EBOOK Shopping in Ancient Rome:The Retail Trade in the Late Republic and the Principate

Shopping in Ancient Rome provides the first comprehensive account of the retail        network of this ancient city, an area of commerce that has been largely neglected in        previous studies. Given the remarkable concentration of consumers in ancient Rome,        the vast majority of which were entirely reliant on the market for survival, a        functioning retail trade was vital to the survival of Rome in the late Republic and        the Principate.In this volume Holleran provides the first systematic account of        Rome's retail sector through a comprehensive analysis of the literary, legal,        epigraphic, and archaeological evidence together with wide-ranging and innovative        comparative studies of the distributive trades. Investigating the diverse means by        which goods were sold to consumers in the city, and the critical relationship        between retail and broader environmental factors, Holleran places Roman retail trade        firmly within the widercontext of its urban economy. In considering the roles played        by shops, workshops, markets, fairs, auctions, street sellers, and ambulant vendors        in the distribution of goods to the inhabitants of the city, the volume sheds new        light on the experience of living in the ancient city and explores the retailtrade        of Rome in its totality.