Land, labour and settlement
Bryan Ward‐Perkins|Averil Cameron|Michael Whitby
The vast majority of the population Roman empire, as in all pre-modern societies, worked on land. There is a great deal we would like to know about these people: exactly how many they were; others fed (whether artisans, soldiers and clergy, or idle rich); which areas cultivated, with what crops methods; extent their agriculture was specialized tied into commercial networks exchange; types settlement lived in; tightly labour controlled – agricultural workers were free peasants cultivating own plots, dependent tenants landlords, wage labourers, even slaves?
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