OUP (2016) h/b 408pp £80.00 (ISBN 9780198748489)
This volume presents 16 papers, all in English, with an Introduction (no Conclusion), from a workshop (sic) at Oxford in 2011. The avowed aim of the volume is to contribute to the ‘normalisation’ of craft and trade in the Roman world, that is its treatment as an important part of the Roman economy and society, not a fringe activity; this is, it must be said, pushing at an open door, but the volume does make some very useful contributions to the field.
The papers have been organised into four sections. The first section surveys previous scholarship and approaches: Flohr and Wilson in Germany, the UK and USA, Salvaterra and Cristofori in Italy, and Bruun in France (in fact mostly on a current project). Indeed the contributors were recruited from ten European countries plus Canada, so themselves give a sample of work across different academic traditions and interests.
The next four papers cover production strategies: Rice and Ruffing consider specialisation among traders and craftsmen respectively, both rather superficially, Driel-Murray surveys shoe production across the Roman world, which she argues was customer-driven, and Monteix reconstructs in detail the archaeological traces for the the working of Pompeian bakeries.
Human resources are the next topic: the importance of apprenticeships is stressed by Freu, not least for integration into the community of craftsmen, Larsson Lovén proposes that women were involved, but without record, in family businesses, Broekaert argues that most freedmen were acting as agents for a patron in contradiction of recent views that most of them were independent businessmen, while Tran and Arnaoutoglou show the social importance of professional associations at Arles and Hierapolis (western Turkey) and high status of some of their members.
On location, finally, Goodman argues from archaeology for the ‘clustering’ of some textile trades at Pompeii, Timgad and Silchester; but Droß-Krüpe argues from the papyri for dispersal of crafts in the towns of Roman Egypt. This illustrates the uncertainties of our evidence and possibility of regional variation. Láng reviews the archaeology of commercial location at Aquincum (Budapest) and Poblome of pottery production at Sagalassos (Turkey). A possible resolution is that clustering could occur for some crafts, but was more of trades in general.
Those with an academic interest in the field will find the first two historiographical surveys very useful, and Broekaert’s paper the most provocative. Everyone can enjoy Driel-Murray’s splendid overview of types and fashions in Roman footwear (check out the bizarre third-century flipper-like soles), and Monteix’s detailed reconstruction of how Pompeian mills-cum-bakeries actually operated, including their amazing mechanical kneading-machines. So mainly a book for academe, but the general reader may wish somehow to extract the footwear and mills.
Dominic Rathbone