L’economia dell’antica Mesopotamia (III-I millennio a.C.)

L’economia dell’antica Mesopotamia (III-I millennio a.C.)
Author: Franco D'Agostino
Publisher: Edizioni Nuova Cultura
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2013-12-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 8868122235

È per me un grande piacere poter presentare oggi questo volume ai colleghi assiriologi e agli amici economisti e giuristi che parteciparono nel luglio del 2011 alla Giornata di Studi organizzata presso l’Associazione Bancaria Italiana. Esso raccoglie i contributi degli assiriologi e una serie di riflessioni di natura teorica che i colleghi del settore giuridico ed economico-finanziario hanno svolto sulla base di quelli. Da qualche anno un gruppo di orientalisti italiani che si occupano di storia economica dell’antica Mesopotamia ha cominciato a collaborare con economisti e giuristi al fine di creare un proficuo dialogo tra le due discipline che permetta il travaso di conoscenze e competenze utili a meglio comprendere il proprio specifico campo di studio. Sulla base di questa avviata cooperazione, è sembrato logico e, direi, quasi naturale organizzare, all’in­terno della Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale tenutasi a Roma nel luglio del 2011, un incontro in cui gli studiosi dell’economia antica e gli operatori economici del mondo attuale potessero dialogare direttamente tra di loro. Il fine era quello di creare un ponte che desse occasione a coloro che si occupano di gestire il mondo economico nella contemporaneità di apprezzare la profondità storica dei meccanismi finanziari ed economici in genere oggi esistenti. Al contempo, il confronto degli assiriologi con esperti degli aspetti teorici dell’economia e della legge senz’altro avrebbe aiutato gli studiosi del mondo antico a meglio comprendere i meccanismi che sottendono alle realtà che i loro testi, spesso solamente per accenni, presentano. Mi sembra di poter dire che i contributi contenuti in questo volume rispondano al meglio alle premesse su cui quella giornata era stata pensata. L’interesse sincero, e direi l’entusiasmo, con cui i nostri colleghi economisti e giuristi hanno affrontato le tematiche che gli assiriologi hanno loro proposto è infatti senza dubbio un fatto assolutamente innovativo che produrrà, ne sono certo, importanti collaborazioni nel futuro. (Franco D’Agostino)

A Companion to Assyria

A Companion to Assyria
Author: Eckart Frahm
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 650
Release: 2017-06-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1444335936

A Companion to Assyria is a collection of original essays on ancient Assyria written by key international scholars. These new scholarly contributions have substantially reshaped contemporary understanding of society and life in this ancient civilization. The only detailed up-to-date introduction providing a scholarly overview of ancient Assyria in English within the last fifty years Original essays written and edited by a team of respected Assyriology scholars from around the world An in-depth exploration of Assyrian society and life, including the latest thought on cities, art, religion, literature, economy, and technology, and political and military history

Explaining Monetary and Financial Innovation

Explaining Monetary and Financial Innovation
Author: Peter Bernholz
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2014-06-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3319061097

This book discusses theories of monetary and financial innovation and applies them to key monetary and financial innovations in history – starting with the use of silver bars in Mesopotamia and ending with the emergence of the Eurodollar market in London. The key monetary innovations are coinage (Asia minor, China, India), the payment of interest on loans, the bill of exchange and deposit banking (Venice, Antwerp, Amsterdam, London). The main financial innovation is the emergence of bond markets (also starting in Venice). Episodes of innovation are contrasted with relatively stagnant environments (the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire). The comparisons suggest that small, open and competing jurisdictions have been more innovative than large empires – as has been suggested by David Hume in 1742.

Babylonia under the Sealand and Kassite Dynasties

Babylonia under the Sealand and Kassite Dynasties
Author: Susanne Paulus
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2020-09-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1501510290

Babylonia in the second half of the 2nd millennium BCE is one of the most understudied periods of Mesopotamian history. In the last few years, discoveries of new texts and archaeological materials from the Sealand Dynasty have emerged, which expand the possibilities to fill this gap in our knowledge of Mesopotamian history. At the same time, scholars have started to revive Kassite studies using new materials, methods, and questions. While those works are groundbreaking contributions to the field, many questions about the history and chronology, archaeology, economy, language of Babylonia during this period are still unsolved. This volume brings together eleven contributions by leading scholars in the Sealand and Kassite period, approaching those questions from an archaeological, ethnological, historical, linguistic, and economical point of view. The book opens with an introduction into the history and research on Babylonia under the Sealand Dynasty and the Kassites.

Women in Antiquity

Women in Antiquity
Author: Stephanie Lynn Budin
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1583
Release: 2016-08-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317219902

This volume gathers brand new essays from some of the most respected scholars of ancient history, archaeology, and physical anthropology to create an engaging overview of the lives of women in antiquity. The book is divided into ten sections, nine focusing on a particular area, and also includes almost 200 images, maps, and charts. The sections cover Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, Cyprus, the Levant, the Aegean, Italy, and Western Europe, and include many lesser-known cultures such as the Celts, Iberia, Carthage, the Black Sea region, and Scandinavia. Women's experiences are explored, from ordinary daily life to religious ritual and practice, to motherhood, childbirth, sex, and building a career. Forensic evidence is also treated for the actual bodies of ancient women. Women in Antiquity is edited by two experts in the field, and is an invaluable resource to students of the ancient world, gender studies, and women's roles throughout history.

A Year of Vengeance

A Year of Vengeance
Author: Edward Stratford
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 422
Release: 2017-09-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1501507184

Despite siginificant advances in annual chronology, the Old Assyrian trade fundamentally lacked a regime of time at the level of the merchant’s commercial and personal activities. In this book, Stratford sets out to recapture time through narrative, drawing on the relationship between the two described by the philosopher Paul Ricouer. Investigating a possible case of revenge leads to weaving together more than a hundred mostly undated documents to form a narrative within the course of a single year of vengeance, including trade disruptions, illnesses, and commerce. This process demonstrates relationships between document and material context, and time and narrative. Along the way, Old Assyrian commercial time and its tempos become more clear, leading to descriptions of the scale of the trade and the nature of Old Assyrian archives as they have survived. Ultimately, the Assyrians involved appear as the earliest historical individuals in world history. The treatment of Šalim-aḫum’s apparent revenge comprises a practicuum in historical interpretation in the ancient world of interest to practitioners and theoreticians of both the ancient world and world history.

Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds

Mathematics, Administrative and Economic Activities in Ancient Worlds
Author: Cécile Michel
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 560
Release: 2020-09-29
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3030483894

This book focuses on the ancient Near East, early imperial China, South-East Asia, and medieval Europe, shedding light on mathematical knowledge and practices documented by sources relating to the administrative and economic activities of officials, merchants and other actors. It compares these to mathematical texts produced in related school contexts or reflecting the pursuit of mathematics for its own sake to reveal the diversity of mathematical practices in each of these geographical areas of the ancient world. Based on case studies from various periods and political, economic and social contexts, it explores how, in each part of the world discussed, it is possible to identify and describe the different cultures of quantification and computation as well as their points of contact. The thirteen chapters draw on a wide variety of texts from ancient Near East, China, South-East Asia and medieval Europe, which are analyzed by researchers from various fields, including mathematics, history, philology, archaeology and economics. The book will appeal to historians of science, economists and institutional historians of the ancient and medieval world, and also to Assyriologists, Indologists, Sinologists and experts on medieval Europe.

Ancient Economies in Comparative Perspective

Ancient Economies in Comparative Perspective
Author: Marcella Frangipane
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2022-09-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3031087631

This book investigates the economic organization of ancient societies from a comparative perspective. By pursuing an interdisciplinary approach, including contributions by archaeologists, historians of antiquity, economic historians as well as historians of economic thought, it studies various aspects of ancient economies, such as the material living conditions including production technologies, etc.; economic institutions such as markets and coinage; as well as the economic thinking of the time. In the process, it also explores the comparability of economic thought, economic institutions and economic systems in ancient history. Focusing on the Ancient Near East as well as the Mediterranean, including Greece and Rome, this comparative perspective makes it possible to identify historical permanencies, but also diverse forms of social and political organization and cultural systems. These institutions are then evaluated in terms of their capacity to solve economic problems, such as the efficient use of resources or political stability. The first part of the book introduces readers to the methodological context of the comparative approach, including an evaluation of the related historiographical tradition. Subsequent parts discuss a range of development models, elements of economic thinking in ancient societies, the role of trade and globalization, and the use of monetary and financial instruments, as well as political aspects.

Wool Economy in the Ancient Near East

Wool Economy in the Ancient Near East
Author: Catherine Breniquet
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2014-07-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1782976345

The history of the Ancient Near East covers a huge chronological frame, from the first pictographic texts of the late 4th millennium to the conquest of Alexander the Great in 333 BC. During these millennia, different societies developed in a changing landscape where sheep (and their wool) always played an important economic role. The 22 papers presented here explore the place of wool in the ancient economy of the region, where large-scale textile production began during the second half of the 3rd millennium. By placing emphasis on the development of multi-disciplinary methodologies, experimentation and use of archaeological evidence combined with ancient textual sources, the wide-ranging contributions explore a number of key themes. These include: the first uses of wool in textile manufacture and organization of weaving; trade and exchange; the role of wool in institutionalized economies; and the reconstruction of the processes that led to this first form of industry in Antiquity. The numerous archaeological and written sources provide an enormous amount of data on wool, textile crafts, and clothing and these inter-disciplinary studies are beginning to present a comprehensive picture of the economic and cultural impact of woollen textiles and textile manufacturing on formative ancient societies.

Making Pictures of War

Making Pictures of War
Author: Laura Battini
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2016-07-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1784914045

This book brings together the main discussions that took place at an international conference on the iconology of war in the ancient Near East, a subject never addressed at an international meeting before.