Ancient Studies Week: The Economic Lives of Rome’s Ninety Percent

Ancient Studies Week presents

The Economic Lives of Rome’s Ninety Percent

How did the majority of Romans get by? What were their strategies for survival? This talk describes how the Roman world created a set of bitter challenges and opportunistic hustles for everyone from farmers and craftspeople to day laborers and slaves. Working people co-produced a consumer revolution, making and buying everything from fine pottery to children’s toys. Many of the poorest working people lived with - but not on - wages. And Romans’ most daunting challenge was the struggle to save. These economies of survival were shared by a wide swath of people, blurring the lines between genders, ages, and legal status.

This annual lecture is organized by the Department of Ancient Studies and is a part of the Dresher Center's Humanities Forum.

Biography: Kim Bowes is BFC Presidential Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Author of Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent (Princeton), her research and field projects address the economic lives of working people. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Guggenheim Foundation.

This public forum is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.