1. Children in the Roman Farming Economy: Evidence, Problems and Possibilities
- Author
-
Van Limbergen, D, Hoffelinck, A, Taelman, D, Lewit, T, Van Limbergen, D, Hoffelinck, A, Taelman, D, and Lewit, T
- Abstract
Children’s roles within Roman farming have been little explored, despite a flood of recent work on many aspects of childhood in Roman society. Children were an important economic cohort, however, and would have made up a large group within the potential labour force of any farm. Close examination of textual and visual sources suggests that children played specific economic roles. Further, ethnographic studies on children’s farm work in the Mediterranean and beyond in more recent times reveal considerable correspondence with ancient practices. The allocation of certain categories of tasks to children appears highly consistent across time and geographic location. By combining these groups of evidence, we can consider the extent to which children’s labour would have contributed to the Roman farming economy. Children’s work should not be seen as insignificant or marginal: rather, it played an essential part, as in later times, within the economics of farm work.
- Published
- 2022