak Mozaik Konteksti

Öz

İÖ 2. yüzyıl Roma ekonomisini anlamak, politik olarak Akdeniz Dünyası’nın bir bütün halinde önce Roma

Devleti’nin etkisi ardından da yönetimi altındaki süreçte nasıl kaynaştığını anlamadan mümkün değildir.

Akdeniz siyasi topraklarında, üzerinde yaşanan küreselleşmenin yanı sıra İtalyan Yarımadası’nda yaşanan

sosyal ve ekonomik alanlardaki büyük değişiklikler dikkate alınmaksızın, bu dönemin ekonomik tarihinin

oluşturulması imkansızdır.

Bu bağlamda, fethetme süreci ile arazi mülkiyeti ve toprak işleme alanındaki değişiklikler arasında bir ilişki

kurulması mümkün olmaktadır. İkinci bir ilişki, kentsel ve kırsal nüfus dağılımında meydana gelen derin

değişimler ile tüketim yapısı, Mısır tedarikinin kaynağı ve ekonomik dokudaki genel değişiklikler arasında

kurulabilmektedir. Roma yöneticileri aracılığıyla gelen savaş gelirlerinin ekonomik önemi ve imparatorluk

sahasının yönetimi esnasındaki ekonomik etmenler konusunda da derin bir değerlendirme yapılacaktır. Lüks

eşyaya düşkünlüğe sebebiyet veren bu durum, kaliteli mozaik döşemelerinin bulunduğu zengin ev yapılarının

yaygınlaşmasını sağlamıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Roma ekonomisi, ekonomik karmaşıklık, elit yapılar, devlet maliyesi, lüks ve mozaik

Kaynakça

• J. Andreau, 1987, La vie financière dans le monde romain: Les métiers de manieurs d’argent (IVe siècle av. J.-C. – IIIe siècle ap. J.-C.), Rome, École Française de Rome.
• E. Badian, 1972, Publicans and Sinners: Private Enterprise in the Service of the Roman Republic, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press.
• P. A. Brunt, 1971, Italian Manpower: 225 BC – AD 14, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• F. Carmo, 2010, O significado da implantação da República Romana, Masters Thesis, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon.
• F. Coarelli, 1977, “Public Building in Rome between the Second Punic War and Sulla”, PBSR 45, 1-23.
• F. Coarelli, 1988, “I santuari, il fiume, gli empori”, A. Momigliano - A. Schiavone (eds.), Storia di Roma, Volume primo, Roma in Italia, Torino, Giulio Einaudi editore, 127-151.
• F. Coarelli, 1990, “Roma, i Volsci e il Lazio Antico”, Crise et transformation des sociétés archaïques de l’Italie Antique au Ve siècle av. J.-C., Rome, École Française de Rome, 135-154.
• E. E. Cohen, 1992, Athenian Economy & Society: A Banking Perspective, Princeton, Princeton University Press.
• T. J. Cornell, 1995, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC), London, Routledge.
• T. J. Cornell, 2000, “The City of Rome in the Middle Republic (400-100 BC)”, J. Coulston - H. Dodge (eds.), Ancient Rome: The Archaeology of the Eternal City, Oxford, University School of Archaeology.
• M. H. Crawford, 1974, Roman Republican Coinage, London, Cambridge University Press.
• J. DeLaine, 1990, “Structural Experimentation: The Lintel Arch, Corbel and Tie in Western Roman Architecture”, WorldArch, Vol. 21, No. 3, 407-24.
• J. DeLaine, 2001, “Bricks and Mortar: Exploring the Economics of Building Techniques at Rome and Ostia”, Mattingly - Salmon (eds.), Economies Beyond Agriculture in the Classical World, London and New York, Routledge, 230-68.
• K. M. D. Dunbabin, 1994, “Early pavement types in the west and the invention of the tessellation”, CMGR V, 26-40.
• K. M. D. Dunbabin, 1999a, Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• K. M. D. Dunbabin, 1999b, “Mosaics and their public”, M. Ennaïfer – A. Rebourg (eds.), CMGR VII, 739-45.
• M. I. Finley, 1999, The Ancient Economy, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press.
• T. Frank, 1933, An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome, Vol. I, Rome and Italy of the Republic, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press.
• P. Green, 1997, D’Alexandre à Actium - Du partage de l’empire au triomphe de Rome, Paris, Robert Laffont.
• W. V. Harris, 1979, War and Imperialism in Republican Rome 327-70 BC, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
• K. Hopkins, 1978, Conquerors and Slaves, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• P. Kay, 2014, Rome’s Economic Revolution, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
• D. Laty, 1996, Histoire des Bains, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France.
• A. Malissard, 1994, Les Romains et l’eau: fontaines, salles de bains, thermes, égouts, aqueducs…, Paris, Les Belles Lettres.
• J. W. Rich, 1983, “The Supposed Manpower Shortage of the Later Second Century BC”, Historia 32, 287-331.
• V. J. Rosivach, 2006, “The Lex Fannia Sumptuaria of 161 BC”, The Classical Journal, Vol. 102, No. 1, 1-15.
• M. I. Rostovtseff, 1988, Histoire Économique et Sociale de l’Empire Romain, Paris, Robert Laffont.
• A. Schiavone, 2002, La storia spezzata: Roma antica e Occidente moderno, Roma, Gius. Laterza & Figli.
• M. Torelli, 2007, Storia degli Etruschi, Roma-Bari, Laterza.
• Arnold Joseph Toynbee, 1965, Hannibal’s Legacy – The Hannibalic War’s Effects on Roman Life: Volume II – Rome and her Neighbours after Hannibal’s Exit, London, Oxford University Press.
• A. F. Wallace-Hadrill, 2008, Rome’s Cultural Revolution, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
• B. Ward-Perkins, 2005, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, London, Oxford University Press.
• A. Wilson, 2006, “The Economic Impact of Technological Advances in the Roman Construction Industry”, E. Lo Cascio (ed.), Innovazione tecnica e progresso economico nel mondo romano, Bari: Edipuglia, 225-36.