Preface Introduction 1. A Golden Age 2. Why Not Then? 3. The Hidden Form 4. Optical Effects 5. The Rhythms of the Economy 6. Dual Equilibria 7. The Roman Miracle and Imperial Rationality 8. Nobles and Merchants 9. Slaves, Nature, Machines 10. Ancient and Modern Work: Three Philosophers 11. A Blind Alley between Economics and Politics 12. How History Works Notes Index
Aldo Schiavone founded the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane, where he was Professor of Roman Law. He is the principal investigator of a European Research Council Project on Roman legal thought, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the author of books including The End of the Past, The Invention of Law in the West, Spartacus, What Is Progress, and Pontius Pilate.
In the middle of the second century A.D., the brilliance of
Graeco-Roman civilization and the relative stability provided by
the Pax Romana seemed to promise a benign, even glorious, future.
With hindsight, we can see the ultimately fatal fissures that lay
beneath the surface. In this difficult but often fascinating work,
Schiavone examines the extent to which our own civilization is an
heir to that glittering age. Did the long decline of the empire,
which is generally assumed to have begun late in the second
century, result in a permanent rupture in the thread of history? If
so, does our cultural heritage own far more to the medieval world
than to the classical? This is an important and complicated
question, and to appreciate and comprehend Schiavone's thesis,
knowledge of classical history is essential. Readers with the
necessary background should find this a stimulating and provocative
work.
*Booklist*
Why did the Roman Empire decline and fall instead of developing
into some version of the world as we know it? This is the question
Aldo Schiavone…asks, and answers, in this fascinating book… The
association of work with slavery transformed the aristocratic
disdain for labor into an inability even to think about improving
productivity… The result, Schiavone argues in prose both readable
and learned…was an institutional and intellectual gulf between the
ancient and modern worlds so deep that it took a catastrophe—the
fall of Rome—to pass from one to the other.
*New York Times*
In the middle of the second century A.D., the brilliance of
Graeco-Roman civilization and the relative stability provided by
the Pax Romana seemed to promise a benign, even glorious, future.
With hindsight, we can see the ultimately fatal fissures that lay
beneath the surface. In this difficult but often fascinating work,
Schiavone examines the extent to which our own civilization is an
heir to that glittering age. Did the long decline of the empire,
which is generally assumed to have begun late in the second
century, result in a permanent rupture in the thread of history? If
so, does our cultural heritage own far more to the medieval world
than to the classical? This is an important and complicated
question, and to appreciate and comprehend Schiavone's thesis,
knowledge of classical history is essential. Readers with the
necessary background should find this a stimulating and provocative
work. -- Jay Freeman * Booklist *
Why did the Roman Empire decline and fall instead of developing
into some version of the world as we know it? This is the question
Aldo Schiavone...asks, and answers, in this fascinating book... The
association of work with slavery transformed the aristocratic
disdain for labor into an inability even to think about improving
productivity... The result, Schiavone argues in prose both readable
and learned...was an institutional and intellectual gulf between
the ancient and modern worlds so deep that it took a
catastrophe-the fall of Rome-to pass from one to the other. -- Paul
Mattick * New York Times *
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
