Skilled Labour and Professionalism in Ancient Greece and Rome - Edmund Stewart, Edward Harris & David Lewis

Skilled Labour and Professionalism in Ancient Greece and Rome

By Edmund Stewart, Edward Harris & David Lewis

  • Release Date: 2020-09-03
  • Genre: Ancient History

Description

This book is a history of ancient Greek and Roman professionals: doctors, seers, sculptors, teachers, musicians, actors, athletes and soldiers. These individuals were specialist workers deemed to possess rare skills, for which they had undergone a period of training. They operated in a competitive labour market in which proven expertise was a key commodity. Success in the highest regarded professions was often rewarded with a significant income and social status. Rivalries between competing practitioners could be fierce. Yet on other occasions, skilled workers co-operated in developing associations that were intended to facilitate and promote the work of professionals. The oldest collegial code of conduct, the Hippocratic Oath, a version of which is still taken by medical professionals today, was similarly the creation of a prominent ancient medical school. This collection of articles reveals the crucial role of occupation and skill in determining the identity and status of workers in antiquity.

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