Market-Days in the Roman Empire
Abstract
NO ASPECT OF COMMERCE in the Roman empire has been more neglected than that which involves the movement of goods within any given fifteen-mile radius;' yet this local trade must account for a good three quarters of the value of exchange throughout the economy as a whole. What was its routine? The question is best explored within three settings: in quite isolated rural markets, in villages, and in cities. In almost every region of the ancient world one could find stretches of countryside too thinly populated to support any permanent economic centre; but a substitute might emerge in the form of a periodic meeting of the farmers roundabout to sell their surplus and to attract peddlers with a more varied stock of goods. Such a site would stand no chance of mention in our written sources, and its tents and booths would leave little trace for the archeologist; yet he might find at a cross-roads an area littered with coins, pottery, and other small objects attesting to the presence of crowds of people.2 The usefulness of a gathering place like this is obvious. It made possible a little variation in the peasant's diet, an infusion of minor luxuries, and access to essentials like iron and salt. And in certain regions, for reasons of higher profits or necessity, only one crop was grown-olive trees, let us say, in southern Spain, in northeastern Syria, or northern Africa. Here, life could not be supported at all without rural markets. It might then be the responsibility of the large landowner to supply a centre for exchange on his own initiative. His villa might serve as the place at which, on known days or seasons, his tenants gathered to buy and sell what they needed, while his stables and courtyard sheltered the traders overnight.3 Alternatively, a fair could be established on open ground, where a cluster of booths might in time become a sort of trading post. This is what must be meant by the phrase vicum et nundinas constituere or instituere,4 nundinae meaning market-
Cite this
Ramsay MacMullen (1970). Market-Days in the Roman Empire. Phoenix. https://doi.org/10.2307/1087739
@article{ramsay1970marketdays,
title = {Market-Days in the Roman Empire},
author = {MacMullen, Ramsay},
year = {1970},
journal = {Phoenix},
doi = {10.2307/1087739}
}Citations in this library
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