Economy and supply

Abstract

A review of the contribution that the study of London makes to our understanding of the ancient economy. It explores the economic impact of the large-scale movement of goods and supplies required to support military advance, and to meet the expectations of the unusually large garrison stationed in Britain. The underwriting of these food supplies can be treated as an early form of military annona, sharing characteristics with arrangements made for the feeding of larger cities. It is argued that London’s economy and port, revolved around the needs of annona supply embracing military and civilian consumers. The infrastructure developed to support the annona stimulated a wider trade in luxury imports, best evidenced by the pottery carried to and through London (such as Samian and amphorae). This long-distance supply is the most archaeologically evident aspect of London’s Roman economy. The use of coin is another, and this chapter reviews the use of small change within London’s internal economy and local taxes. Coin-based market economies may not have penetrated far into the surrounding countryside, where subsistence and peasant farming was allowed to persist and rent and tax could be obtained through sharecropping and other ‘in kind’ arrangements.