ABSTRACT
The 1970s and early 1980s were a momentous period in the study of Greco-Roman economic and social history. The appearance of Finley’s Ancient Economy swiftly provoked debate between ‘primitivists/minimalists’ and ‘modernists/maximalists’ as to the robustness of ancient economic activity and thinking. 1 In this there is no doubt that the most influential refutation of Finley’s line of thought has been that of Hopkins, whose positive assessment of economic development under the Roman empire first saw light of day in 1978, but is now better known in its revised and extended version of 1980. 2 During this time, but independent of the ‘great debate’, I published three articles on the economy and society of early imperial Gaul (Drinkwater 1978; 1977/78; 1981).
