Ancient World Seminar: Miko Flohr (Leiden), "Commerce and Urban History in the Roman Metropolis"
| Wanneer: | di 19-11-2019 16:15 - 17:30 |
| Waar: | Courtroom, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Oude Boteringestraat 38, Groningen |
Abstract
If early imperial Rome was the biggest city that had ever existed in world history up to that point, its actual urban dynamics remain remarkably badly understood in many respects. It is clear that, on the one hand, the city’s size, and its less-then-ideal location complicated both the development of its urban landscape and the quality of life. On the other hand, it is also clear that the unique combination of an enormous concentration of people in a relatively small area with an exceptional concentration of economic and political power created unprecedented incentives not only for continuous urban expansion and renewal but also for innovations in the way urban space was organized, and used. This lecture will discuss to which extent the architectural innovations and practices associated with everyday urban commerce were able to impact on the urban landscape of the Roman metropolis, and contributed to defining the everyday dynamics of urban society.
About the speaker
Miko Flohr is lecturer in Ancient History at Leiden university. He studied classics at Radboud University Nijmegen and did a Ph.D. in classical archaeology on the material world of the Roman fullo (published by OUP 2013). His work since has focused on the archaeology and economic history of Roman Italy. With Andrew Wilson, he co-edited volumes on Urban Craftsmen and Traders in the Roman World (OUP 2016) and on The Economy of Pompeii (OUP 2017), and edited a volume on Urban Space and Urban History in the Roman World (Routledge 2020). The current lecture is based on one of the chapters of his forthcoming monograph on the architectural and commercial history of the taberna, which is an outcome of his NWO-VENI project ‘Building Tabernae’.