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People, Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World: The Evidence from Egypt
KYLE HARPER
T
The Journal of Economic History
readers of this JOURNAL
Harper
Roman Egypt provides a unique opportunity to deepen our understanding
extensive
3 The empire integrated different regions of
3
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
Smithian
Schumpeterian
Harper
timing and direction
8
of Yersinia pestis
8
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
0
1000000
2000000
3000000
4000000
5000000
6000000
100 200 300 400 500 600
Year
FIGURE 1
Source
Harper808
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
denarius
Harper
solidus in the
Most papyri of the
sesterces and denarii antoninianus denarii
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
MAP 1
Harper
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
TABLE 1
Period Rents
3
30
Source
Harper
denarius
solidus
TABLE 2
Source
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
denariussolidus
artabai per solidus
expressed in Egyptian drachmai per artaba
artaba drachmaidrachmai artaba
drachmai artabadrachmai artaba
not
drachmai artaba drachmai artaba drachmaiartaba
drachmai artaba drachmai artaba
drachmai
drachmai
Harper
R2 = 0.06412
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
- 50 100 150 200 250 300 Year
Antonine Plague
Plague of Cyprian
R2=.00009
FIGURE 2DRACHMAI ARTABA
Source
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
drachmai artaba drachmaiartaba
denarii
denarii artaba
solidus
denariussolidi
100
1000
10000
100000
1000000
10000000
300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370Year
FIGURE 3 DENARII ARTABA
Source
drachmai artaba
Harper
solidusartaba
artabaisolidus
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
350 400 450 500 550 600 650Year
FIGURE 4
Source
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
Roman denarius denarius
drachma artaba
denarius
TABLE 3
n solidus
Source
even though
Harper
In
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
100 200 300 400 500 600 700Year
Antonine Plague
Plague of Cyprian
Justinianic Plague
FIGURE 5
Source
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
drachmai per aroura for the
denariidenarii aroura
denarii arouradenarii
solidi
drachmai arouradrachmai aroura
drachma
drachmai aroura
FIGURE 6
Source
Harper
before the
R = 0.02555
R = 0.05048
R = 0.84259
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
100 200 300 400 500 600 700Year
Antonine Plague Plague of Cyprian
Justinianic Plague
FIGURE 7
Source
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
unskilled
one
30
30
Harper
33
FIGURE 8
Source
Epistulae Vita Joannis Eleemosynarii episcopi AlexandriniLife of Abba Daniel of Scetis
33
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
drachmai
that these are daily
drachmai
Harper
metrematiaioi oiketai
Even though the metrema-tiaioi
Didymos Patron 1Patron 2
Patron 3
Gemellus
Titanianus AppianusHerakleides
Memphite
-5
5
15
25
35
45
55
50 100 150 200 250 300
Antonine Plague
Plague of Cyprian
FIGURE 9
Source
oiketaioiketai
metrematiaioi drachmai metrematiaioi
drachmai drachmaidrachmai
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
de facto
R = 0.22703
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Daily
Monthly
Yearly
Antonine Plague
Plague of Cyprian
Justinianic Plague
FIGURE 10
Source
Harper
Novella
contractual not
artabai solidus
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
38
artaba per aroura
drachmai arouradrachmai aroura
artabai aroura
38
relative
Harper830
drachmai
only
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
100 200 300 400 500 600Year
Antonine Plague Justinianic Plague
FIGURE 11
Source
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
100 200 300 400 500 600 700Year
Justinianic PlaguePlague of Cyprian
Antonine Plague
FIGURE 12
Source
Harper
both and
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
100 200 300 400 500 600 700Year
Antonine Plague Plague of Cyprian Justinianic Plague
FIGURE 13
Source
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World 833
Harper
Appendix 1: Note on Accessing the Primary Sources Used
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People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology
The Demography of Roman Egypt
The Kellis Agricultural Account Book: (P. Kell. IV Gr. 96)
Atti dell’Accademia romanistica costantiniana: XII Convegno Internazionale sotto l’alto patronato del presidente della repubblica: in onore Di Manilo Sargenti
The Black Death, 1346–1353: A Complete History
Arab ConquestQuantifying the Roman Economy: Methods and
Problems
Journal of Roman Archaeology
Crises and the Roman Empire
L’impatto della ‘peste antonina’
dell’incontro di studio, Roma 1988
Economie
par ses crises
The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary
Economic History Review
Journal of Economic History
Harper
Tyche. Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Ancient SocietyThe Cambridge Ancient
History. Vol. 12, The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193–337
The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 12, The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193–337
OpusPreise, Mieten/Pachten, Kosten und Löhne im römischen
Ägypten bis zum Regierungsantritt Diokletians
The Economy of the Roman Empire: Quantitative Studies
Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy
Journal of Roman Archaeology
The Grain Market in the Roman Empire: A Social, Political and Economic Study
The Ancient EconomyThe Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 11, The High
Empire, A.D. 70–192
In Debating Roman Demography
Journal of World History
Economic History Review
Money of the Incipient Byzantine Empire: (Anastastius I - Justinian I, 491-565)
ChironSlavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
Journal of Roman Archaeology
and the Coming of the Dark Ages
Wine, Wealth, and the State in Late Antique Egypt: The House of Apion at Oxyrhynchus
The Demography of Roman Italy: Population Dynamics in an Ancient Conquest Society (201 BCE–14 CE)
Oxford Roman Economy Project: Working Papers,
Byzantine Egypt: Economic Studies
The Later Roman Empire, 284–602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey
Journal of Roman ArchaeologyThe Cambridge
Economic History of the Greco-Roman World
Law and the Rural Economy in the Roman Empire
Crises and the Roman Empire
Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541–750
secolo d.C.: Atti dell’incontro di studio, Roma 1988
Crescita e declino: studi di storia dell’economia romana
L’impatto della ‘peste antonina’
Rivista di storia economica
Nomisma und Nomismatia: Beiträge zur Geldgeschichte Ägyptens im 6. Jahrhundert n. Chr.
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Settimane di studio - Centro Italiano di studi alto medioevo
Harper838
Journal of Interdisciplinary History
Journal of Interdisciplinary HistoryJournal of
Ancient History and Archaeology Olio e retribuzioni nell’Egitto tardo: (V-VIII d.C.)
Why the West Rules—for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They
NationsHommes et
richesse dans l’empire byzantin (IVe–VIIe Siècle)
Byzantinische Zeitschrift
Journal of Economic History
The Making of Roman India
The Cambridge Classical Journal
Economic Rationalism and Rural Society in Third-Century A.D. Egypt: The Heroninos Archive and the Appianus Estate
Coin
on Coinage and Monetary History, 25.-27.3.1993: A NATO Advanced Research Workshop
Economie antique: prix
The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World
Modern World
The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt
Landowners and Tenants in Roman Egypt the Social Relations of Agriculture in the Oxyrhynchite Nome
People Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World
Journal of Roman Archaeology
Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient
The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy
In L’impatto della peste antonina
The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World
Byzantine Empire: A Systematic Survey of Subsistence Crises and Epidemics
The Roman Market Economy
Witness to Holiness: Abba Daniel of Scetis
Journal of Roman Studies
Krise, Rezession, Stagnation?: Der Westen des Römischen Reiches im 3. Jahrhundert N. Chr.
(525/526)