Alternative Urban Economies: The Case of Roman Palmyra

Abstract

Recent advances in archaeological and technological practices and methods are enabling studies of urban economic patterns to be seen in a new light. These can also push the boundaries for what we can conclude from the evidence, which at best is full of lacunae. Here, we focus on evidence from Palmyra that gives insight into how we can begin to disentangle the ways by which Palmyrene society operated with a number of economic systems: non-monetary economies, a partly coin-based economy, and a variety of other economic mechanisms. With a focus on a set of case studies drawn from the Palmyrene material, we address macro- and micro-perspectives on the economic behaviours of Palmyrene society and aim at critically nuancing assumptions about city-hinterland self-sufficiency strategies, monetarization in the Roman period, and the economy of interregional trade.