Latin epics such as Virgil s "Aeneid," Lucan s "Civil War," and Statius s "Thebaid "addressed Roman aristocrats whose dealings in gifts, favors, and payments defined their conceptions of social order. In "The Commerce of War," Neil Coffee argues that these exchanges play a central yet overlooked role in epic depictions of Roman society.
Tracing the collapse of an aristocratic worldview across all three poems, Coffee highlights the distinction they draw between reciprocal gift giving among elites and the more problematic behaviors of buying and selling. In the "Aeneid," customary gift...
Latin epics such as Virgil s "Aeneid," Lucan s "Civil War," and Statius s "Thebaid "addressed Roman aristocrats whose dealings in gifts, favors, an...
The economy of ancient Rome, with its long-range trade, widespread moneylending, and companies of government contractors, was surprisingly modern. Yet Romans also exchanged goods and services within a traditional system of gifts and favors, which sustained the supportive relationships necessary for survival in the absence of extensive state and social institutions. In Gift and Gain: How Money Transformed Ancient Rome, Neil Coffee shows how a vibrant commercial culture progressively displaced systems of gift giving over the course of Rome's classical era. The change was propelled by...
The economy of ancient Rome, with its long-range trade, widespread moneylending, and companies of government contractors, was surprisingly modern. Yet...
