Panel 8.20 – Social groups as economic actors


Organiser/Chair:

  • Walter Ameling (Universität zu Köln)

Speakers:

Paper abstracts

1. Aleksandra Nikoloska (Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts)

The gymnasium, statuary production and religious life in Stybera
The main objective of the paper is to demonstrate a case of city dynamics with the rise of the economy and to follow the merging of social, economic and religious practices of Stybera. One aspect of the urban life revolved around the Gymnasium and the Institution of Epheboi mostly attested through material from the middle of the first until the middle of the third century. The statuary production in Stybera was very much connected to the Gymnasium. Statues of Epheboi, Palliates, and Herculaneum women were discovered in situ in these buildings revealing details about the religious and social life of Stybera. There are numerous lists of Epheboi and records of Ephebarchs, Gymnasiarchs and Polytarchs. Wealthy citizens donated sculptures and through epigraphy we know of quite a few of them, of their families, and of the gods they vowed to. There is evidence of a city workshop, while the region of Stybera is known for its queries of marble, of which great many of the statues were made. The Heroon housed sculptures of Asclepius, Hermes, and Heracles, gods protectors of youth and competitions. Later in time city priests of the Imperial cult donated a portrait of the Emperor Trebonius Galus thus involving the Roman administration in the Institution of the Epheboi and the life of the Gymansium. The temple of Tyche, can also be observed within the study. The cult of Nemesis, often connected to Tyche as seen on the evidence from the nearby Heracleia Lyncestis, is also drawn in context.

 

2. Robert Stephan (University of Arizona) / Brad Hintz (New York University)

The Business of Bodies: Calculating Return on Investment for Pimps in the Roman World
Although prostitution has been traditionally conceived of as a private encounter, the economic networks that facilitate these interactions stretch far outside the bedroom. While recent studies have greatly enhanced our understanding of the cultural perception of prostitutes, the economic incentives for procurers (pimps) have largely been ignored. This project builds on previous debates by investigating the return on investment for pimps in ancient Rome. In order to better understand the market dynamics underlying the prostitution industry, this study employs an interdisciplinary methodology, synthesizing archaeological evidence from the brothels of Pompeii, historical data from common graffiti, and ethnographic parallels from early modern America. In doing so, it establishes rough costs for engaging in the procurement industry and balances those expenditures with estimates for income generated by the prostitutes’ services. Preliminary results suggest that pimps in the Roman world might expect approximately a ten percent return on investment over time, a relatively lucrative business compared to the agricultural alternative. In addition to deepening our understanding of prostitution in the Roman world, this study provides a novel approach to an understudied aspect of the ancient economy – return on investment – and provides a model through which other industries in the ancient Mediterranean might be assessed and compared.

 

3. Marius C. Streinu (Institutul Național al Patrimoniului/National Heritage Institute)

The cost of gladiators events in the Black Sea
Gladiator combats have always fascinated, both in Antiquity and in modern times, due to their grandeur, showmanship and exotic nature. These particular events took place during several days and not all of them ended in deaths. Most of the times, the combats were also accompanied by special hunts of more or less exotic animals exibited in the arena, entaising the public interest. Given the scale of such events, organising them implied very high costs, especially significat for the estern empire and the cities on the Black Se Coast.
Staging gladiator combats fell within the obligations assumed by the priests and exposed them to considerable expenses and organising the events themselved took a great amount of effort. First of all, they had to find the gladiators willing to participate, their fees, find the people dealing with auxiliary services such as the referees, the musicians, specialized hunters to deal with the animals, buy and import the animals, building or preparing the spaces needed to hold the events. Thus, by means of this presentation, all these aspects related to organizing these spectacular events, from the people responsible to all the logistics entailed and economic impact, will be described in detail and offer a real insight ofthe general perception of the gadiatorial phenimenon and its spread in the Roman provinces around the Black Sea.