Honor Among Thieves

Philip F. Venticinques new volume examines associations of craftsmen inthe framework of ancient economics and transaction costs. Scholars havelong viewed such associations primarily as social or religious groupsthat provided mutual support, proper burial, and sociability, and spaceswhere non-elite individuals could seek status supposedly denied themin their contemporary society. However, the analysis presented hereconcentrates on how craftsmen, merchants, and associations interactedwith each other and with elite and non-elite constituencies; managedeconomic, political, social, and legal activities; represented theirconcerns to the authorities; and acquired and used social capitala newand important view of these economic engines. Honor Among Thieves offers a study of associations from a social,economic, and legal point of view, and in the process examines how theyhelped their members overcome high transaction coststhe costs ofdoing businessthrough the development of social capital. He exploresassociations from the bottom up, in order to see how their memberscreate status and reputation outside of an elite framework. He thusexplores how occupations regarded as thieves in elite ideology createtheir own systems of honor. Honor Among Thieves will be of interest to scholars of the ancienteconomy, of social groups, and Roman Egypt in all periods.