ABSTRACT
Jean Andreau, a historian at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, prepared this article as an introduction to a series of papers published to mark the twentieth anniversary of the French translation of Finley’s The Ancient Economy. Andreau is known as the world’s leading authority on Roman banking and finance. ‡ In keeping with his main research interests, his discussion largely focuses on recent scholarship on the Roman economy, thereby complementing the article by Paul Cartledge reprinted above (Ch. I). Thanks to the author’s French background and British connections, Andreau’s piece, while fully engaged in the ongoing debate, offers a critical perspective from outside the predominantly Anglo-American circle of Finley’s followers and critics. Identifying what he perceives as the five major themes of recent scholarship in the field, Andreau tackles pivotal issues of the debate over the nature of the ‘ancient economy’ by assessing recent contributions and setting an agenda for future research.
