A CULTURAL HISTORY

OF WORK

IN ANTIQUITY

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Edited by Ephraim Lytle

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 BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in Great Britain 2019

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Copyright © Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019

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Ephraim Lytle has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs
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and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editor of this work.
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Cover image © Getty Images/Dea/L. Romano

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

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transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

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photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,

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without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
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ISBN: HB: 978-1-4742-4471-8

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Set: 978-1-4742-4503-6
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Series: The Cultural Histories Series

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 CONTENTS

L ist of F igures vi
C ontributors xi
G eneral E ditors ’ P reface xii
V olume E ditor ’ s P reface xiv

Introduction 1
Ephraim Lytle

1 The Economy of Work 19

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Seth Bernard

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2 Picturing Work 33

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Philip Sapirstein

3 Work and Workplaces st 57

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Miko Flohr
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4 Workplace Cultures 73
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Koenraad Verboven
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5 Work, Skill, and Technology 95

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Philip Sapirstein
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6 Work and Mobility 113

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Ben Akrigg
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7 Work and Society 127

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Sarah E. Bond
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8 The Political Culture of Work 143

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Alain Bresson

9 Work and Leisure 159

Zinon Papakonstantinou

Notes 172
F urther R eadings 200
Index Locorum 206
Index General 213

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 LIST OF FIGURES

INTRODUCTION

I.1 Mosaic of Hercules’ labors, with central panel depicting the hero spinning
wool with distaff and spindle while Omphale supervises. From Llíria
(Valencia, Spain), third century CE. Museo Arqueológico Nacional,
Madrid, N.I. 38315BIS. Photo: Raúl Fernández Ruiz. 7

I.2 Funerary stele of Cuttinus from Siliana near Maktar, Tunisia,

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third or fourth century CE. Bardo Museum, Tunis. Photo:

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De Agostini / Getty Images. 14

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CHAPTER ONE
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1.1 Roof tile from Pietrabbondante with bilingual inscription in Oscan and Latin,
c. 100 BCE. Based on La Regina, Studi Etrusci 44, 1976: 285. Reproduced
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with permission of Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici. 21

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1.2 Reconstruction of the watermill at Barbegal. Image courtesy of the artist,

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Patricia Wynne. 25
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CHAPTER TWO
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2.1 Attic red-figure pelike fragments by the Geras Painter showing a

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carpenter at the chest of Danae. 480–470 BCE. The J. Paul Getty Museum,
Villa Collection, Malibu, CA (86.AE.199.1–4). 36
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2.2 Shoemakers on an Attic black-figure amphora attributed to the

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Plousios Painter, 500–490 BCE. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA,

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Henry Lillie Pierce Fund, 01.8035. Photo: © 2018 Museum of

Fine Arts, Boston. 37

2.3 Blacksmiths on an Attic black-figure amphora attributed to the Plousios

Painter, 500–490 BCE. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Henry Lillie
Pierce Fund, 01.8035. Photo: © 2018 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 38

2.4 Athenian red-figure kylix by the Foundry Painter depicting the production
of two bronze statues. From Vulci, 490–480 BCE. Antikensammlung,
Staatliche Museen, Berlin, inv. F 2294. Photo: bpk Bildagentur / Staatliche
Museen / Johannes Laurentius / Art Resource, New York. 40

2.5 Vase painters on the shoulder of the Caputi Hydria, an Attic red-vase
attributed to the Leningrad Painter, 470–460 BCE. Intesa Sanpaolo
Collection, inv. F.G-00002A-E/IS. 42

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 LIST OF FIGURES vii

2.6 Women weaving, black-figure lekythos attributed to the Amasis Painter,

550–530 BCE. Metropolitan Museum, New York,
Fletcher Fund, 1931, 31.11.10. 44

2.7 Late archaic terracotta statuette from Thebes. Women kneading bread while
accompanied by a flute player. Louvre, Paris, CA 804. Photo:
Manuel Queimadelos Alonso / Getty Images. 46

2.8 Detail, blacksmiths and gold-workers, from the House of the Vettii,
Pompeii, first century CE. Photo: De Agostini / Getty Images. 48

2.9 Work in the countryside, mosaic from El Alia, Tunisia, second century
CE. Bardo Museum, Tunis, inv. no. 56. Photo:
DeAgostini / Getty Images. 49

2.10 Leisured landowners in the same mosaic from El Alia. Photo:

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De Agostini / Getty Images. 49

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2.11 Fresco depicting a procession of carpenters, from the Carpenter’s

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Workshop at Pompeii, first century CE. Photo: DEA / L. Pedicini /

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De Agostini / Getty Images. 50

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2.12 Central panel depicting grain measurer and assistants,
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floor mosaic from the Forum of the Corporations, Ostia Antica.
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Photo: Philip Sapirstein. 51

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2.13 Funerary stele of the Roman shipwright Publius Longidienus Camillus, first
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century CE. Museo Nazionale, Ravenna. Photo: DEA / G. Nimatallah /

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De Agostini / Getty Images. 53

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2.14 Roman grave relief of a butcher and his wife. Skulpturensammlung, Dresden.
Photo: CM Dixon / Print Collector / Getty Images. 54
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2.15 Marble relief of a coppersmith’s shop, probably from Pompeii, first century CE.
Farnese collection, Naples. Photo: DEA / L. Pedicini/De Agostini /
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Getty Images. 54
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CHAPTER THREE

3.1 Delos, aerial view to the north, with a commercial structure, the Monument
of Granite, at lower left. Photo: Alamy. 63

3.2 Plan of house VI 3, 3.27–8 with bakery, Pompeii. Image: Miko Flohr. 64

3.3 Saepinum, small atrium house with taberna on the street.

Photo: Miko Flohr. 65

3.4 Plan of workshop for fulling wool on the Via degli Augustali, Roman Ostia.
Image: Miko Flohr. 66

3.5 Aerial view of the Trajanic colony of Timgad in Algeria. Photo: Brian Brake /
Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images. 68

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 viii LIST OF FIGURES

3.6 Reconstructed installation for pressing olives in a house at Volubilis,

Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana (Morocco). Photo:
Juergen Ritterback / Getty Images. 69

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1 Pillar of the Farmer: relief depicting fruit market and two farmers working
the land. Musée archéologique luxembourgeois, Arlon, Belgium. Photo:
DEA Picture Library / De Agostini / Getty Images. 76

4.2 Funerary relief of four-year-old miner, Q(uintus) Artulus, who worked in

the mines at Banos de la Encinia in Andalusia, first century CE. Museo
Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid. 80

4.3 Workers in a clay pit, terracotta votive tablet from sanctuary at

Penteskouphia near ancient Corinth, late seventh century BCE.

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Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Photo: bpk

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Bildagentur / Staatliche Museen / Jürgen Liepe / Art Resource, New York. 82

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4.4 Punishment of a slave in a potter’s workshop. Skyphos from Abai in
Lokris, late fifth century. National Museum, Athens, inv. 442. 83
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4.5 Dupondius of Nero advertising on reverse the Macellum Magnum, the
market that the emperor constructed on the Caelian in 59 CE.
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BMC 185—RIC 109. Diameter 29 mm. Photo: Numismatica Ars

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Classica NAC AG, Auction 98, Lot 1078. 87

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4.6 Fresco of Terentius Neo and his wife. From a house adjoining a bakery
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at Pompeii (VII, 2, 6). Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. Photo:

C. M. Dixon / Print Collector / Getty Images. 89
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4.7 Terracotta relief depicting childbirth from the tomb of a widwife,

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Scribonia Attica, from the necropolis of Isola Sacra, Rome, second century
CE. Museo Archeologico Ostiense, Ostia. Photo: DEA / G. Dagli Orti /
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De Agostini / Getty Images. 92

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CHAPTER FIVE
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5.1 Tomb of Vergilius Eurysaces, a wealthy baker, in front of the Porta

Maggiore, late first century BCE. Photo: Werner Forman / Universal
Images Group / Getty Images. 98

5.2 Relief from the tomb of the Haterii family depicting a massive crane next to
a monumental tomb resembling a temple, late first or early second century
CE. Photo: DEA / G. Nimatallah / De Agostini / Getty Images. 99

5.3 Relief from the tomb of the Haterii depicting the facades of several major
Flavian monuments suggesting the family had been awarded prestigious
building contracts, late first or early second century CE. Photo:
Leemage / Getty Images. 100

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 LIST OF FIGURES ix

5.4 A view of the dome of Hagia Sophia, which despite reconstructions of

several areas of the ceiling has remained largely intact since the sixth century
CE. Photo: Philip Sapirstein. 106

5.5 The remaining lower stories of the “House of Diana,” a multi-story

second-century CE apartment building in Ostia Antica. Photo: Dennis Jarvis. 107

5.6 A relief from the Osiris chapel at Philae showing Khnum using a kick wheel,
Ptolemaic period. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Philae Photo no. 1153. 108

CHAPTER SIX

6.1 Section of the Peutinger Table, a thirteenth-century copy of an ancient

map illustrating the cursus publicus, the road network of the Roman
Empire. This section depicts the Italian peninsula. Photo: De Agostini /

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Getty Images. 118

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6.2 Roman soldiers loading arms and supplies at a riverside harbor, cast of relief

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from Trajan’s Column in Rome, second century CE. Photo: De Agostini /
Getty Images. 122
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CHAPTER SEVEN
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7.1 A cloth seller displaying fabric. Detail of a relief from Tuscany, first century
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CE. Museo Della Civiltà Romana, Rome. Photo: De Agostini /

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Getty Images. 131

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7.2 Relief depicting a tavern scene and the transportation of barrels, from a
funerary monument found in Saint Maximin, France, second century CE.
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Bischöfliches Dom-Und Diözesanmuseum, Treviri. Photo: De Agostini /

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Getty Images. 135

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7.3 The goddess Annona, personification of the Roman grain supply. Detail
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from a wedding scene on a sarcophagus from the Via Latina, third century
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CE. Museo Nazionale Romano—Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome.

Photo: Alamy. 137
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7.4 Carved ivory book cover depicting Pope Gregory I and three monk scribes,
c. 850 AD. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Photo: Ali Meyer / Corbis /
VCG via Getty Images. 138

CHAPTER EIGHT

8.1 The mnêstêrophonia: Odysseus, Telemachus, and Eumaios (on the right)
slaughter the suitors. Campanian red-figure bell-krater, c. 330 BCE, attributed
to the Ixion Painter. Louvre, Paris. Photo: Hervé Lewandowski / ©
RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York. 145

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 x LIST OF FIGURES

8.2 Roman slave collar. Iron neck ring and bronze tag with inscription
offering a reward for returning the slave to the owner, Zoninus,
fourth or fifth century CE. Museo Nazionale Romano—Terme di
Diocleziano, Museo Epigrafico, Rome, inv. no. 65043. Photo:
© Vanni Archive / Art Resource, New York. 155

CHAPTER NINE

9.1 Agonistic inscription of the second century CE recording the

victories in Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy of M. Aurelius Hermagoras of
Magnesia on the Sipylos. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
Photo: © Vanni Archive / Art Resource, New York. 163

9.2 Stadium of Perge from the north. Part of the racetrack was enclosed
to host Roman-style munera. Photo: Zinon Papakonstantinou. 165

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