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Document Details : Title: Trade Associations in Roman Egypt Subtitle: Their raison d'être Author(s): GIBBS, Matthew Journal: Ancient Society Volume: 41 Date: 2011 Pages: 291-315 DOI: 10.2143/AS.41.0.2129573 Abstract : This paper examines the possible motivations behind the decisions of individual crafts- and tradesmen to form trade associations in Roman Egypt, and offers possible reasons as to why. Using the available papyrological evidence, I suggest that these collectives were not were established on the basis of a single pattern or motive, but that the members had several diverse, yet entwined, interests that varied in degrees of complexity in both socio-economic and socioreligious contexts. The satisfaction of professional interests, commensality, and religiosity all appear to have played a role in the reasons behind collective life in the trade associations of Roman Egypt. |
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