The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture

Description

During the Principate (roughly from 27 BC to AD 235), when the empire reached its maximum extent, Roman society and culture were radically transformed. But how was the vast territory of the empire controlled? Did the demands of central government stimulate economic growth or endanger survival? What forces of cohesion operated to balance the social and economic inequalities and high mortality rates? How did the official religion react in the face of the diffusion of alien cults and the emergence of Christianity? These are some of the many questions posed here, in an expanded edition of the original, pathbreaking account of the society, economy and culture of the Roman empire. As an integrated study of the life and outlook of the ordinary inhabitants of the Roman world, it deepens our understanding of the underlying factors in this important formative period of world history. Additions to the second edition include an introductory chapter which sets the scene and explores the consequences for government and the governing classes of the replacement of the Republic by the rule of emperors. A second extra chapter assesses how far Rome's subjects resisted her hegemony. Addenda to the chapters throughout offer up-to-date bibliography and point to new evidence and approaches which have enlivened Roman history in recent decades.

Peter Garnsey is Emeritus Professor of the History of Classical Antiquity and a Fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK. His publications include Social Status and Legal Privilege in the Roman Empire (1970), Famine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World (1988), Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine (1996), Cities, Peasants and Food (1998), Food and Society in Classical Antiquity (1999) and Thinking about Property: From Antiquity to the Age of Revolution (2007). Richard Saller is the Dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, USA. He is the author of Personal Patronage under the Early Empire (1982) and Patriarchy, Property, and Death in the Roman Family (1994), and co-editor of The Cambridge Economic History of Greco-Roman World (2007).

The second edition, like the original, is still as thought-provoking as it ever was. ... A chapter on the 'Enemies of Rome' by Martin Goodman adds an important strand to the book. ... Arguably the most important addition to the second edition is the inclusion of a new Chapter 1 entitled "Introducting the Principate". ... No shelf of Roman history books is really complete without a copy of Garnsey and Saller's The Roman Empire. * Classics Ireland * Brilliantly conceived by two of the greatest living authorities on ancient Rome and an instant classic when it first appeared, this magisterial work has been generously expanded and updated to incorporate the latest scholarship. We could not wish for a more penetrating analysis of the foundations of Roman civilization. -- Walter Scheidel, Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University, USA Garnsey & Saller's 'The Roman Empire' is unsurpassed as a clear and thought-provoking introduction to key themes and issues in the economic, social and cultural history of Rome. This new edition, expanding the book's scope and offering a guide to the most important recent research, ensures that it will remain essential reading for students for years to come. -- Neville Morley, Professor of Ancient History, University of Bristol, UK A by now a classic introduction to the Roman Empire that was always much more than a mere introduction and whose contents have withstood the test of time, is now made available in an even better edition, with new contributions on resistance, religion, and culture, by Martin Goodman, Richard Gordon, Jas Elsner and Greg Woolf. The bibliographical addenda are mines of information: sure guides to the best of recent scholarship on every aspect of the empire covered by the authors. This new edition of The Roman Empire is highly recommended as simply the best entree to the big aspects and the big problems of the Roman empire at the height of its power. -- Brent D. Shaw, Andrew Fleming West Professor of Classics, Princeton University, USA. Freshly revised for the 21st century, Garnsey and Saller's masterful survey remains the indispensible introduction to society and the economy under the emperors. Scholars as well as students will mine its updated bibliographies for authoritative guidance to recent research, while the new chapters enhance the book's value for the classroom. -- Nathan Rosenstein, Professor of History, The Ohio State University, USA Packed with information and ideas, but concise and readable, this is by far the best available guide for students and the general reader to how the Roman Empire actually worked, and its enduring impact on the history of the Mediterranean world. Groundbreaking in its thematic approach when first published in 1987, it now benefits from an introductory survey of the Empire's political system, and supplements to each chapter which provide a bird's-eye view of the questions raised and debated in a generation of new research. -- Dominic Rathbone, Professor of Ancient History, King's College London, UK More than twenty-five years after the appearance of the first edition, this remains the only book in which students and researchers can read about the administrative, economic, social and mental structures of the early Roman empire. A new chapter on the 'enemies of Rome' (by Martin Goodman) and a long series of addenda on environmental history, economic history, urbanism, religion (by Richard Gordon), culture (by Jas Elsner and Greg Woolf) and other topics are of the highest standard and ensure this volume another long life span. In short, an unreplaced and perhaps irreplaceable book. -- Luuk de Ligt, Professor of Ancient History, Leiden University, The Netherlands