HAIG Lecture: Living in Uncertain Times: Managing Risk and Uncertainty in the Late Roman World Event

Discussions of the economic history of Late Roman Egypt have primarily focused on analyzing the increasing influence of two main institutions: the church and large estates. Recent work has increased our understanding of estate operations and economic decision making considerably, however, the economic activities and strategies employed by individuals who held leases on land and workshops owned by estates have been overlooked. Important questions concerning the management of the risks and economic uncertainty encountered by the craftsmen, merchants and farmers with whom estates transacted business have yet to be examined. This talk on Sep 15th by Philip Venticinque, assistant professor of classics, discusses the economic relationships that existed between estate proprietors and tenants, and the ways in which those who regularly transacted business with estates managed economic risk and uncertainty. Papyrological archives and individual documents from the fourth through seventh centuries CE form the primary body of evidence, supplemented by inscriptions, legal writings and literary texts.

 

Philip Venticinque, assistant professor of classics, will lecture on Sep 15th.