Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World

The control over marble and metal resources was of major importance to the Roman Empire. The emperor's freedmen and slaves, officers and soldiers of the Roman army, equestrian officials, as well as convicts and free labour were seconded to mines and quarries throughout Rome's vast realm. Alfred Hirt's comprehensive study defines the organizational outlines and the internal structures of the mining and quarrying ventures under imperial control. The themes addressedinclude: challenges faced by those in charge of these extractive operations; the key figures, their subaltern personnel and their respective responsibilities; the role of the Roman army; the use of civilian partners in quarrying or mining ventures; and the position of the quarrying or miningorganizations within the framework of the imperial administration.

Alfred Michael Hirtâs monograph is a major and welcome contribution to this end, and the first comprehensive study of Roman mine and quarry organization since the 1930s., This book is an impressive piece of scholarship ... He has marshalled together large bodies of evidence, and the care and diligence taken in gathering this information are obvious.

Alfred Michael Hirt is a researcher at the University of Zurich, and visiting scholar, Cambridge University.