isaacrubberducky's review against another edition
3.0
This book is both fascinating and extremely dense. I learned a lot from reading it, but it also felt like I was missing content for a a lot of it. Reading this book feels like listening in on academics argue about their topic of interest with each other. It is fun and you learn cool things, but also sometimes you have no idea what is going on.
nerdofdoom's review against another edition
4.0
The essential work in the “primitivist” interpretation of the ancient Mediterranean economy. In short, Finley argues that the ancient economy cannot be properly analyzed through the prism of modern economics. He argues for an agricultural, hand-to-mouth economy with little economy of scale, mass markets, or per capita growth.
While this is an important read, Finley relies almost exclusively on literary evidence where archeology, a field where the evidence continues to mount, tends to support a more “modernist” view of the ancient economy.
While this is an important read, Finley relies almost exclusively on literary evidence where archeology, a field where the evidence continues to mount, tends to support a more “modernist” view of the ancient economy.
inept_scholar's review against another edition
5.0
This was the first book by Moses Finley that I have read till now. Despite not being very familiar with classical Roman and Greek history, I found the essays to be extremely articulate and cogent. One also appreciates Finley's point that the ancient economy has to be understood in its own historical and political context, instead of forcibly trying to analyze it from our present understanding of economy and capital. Certainly a must read for any amateur historian, particularly for Finley's style of reading and interpretation of primary sources.
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