Socio-Economic Aspects of Rome

​The Apostle Paul lived during the Roman Empire, and his background and later missionary areas were closely related to Rome. To better study the Bible, especially the New Testament, let’s take a detailed look at various aspects of society at that time.

Ancient Rome originated in the hilly area of the Latium Plain on the left bank of the Tiber River, about 20 kilometers from the sea. Around the 8th century BCE, clan tribes of Indo-European Latins and Sabines built villages here, engaged in farming and animal husbandry, used iron tools, and lived in tribal communities. In the 7th century BCE, three tribes, including the Latins and Sabines, formed the “Roman Commune.” This was the late patriarchal period, with a small number of slaves who were part of the family and worked as assistants to their masters in the family’s agricultural and pastoral economy. Due to the influence and invasion of other civilizations, Rome’s economic development lagged behind other civilizations along the Mediterranean coast. Before the republic, Rome was ruled by kings for more than 100 years. In the early 5th century BCE, the Romans established an aristocratic republic, entering the republican era.

During the early republican era, Roman society fluctuated between decentralization and centralization. Rome’s conquest of all of Italy greatly promoted its economic development. Agriculture widely used iron tools and crop rotation. Agriculture was highly valued in ancient Roman culture. Many writers praised the simple rural life, giving it the halo of ancient Roman virtues. Ancient Greece began using crop rotation and establishing large manor farms from the 5th century BCE, while Rome still had small, family-operated farmlands. In the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, after contact with Carthage, Greece, and the Hellenized Middle East, Rome improved its agricultural methods. The productivity and efficiency of Roman agriculture peaked in the late Republic and early Empire.

In addition to agriculture, the cultivation of fruit trees, grapes, and olives became increasingly popular. Animal husbandry was more developed in the mountains of central Italy and in southern Italy. The large number of bronze tools and weapons, as well as the ruins of temples, city walls, aqueducts, and roads discovered by archaeologists, prove that handicrafts had also developed significantly. In ancient Roman commerce, there were eight-day markets and annual temple fairs.

Moreover, the unification of Italy had a greater impact on promoting the development of Mediterranean trade. The import of pottery from Greece and the two treaties with Carthage in 508 BCE and 348 BCE to delineate spheres of maritime influence show that Roman commercial activity in the western Mediterranean was already of considerable scale. The route from Italy via Sicily was the shortest route to the grain-producing regions of North Africa. According to statistics, the wheat production of all of Italy at that time could not feed the city of Rome, so Rome needed to import a large amount of grain from Egypt. The transportation and storage of grain were highly dependent on water transport. Therefore, Rome built huge granaries along the rivers (such as the Porticus Aemilia) and large seaports (such as Portus) to accommodate ships. This form of “ocean-port-river” water trade was called the “sea of water.”

Trade between Rome and the East was also well-developed. The reason for Rome’s great reliance on trade was not only the massive demand for goods but also because the fees paid by merchants were an important source of income for the Roman Empire. The types of goods were diverse, mainly including luxury goods, religious items, and medical supplies. Goods from the East could first reach the port city of Berenice on the western shore of the Red Sea by sea, then be transported along the Nile from Coptos to Alexandria, and finally enter the Mediterranean. Alexandria was not only an important seaport for communication between East and West but also had a well-developed handicraft industry. Glass made in the city was spread as far as Central Asia, and Eastern silk was also reprocessed there. After the Romans mastered monsoon navigation technology, eastbound trade could reach India directly, and it was at this time that Roman statuary techniques were introduced to India.

In addition to water trade, another route for Roman eastbound trade was land transportation through the desert, with the main goods being spices from the Arabian Peninsula. Spices were important items for rituals and funeral ceremonies in Rome. Because the unit price was high, camel transport was less risky and costly than sea transport. Therefore, merchants from the Arabian Peninsula would first travel west through the desert by land and then enter the Mediterranean trade. This form of trade was called the “sea of sand.”

Portions of this article were excerpted from: https://kknews.cc/news/mnjemq6.html