The Financial Markets of Roman Egypt: Risk and Return (Liverpool Studies in Ancient History)

The Financial Markets of Roman Egypt analyses some 4,367 financial transactions, leases, sales and loans, recorded on papyri in Roman Egypt in the period AD 1 to 350. The analysis of this remarkable body of information, the ancient equivalent of modern-day 'Big Data', helps us understand how ordinary people thought about some of the most important decisions they would make in their life: buying a house, lending their savings or renting land. Using innovative theories and techniques inspired by classics, mathematics and the financial markets, it brings out the differences and similarities of behaviours with modern and historical comparators. The book looks at risk and return for both asset holders - the landlords and lenders - and those dependent on the use of those assets - the tenants and borrowers. In particular it quantifies the risks facing families, including climate variability. Issues such as wealth concentration, social mobility and the role of the aged and women in the financial markets are addressed. The analysis presented expands our knowledge of the nature of the financial markets, and from that examination a sharper insight into the nature of the economy of the Roman world is gained, making it clear that there was no single "market" economy, but different sectors, some of which were driven by reciprocity/redistribution and others by financially rational judgements. Cover 1 Contents 5 Acknowledgements 7 Papyri Checklist 8 1 Introduction 9 2 The Drachma in Your Pocket 27 3 Housing: Markets within Markets 49 4 Land 73 5 Usury or Solidarity? 113 6 Women and the Financial Markets 151 7 Warning: ‘Investments can go down as well as up’ 167 8 Conclusions: The Economy and the Nature of the Markets 175 Appendix 205 Glossary 211 Bibliography 215 Index 227