These are people who would force their mother to lend them money at interest.
These are people who would sell their children to live another day.
These are people who are not going to go quietly.
And I think all of these things defy the kind of categories that we put on people in the past.
When we really dig into the complexity, I think we find a world that really astounds
us for the amount of grit and determination that people have.
Today on the story of money.
Ancient Rome's brutal economy and how ordinary people survived it.
And yes, sure, it was a time of bustling cities,
expanding empires, new trade routes, a sophisticated civilization with a thriving economy.
But for most ordinary Romans, day laborers, tenant farmers and the like,
everyday existence wasn't quite as prosperous or even that stable.
And here to tell us how they survived is Kim Bowes,
Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Hi, Kim.
Hey, Robin.
It's great to have you here because we wanted to do a Roman episode for a long time.
It feels we can't really do a history podcast, even if it's money focused, without doing the Romans at some point.
And you're going to tell us the story of just how creative the average
Roman will have to be just to, well, frankly, stay financially afloat, right?