Dark Age Economics

There is a lot of eating and drinking in the epic of Homer. In this survey it is being discussed, to which era of greek history the diet in the odyssey refers: Does it pertain to the Mycenaean Age, in which the action takes place, to the dark ages, through which the story is transmitted, or does it show the alimentation of Homers own era, the beginning of the archaic age in Greece?

""Compared with the amount of attention paid to materials from the Roman and Viking periods, little research has been
carried out into Byzantine imports to Scandinavia in the period 560/570-750/800 AD. To a large extent, this can be
explained by the spectacular inflow of materials from these periods in the forym of coins, Roman bronze vessels, glass,
etc. This article can be considered as part of an attempt to overlap the above-mentioned older and younger periods with
regard to the import from Byzantium and its sphere of interest, including the Red Sea, Africa and perhaps some
bordering regions in the Mediterranean, depending on how closely a type of object can be related to a specific region.
The study is mainly based upon small finds in the shape of amethyst beads, ivory rings, cowrie shells, evidence of silk
and other both exclusive and today quite anonymous objects. The study reveals that the regular import of objects from
the eastern Mediterranean and beyond existed before the massive inflow of goods during the Viking period (beginning
in 750/800 AD). The results also reinforce the concept that the female Scandinavian elite had an ambition to show a
con nection between themselves and their Western European counterparts in particular, not by wearing similar metal
jewellery, but via other objects in their dress. In this case, objects with a Byzantine origin played a prominent role.""

Since its re-discovery in the 1930s, the early Islamic settlement of ʿAnjar in the Beqaaʿ Valley in Lebanon has resisted easy definition. Despite having elements in common with contemporary urban sites and with elite rural residences – the ‘desert palaces’ – it does not neatly fit into either category. Interpreted as a very small city or a very large palace, the site does not work. This may, however, say more about our own categorisations than it does about the settlement itself. Working on the assumption that the apparent inconsistencies were not due to bad planning on the part of patrons or builders, this paper discusses the original function of the 8th-century settlement, and its development over the following centuries. The main section of the paper focuses on the foundation and early use of ʿAnjar under the Umayyad caliph al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik (705-715). All the secondary literature on the site so far has similarly emphasised the Umayyad phase of its history, and the reconstructions carried out in the 1950-60s did more than just emphasise – they physically destroyed many of the structures belonging to later phases. However, it is not my aim to give special privilege to the ‘original’, and the final section of the paper covers ʿAnjar’s development in its post-Umayyad phases. Specifically, I will look at the way in which a specialised and centrally-planned elite site was transformed into what appears to have been a fully-functioning and socially diverse town.

This paper discusses the context of a Late Roman solidus hoard found in the Casa delle Vestali on the Forum Romanum in the City of Rome. The hoard consists of 397 solidi, Late Roman gold coins. Most of the hoard consists of uncirculated solidi struck in the name of the western Roman emperor Procopius Anthemius (AD 467-472). By means of situating the hoard within the context of the reign of Anthemius and the collapse of the western Roman Empire, the aim of this paper is to discern if the coins in the Vestal hoard can be related to other contemporary coin hoards by means of numismatic typology, which could add information as to why Anthemius’ reign is considered such an unmitigated failure and why the Empire collapsed soon after his murder. The author examines the composition of the hoard and compares the content to other contemporary solidus hoards in the Mediterranean, Belgium, Poland and Scandinavia. The author argues that the comparison shows that the Vestal hoard is not part of a larger network but that the hoard constitutes the remains of an isolated occurrence – as initially suggested by its unusual composition and location.

A GERMANIC PEOPLE WHO traced their origins to Scandinavia, the Visigoths migrated to central Europe during the chaotic fourth century, crushing the Roman legions of Emperor Valens in 378 at Adrianople (now Edirne, Turkey) and sacking Rome itself in 410 under their king Alaric (ruled 395-410). Following this migration, the Visigoths settled in southern France, but were eventually pushed into Spain by the growing power of the Franks. Ancient statistics are shaky (notoriously so), but one source estimates that by the year 600, a hundred thousand Visigoths ruled a Romanized Spanish population of several million (Collins, 241). Visigothic kings initially issued "pseudo-Imperial" tremisses (high-purity gold coins of about 1.5 grams that gradually declined to about 18 kt and 1.3 grams) bearing the image and name of the distant emperor in Constantinople. The Visigoths royal tremisses are frankly ugly, even for medieval coins. The engraving is crude and the Latin inscriptions are often blundered. Historians are baffled by an economy where the only circulating currency was a high-value gold coin.

Offered to John H. Kroll on his retirement from the University of Texas at Austin, this volume features essays on Greek coinage, exchange, and polis economies from the Archaic to Hellenistic periods. Included in the collection are studies that explore aspects of Homeric and Archaic exchange, the law of sale, and cavalry costs. Other studies examine the social, economic and historical contexts of coinages from Abdera, Athens, "Lete," Lydia, Mylasa, and Side, and present new interpretative approaches to "cooperative" coinage and those from archaeological sites.

— La diffusion du monnayage sicilien hors de l'île montre l'étendue d'un réseau de relations allant de l'Italie voisine aux extrémités de l'Occident ou de la mer Noire. Dans le thème de Calabre où, à un niveau plus modeste qu'en Sicile, la circulation des années 668-811 se maintient mieux que dans l'est de l'Empire, Syracuse alimente d'abord en or et en bronze Reggio et son arrière-pays immédiat. Mais la reprise à partir de 813-820 concerne une zone plus vaste. Dans des régions plus éloignées (Italie du Nord, Francie, Angleterre, Allemagne, pays du Nord), la monnaie d'or et de bronze sicilienne reste parfois présente alors que celle de Constantinople a disparu presqu'entièrement. Au milieu des siècles obscurs la Sicile byzantine apparaît donc au témoignage de la numismatique comme le refuge d'une activité commerciale réduite mais non détruite.