Overview

Trade and Taboo investigates the legal, literary, social, and institutionalcreation of disrepute in ancient Roman society. It tracks the shiftingapplication of stigmas of disrepute between the Republic and LateAntiquity by following groups of professionals—funeral workers, criers,tanners, mint workers, and even bakers—and asking how they coped withstigmatization. The goal of this book is to reveal the construction and motivations forthese attitudes, and to show how they created inequalities, informedinstitutions, and changed over time. Additionally, the volume shows howpolitical and cultural shifts mutated these taboos, reshaping economicmarkets and altering the status of professionals at work within thesemarkets. Sarah E. Bond investigates legal stigmas in the form of infamia andother marks of legal disrepute. Her volume expands on anthropologicaltheories of pollution by exploring individuals who regularly came intocontact with corpses and other polluting materials, then considerscommunication and network formation through the disrepute attachedto town criers called praecones. Ideas of disgust and the languageof invective are brought forward looking at tanners, while the bookcloses with an exploration of caste-like systems created in the laterRoman empire. Collectively, these professionals are eloquent about theeconomies and changes experienced within Roman society between 45BCE and 565 CE. Trade and Taboo will interest all those studying Roman society, issues ofhistoriographical method, and the topic of taboo in preindustrial cultures.

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9780472130085

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Reviews

With this book, Bond has produced an indispensible resource for those who wish to further investigate the social and economic dynamics of the later Christian and/or Rabbinic ruling class. The evidence and arguments contained within will open up various conversations regarding how the day-to-day operations of ancient Jewish and Christian communities impacted--and were impacted by--the laborers tasked with their urban maintenance. --Alexander D. Perkins, Ancient Jew Review-- (11/25/2018) A welcome addition to the growing body of literature dealing with those professionals and tradesmen who performed important roles within Roman society but who, on the whole, received scorn rather than gratitude from those members of Rome's elite who considered themselves above such petty or unpleasant tasks. --American Historical Review -- (02/23/2018) Bond does an fine job of tracing changing elite approaches and their repercussions for their despised fellow citizens. In carrying her analysis through into Late Antiquity, she offers a significant advance in our understanding of attitudes and reality throughout antiquity. --American Journal of Philology-- (01/15/2018) Bond asks excellent questions, writes engagingly, and has a good nose for the obscure but interesting source. Trade and Taboo is a valuable contribution to the field... --Bryn Mawr Classical Review-- (07/17/2017) Books like Bond's force us to reassess both how we think about the social valuation of professions in general and, by extension, our willingness to accept the professional commodification of different kinds of bodies. --The Daily Beast-- (11/14/2016) An attractive study that makes interesting observations and provides instructive questions for further research. --New Historical Literature-- (11/28/2018) This is an engaging book, and Bond ensures that students will know where she is coming from, with nice succinct conclusions and arguments clearly set out. --Journal of Roman Studies-- (02/23/2018)

Author Information

Sarah E. Bond is Assistant Professor of Classics, University of Iowa, USA.

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