week 01 - reading 01 - roman grain trade

Notes on The Roman Grain Trade by prof. Rolf Strom (https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/criticalmanagement%2FLogistics%20of%20the%20Roman%20Grain%20Trade.pdf) 

Prepared by Ariadna73    Page 1 of 1 

Roman Grain Trade Contents

Description of the logistics Reflections: How complex markets Work, Why do they work, How to comment on them, How do the details reflect upon the whole The reading will help us how complex systems evolve

Introduction Rome was gigantic: Densely populated, well paved roads, polluted The average roman needed 30O0 calories / day. Transportation of food is better by water.

The gain trade 4 challenges

Suitable soil (not the best in Italy) 400 m of rainfall Heavy and bulky to move Wheat lends to grow mold

Transportation war always better by water The logistics must have been really complex

Engineer the ships, build the ports and maintain the roads Lawyers and judges Monetary system

A look at the market Egyptian farmers: the Nile provided - irrigation and transportation Private merchants ran the trade

The mega rich (all male senators) The rich: knights Freedmen: Descendants of slaves

The role of the state The Army (won't consider in this paper) The metropolis of Rome

The port of Ostia Incentives to build ships recognized the status of the merchants

Informational uncertainty and roman market There was no telegraph, but paperwork did exist

Roman Trade Tax collection flourished Money mart have popularized itself (instead of paging with goods)

Conclusion The system ended abruptly en the 3 rd century. Other urban centers took advantage The trade allowed Rome to gram and be powerful. so, why did it fail abruptly?