This book provides a comprehensive examination of the evidence for the economy of the later Roman province of Third Palestine, which roughly corresponds to southern Jordan, the Negev desert in Israel, and the Sinai Peninsula.

The present volume presents some of the latest research trends in the study of Late Antiquity in the Eastern Roman Empire from a multi-disciplinary perspective, encompassing not only social, economic and political history, but also philology, philosophy and legal history. The volume focuses on the interaction between the periphery and the core of the Eastern Empire, and the relations between Eastern Romans and Barbarians in various geographic areas, during the approximate millennium that elapsed between the Fall of Rome and the Fall of Constantinople, paying special attention to the earliest period. By introducing the reader to some innovative and ground-breaking recent theories, the contributors to the present volume, an attractive combination of leading scholars in their respective fields and promising young researchers, offer a fresh and thought-provoking examination of Byzantium during Late Antiquity and beyond.

Hayim Lapin examines the economic geography of fourth-century Roman Galilee. Drawing on literary and archaeological material for the distribution of cities, villages, roads and other features of trade and marketing, and making use of the central-place theory, the author attempts to reconstruct models of the regional economy of northern Palestine, and to examine the degree of economic integration in the region. As a contribution to the historiography of Jews and Palestine in antiquity, Hayim Lapin argues that the economic, social and cultural landscape inhabited by residents of fourth-century Palestine was in many ways shaped by its Roman provincial administrative setting and political economy. Thus key aspects of the history of later Roman Palestine, and particularly of Jews, need to be reexamined.

The results of recent archaeological excavation, systematic rural survey and detailed studies of pottery distributions have revealed the extent and complexities of the economy in the eastern empire. The eight papers in this volume demonstrate this complexity and prosperity, examining several types of product and how the economy evolved over time. Contents: New Rome, new theories on Inter-regional exchange: East Mediterranean economy in Late Antiquity ( Sean Kingsley and Michael Decker ); Urban Economies of Late Antique Cyrenaica ( Andrew Wilson ); The economic impact of the Palestinian wine trade in Late Antiquity ( Sean Kingsley ); Food for an empire: wine and oil production in North Syria ( Michael Decker ); Beyond the amphora: non-ceramic evidence for Late Antique industry and trade ( Marlia Mundell Mango ); The economy of Late Antique Cyprus ( Tassos Papacostas ); LR2: a container for the military annona on the Danubian border? ( Olga Karagiorgou ); Specialization, trade and prosperity: an overview of the economy of the Late Antique Eastern Mediterranean ( Bryan Ward-Perkins ).

The Economy of Roman Palestine presents a description of the economy of the province of Judea-Palestina in the Roman era (AD70 to AD400) on the basis of a broad selection of primary rabbinic sources and a considerable volume of archaeological findings. The period studied is characterised by demographic growth and corresponding economic development. The work describes the agricultural and agrarian structure of the province, the pattern of settlement, trade, and other aspects, depicting an economy based to a great extent on an open market.

Inspired by the new fiscal history, this book represents the first global survey of taxation in the premodern world. What emerges is a rich variety of institutions, including experiments with sophisticated instruments such as sovereign debt and fiduciary money, challenging the notion of a typical premodern stage of fiscal development. The studies also reveal patterns and correlations across widely dispersed societies that shed light on the basic factors driving the intensification, abatement, and innovation of fiscal regimes. Twenty scholars have contributed perspectives from a wide range of fields besides history, including anthropology, economics, political science and sociology. The volume's coverage extends beyond Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East to East Asia and the Americas, thereby transcending the Eurocentric approach of most scholarship on fiscal history.

The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. The Roman Market Economy uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana were critical to ancient Rome's prosperity.Peter Temin, one of the world's foremost economic historians, argues that markets dominated the Roman economy. He traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. Temin shows that a reasonably vibrant market for wheat extended throughout the empire, and suggests that the Antonine Plague may have been responsible for turning the stable prices of the early empire into the persistent inflation of the late. He vividly describes how various markets operated in Roman times, from commodities and slaves to the buying and selling of land. Applying modern methods for evaluating economic growth to data culled from historical sources, Temin argues that Roman Italy in the second century was as prosperous as the Dutch Republic in its golden age of the seventeenth century.The Roman Market Economy reveals how economics can help us understand how the Roman Empire could have ruled seventy million people and endured for centuries.

This book focuses on the archaeological evidence, allowing fresh perspectives and new approaches to the fate of the Roman West.

This rich and magisterial work traces Palestine's millennia-old heritage, uncovering cultures and societies of astounding depth and complexity that stretch back to the very beginnings of recorded history. Starting with the earliest references in Egyptian and Assyrian texts, Nur Masalha explores how Palestine and its Palestinian identity have evolved over thousands of years, from the Bronze Age to the present day. Drawing on a rich body of sources and the latest archaeological evidence, Masalha shows how Palestine’s multicultural past has been distorted and mythologised by Biblical lore and the Israel–Palestinian conflict. In the process, Masalha reveals that the concept of Palestine, contrary to accepted belief, is not a modern invention or one constructed in opposition to Israel, but rooted firmly in ancient past. Palestine represents the authoritative account of the country's history.

This special issue publishes most of the contributions of a three-day workshop of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg "Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe" held on July 2019 at the Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr University Bochum. It seeks to explore and contextualize the configuration of the varied desert cultic practices from the southern Levant and northern Arabia during the Late Bronze/Iron Ages that may have contributed to the emergence of the Yahwistic cult. By this it raises also crucial questions on the early history of the Israelite and Judean religions in the first millennium BCE. Recent archaeological excavations in the Negev, southern Transjordan and Hejaz and new interpretations of old epigraphic and iconographic evidence are rapidly changing the biblical-based paradigm of the interactions between the desert cults and the Iron Age Levantine religions. Cultural contacts and the entanglement of religious networks are paramount for the understanding of this early history. Recent archaeological, iconographic and epigraphic studies of the Southern Levant contribute to the question of the emergence and early development of a Yahwistic religion. The issue adopts an interdisciplinary approach, assessing textual, archaeological, as well as epigraphic and iconographic data.