Roman Agriculture and Extraurban Economy

The introduction outlines the current debate over the size and nature of the agricultural economy and its importance within the Roman economy as a whole, addressing the use of models and summarising some of the possible approaches from available datasets, such as the study of patterns of large-scale investment from sites with batteries of multiple oil and wine presses which indicate elite investment in market-oriented agricultural production. It situates each of the chapters in the volume within this wider framework of study, and discusses regional variation and chronological trends, issues of land and labour, whether or not the Roman state had any conscious economic policy towards agriculture, and the articulation of agrarian production with other sectors of the economy.

Life and afterlife coexisted in the periphery of Caesarea Maritima the metropolis of the province Judaea, later Syria Palaestina and Palaestina Prima. This paper offers a view on the different activities, which have taken place in the outskirts of Caesarea in about a radius of 15 km from the city-walls. We will focus on the city's necropoleis, wasters, suburb mansions, stone quarries, agricultural installations, water supply and watermills.