Download or read book Getting Rich in Late Antique Egypt written by Ryan McConnell and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2017-07-12 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Papyrologists and historians have taken a lively interest in the Apion family (fifth through seventh centuries), who rose from local prominence in rural Middle Egypt to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the Eastern Roman Empire. The focus of most scholarly debate has been whether the Apion estate—and estates like it—aimed for a marketable surplus or for self-sufficiency. Getting Rich in Late Antique Egypt shifts the discussion to precisely how the Apions’ wealth was generated and what role their Egyptian estate played in that growth by engaging directly with broader questions of the relationship between public and private economic actors in Late Antiquity, rational management in ancient economies, the size of estates in Byzantine Egypt, and the role of rural estates in the Byzantine economy. Ryan E. McConnell connects the family’s rise in wealth and status to its role in tax collection on behalf of the Byzantine state, rather than a reliance on productive surpluses. Close analysis of low- and high-level accounts from the Apion estate, as well as documentation from comparable Roman and Byzantine Egyptian estates, corroborate this conclusion. Additionally, McConnell offers a third way into the ongoing debate over whether the Apions’ relationship with the state was antagonistic or cooperative, concluding that the relationship was that of parties in a negotiation, with each side seeking to maximize its own benefit. The application of modern economic concepts—as well as comparisons to the economies of Athens, Rome, Ptolemaic Egypt, and Early Modern France—further illuminate the structure and function of the estate in Late Antique Egypt. Getting Rich in Late Antique Egypt will be a valuable resource for philologists, archaeologists, papyrologists, and scholars of Late Antiquity. It will also interest scholars of agricultural, social, and economic history.
Download or read book Getting Rich in Late Antique Egypt written by Ryan McConnell and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2017-07-12 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A nuanced examination that illuminates the Apion estate's economic structure and addresses how the family was able to generate such wealth
Download or read book Wine Wealth and the State in Late Antique Egypt written by Todd Hickey and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2012-09-14 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The economic practices and theory of the Roman Empire, as seen through the lens of the estate of the Flavii Apiones
Download or read book Wine Wealth and the State in Late Antique Egypt written by Todd Hickey and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2012-09-14 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "glorious house" of the senatorial family of the Flavii Apiones is the best documented economic entity of the Roman Empire during the fifth through seventh centuries, that critical period of transition between the classical world and the Middle Ages. For decades, the rich but fragmentary manuscript evidence that this large agricultural estate left behind, preserved for 1,400 years by the desiccating sands of Egypt, has been central to arguments concerning the agrarian and fiscal history of Late Antiquity, including the rise of feudalism. Wine, Wealth, and the State in Late Antique Egypt is the most authoritative synthesis concerning the economy of the Apion estate to appear to date. T. M. Hickey examines the records of the family's wine production in the sixth century in order to shed light on ancient economic practices and economic theory, as well as on the wine industry and on estate management. Based on careful study of the original manuscripts, including unpublished documents from the estate archive, he presents controversial conclusions, much at odds with the "top down" models currently dominating the scholarship.
Download or read book Life in an Egyptian Village in Late Antiquity written by Giovanni Ruffini and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-11 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most detailed glimpse to date of daily life in a small town at the end of the Roman Empire.
Download or read book A Companion to Greco Roman and Late Antique Egypt written by Katelijn Vandorpe and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 882 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative and multidisciplinary Companion to Egypt during the Greco‐Roman and Late Antique period With contributions from noted authorities in the field, A Companion to Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt offers a comprehensive resource that covers almost 1000 years of Egyptian history, starting with the liberation of Egypt from Persian rule by Alexander the Great in 332 BC and ending in AD 642, when Arab rule started in the Nile country. The Companion takes a largely sociological perspective and includes a section on life portraits at the end of each part. The theme of identity in a multicultural environment and a chapter on the quality of life of Egypt's inhabitants clearly illustrate this objective. The authors put the emphasis on the changes that occurred in the Greco-Roman and Late Antique periods, as illustrated by such topics as: Traditional religious life challenged; Governing a country with a past: between tradition and innovation; and Creative minds in theory and praxis. This important resource: Discusses how Egypt became part of a globalizing world in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times Explores notable innovations by the Ptolemies and Romans Puts the focus on the longue durée development Offers a thematic and multidisciplinary approach to the subject, bringing together scholars of different disciplines Contains life portraits in which various aspects and themes of people’s daily life in Egypt are discussed Written for academics and students of the Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt period, this Companion offers a guide that is useful for students in the areas of Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and New Testament studies.
Download or read book The Greco Egyptian Magical Formularies written by Christopher Faraone and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2022-11-14 with total page 563 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays on the magical handbooks of Greco-Roman Egypt
Download or read book Confiscation Or Coexistence written by Andrew Connor and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2022-10-24 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new interpretation of the administrative restructuring of lands held by temples in Roman Egypt
Download or read book Recording Village Life written by Jennifer Cromwell and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2017-12-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recording Village Life presents a close study of over 140 Coptic texts written between 724–756 CE by a single scribe, Aristophanes son of Johannes, of the village Djeme in western Thebes. These texts, which focus primarily on taxation and property concerns, yield a wealth of knowledge about social and economic changes happening at both the community and country-wide levels during the early years of Islamic rule in Egypt. Additionally, they offer a fascinating picture of the scribe’s role within this world, illuminating both the practical aspects of his work and the social and professional connections with clients for whom he wrote legal documents. Papyrological analysis of Aristophanes’ documents, within the context of the textual record of the village, shows a new and divergent scribal practice that reflects broader trends among his contemporaries: Aristophanes was part of a larger, national system of administrative changes, enacted by the country’s Arab rulers in order to better control administrative practices and fiscal policies within the country. Yet Aristophanes’ dossier shows him not just as an administrator, revealing details about his life, his role in the community, and the elite networks within which he operated. This unique perspective provides new insights into both the micro-history of an individual’s experience of eighth-century Theban village life, and its reflection in the macro social, economic, and political trends in Egypt at this time. This book will prove valuable to scholars of late antique studies, papyrology, philology, early Islamic history, social and economic history, and Egyptology.
Download or read book Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty written by Ariel G. Lopez and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2013-02-04 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shenoute of Atripe: stern abbot, loquacious preacher, patron of the poor and scourge of pagans in fifth-century Egypt. This book studies his numerous Coptic writings and finds them to be the most important literary source for the study of society, economy and religion in late antique Egypt. The issues and concerns Shenoute grappled with on a daily basis, Ariel Lopez argues, were not local problems, unique to one small corner of the ancient world. Rather, they are crucial to interpreting late antiquity as a historical period—rural patronage, religious intolerance, the Christian care of the poor and the local impact of the late Roman state. His little known writings provide us not only with a rare opportunity to see the life of a holy man as he himself saw it, but also with a privileged window into his world. Lopez brings Shenoute to prominence as witness of and participant in the major transformations of his time.
Download or read book Egypt in Late Antiquity written by Roger S. Bagnall and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together a vast amount of information pertaining to the society, economy, and culture of a province important to understanding the entire eastern part of the later Roman Empire. Focusing on Egypt from the accession of Diocletian in 284 to the middle of the fifth century, Roger Bagnall draws his evidence mainly from documentary and archaeological sources, including the papyri that have been published over the last thirty years.
Download or read book Economics Decision Making and Fiscal Participation in Late Antique Egypt written by Todd M. Hickey and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is based on the extensive papyrological documentation concerning the Middle Egyptian holdings of an aristocratic family that moved in the stratosphere of late antique society. It responds to recent arguments that the Apion estate was an exemplar of late antique agricultural capitalism and to a much older claim that the Apiones derived the majority of their wealth from massive vineyards in the Oxyrhynchite nome. The argument for capitalism is largely wishful thinking; on the Oxyrhynchite estate, a safe and steady income was valued above all else, and the risks of the market were to be shouldered by others. The Apiones' vineyards, moreover, though significant, were nowhere near as large as has been thought. As a result, one must posit a significant amount of holdings outside of the Oxyrhynchite just to bring the family up to the income level of an average senator from the West. This discovery is significant because the Apiones are usually cited as the exception par excellence to the traditional view that members of the Roman senate were much better off than their counterparts in Constantinople. More importantly, it enables a quantitative demonstration that the Apiones were willing participants in the imperial administration, not "feudal magnates" (with private armies and "proto-serfs") who were locked in a power struggle with the State for control of the provinces.
Download or read book Women of Jeme written by Terry G. Wilfong and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brings to life the women of Jeme, a thriving Christian community in ancient Egypt
Download or read book Making Money in Ancient Athens written by Michael Leese and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2021-10-20 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Given their cultural, intellectual, and scientific achievements, surely the Greeks were able to approach their economic affairs in a rational manner like modern individuals? Since the nineteenth century, many scholars have argued that premodern people did not behave like modern businesspeople, and that the “stagnation” that characterized the economy prior to the Industrial Revolution can be explained by a prevailing noneconomic mentality throughout premodern (and nonwestern) societies. This view, which simultaneously extols the “sophistication” of the modern West, relegates all other civilizations to the status of economic backwardness. But the evidence from ancient Athens, which is one of the best-documented societies in the premodern world, tells a very different story: one of progress, innovation, and rational economic strategies. Making Money in Ancient Athens examines in the most comprehensive manner possible the voluminous source material that has survived from Athens in inscriptions, private lawsuit speeches, and the works of philosophers like Aristotle and Plato. Inheritance cases that detail estate composition and investment choices, and maritime trade deals gone wrong, provide unparalleled glimpses into the specific factors that influenced Athenians at the level of the economic decision-making process itself, and the motivations that guided the specific economic transactions attested in the source material. Armed with some of the most thoroughly documented case studies and the richest variety of source material from the ancient Greek world, Michael Leese argues that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that ancient Athenians achieved the type of long-term profit and wealth maximization and continuous reinvestment of profits into additional productive enterprise that have been argued as unique to (and therefore responsible for) the modern industrial-capitalist system.
Download or read book Monastic Estates in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt written by Anne Bouvarel-Boud'hors and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars and colleagues of Sarah Clackson honored her memory through a two-day symposium, "The Administration of Monastic Estates in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt," held at Christ Church, Oxford, 25-26 September 2004. This rich and varied volume presents the papers given at that symposium, plus four additional ones. The foreword presents a complete bibliography for Sarah Clackson and an essay examining her formative role in Coptic Studies up to the time of her premature death. The contributions consist of editions of previously unpublished ostraca and papyri, or of revised and expanded editions of previously published items ( O.Clackson 1-34 and P.Clackson 35-50), and nine essays addressing socio-economic and religious issues that impacted the monastic communities of Egypt during Late Antiquity and the Early Islamic period. The volume concludes with the requisite indices: for the ostraca and papyri, indices nominum, rerum, et verborum, and a general index of topics for the commentaries on documents and the essays. Black-and-white images are provided for the ostraca and papyri.
Download or read book The Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt written by Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-27 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom offers a new history of the field of Egyptian monastic archaeology. It is the first study in English to trace how scholars identified a space or site as monastic within the Egyptian landscape and how such identifications impacted perceptions of monasticism. Brooks Hedstrom then provides an ecohistory of Egypt's tripartite landscape to offer a reorientation of the perception of the physical landscape. She analyzes late-antique documentary evidence, early monastic literature, and ecclesiastical history before turning to the extensive archaeological evidence of Christian monastic settlements. In doing so, she illustrates the stark differences between idealized monastic landscape and the actual monastic landscape that was urbanized through monastic constructions. Drawing upon critical theories in landscape studies, materiality and phenomenology, Brooks Hedstrom looks at domestic settlements of non-monastic and monastic settlements to posit what features makes monastic settlements unique, thus offering a new history of monasticism in Egypt.
Download or read book Christianizing Egypt written by David Frankfurter and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does a culture become Christian, especially one that is heir to such ancient traditions and spectacular monuments as Egypt? This book offers a new model for envisioning the process of Christianization by looking at the construction of Christianity in the various social and creative worlds active in Egyptian culture during late antiquity. As David Frankfurter shows, members of these different social and creative worlds came to create different forms of Christianity according to their specific interests, their traditional idioms, and their sense of what the religion could offer. Reintroducing the term “syncretism” for the inevitable and continuous process by which a religion is acculturated, the book addresses the various formations of Egyptian Christianity that developed in the domestic sphere, the worlds of holy men and saints’ shrines, the work of craftsmen and artisans, the culture of monastic scribes, and the reimagination of the landscape itself, through processions, architecture, and the potent remains of the past. Drawing on sermons and magical texts, saints’ lives and figurines, letters and amulets, and comparisons with Christianization elsewhere in the Roman empire and beyond, Christianizing Egypt reconceives religious change—from the “conversion” of hearts and minds to the selective incorporation and application of strategies for protection, authority, and efficacy, and for imagining the environment.
