ABSTRACT
The work which follows is basically concerned to explore a single historical question: we wish to enquire whether capitalism existed in ancient society, and, if so, in what form(s) and to what extent. In a nutshell, we want to know whether the economy of the most advanced regions of antiquity, those of the Roman world in particular, was affected to significant degrees by the presence of capitalistic or quasi-capitalistic economic pursuits and what bearing this may have had on the course of social development generally. Of course, it goes without saying that such questions mean we must also address the question of the nature of capitalism as such; we shall necessarily have to touch on the whole problem of the relation of antiquity to the modern era where clearly a certain kind of capitalism has been, and still is, of overwhelming importance.
