Archaeology Lecture with Kimberly Bowes
Kimbery Bowes (University of Pennsylvania) will speak on "The Economic Lives of the Roman 90%". Lunch will be at 12, the lecture will be at 12:30.
Lecture Abstract:
How did the majority of Romans get by? What were their strategies for survival? This talk describes how the Roman world created a set of bitter challenges and opportunistic hustles for everyone from farmers and craftspeople to day laborers and slaves. Working people co-produced a consumer revolution, making and buying everything from fine pottery to children’s toys. Many of the poorest working people lived with - but not on - wages. And Romans’ most daunting challenge was the struggle to save. These economies of survival were shared by a wide swath of people, blurring the lines between genders, ages, and legal status. Using the lives of three Roman families, this talk lays out a new vision of the Roman economy, one constructed from the bottom up.
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