This book breaks new ground by distilling and presenting new and newly-reinterpreted evidence for the Hellenistic era and offering a compelling new set of interpretative ideas to the debate on the ancient economy.

The contributors to this volume define the distinctive economic features of the Hellenistic Age and the ways in which they have had an enduring effect on global cultural patterns.

With new assessments and translations of key documents, Charlotte Van Regenmortel studies the changing nature of paid service in the royal armies of the late Classical and early Hellenistic periods, arguing for the emergence of military wage labour as the principal stimulus to the economic transformation of the Hellenistic age.

"The most comprehensive account of the economy, society, and culture of Hellenistic Egypt available in English."--J.G. Manning, author of Land and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Structure of Land Tenure

This original study challenges the idea that sanctuaries in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor were fully institutionalized within the poleis that hosted them. Examining the forms of interaction between rulers, cities, and sanctuaries, the book proposes a triangular relationship in which the rulers often acted as mediators between differing interests of city and cult. A close analysis of the epigraphical evidence illustrates that neither the Hellenistic kings nor the representatives of Roman rule appropriated the property of the gods but actively supported the functioning of the sanctuaries and their revenues. The powerful role of the sanctuaries was to a large extent based on economic features, which the sanctuaries possessed precisely because of their religious character. Nevertheless, a study of the finances of the cults reveals frequent problems concerning the upkeep of cults and a particular need to guard the privileges and property of the gods. Their situation oscillated between glut and dearth. When the harmonious identity between city and cult was disturbed, those closely attached to the cult acted on behalf of their domain.

A new assessment of the economic history of Athens in the Hellenistic era. G. J. Oliver assesses how political and military change affected the fragile economies of the Athenian polis, and highlights the ways in which the citizens of Athens contributed to the defence and finances of their city.