Bringing in the sheaves : economy and metaphor in the Roman world / Brent D. Shaw.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The work features an edition of the reaper inscription, and a commentary on it. It is also lavishly illustrated to demonstrate the important iconic and pictorial dimensions of the story.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

How wonderful to read a book, written by a true scholar, which brims with humor, critique, insight, and expansiveness. A rich harvest of ideas is in store for those who are curious about antiquity, agriculture, iconography, geography, literature, technology, and of course, metaphor. Shaw (Princeton) plows through the rich field of classical studies and shows readers that mundane--even banausic--human activities are bearers of meaning. With a geographical sweep from Africa to Antwerp, literature and poetry from Hesiod to Hardy, paintings from de Berry and Bruegel to van Gogh and Venetsianov, and images of arches, stelae, mosaics, sarcophagi, coins, maps, etchings, and tables, as well as photographs, Shaw illustrates the power and potential violence of reaping. He combines deep scholarship with abundant quantitative data to elucidate economic concepts that span many histories and places. His conjectures on the development of agricultural technology are as well informed as his analysis of Roman contracts and tax documents. The arts and sciences are nicely bundled in a complementary sheaf in this deeply human and humanistic account of the single activity that assures human life on this planet, the harvest of grain. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic, professional, and general readers. S. Hammer Boston University