Work, Labour, and Professions in the Roman World

Verboven, Koenraad; Laes, Christian

doi:10.1163/9789004331686

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…According to some estimates, 80–90% of the population worked in the agriculture and Food-Production sector [ 39 ]. But we should realize that farming was not considered a profession per se and the occupational pride connected with jobs in agriculture and other food production might have been relatively low, leading to its limited epigraphic footprint [ 40 ]. Again, we repeated the analysis treating Rome separately from other large cities ( S4 Fig ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The conception of what comprises a profession has changed since Antiquity as has the value assigned to the profession. Studies of epigraphic sources, however, assert that professional occupations carried prestige and social status in Antiquity [ 40 ]. One study of inscriptions from the city of Rome shows that over 60% of all texts mentioning occupations were commissioned by freed-men and slaves, who proudly signal their accomplishments and elevated social standing despite originally low social status [ 41 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Division of labor, specialization and diversity in the ancient Roman cities: A quantitative approach to Latin epigraphy

2022

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Recent empirical studies on the division of labor in modern cities indicate a complex web of relationships between sectoral specialization of cities and their productivity on one hand and sectoral diversification and resilience on the other. Emerging scholarly consensus suggests that ancient urbanism has more in common with modern urban development than previously thought. We explore whether modern trends in urban division of labor apply to the cities of the Western Roman Empire from the first century BCE to the fourth century CE. We analyze occupational data extracted from a large body of Latin epigraphic evidence by computer-assisted text-mining, subsequently mapped onto a dataset of ancient Roman cities. We detect a higher frequency of occupation terms on inscriptions from cities led by Rome than from rural areas and identify an accumulation of tertiary sector occupations in large cities. The temporal dimension of epigraphic data allows us to study aspects of the division of labor diachronically and to detect trends in the data in a four centuries-long period of Roman imperial history. Our analyses reveal an overall decrease in the frequency of occupational terms between the first half and second half of the third century CE; the maximum frequency of occupational terms shifts over time from large cities to medium and small towns, and finally, rural areas. Our results regarding the specialization and diversity of cities and their respective impact on productivity and resilience remain inconclusive, possibly as a result of the socio-economic bias of Latin inscriptions and insufficient representativeness of the data. Yet, we believe that our formalized approach to the research problem opens up new avenues for research, both in respect to the economic history of the Roman Empire and to the current trends in the science of cities.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Division of labor, specialization and diversity in the ancient Roman cities: A quantitative approach to Latin epigraphy

2022

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“…Gilding was used very early in the production of a large sort of objects. The process of hand-making gold leaf is the work of a specialised artisan, the goldbeater, attested not only in Egypt ("chief of the makers of thin gold" [83] and "chief of the makers of gold leaf" [84], among others [85]), but also under the Romans (chapter 28 on gold and silver in the Edict on Maximum Prices (AD 301) by Emperor Diocletian [86,87]). They formed a guild with gilders [88,89].…”

Section: Gold Leaf Tesserae and Gildingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gold leaf tesserae: tracing the origins of gold using synchrotron-based techniques

2023

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To gain insight into the possible origin of the gold used in the production of tesserae containing gold leaf less than 0.5 μm thick placed between two layers of glass, we propose a non-destructive synchrotron radiation (SR) XRF protocol based on sequential analysis under optimised analytical conditions. Using this protocol, trace element analysis is achieved with detection limits of 1-6 mg/kg. As Pt and Au have adjacent fluorescence energies, we tested the most challenging situation, when Pt is present in very low concentrations in gold. Data obtained by double-dispersive XRF (D 2 XRF) and μXRF for fourth-ninth-century mosaics decorating nine Eastern and Western religious buildings show that the Eastern and Western tesserae are made from different alloys. However, these alloys are identical to those used to make gold leaf for gilding, because plastic deformation requires the use of gold alloys with high ductility and malleability. Although trace element composition of gold used in the concerned period is only available for coins, by comparing the amounts of Pt contained in the tesserae and in the coins we show that Roman tesserae are made from Roman gold, as described in the documentary sources. We observe for the Byzantine period the use of a Byzantine gold and of gold supposedly from different stages of recycling, and we suggest the use of Umayyad and Abbasid gold for the production of Islamic tesserae.

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“…Most of the historical sources on Greco‐Roman occupations consist of epigraphic inscriptions reporting the profession of the deceased. However, such sources suffer from an elitism bias because they are unlikely to represent the everyday life of “common people” (Morris et al, 2007; Verboven & Laes, 2017). Historical and archaeological evidence shows that over 200 different occupations were present in classical Athens alone (Harris, 2020), but the extent of such variety depends on the market demands and the job market in Athens, as described in historical sources, should not be considered in any way representative of the entire Greco‐Roman world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in mechanical stress and associated labor in Hellenistic–early Roman Menainon, Sicily

Caruso,

Nikita

2024

Intl J of Osteoarchaeology

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This paper explores mechanical stress in the Hellenistic/early Roman community of Menainon (Sicily) to test the existence of sex‐based division of labor. For this purpose, human skeletal remains from 79 males and 65 females, dating to the 4th–1st ca. BCE, were examined for degenerative joint disease, intervertebral disc disease, cross‐sectional geometric properties, and entheseal changes. Our findings support an equal share of workload between males and females, who appeared to have experienced similar mechanical stress levels. In contrast, they do not support a systematically greater mechanical load among males, as would have been expected if females had been restricted indoors taking care of domestic tasks only, while men had dealt with most physically demanding outdoor activities. The patterns identified in the current study agree with a scenario where agriculture was a prominent subsistence activity (as attested historically for this region) and most members of this rural community engaged in agricultural tasks irrespective of sex. Our study has limitations regarding the available historical and archaeological information, which restrict our ability to formulate solid research hypotheses or fully contextualize the bioarchaeological results. Nonetheless, it does highlight the importance of critically assessing historical information regarding the role of men and women in the Greco‐Roman society.

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Work, Labour, and Professions in the Roman World

Cited by 17 publications

References 0 publications

Division of labor, specialization and diversity in the ancient Roman cities: A quantitative approach to Latin epigraphy

Division of labor, specialization and diversity in the ancient Roman cities: A quantitative approach to Latin epigraphy

Gold leaf tesserae: tracing the origins of gold using synchrotron-based techniques

Sex differences in mechanical stress and associated labor in Hellenistic–early Roman Menainon, Sicily

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