Günther Sven (Ed.). Modern Economics and the Ancient World: Were the Ancients Rational Actors? Selected Papers from the Online Conference, 29-31 July 2021

Zaphon, 2023. — 364 p. — (Muziris 2).The second volume of the new series "Muziris" assembles 11 contributions on "Modern Economics and the Ancient World". – In an introductory chapter, Sven Günther discusses the applicability of bounded rationality approaches – in particular "New Institutional Economics" (NIE) – to (Ancient) History. For this sake, he links basic pillars of these modern (economic) approaches to the principles of History as outlined by Johann Gustav Droysen in his seminal "Grundriss der Geschichte" and to frames and framing methodology as essential tool for a ‘communicative turn’ in historical studies, in order to link ‘etic’ and ‘emic’ perspectives on historical source material. – Kathryn Kelley's study on "Trouble Brewing in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia" seeks to understand the formulation of § 108 of the Codex Hammurapi from multiple perspectives by tracing the history of the female beer merchant in light of Babylonian legal, literary, and economic traditions. – Thibaud Nicolas tries to explain how Šamaš, the Mesopotamian Sungod, was acting in the economic and financial fields; even if the ancient Mesopotamians probably did not believe in a rational homo oeconomicus, this paper intends to show that the Sungod and his paredra Aya were often acting in a logical and rational way as they were lending silver, bargaining, and supplying the needy. – Daniel Silvermintz argues that close reading of the passage of the “healthy city” described at 369b–372e in Plato’s Republic reveals that all of the significant political proposals have not been determined by Socrates but rather by the acquisitive Adeimantus; while Socrates conceives of the city as a subsistence economy, Adeimantus adopts economic institutions for production and distribution that undermine the citizens’ ability to restrict their consumption to necessities. – Lothar Willms argues that Plato and Adam Smith represent two different modes of economic and social rationality and that Smith’s mode finds no match in ancient Stoics. – Bertram Schefold compares the concepts of land lease in Traditional China and Premodern Europe (particularly Germany). – Roland Ferenczi discusses the ancient South Indian state of the Cēras together with its monarchical features, and its prominent position in the Indo-Roman trade. – Further studies are devoted to economic concepts in Ancient Israelite Jubilee Legislation, the hoarding of wealth in the Ancient Economy and Chinese Qin-Han policies in the framework of New Institutional Economics (NIE).