Wealth, office and rank in Roman Italy / Bart Danon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Danon, Bart, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wealth--Political aspects--Rome.

Wealth.

Power (Social sciences)--Rome--History.

Power (Social sciences).

Elite (Social sciences)--Rome--History.

Elite (Social sciences).

Social status--Rome--History.

Social status.

Rich people--Political activity--Rome.

Rich people.

Rome--Politics and government--30 B.C.-476 A.D.

Rome.

Rome--Economic conditions--30 B.C.-476 A.D.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 288 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

Dismantling the simplistic equation of wealth, political power and social rank in the Roman empire, this study presents a new reconstruction of the distribution of elite wealth in Roman Italy based on an innovative combination of economic modelling and archaeological and epigraphic evidence. Bart Danon follows a quantitative approach to show that the Roman economic elite was in fact much larger than the political and social elites. The many wealthy households outside the socio-political orders fuelled intense competition for junior political offices, while paradoxically strengthening the resilience of the Roman political system. By challenging long-held assumptions, this book offers fresh perspectives on the complexities of wealth and power in ancient Rome. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Contents:

Wealthy Italy

Developments in the early imperial Italian economy

Reconstructing historical wealth distributions

Wealth and political office at Pompeii

The heterogeneity of the Italian Civitates

The Italian curial councils

Italian households with curial wealth

Wealth inequality among Italian elites

The Italian wealth distribution

Competition for senatorial positions

Timocracy, wealth and resilience

Concluding remarks

Appendix A: Dataset: Pompeian residences

Appendix B: Dataset: Alimenta pledges

Appendix C: Dataset: Ostian burial plots.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 28 Jul 2025).

ISBN:

1-009-49693-X

1-009-49697-2

1-009-49694-8

Access Restriction:

Open Access. Unrestricted online access