The Invisible Economy - Part 2: Recycling at the Highest Levels: Elite Reuse in Imperial Roman and Abbasid Courts
The Invisible Economy: How Ancient Societies Mastered Circularity 1 The Invisible Economy - Part 1: The Ragpicker's Dream: Unearthing the Invisible Agents of the Ancient Scrap Trade 2 The Invisible Economy - Part 2: Recycling at the Highest Levels: Elite Reuse in Imperial Roman and Abbasid Courts 3 The Invisible Economy - Part 3: The Secret Life of Shards: Tracing the Ubiquitous Circularity of Glass and Textiles 4 The Invisible Economy - Part 4: Beyond Utility: The Functional, Aesthetic, and Spiritual Dimensions of Reuse in Antiquity 5 The Invisible Economy - Part 5: Decoding the Data Gap: Unlocking Ancient Circularity through Archaeology and Archives ← Series Home Economic circularity is often simplistically understood as a pragmatic response to scarcity or decline, rooted solely in the functional pursuit of waste reduction. Yet, studies in high-status environments reveal a far richer picture, where the wealthiest and most powerful elites systematically employed reuse, relocation, and recycling, even when operating at the peak of their financial capacity,. Whether in the monumental thermal architecture of the Roman Empire or the extravagant palace city of Abbasid Samarra, circular practices were inextricably woven into the fabric of elite behavior, serving complex objectives that fused pragmatic resource management with powerful political and symbolic messaging,,. ...