Far from the dragging plough : veterans in trade and business during the Roman Principate.

Hall, Joseph Adam (2013) Far from the dragging plough : veterans in trade and business during the Roman Principate. Masters thesis, University of Wales, Trinity St David.

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Abstract

In the study of the Roman world, few demographics receive scanter attention from modern scholarship than those time-served veterans who eschewed an agricultural life in favour of setting up in business for themselves. This study, then, is an examination of this class of men and the evidence we have for them. Modern scholarship’s apathy in this field of study is no doubt an effect of the lack of anything more than sparse one-dimensional references to veterans in the ancient literary sources, an aspect this paper will also examine. The study likewise challenges the idea that all soldiers inevitably retired to farmland by highlighting the topoi surrounding both rural life and the soldiery, as well as providing a more practical analysis of the options open to the veteran upon discharge. By taking evidence directly from inscriptions, this study throws light on those veterans who set up as manufacturers and traders of various commodities, and discusses the reasons why they are so elusive within the epigraphic record itself. Summaries of the key themes of the study, along with potential avenues of further research, are offered in the conclusion.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Additional Information: Series: Carmarthen / Lampeter Dissertations;10412/272.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Rome, History
Subjects: D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World
Divisions: Theses and Dissertations > Masters Dissertations
Related URLs:
Depositing User: John Dalling
Date Deposited: 01 Nov 2014 12:50
Last Modified: 26 Feb 2016 09:15
URI: https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/405

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