HIST 112:
‘Too Big to Fail’:
Commerce, Corruption, and Crisis in Antiquity
Prof. Sarah E. Bond
MWF, Time.
Hall, Room #
bonds@wlu.edu
Office Hours: 1-3 M/W (Newcomb 309)
Like the modern world, ancient economies were dependent on complex financial markets
plagued by fiscal collapses, inflation, instability caused by debt and constant warfare, and
corruption. Over the semester, we will survey ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, African,
Roman, Chinese, and Indian economies and explore their relevancy for understanding modern
economic systems. The impact of war and corruption on these economies will be a central
theme, as will the identity of the tradesmen that helped to sustain ancient markets. Through
these professionals, we will explore the routes of cultural transmission, reveal the formation
of the first trade unions, and discern both local and long-distance trade networks. A final
objective will be to assess the corruption evident in the later Roman empire and propose
reasons for the ‘fall’ of Rome. Throughout the course, we will ask: what can we learn from the
ancient economy that can help us to subsist in the modern financial realm?
COURSE MATERIALS:
Walter Scheidel, Sitta von Reden, The Ancient Economy (Routledge, 2002).
ISBN: 978-0415941884.
Ramsay MacMullen, Corruption and the Decline of Rome (Yale, 1990). ISBN: 978-0300047998.
Jean Andreau, Banking and Business in the Roman World (Cambridge, 1999).
ISBN: 978-0521389327.
Online Text: Walter Scheidel and Ian Morris, The Cambridge Economic History of the GrecoRoman World: Volume I (Cambridge, 2007). Cambridge Histories Online.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Develop Historical Literacy: You will acquire an essential body of factual information about
economics in antiquity. You will learn how to analyze historical documents and texts. You will be
introduced to key points of scholarly debate, and expected to engage in them as well.
2. Develop Critical Writing Skills: You will develop your interpretive and analytical writing
skills in expository papers; three discussion board responses and one final research paper.
Writing will be graded for factual accuracy, correct citation of sources, logic and organization,
and correct English grammar.
3. Develop Oral Communication Skills: You will develop your analytical and expository skills
orally in class discussions, as well as through a final project on a voluntary association.
4. Academic Integrity. Washington and Lee's Honor Code prohibits not only cheating on
exams, but PLAGIARISM from books, websites, and other students in writing essays. That is,
you may not transcribe, paraphrase, or closely summarize another author's work without
using quotation marks or making attribution (a footnote). You may not present someone
else's words or thoughts as though they are your own. See “Avoiding Plagiarism” on the
History Department’s home page (http://www.wlu.edu/x31282.xml ).
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING:
Participation and Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Please come to class having read the
day’s assigned reading and engage in class discussions on a regular basis. The success of this
class is dependent on your active role in the classroom.
Discussion: Each week, students are invited to contribute thoughts to posted questions about
the reading, written at a minimum of two pages (by 11:59 PM on Thursday). This is to be
posted on the discussion board on Sakai. An active participation on the discussion board is
essential, and will get the discussion rolling for class on Fridays.
Voluntary Associations Project: In this project, students must create a voluntary association
based on a commercial enterprise in the ancient world. Although you will first determine
what trade you wish to engage in, also consider the other facets of trade associations we will
discuss: hierarchy, religion, networks, patronage, goods, and dues. In a presentation to the
class, you will present a seal for your trade association, your charter, and describe any
philanthropic endeavors. You will write a 10-page paper that outlines these details, provides a
legal and historical background for this trade and similar associations in the ancient world,
and transmits the constitution/charter.
Exams: There will be a final exam based on the materials covered in lecture and the readings
from the syllabus. A list of keywords will be circulated prior to the exam, and a review session
will be planned.
GRADING DISTRIBUTION:
Participation/Attendance:
Association Paper (10 pages):
Association Presentation:
Discussion Responses (3 X 2 Pages):
Final:
15%
25%
15%
20%
25%
Final Grade
100%
COURSE SCHEDULE
~
Week I: The Ancient City: Models and Methods
Monday [4.23]: Introduction to the Ancient City
Textbook: The Ancient Economy: Paul Cartledge, “The Economy (Economies) of Ancient
Greece,” 11-32; Scott Meikle,“Modernism, Economics, and the Ancient Economy,” 233250; “Intellectual Chronology,” 270-1.
Wednesday [4.25]: Primitive or Modern: Economic Models for the Ancient Economy
Online: JSTOR: Moses I. Finley, “The Ancient City: From Fustel de Coulanges to Max
Weber and beyond,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 19.3 (Jul., 1977), 305327; Daniel Tompkins, “Ancient Athens and Modern Ideology: Value, Theory and
Evidence in Historical Sciences. Max Weber, Karl Polanyi and Moses Finley by
Mohammad Nafissi,” History and Theory 47.1 (Feb., 2008), 123-136.
Friday [4.27]: Merchants and Craftsmen in Ancient Mesopotamia
Sakai: Marc Van de Mieroop, "Crafts and Commerce" in The Ancient Mesopotamian City
(Oxford, 1997), 176-96; Primary Source: Mesopotamian Contracts.; Glenn Markoe,
“Economy: Commerce and Industry” 93-107; Excerpts from Herodotus, Histories [110]; “MIT Technology Helps Map Ancient Phoenician Shipwrecks”.
Discussion Debate: Was the Ancient Economy “Primitive” or “Modern”?
Week II: Carthage, Greece, and the Financing of Imperialism
Monday [4.30]: Trade and Imperialism in Ancient Carthage and North Africa
Sakai: C.R. Whittaker, “Carthaginian Imperialism in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries,” in
Imperialism in the Ancient World, 59-90; Aristotle, On the Constitution of Carthage.
Wednesday [5.2]: Athens: The Building of Empires and Trade Networks
Sakai: Primary Documents: Building Inscriptions and Contracts of Ancient Greece;
Contract for the Building of the Parthenon and Athenian Long Walls, [1-8]. Plutarch,
Life of Solon [1-13].
Textbook: “Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Subsistence: Exchange and Society in the
Greek City,” in The Ancient Economy (Routledge, 2002), 114-132.
Friday [5.4]: The Financial Crisis Created by War
Sakai: Angelos Chaniotis, War in the Hellenistic World: A Social and Cultural History
(Oxford, 2005), 44-56; 115-42. Primary Sources: Demosthenes 34, 49.
Online: Joseph Manning, “16: Hellenistic Egypt,” in The Cambridge Economic History of
the Ancient World.
Discussion Debate: Was war a good or bad thing for Greece? Economically? Socially?
Week III: Rome: Economy, Crisis, and Corruption
Monday [5.7]: Rome, Trade, and the Formation of Voluntary Associations
Textbook: Keith Hopkins, “Rome, Taxes, Rents and Trade,” in The Ancient Economy
(Routledge, 2002), 190-232; Jean Andreau, Banking and Business in the Roman World
(Cambridge, 1999), 1-29.
Wednesday [5.9]: Pompeii: Trade and Crisis in the Ancient Roman City
Sakai: Primary Documents: Alison Cooley, Pompeii: A Sourcebook (Routledge, 2004),
157-191.
Textbook: Jean Andreau, “Rome’s Responses to Financiers and Financial Crisis,” in
Banking and Business in the Roman World (Cambridge, 1999), 100-111.
Friday [5.11]: The Crisis of the Third Century and the ‘Fall’ of Rome
Textbook: Ramsay MacMullen, “Power for Sale,” in Corruption and the Decline of Rome
(Yale, 1988), 122-170.
Sakai: Primary Documents: Diocletian’s Price Edict [1-3]; Legal excerpts from the
Digest of Justinian [1-4].
Discussion Debate: What were the causes of the Roman financial collapse and how
does the third century resemble modern banking crises?
Week IV: October 12-14: Ancient China and India: the Development of Eastern Networks
Monday [5.14]: Trip to the Smithsonian to Explore Antiquities Exhibits and take
‘Behind the Scenes’ Tour.
Wednesday [5.16]: The Silk Road: Commerce and Connections to the Orient
Sakai: Susan Whitfield, “The Merchant’s Tale,” in Life Along the Silk Road, 27-54; Raoul
McLaughlin, “Trade Routes through Asia and the Silk Road Connection,” in Rome and
the Distant East (Continuum, 2010), 83-110.
Friday [5.18]: Beyond Alexander: Foreign Trade and Commerce in Ancient India
Due: Present Voluntary Associations Project and Turn in Final Paper
JSTOR: Richard Salomon, “Epigraphic Remains of Indian Traders in Egypt,” Journal of
the American Oriental Society 111.4 (1991), 731-6.
Sakai: Excerpt: Pliny, The Natural History.; The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.
Saturday [5.19]: Exam