Ideas of Corruption in Roman Imperial Ports
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Emilia Mataix Ferrándiz
Abstract
Imagine an ancient port: a cloud of people moving goods, loading and unloading ships, stocking warehouses, checking contents, boarding for travel to foreign places, etc. The same people traded, slept, ate, worshipped their gods, and fulfilled their daily needs, establishing daily interactions and networks of trust among them. Ports were thus spaces where people from different legal and social statuses collaborated, with the consequent cultural clashes and power imbalances. The latter could translate into abuses and corruption, taking different forms depending on the context and subject affected by the practice. This contribution will analyze how the use of commercial mechanisms, such as standard measurements and tasting samples, enabled the creation of trust networks and the avoidance of “twisted transfers”. Standard measures established a framework to operate, defining what was considered right and what was corrupted or wrong. In this sense, they create impersonal trust among people who do not have a personal connection and provided certainty to their transactions. However, tasting samples were also a warranty employed to check that a product corresponded to what was agreed in a transaction, so as to avoid a “twisted transfer”, as there was no trust established between the parties involved in it. Both elements underline the manifold faces of the complex phenomenon of corruption in antiquity, and provide evidence about how a port worked, what size and what sort of workforce it employed, what its output was, how people operated there, and how they organized their transactions to avoid “twisted transfers”.
Abstract
Imagine an ancient port: a cloud of people moving goods, loading and unloading ships, stocking warehouses, checking contents, boarding for travel to foreign places, etc. The same people traded, slept, ate, worshipped their gods, and fulfilled their daily needs, establishing daily interactions and networks of trust among them. Ports were thus spaces where people from different legal and social statuses collaborated, with the consequent cultural clashes and power imbalances. The latter could translate into abuses and corruption, taking different forms depending on the context and subject affected by the practice. This contribution will analyze how the use of commercial mechanisms, such as standard measurements and tasting samples, enabled the creation of trust networks and the avoidance of “twisted transfers”. Standard measures established a framework to operate, defining what was considered right and what was corrupted or wrong. In this sense, they create impersonal trust among people who do not have a personal connection and provided certainty to their transactions. However, tasting samples were also a warranty employed to check that a product corresponded to what was agreed in a transaction, so as to avoid a “twisted transfer”, as there was no trust established between the parties involved in it. Both elements underline the manifold faces of the complex phenomenon of corruption in antiquity, and provide evidence about how a port worked, what size and what sort of workforce it employed, what its output was, how people operated there, and how they organized their transactions to avoid “twisted transfers”.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Preface VII
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Part 1: The Discourse(s) of and on Corruption
- Twisted Transfers as Corruption 1
- The Corrupted Speak 47
- Civil War and the Corruption of liberalitas in Tacitus’ Histories 65
- Irreversible Corruption 83
-
Part 2: Corruption in Social Practice and Daily Life
- Creating Evidence for Corruption 111
- Corruption in Greco-Roman Egypt 129
- Ideas of Corruption in Roman Imperial Ports 145
- Suspect Inheritances 167
- Salvian and the Corrupted Church of Southern Gaul 199
-
Part 3: The Politics and Diplomacy of Corruption
- Corruption and Anti-Corruption 223
- Beyond Crime 257
- Usurpation of (and Corruption Involving) the Right of Roman Citizenship in the Republic 287
- Balkan Promises 307
- Index 335
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Preface VII
-
Part 1: The Discourse(s) of and on Corruption
- Twisted Transfers as Corruption 1
- The Corrupted Speak 47
- Civil War and the Corruption of liberalitas in Tacitus’ Histories 65
- Irreversible Corruption 83
-
Part 2: Corruption in Social Practice and Daily Life
- Creating Evidence for Corruption 111
- Corruption in Greco-Roman Egypt 129
- Ideas of Corruption in Roman Imperial Ports 145
- Suspect Inheritances 167
- Salvian and the Corrupted Church of Southern Gaul 199
-
Part 3: The Politics and Diplomacy of Corruption
- Corruption and Anti-Corruption 223
- Beyond Crime 257
- Usurpation of (and Corruption Involving) the Right of Roman Citizenship in the Republic 287
- Balkan Promises 307
- Index 335
