(Workshop) Standardization in Ancient Economies with Dr. Hilary Becker

Dr. Justin Leidwanger and PhD candidate, Matt Previto are pleased to announce the first speaker in the 2021-2022 iteration of the SHC workshop: Standardization in Ancient Economies. This workshop is presented by both the SHC and Stanford Classics. Dr. Hilary Becker, Assistant Professor in Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at SUNY Binghamton, will present her talk "Caveat Emptor: Fraud amongst Naturally Sourced Products in the Roman Marketplace", at 12:00 PM PST on Friday, December 3rd. The talk will take place at the Classics Seminar Room and on Zoom.

Lunch will be provided from Blend Eatery. If you would like a lunch, please fill out this google form by Wednesday, the 1st at 9 pm. https://forms.gle/vLvojo7hQ7Nn682p8. 

Dr. Hilary Becker will also be holding office hours Friday afternoon to all who are interested. 

Abstract:Marketplaces are landscapes within which fraudulenttransactions can easily occur. In the Roman case, unaware consumerscould easily encounter goods in the market which were fraudulent,adulterated or otherwise misleading. This paper aims to survey theparticular trade for medicaments and pigments in order to recognizehow bad products could circulate along with good products and alsoto explore the mechanisms that the savvy Roman consumer mighthave utilized in order to protect themselves from being cheated.Understanding the market mechanisms (both institutional safeguardsand tools for self-protection) yields insight into not only the supplychain and commercial transactions but it is also a valuablereconstructive approach to contextualize the marketplace for thequotidian consumer and merchant.