The World of the 'Fullo' takes a detailed look at the fullers, craftsmen who dealt with high-quality garments, of Roman Italy. Analyzing the social and economic worlds in which the fullers lived and worked, it tells the story of their economic circumstances, the way they organized their workshops, the places where they worked in the city, and their everyday lives on the shop floor and beyond. Through focusing on the lower segments of society, Flohr uses everyday work as the major organizing principle of the narrative: the volume discusses the decisions taken by those responsible for the organization of work, and how these decisions subsequently had an impact on the social lives of people carrying out the work. It emphasizes how socio-economic differences between cities resulted in fundamentally different working lives for many of their people, and that not only were economic activities shaped by Roman society, they in turn played a key role in shaping it. Using an in-depth and qualitative analysis of material remains related to economic activities, with a combined study of epigraphic and literary records, this volume portrays an insightful view of the socio-economic history of urban communities in the Roman world.

Miko Flohr is the Assistant Director of the Oxford Roman Economy Project at the University of Oxford. He specializes in Roman urbanism and Roman economic history, with an emphasis on Roman Italy, particularly Pompeii and Ostia.

• Preface
• Abbreviations
• 1: Introduction
• 2: The Economy of fulling
• 3: The Rational Workshop
• 4: Fulling and the Urban Environment
• 5: Populating the Fullonica
• 6: Fullones and Roman Society
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index
• Plans