Course syllabus

ANCHIST 262/362: THE ANCIENT ECONOMY

SEMESTER TWO, 2016

Lecturer: Professor Matthew Trundle

Email: m.trundle@auckland.ac.nz

                 Telephone Extension: 87427

                 Address: 521 1-11 Short Street                                                                                   

Guest Lecturer: Dr Jeremy Armstrong

Purpose: To provide an advanced background study to the economic systems of ancient civilisations situated around the Mediterranean Sea from the peoples of the Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome and the evidence by which we understand them.

Schedule: Three lectures/week (as outlined below), one mid-term test worth 20% (Thursday 25^th August), one 2,500 word Essay worth 40% (Due by noon on Thursday 6^th October), and one Two-hour final exam worth 40% (scheduled in the exam period). The mid-term will be concerned with material covered up to the end of week five and the final exam will cover the material covered in lectures in weeks six to twelve.

Lectures: Tuesday (PLT 2/303-G02), Wednesday (HSB2/201N-352) and Thursday (HSB2/ 201N-352) at 3 p.m. Lectures are clustered by topic into fortnightly groupings. The sixth class of each fortnight explores evidence in more detail and from a more discursive perspective than a normal lecture. Readings will be provided in advance of the discussion classes that cover the fortnight under consideration.

Essay Due Date: The Essay is due at noon on Thursday 6^th October. Essays must be handed in at the Faculty Office in ARTS 1.

Extensions: Any extensions to the essay hand-in date must be discussed with the lecturer before the hand-in date.

Office Hours: By appointment.

Essay Questions 

1. Did trade play a minimal role in the economies of ancient peoples of the Near East and the Mediterranean?
2. How important was money to the peoples of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean?
3. ‘There is no such thing as the economy in antiquity!’  Discuss the validity of this statement with reference to the Near East and the Mediterranean.
4. Was land the most important economic resource for the ancient peoples of the Near East and the Mediterranean?
5. Compare and contrast the various ways in which ancient elites exploited labor. Which would you suggest was the most effective?

 

Course Outline

 

Weeks One & Two: Introduction, Overview, and the (First) Economies of the Near East

19 July: Beginnings 1: Class Introduction — Sources and Methods

20 July: Beginnings 2: The Ancient Economy, an Overview

21 July: Beginnings 3: The Ancient World as an Economic ‘Zone’: Land and People

26 July: Beginnings 4: The First ‘Economies’: Prehistory, Sumeria and the First Cities

27 July: Beginnings 5: The Persian Imperial Economy

28 July: Discussion Class

 

Weeks Three & Four: Economies in The Bronze Age

2 August: BA1: The Ancient Egyptian Economy: Overview

3 August: BA2: The Ancient Egyptian Economy: Pharaoh and Temple

4 August: BA3: The Ancient Egyptian Economy: Local Community & Household

9 August: BA4: Mycenaean Greece and the Economies of the Linear B Tablets

10 August: BA5: The End of the Bronze Age & the Economic Causes of Collapse

11 August: Discussion Class

 

Weeks Five & Six: Archaic Greek Economies

16 August: Greece 1: Homeric Economic Ideologies (An ‘Embedded’ World)

17 August: Greece 2: Economic Realities (Foodstuffs and Metals)

18 August: Greece 3: Labour (Thetes, Dependents, ‘Serfs’, and Slaves)

23 August: Greece 4: Exchange and Trade in the Archaic Age

24 August: Greece 5: Measures of Value, Metals, Trade and Mining

25 August: Mid-Term Test

 

Mid-Semester Break 

 

Mid-Semester Break

Weeks Seven & Eight: Money and Classical Greece

13 September: Greece 6: The Invention and Spread of Coinage

14 September: Greece 7: The Economy of Classical Warfare: Food, Pay, Plunder

15 September: Greece 8: Athens and the Fifth Century Athenian Economy

20 September: Greece 9: Specialisation: Professionals and Money in the Fourth Century BC

21 September: Greece 10: The Economies of Macedon and Hellenistic Kingdoms

22 September: Discussion Class

 

Weeks Nine & Ten: Early Rome

27 September: Rome 1: Farming the Land of ‘Roman’ Italy

28 September: Rome 2: Subsistence Living, Labour, Slavery and Early Italy

29 September: Rome 3: Trade in the Western Mediterranean 200 BC – AD 100

4 October: Rome 4: The Economies of Pompeii

5 October: Rome 5: Early Roman Coinage (Jeremy Armstrong)

6 October: Discussion Class

 

Weeks Eleven & Twelve: The Roman Empire

11 October: Rome 6: Money, the Army and Empire 220 BC – AD 150

12 October: Rome 7: Roman Britain and the Villa Economy (Jeremy Armstrong)

13 October: Rome 8: The Economies of the City of Rome

18 October: Rome 9: The Imperial Government and the Economy 100 BC – AD 300

19 October: Rome 10: The Economy and the ‘Fall’ of the Roman Empire AD 200 - AD 500

20 October: Discussion, Concluding Remarks – Examination Preparation