Living precariously in the Roman world : a social archaeology of inequality / Astrid Van Oyen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van Oyen, Astrid, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Equality--Rome.

Equality.

Poverty--Rome--History.

Poverty.

Poor--Rome--History.

Poor.

Marginality, Social--Rome.

Marginality, Social.

Rome--Social conditions.

Rome.

Rome--Economic conditions.

Rome--Antiquities.

Rome--History--Empire, 284-476.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 331 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

Literary and archaeological evidence suggests that the Roman world was profoundly unequal. What did this mean in material terms for people at the bottom of the social hierarchy? Astrid Van Oyen here investigates the lived experiences of non-elite people in the Roman world through qualitative analysis of archaeological data. Supported by theoretical insights from the material turn, development economics, and feminist studies, her study of precarity cuts across the experiences of workers, the enslaved, women, and conquered populations. Van Oyen considers how precarity shaped these people's relation to production, consumption, time, place, and community. Drawing on empirically rich archaeological data from Roman Italy, Britain, Gaul, and the Iberian Peninsula, Van Oyen challenges long-held assumptions and generates new insights into the lives of the non-elite population. Her novel approaches will inspire future studies, enabling archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists to retrieve the unheard voices of the past.

Contents:

Having : consumption beyond use

Tinkering : a skill spectrum

Anticipating : uncertain futures

Staying : troubled relations to place

Caring : horizontal communities.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Mar 2026).

ISBN:

1-009-72611-0

1-009-72608-0