Banaji J. Exploring the Economy of Late Antiquity: Selected Essays

Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015. — 270 p. — ISBN10: 1107101948; ISBN13: 978-1107101944This collection of essays, by leading historian Jairus Banaji, provides a stimulating rebuttal to the prevailing minimalism in late antique studies. Together, they strike a balance between the wide lens and more specialised discussion, expanding on the perspective and argumentation laid out in an earlier book, Agrarian Change in Late Antiquity (2001). Successive chapters discuss the scale of the late Roman gold currency, the economic nature of the aristocracy, the importance of trade, relations between the state and the ruling class, and the problem of continuity into the early Middle Ages. A substantial introduction pulls together the themes of the book into a coherent synopsis, while the preface clarifies the broad aims behind the study. The book as a whole deploys a wide range of sources in various languages and is intended for ancient historians, students of late antiquity, and economic historians more generally.Mass production, monetary economy and the commercial vitality of the MediterraneanMapping the late antique economyMickwitz’s modernism: the writings of 1932–6
State and aristocracy in the economic evolution of the late empire
The economic trajectories of late antiquityMonetary circulation (rules, rhythms)Discounts, weight standards and the exchange rate between gold and copper: insights into the monetary process of the sixth century
Precious metal coinages and monetary expansion in late antiquityAristocracies and estatesAristocracies, peasantries and the framing of the early Middle Ages
Late antique aristocracies: the case of IranBeyond the Mediterranean and late antiquityLate antique legacies and Muslim economic expansion
‘Regions that look seaward’: changing fortunes, submerged histories and the slow capitalism of the seaSelect bibliography