This volume investigates the structural complexity and economic diversity of the Greco-Roman world by shifting the analytical focus away from traditional agrarian-centric models. Editors D. J. Mattingly and John Salmon compile a series of scholarly essays that challenge the long-standing assumption that ancient economies were almost exclusively based on agricultural output. By examining trade, manufacturing, and urban consumption, the contributors provide a framework for understanding the sophisticated non-agricultural sectors that sustained the Mediterranean world.

Experts in the field of ancient economic history recognize this work as a significant contribution to the debate regarding the scale and nature of the Roman economy. Scholars frequently cite the text for its rigorous challenge to the primitivist school of thought, noting its importance for students and researchers of classical antiquity.