Urbanism and Economic life in the Roman world

In my research, I combine material remains and texts to develop new perspectives on socioeconomic processes in the cities of the ancient Roman mediterranean. I am particularly interested in exploring the possibilities of themes and people that have hitherto been neglected, such as the social processes going on in workshops, or the impact of early imperial prosperity on the transformation of urban life. After an MA classics and a PhD in archaeology at Radboud University Nijmegen, I joined the University of Oxford at the start of 2010 to become Assistant Director of the Oxford Roman Economy Project, led by Andrew Wilson and Alan Bowman. I am currently working on several projects, all related to urban commerce and manufacturing in the Roman world. In 2009, I finished work on my Ph.D. thesis on the world of the Roman fullo, which involves a thorough study of the material remains of fulling workshops in Ostia, Pompeii, Rome and some other Italian sites, a body of material that has not been thoroughly studied before (read more here). Over the next few years, I hope to use the results of this work to move on asking broader questions about the micro-economy of commerce and manufacturing in Roman cities.

The living eternal city - Late 19th century picture of the Forum Augustus, in Rome, before the Fascist excavations. Remember, this is how the place looks now.

January 24, 2012

BMCR: Flohr on Harris (22-02-12)

This book compiles the key publications W.V. Harris has produced on the Roman economy in the last three decades. It includes chapters on a wide variety of topics, together covering almost the entire spectrum of Roman economic history, chronologically, geographically and conceptually. The book is to be welcomed as it brings together work that has not only played a key role in shaping current academic discourse on the Roman economy but also in many senses is still relevant: even though debates on particular issues may have moved on, the broad approach of most chapters, and Harris’ continuous emphasis on the terms of the debate, guarantee that many readers will find something of interest here. The potential audience of the book is wide, and includes (beginning) specialists on Roman economic history, who might want to read the entire book front to back, and students focusing on specific subsets of questions, who might want to read individual chapters – not all of which are easily accessible. The book starts with an introduction in which Harris explains the rationale behind the chapters and their ordering, and points to some larger issues related to the study of the Roman economy and, particularly, its agenda for the foreseeable future. Though short, this is in fact an interesting and provocative piece, to which scholars may want to return for inspiration in the coming years. The twelve subsequent chapters have been thematically arranged under six headings: ‘structures’, ‘slavery’, ‘production’, ‘trade’, ‘money’, and ‘overviews’. ...The present reviewer disagrees with Harris on one major issue. Harris states (p. 6) that the whole Roman empire needs to be our subject, and sometimes a still wider area. This is also reflected in the book: with the exception of chapter 8 on the Po area, all chapters claim to deal with the Roman world in its entirety. While one may easily maintain that the Roman economy was one gigantic interconnected organism and that we should try to understand it in its entirety, we may be limiting ourselves by using empire-wide approaches alone: with the increasing chronological and geographical scale, one inevitably looses analytical depth, and one will unduly privilege the average over the exceptional. Less sometimes is more, and if there is one thing really lacking from Harris’ collected work here it is this small-scale, context-specific perspective which does not generate a historical overview but often may lead to detailed and interesting historical scenarios that enrich our historical spectrum. Typically, of the one chapter that focuses on one relatively limited region – chapter 8 on the Po area – Harris now feels that he should have used a more wide-ranging approach. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that this book is an extremely valuable collection of scholarship of the highest quality that has already proven its academic relevance. The book covers a wide range of issues related to the Roman economy and deserves to reach a wide audience: this typically is a book one would expect to find in the academic libraries of more modest size as well. What this book shows more than the individual articles do is that one of the great strengths of Harris lies in his style of writing: Harris consistently frames his discussion within the wider academic debate: he is not one of those scholars who will hide himself behind an authoritative air of objectivity, but continuously refers to his own personal role in the construction of his ideas. This is a form of intellectual honesty (and modesty) that greatly enhances the accessibility of Harris’ texts, and that could serve as an example for many. Further, though the notes added by Harris at the end of each article are sometimes a bit short, they provide useful updates and at points interesting academic debate. Though some might be disappointed that Harris has not taken the time to more substantially rework and update the articles, Rome’s Imperial Economy is a valuable book the appearance of which is much to be welcomed. ...

The world of a fullo (04-02-12)

Since a day or so there is a reconstruction video of the Fullonica of Stephanus at Pompeii on youtube. ...

Review (25-01-12)

I just found this brief comment on my article in the proceedings of TRAC 2008 in Britannia, 2011, 471. I think I like it. Click. ...

What's going on? - Tagcloud

aerarii antiquity Art artisans Britannia Bronze Campania city Countryside Crafts economy Egypt epigraphy faber ferrarius footwear Gallia Germania Inferior Germania Superior Greece History Houses ironwork Italy Leather manufacturing metallurgy metal-working Mining Pompeii pottery Raetia roman Roman economy Roman Empire Roman Republic roman world Rome Samnium sutor tanning Technology Textile Production villa Work workshops

Represents the trends of the last six months; click on words for bibliography

Projects

Oxford Roman Economy Project

Until the end of 2012, I will be working at Oxford University as assistant director of the Oxford Roman Economy Project, which is led by Alan Bowman and Andrew Wilson

Talks

Apr 12, 2012: 'Scale, Rationalization and Labour: the Fulling Factories of Ostia and Rome'. 9th European Social Science History Conference. International Institute of Social Histor, Glasgow.

Jun 29, 2012: 'Pompeii and the regional economy of Southern Campania: some thoughts '. Structure and scale of Roman urban economies. The case of Pompeii . OXREP / SDEP, Oxford.

Key Publications

Flohr, M. (forthcoming) The world of the Fullo. Work, Economy and Society in Roman Italy. Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Flohr, M. (forthcoming) 'Manufacturing everyday consumer goods' in: Bresson, A., Lo Cascio, E. and Velde, F., Oxford Handbook of Economies in the Classical World.

Flohr, M. (2011) Reconsidering the atrium house: domestic fullonicae at Pompeii. in: Poehler, E., Flohr, M., and K. Cole, K., Pompeii. Art, industry and infrastructure, Oxford: Oxbow Books: 88-102.

Poehler, E., Flohr, M., and K. Cole, K., (2011) Pompeii. Art, industry and infrastructure, Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Flohr, M. (2009) 'The social world of Roman fullonicae' in: Driessen, M.; Heeren, S., et al. TRAC 2008. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. Oxbow, 173-186.

Flohr, M. (2007) 'Nec quicquam ingenuum habere potest officina? Spatial contexts of urban production at Pompeii, AD 79', BABesch 82, 129-148.

Flohr, M. (2003), 'Fullones and Roman Society. A reconsideration' JRA 16, 447-450.

Contact info

Miko Flohr

Oxford Roman Economy Project

University of Oxford, Faculty of Classics

New Barnett House

28 Little Clarendon Street

Oxford OX1 2HU

0044 1865 613793

Miko.Flohr (at) classics.ox.ac.uk

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