"Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the answer is yes. Tracing the global history of inequality from the Stone Age to today, Walter Scheidel shows that inequality never dies peacefully....

In this, the first comprehensive one-volume survey of the economies of classical antiquity, twenty-eight chapters summarise the current state of scholarship in their specialised fields and sketch new directions for research. The approach taken is both thematic, with chapters on the underlying...

"This book offers readers a comprehensive and innovative introduction to the economy of the Roman Empire. Focusing on the principal determinants, features and consequences of Roman economic development and integrating additional web-based materials, it is designed as an up-to-date survey that is...

Introducing students to current controversies over the nature of the ancient economy, this volume brings together twelve influential studies by leading experts in the field. In 1973, Moses Finley unveiled a comprehensive model of the economic underpinnings of classical civilisation. Since then,...

Religious freedom has become an emblematic value in the West. Embedded in constitutions and championed by politicians and thinkers across the political spectrum, it is to many an absolute value, something beyond question. Yet how it emerged, and why, remains widely misunderstood. Tracing the...