Roman farmers depended on markets to supply them with a wide range of goods and services from metal tools to medical expertise but their role in the ancient economy is poorly understood. Though historians no longer assume Roman farmers strived for self-sufficiency, the nature, extent, and implications of their market interactions remain unclear. This monograph uses literary, archaeological, and comparative evidence to examine how farmers - from smallholders to the owners of large estates -bought and sold goods and services, lent and borrowed money, and cooperated or competed with one another. A clearer picture of the relationship between farmers and markets allows us to gauge their collective impact on (and exposure to) macroeconomic phenomena such as inflation and changes in the supply and circulation of money. After considering the environmental and demographic context of Italian agriculture, the author explores three interrelated questions: what goods and services did farmers purchase; how did farmers acquire the money with which to make those purchases; and what factors drove farmers' economic decisions.
This book provides a portrait of the economic world of the Roman farmer in late Republican and early Imperial Italy.