Soldiers, Wages, and the Hellenistic Economies

by: Van Regenmortel, C.

Soldiers, Wages, and the Hellenistic Economies

Author: Charlotte Van Regenmortel, University of Liverpool

This book explains the military and economic developments that engulfed the ancient Mediterranean in the late Classical and early Hellenistic periods from the perspective of labour history. It examines the changing nature of military service in the vast armies of Philip and Alexander, the Successors, and the early Hellenistic kingdoms and argues that the paid soldiers who staffed them were not just 'mercenaries', but rather the Greek world's first large-scale instance of wage labour. Using a wide range of sources, Charlotte Van Regenmortel not only offers a detailed social history of military service in these armies but also provides a novel explanation for the economic transformation of the Hellenistic age, positioning military wage-labourers as the driving force behind the period's nascent market economies. 

Analyses Hellenistic economic development and monetisation from the perspective of labour history
Reframes the nature of paid military service and questions the mercenary paradigm
Draws on a wide range of evidence, with up-to-date assessments and authoritative new translations of key epigraphic documents

Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Contextualising Paid Military Service
2. The Concept of Wage Labour
3. Enlistment and Terms of Service
4. Forms of Remuneration and Standards of Living
5. The Military Labour Market
6. Military Wage Labour and the Hellenistic Economies
Conclusion
Epigraphic Dossier.

Soldiers, Wages, and the Hellenistic Economies

by: Van Regenmortel, C.

• ISBN-13: 9781009408981 / 978-1-00-940898-1
• ISBN-03: 1009408984 / 1-00-940898-4
• Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2024