Far from the dragging plough : veterans in trade and business during the Roman Principate.

In the study of the Roman world, few demographics receive scanter attention from modern scholarship than those time-served veterans who eschewed an agricultural life in favour of setting up in business for themselves. This study, then, is an examination of this class of men and the evidence we have for them. Modern scholarship’s apathy in this field of study is no doubt an effect of the lack of anything more than sparse one-dimensional references to veterans in the ancient literary sources, an aspect this paper will also examine. The study likewise challenges the idea that all soldiers inevitably retired to farmland by highlighting the topoi surrounding both rural life and the soldiery, as well as providing a more practical analysis of the options open to the veteran upon discharge. By taking evidence directly from inscriptions, this study throws light on those veterans who set up as manufacturers and traders of various commodities, and discusses the reasons why they are so elusive within the epigraphic record itself. Summaries of the key themes of the study, along with potential avenues of further research, are offered in the conclusion.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Hall, Joseph Adam

• DE Rhanbarth Môr y Canoldir. Y Byd Groeg-Rufeinig

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:405