Edward E. Cohen
University of Pennsylvania

Roman Inequality
Affluent Slaves and Important Businesswomen

Friday, March 29 at 11:00 am
The Italian Academy, 5th-floor seminar room

Abstract
This lecture will explore how at Rome in the first and second centuries CE a number of male and female slaves, and some free women, prospered in business amidst a generally impoverished population, both free and enslaved, both male and female. The presentation will focus on two anomalies to which only minimal academic attention has been previously directed: (1) the paradox of a Roman economy dependent on enslaved entrepreneurs who often achieved considerable personal affluence, although functioning within a legal system that supposedly deprived unfree persons of all legal capacity and human rights; (2) the incongruity of the importance and accomplishments of Roman businesswomen operating under legal rules that in many aspects discriminated strongly against women.

Edward E. Cohen is Professor of Classics and Ancient History (Adjunct) at the University of Pennsylvania.  He is the author of many books and articles on ancient economic and legal history, including most recently Athenian Prostitution: The Business of Sex and Roman Inequality: Affluent Slaves, Businesswomen, Legal Fictions (both published by Oxford University Press).

This is a hybrid event. Please fill out this form if you wish to participate remotely (a Zoom link will be circulated on the morning of the event): https://forms.gle/bZWDZMngPL3D1Lxk6

For any questions, feel free to get in touch with Giovanni Lovisetto at gl2623@columbia.edu.

A short reception will follow the event.