Economy, ancient, approaches to

Abstract

The Greeks and Romans did not develop a concept of ‘the economy’ or discuss economic matters at any length; the study of the ancient economy therefore began only in the late 18th century, in parallel with the developing study of contemporary economic development, and was heavily influenced from the beginning by the question of the relationship between antiquity and modernity. The field has long been dominated by two different but closely connected debates, about the nature and degree of development of the ancient economy (was it ‘primitive’, or on the contrary proto-modern?), and about the correct theoretical and methodological tools for studying it, with constant anxieties about the dangers of anachronism. An especially important theme has been the changing weight placed on material rather than literary evidence, as archaeologists have accumulated ever greater information about economic activity, leading to calls in recent years to focus on ancient economic performance rather than on the structures of culture and thought that supposedly inhibited ancient development.