Assessing the economic impact of building projects in the Roman world: The case of late republican Italy

Book section : Chapter

Since the pioneering studies of Janet DeLaine in the mid-1990s, the modelling of labour force and construction costs has developed into a specialised sub-field of Roman archaeology. In recent years, it has seen a certain rise in popularity, as demonstrated by a series of international conferences, monographs and edited volumes. Goals and methodology of this particular academic sub-discipline are primarily practical in nature: Estimates of labour force, building materials and construction costs are used in order to model the duration and logistics of specific building projects. Ideally, this can lead to a deeper understanding of Roman construction in the form of various case studies which are analysed in depth but mostly in isolation. In terms of theory, the deeper aims and the heuristic potential of this approach are much less well defined. It seems particularly striking that, so far, the intricate complexities of modelling have not yet been matched by an equally complex attempt at interpretation. Therefore, by drawing upon the case study of late republican Italy, the aim of this paper is to sketch out a theoretical framework which goes beyond conventional practice in order to address broader issues of analysis: What is the contribution of construction costs to wider debates on the Roman economy? How does the cost and mode of construction relate to society and politics? And what does the variegated process of construction tell us about the changing nature of socio-economic power relation in the Roman empire? Preliminary answers to these questions are given by drawing upon the first results of a macro-study of the late republican building industry, based upon volumetric modelling and on an in-depth analysis of supply-chains and architectural logistics. The results call for a profound re-assessment of the impact of building projects on the Roman economy.

Authors: Maschek, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: UCO Press
• Host title: Quantitative Studies and Production Cost of Roman Public Construction
• Pages: 45-67
• Series: Ancian
• Series number: 4
• Place of publication: Córdoba
• Publication date: 2020-01-01
• ISBN-10: 8499275451
• ISBN-13: 978-84-9927-545-1
• Language: English
• Keywords: SBTMR
• Subtype: Chapter