The Bankers of Puteoli: Finance, Trade and Industry in the Roman World

This case study of a business that operated in the port of Puteoli on the bay of Naples in the first century AD draws on an archive of wax tablets published in Italy in 1999. The documents record banking, commercial, and legal transactions involving the bankers Sulpicii and their clients and customers. Transactions include loans made to corn traders, sea-going merchants and other businessmen, leases from warehouses, disputes over outstanding debts, and deposits of cash made by the imperial household. These documents and other case studies shed light on how the Romans conducted their business affairs.