Constructing Communities in the Late Roman Countryside
1st Edition
Published on 18. December 2011
978-1-139-12024-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book is the first comprehensive treatment of the 'small politics' of rural communities in the Late Roman world. It places the diverse fates of those communities within a generalized model for exploring rural social systems. Fundamentally, social interactions in rural contexts in the period revolved around the desire of individual households to insure themselves against catastrophic subsistence failure and the need of the communities in which they lived to manage the attendant social tensions, inequalities and conflicts. A focus upon the politics of reputation in those communities provides a striking contrast to the picture painted by the legislation and the writings of Rome's literate elite: when viewed from the point of view of the peasantry, issues such as the Christianization of the countryside, the emergence of new types of patronage relations, and the effects of the new system of taxation upon rural social structures take on a different aspect.
Reviews / Votes
'In his absorbing new study ... [Cam Grey] develops a supple and sophisticated theoretical framework within which to approach the sources that reveal late ancient peasant life. Grey's study is rich in important and compelling insights. Indeed, its great appeal is the fascinating and persuasive vision that it offers of peasants ably negotiating and even shaping a world that we are very much accustomed to view from the perspective of elite authors. It seeks to establish a new conceptual framework through which to approach the late ancient countryside; a framework which is both well-grounded in the sources and sympathetic to ... the concerns and motivations of peasants, and which therefore helps us make good sense of the world that they inhabited. In this, it succeeds splendidly.' Jonathan P. Conant, Early Medieval EuropeMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Cambridge University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
1 Maps; 1 Halftones, black and white; 1 Line drawings, black and white
File size
2,61 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-139-12024-1 (9781139120241)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
03/2015
Cambridge University Press
€49.10
Shipment within 15-20 days
Book
08/2011
Cambridge University Press
€129.20
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Cam Grey is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where his research covers the social and economic history of the Later Roman Empire. He is also a co-director of 'The Roman Peasant Project', an archaeological project located in southern Tuscany that amounts to the first systematic, interdisciplinary attempt to analyze the houses, farms and lived experiences of the Roman peasantry.
Content
Introduction: studying rural communities in the Late Roman world; 1. Constituting communities: peasants, families, households; 2. What really matters: risk, reciprocity, and reputation; 3. Small politics: making decisions, managing tension, mediating conflict; 4. Power as a competitive exercise: potentates and communities; 5. Resistance, negotiation, and indifference: communities and potentates; 6. Creating communities: taxation and collective responsibility; 7. Unintended consequences: taxation, power, and communal conflict; Conclusions.
