| Abstract |
Having studied the conditions of the mines and quarries in the Roman eastern provinces, the author could ascertaine the following points: (1) The largely accepted opinions, that almost all of the mine...s in these provinces had either been already exhausted or lost their importance in the early Empire, are almost sound. (2) In the Empire, the exploitation of the mines, which had been let out to the contractors, publicani, in the Republican period, was made under the control of the procurator, as seen typically in Cyprian copper mines. Quarries of marble and other building-stones continued also to be exploited, in many cases, under the direct will of the Emperors. (3) Although it was not valid in all of the mines, it was under the publicani that the slave labour was employed extensively. These phenomena, and especially the fact that many mines in the eastern provinces had almost already lost their importance in the very period when the Roman slavery system most developed, would give a clue to solve the problem of the decline of the Roman slavery system.show more
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