A discussion on the relationship between the economy of Rome and the organisation of her Empire.
This paper divides the Roman Empire into the three spheres as suggested by K Hopkins in his essay “Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire” . It attempts to analyse the relationship between the overall Roman economy and how the economy exists in the interration between these three geographical areas. It covers subjects from trade to tax and concludes that tax and trade in different areas were treated differently according to their geographical distance from Rome.
“The second economic facet of the city of Rome is as its economic accelerator. Due to the concentration of expenditure and its high population, prices within Rome were much higher than any other area of the Empire. Pliny the elder gives prices of wheat ranging from upwards of 12HS per modius at a period of moderate pricing , it is normal to see prices of 4HS in provinces around Rome; in Egypt were probably below 2HS , in Poseidon Antioch around 2.25 HS . Similarly, other ancient sources explicitly state that prices were substantially higher than other areas. Martial, a Spaniard residing in Rome for over 30 years, justified his lamentation and nostalgia for Spain referring to the lower cost of living and food prices. . Rome was the pinnacle of a price pyramid; provincial goods were sold in Rome to raise capital for taxation but on a micro-economical scale, individual traders hoped to make large profits by selling goods in the highest price market.”