Sheep-Rearing and the Wool Trade in Italy during the Roman Period

J.M. Frayn

ARCA 15. ISBN 978-0-905205-22-9. Cloth, x+208, 13 illustrs. 8 plates. Publ. 1985.

For this study of sheep-rearing in Roman Italy, Dr Frayn presents and evaluates material from epigraphy, law, literature, archaeology, painting and sculpture to illuminate the social life of shepherd communities. Throughout, the ancient evidence for Italian practice is supplemented with comparative material from other ancient societies and (where relevant) from more modern farming experience.

Contents

List of Illustrations; Preface; Abbreviations; Note on Literary Sources

Introduction

1. The Geography of Sheep-rearing in Ancient Italy
2. Sheep Breeds
3. Transhumance
4. Shepherd Communities: a Social Anomaly
5. The Dress and Equipment of the Italian Shepherd in the Roman Period
6. The Roman Agronomists on Sheep-Rearing
7. Ranching
8. Dairy Produce, Methods and Utensils
9. Raw Wool and its Markets
10. The Wool Trade in the Empire

Conclusion

Appendix: The Saepinum Inscription
Glossary of Latin Technical Terms
Bibliography; References to Ancient Authors; List of Inscriptions; Index of Latin Words; Index of Ancient Greek Words; General Index

Reviews

Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology 24 (1987) (Bruce Levitan): "a useful addition to the study of sheep husbandry, and should be recommended reading for any student or researcher of the subject."

Classical Review 38 (1988) 96-9 (N. Purcell): "Dr Frayn has produced a learned and thorough survey of a highly important and rather neglected aspect of the Roman economy."

Revue des Etudes Latines 63 (1985) 347 (J. Rougé)

Journal of Roman Studies 76 (1986) 333 (M.S. Spurr): "This is a pioneering work. Roman shepherds left little direct record of their presence, and Frayn has done well to assemble evidence from a wide variety of scattered sources."

Latomus 45 (1986) 463 (R. Chevallier)

Gymnasium 93 (1986) 317 (Thomas Pekáry): "Das Buch, das mit ausführlicher Bibliographie und Indices versehen ist, kann als willkommene Bereicherung der Forschung angesehen werden."

New Zealand Veterinary Association (Professor A.L. Rae)

Greece and Rome (1985) 223

Zeitschrift für Agrargeschichte und Agrarsoziologie 33 (1985) (Kurt J. Hinrichsen)

Economic History Review 38 (1985) 319 (A.R. Bridbury)

Journal of Peasant Studies 14 (1987) 277 (Jonathan Thompson)