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Podcast

How the ninety percent experienced the Roman economy, with Kim Bowes

by Medievalists.net
January 1, 2026

A conversation with Kim Bowes about her recent book, Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent, which presents a brilliant new model of the Roman imperial economy, specifically for how the majority of the population experienced it. We talk about the skeletal evidence, monetization, affluence and precariousness, and levels of consumption. This is only a taste of the many exciting new arguments made in the book, which all of you should go read.

Kim Bowes is professor of archaeology and ancient history at the University of Pennsylvania. Her new book, Surviving Rome: The Economic Lives of the Ninety Percent, is published through Princeton University Press.

Byzantium & Friends is hosted by Anthony Kaldellis, a Professor at the University of Chicago. You can follow him on his personal website. You can listen to more episodes of Byzantium & Friends through Podbean, Spotify  or Apple Podcasts.

Top Image: Roman mosaic at the Bardo National Museum. Photo by Jerzystrzelecki / Wikimedia Commons

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Related Posts

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Tags2025 Books • Byzantium & Friends • Medieval Economics - General • Medieval Social History • Roman Empire

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