Book description
Trade and Taboo investigates the legal, literary, social, and institutionalcreation of disrepute in ancient Roman society. It tracks the shiftingapplication of stigmas of disrepute between the Republic and LateAntiquity by following groups of professionals-funeral workers, criers,tanners, mint workers, and even bakers-and asking how they coped withstigmatization.
The goal of this…
Why read it?
1 author picked Trade and Taboo as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Not primarily a book about archaeology, but I’ve included this book because it explores the tricky matter of how we can gain access to the ordinary people of ancient Rome. Some of whom, such as the mint-workers, made the things that archaeologists discover in the 21st century in Italy. The author takes up the challenge of recovering these overlooked professions from funeral workers, through bakers and tanners, to criers who all featured in the ancient cities of Italy. There is a paradox running through the book that although these people were the ancient world’s “essential workers’, they were also…
From Ray's list on The best books on the archaeology of Roman Italy.
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