Law, Economy, and Society in Roman and Late Roman Times
June 26, 14:00
American Academy in Rome
AAR Lecture Room, McKim, Mead & White Building
Via Angelo Masina, 5
Roma
June 27, 9:00
AccademiaVivarium novum, Frascati
Villa Falconieri, viale F. Borromini 5
Frascati
This two-day event brings together scholars of various academic traditions – including Roman law, Roman economy, and Roman society – to explore key themes of Roman history. These include free labor, entrepreneurship for enslaved people and women, legal fiction, and the social realities of life as experienced from the late Roman Republic to the fall of the Roman Empire.
There is growing interest among scholars and widespread recognition of the centrality of these themes for a better understanding of Roman society and law. Much of the new research in these areas has been put forward by the participants of our event. This meeting aims to draw international attention to scholarly innovations of the past few years and provide an opportunity for scholarly debate and the cross-fertilization of ideas.
Cohosted by the American Academy in Rome and Academia Vivarium Novum,New Insights on Roman Economy and Society is also organized by the Sapienza Center for the Study of the Mediterranean and Near East in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages and by CASAM, the Center for Advanced Studies on the Ancient Mediterranean – Social and Economic History.
Speakers
Kim Bowes, Univ. Pennsylvania, USA
Edward Cohen, Univ. Pennsylvania, USA
Éva Jakab, Univ. Szeged, Hungary
Christel Freu, Univ. Paris Saclay, France
Richard Gamauf, Univ. Wien, Austria
Dennis Kehoe, Tulane, USA, TBC
Aldo Petrucci, Università di Pisa
Martin Schermaier, Univ. Bonn, Germany
Jean-Jacques Aubert, Univ. Neuchatel
Organized by Marco Maiuro, Univ. Roma, La Sapienza
PROGRAM
26 June 2025
14:00 INTRODUCTION
Peter N. Miller, President and CEO, American Academy in Rome
Caroline Goodson, Andrew W. Mellon Humanities Professor, American Academy in Rome
Alberto Camplani, Sapienza, Università di Roma
14:30 INTRODUCTION TO THE CONFERENCE
Marco Maiuro
Sapienza, Università di Roma
Between Norm and Realities: the Interplay of Law, Society, and Economy in the Last Decade of Studies
15:00 FIRST SESSION: FREE ENTERPRISE
Chair: Aliza S. Wong, Director, American Academy in Rome
Kimberly Bowes, University of Pennsylvania
Category and Practice in Roman labor; Categorie e prassi nel lavoro romano
Éva Jakab, Károli Gáspár Universität der ReformiertenKirche, Budapest/ Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Female Labor and Enterprise (1st Century BC – 3rd Century AD)
Christel Freu, Université Paris-Saclay
People, Money, and the State: Understanding the Dynamics of Labour in the Age of Inflation (3rd–4th Centuries
19:00 CONCLUSION
Dinner at the American Academy in Rome
Transfer to Villa Falconieri, Frascati
27 June 2025
9:00 INTRODUCTION
Luigi Miraglia, President, AccademiaVivarium novum
9:15 SECOND SESSION: SERVILE ENTERPRISE
Chair: Sabine Huebner, Universität Basel
Edward Cohen, University of Pennsylvania
Affluent Slaves: Legal Reality or Legal Fiction?
Richard Gamauf, Universität Wien
Detentus a potentioribus: Forced labour in the Principate and the Measures Against It
Martin Schermaier, Universität Bonn
Organizing Labour in a Slave Society: at the Crossroads of Social Classes and Private Law
12:30 AFTERNOON PAUSE
Lunch at Villa Falconieri, Frascati
14:00 THIRD SESSION: ROMAN LAW AND ROMAN ECONOMY
Chair: Caroline Goodson
Jean-Jacques Aubert, Université de Neuchâtel
Retail Trade and Roman Law
Dennis Kehoe, Tulane University
Law, Labor, and the Roman Agrarian Economy
Aldo Petrucci, Università di Pisa
Remarks on Legal Problems Related to Economic Issues in the Pauli Sententiae
19:00 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Marco Maiuro
Late Antique Scenarios
20:00 CONCLUSION
Dinner at Villa Falconieri, Frascati