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3 - Money Making, ‘Avarice’, and Elite Strategies of Distinction in the Roman World

from Part I - Professionals and Professional Identity in Greece and Rome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Emanuel Mayer
Edited by
Edmund Stewart ,
Edward Harris  and
David Lewis
Edmund Stewart
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Edward Harris
Affiliation:
University of Durham
David Lewis
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Summary

Literary condemnations of manual work and commerce and trade were a discourse of social distinction that emphasized philosophical morality over avaricious money making. It did not matter socially beyond its immediate intellectual context, and neither prevented artisans and professionals from publicly displaying pride in their work nor imperial elites from treating traders, engineers, and artisans with dignity and respect in their personal interactions.

Keywords

Roman social structureprofessional prideelite cognitive dissonanceurban economy
Type
Chapter
Information
Skilled Labour and Professionalism in Ancient Greece and Rome , pp. 94 - 126
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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