Contract Labor by Dennis Kehoe - Book Report/Review Example

Chapter 6-Contract Labor by Dennis Kehoe The theme in chapter six is contract labor. While slave labor has been the mainfocus of most historians who assess the performance of the Roman Empire, it is important to investigate the situation with the other classes of landowners, tenants, and the rest of the people who engaged in various forms of wage labor. Most of these groups of individual overlapped in one way or another to influence the Roman economy and it is necessary to investigate the extent to which the growth of the Roman Empire benefited from the various groups of people. Of major concern in the chapter is whether contractual labor encouraged the use of resources in the country or whether they only served the interests of the elite in the society at the expense of the majority poor population in the country. It is very unlikely that the roman employees did not go through the Malthusian constraints and therefore the population was a very important factor in determining the welfare of the workers. Workers faced a lot of competition as the population grew until the Antonine plague which caused deaths of the workers and thus had a substantial effect on the economy of the Roman Empire. There is evidence of farm tenancy where there were wealthy lessees of estates and used the estates for large production of materials. The rich landowners rented parts of their lands that they did not use or those parts that were hard to cover under the management. The small farmers used the land for agricultural purposes and they were to pay rent to the landowners (Schiedel 116). The agreement was mainly that they lease the land for small periods of time like five years. The responsibility of the tenant was to provide the small items for the cultivating the land while the responsibility of the rich landowner was to provide the fixed assets on the land such as storage facilities and wine presses. By the tenant paying the fixed amount of rent, he assumed the risk of the fluctuating market prices and the size of the harvest. The leasing system greatly protected the landowners against any risks that may face the lessee. There was also the use of wage labor where the rich employed the poor to work on their farms. They were paid the minimum wage and only what was enough for them to live on. However, this was justified that they were given a place to live and they mostly cultivated the foods that they consumed in their households (Schiedel 121). Those who were employed permanently were given ages that was enough to live on while those in temporary employment earned more since they were able to work in different jobs and thus increasing their sources of income. Most of the evidence in the chapter is derived from published works of other authors who concentrated on the activities of ancient Rome. In conclusion, the chapter talks of the various forms of contract available in the Roman Empire. The poor people suffered the most and most of the contracts were drawn by the rich people and tended to favor them the most in case of any unforeseen difficulty in the future. The wages of the workers increased after the plague probably because of the reduced number of workers hence increased wages since there were lesser people to do the required work. Chapter 7- Raw Material and Energy by Andrew Wilson The extraction, supply and trade in raw materials were important in the non-agricultural sectors of the economy. There were a lot of transactions dealing with the raw materials. There was empire-wide distribution of raw materials and long distance trade in the raw materials started way before the Roman Empire was formed. Of importance in the raw materials is the state’s interest in the extraction of certain material such as gold and silver and another important aspect was also the organization of suppliers of materials such as timber and glass. The state took interest in the mining of precious metals especially those used in minting of currency that was used throughout the empire (Schiedel 133). They controlled the mining of these metals by operating the mines directly by using criminals, slaves, condemned criminals to work in the mines. They also contracted the operations of the mines to lessees but did not take as much interest in tin as they did in gold, silver and lead. In Weald, iron was mined under the supervision of Classis Britannica. Evidence of raw materials is in the form of ingots from the shipwrecks. However, ingots containing lead, copper iron and tins are the only ones found (Schiedel 135). This indicated that they were transported separately from silver and gold which were considered to be more valuable. Iron was the most traded metal as it was easily available and relatively cheaper than the rest of the metals and artifacts were made from iron. There is evidence of iron smelting in the port city of Tunisia as Tunisia did not have a quarry in a radius of 200 kilometers and this indicated that the iron had been brought in by ship from the other countries. Further evidence of raw materials was shown in the people’s way of life. The exotic stones were used as symbols of controlled space by Rome and space was so valuable during the period and thus it had to be represented in one way or another. Troad Granite was used for private buildings and the white marble used for making statutes that represented their culture (Schiedel 139). There was also timber that was separated into two parts where one part was to be used for construction while the other was to be used for firewood. The presence of woodworkers and shippers indicated that there was trade for the commodity. Glass was also present in that era and it was made from heating sand in large kilns. Evidence of raw glass has been found in shipwrecks belonging to Rome. The location of the raw materials usually determined the location of the particular industry for instance, where raw materials for glass were produced; the glass industry was likely to be located in the same area (Schiedel 141). This was probably to reduce the transport costs and minimize the overall expenses. Evidence for this chapter has been derived from works published by other authors such as Mols, Fear, Horden Wrigley and others. The chapter gives clear evidence of raw materials and their importance to the Roman Economy. The raw materials were used for various activities and were considered a source of wealth. It made the economy more vibrant as people found employment and a source of income through it. It also enhanced trade with other countries particularly Egypt and Tunisia. Chapter 8-Food Production by Geoffrey Kron The chapter deals with food production in Italy Greece, Western Asia Minor, North Africa, Baetica and Eastern Tarraconensis during the Principate and Early Empire. There is evidence of a comprehensive of an agricultural market in the Roman Empire where the farmers were able to provide the urban section of the economy with more than what they could consume. They not only provided grains and cereals but also provided the people with fish, olive oil, meat, fresh fruits and vegetables (Schiedel 156). Evidence of a good nutrition is provided by the huge skeletal remains of the Greeks and Romans which indicate good health and nutrition. Protein and calorie malnutrition was rampant in the 18th century in Western Europe and this is evidenced by the smaller skeletal remains of the Spaniards and Austro-Hungarians. There was a high production of food by the farmers due to improved agricultural practices and favorable weather. However, the farmers realized that the overproduction of the food items and the insufficient demand for he produce would lead to reduced profits for the farmers, this aspect mostly affected the people living in the mountainous areas. They had the right environment to provide the foodstuff but demand would not match the production. Hence they decided to venture into cattle farming as well to diversify. Roman farming was considered to be among the best as compared to other areas in the region at the time as they participated in more productive agricultural practices such as harrowing to destroy weeds, crop rotation, seed selection, rotation of legumes, effective tillage and improved manure practices. The most important innovation is that which allowed the farmers to participate in livestock farming as well. Commercialization, urban market and trade also affected the agricultural sector of the Roman Empire. Agriculture largely depended on the rich urban population in the economy who could not grow the crops on their own. The political class pushed for large scale production of the crops and hence they could provide them at a much cheaper price. Therefore, it freed up income among people in the society for what could be considered as luxury foods by others and places of extreme affluence such as Rome enjoyed the variety of the food products produced. As a result of the improving farming practices, the infrastructure had to be improved so that the food products can be transported to the various areas. Infrastructure to improve the lands and ensure that it gave the maximum potential was also very important especially in terms of drainage. Food processing was also enhanced at the time and the most commonly processed food was wine which also the most complex. The people loved high quality wine and even though at times, there was production of substandard wine, the demand could not sustain the market. People also learnt how to preserve food so that there was less wastage of food. Most of the evidence in the chapter is derived from other authors such as Abraham, Adams, and Amigues among others. In conclusion the chapter talks of the improvement of the agricultural sector regarding agricultural practices in Rome over time and practices in improving food production in the empire. The economy had improved massively overtime and the economy improved with the increased agricultural output. People learnt how to utilize their lands to maximum potential, process the foods provided in excess and as a result, the infrastructure of the country improved to facilitate easy transport of the food products. Works Cited Schiedel, Walter. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Read More