Roman Retail Landscapes

Abstract

This chapter examines the socio-economic motivations behind the shaping of retail landscapes in Roman cities. It is about who opened retail outlets, as well as why and where. After critiquing some of the normal methods for illustrating the locations of shops and bars, including the conventional distribution plan itself, as well as questioning the economic rationality of operating tabernae, this chapter argues for the value in complicating our otherwise basic understanding of why urban investments were made in the places we find them. Rather than accepting profit as the single motivation to urban investment, a range of social, economic, and political motivations are considered as an explanation for the ultimate shape of Roman retail landscapes. Thus beyond discussions of space and urban topography, the subject of this chapter is investment.