The Economic Life of the Ancient World

THE ‘Ancient World’ with which M. Toutain deals is that of the Mediterranean area, or rather of Greece and Rome with other countries considered only as subsidiary to these. He begins his story with the Greece of Homer and Hesiod and traces, its economic development down to the end of the Hellenistic period. He then turns to Rome and the western Mediterranean, but before dealing with Italy and Rome's historic rival Carthage, to provide a background for the picture, he analyses the economic activities of prehistoric man. Thence the economic system of Rome is traced until it reaches its culmination under the Antonines and finally breaks up before the inroads of the barbarians.The Economic Life of the Ancient World.By Jules Toutain. Translated by M. R. Dobie. (The History of Civilization Series.) Pp. xxvii + 361. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd.; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930.) 16s. net.