Manufacturing in the Roman Empire

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

I want to thank all the people who have responded. You have helped me immensely.

But .....

I have questions about pre-industrial manufacturing.

Unlike today's factories where specialized machinery allow for assembly line production, in Rome I do not think there were factories where whole end-items were produced.

1. I know that there were kiln sites that could have been seen as a precursor to today's factory where many kilns, mixing pits, potter's wheels, etc would be set up in one central location.

Would this centralized work site be the exception or the norm.

2. Imperial mints were, because of the valuable metals, probably under lock and key as they are today. But what about the foundaries that rendered the precious metals from the ore?

I imagine that the smelting was done at the quarry site and then the ore was transported to the mints. There are many examples of sunken ships with ingots aboard.

I believe that the mines were Imperial property. That suggests that they were guarded by the military rather than by a security force under the control of the Publicani who secured the contract for the mining / smelting.

When a coin was struck at a specific mint, was that the only coin they struck in the mint until a sufficient number of coins were minted? I would think that that would be the case. I just need a confirmation on that.

3. Armories produced many different items. One produced weapons, another armor, another something else.

Were the production of these items set-up like a modern assembly line? That is, the swords forged in location A, wrought and sharpened in location B, Have handles attached in location C, or were they handled by a single craftsman from start to finish?

4. And what of end-items of a complicated nature such as carriages or siege engines?

5. Does anyone know where I might go (bookwise) to research these things?
Are there any web sites that someone might know that could enlighten me?

Thanks again. You guys are a terriffic help.

Me.:

[Felix Canus]

Many of your questions can be answered with transportation. Just like today, manufacturers always keep a weather eye on shipping costs.

If a shop owner could afford such a large place (and the slaves to operate it), then he would be in a better position to get those lucrative government contracts. It would also depend on his personal contacts and influences in the state economy.

All of these shops (large and small) would be placed with a balance between access to the materials and access to markets. Remember that it was easier to ship bulk goods by water, but shipping overland was a difficult process, so shops would often be set up near the consumers (and the labor pool) but with easy access to rivers and the sea.

Of course, this was mainly with small shops. Larger factory-type shops would be supplying markets are quite some distance, so would be set up closer to the material supply. In some ways, Rome was a pioneer of mail-order shopping.

Romans were a very practical people. If a boss found that it was faster and cheaper to train one slave to make blades and another make handles and another do the detailing, then he'd do it in a flat second. If another business had access to a large group of skilled craftsmen, he might find it better to have each craftsman make the entire item. It was really dependent on his customer's needs in quality, volume, and speed.

The question of mining can be answered the same way. It was cheaper to ship 1000 pounds of refined gold ingots to the mints than to ship 1000 pounds of raw ore, of which (if you were lucky) might contain 10% gold and 90% waste rock. But remember that the early republic relied heavily on foreign trade to provide precious metals, mostly from eastern trade partners. This lessened once Rome began conquering it's neighbors, but the need for foreign trade for was always vital.

The Spanish mines were state property, but I can't say that for certainty elsewhere. I'd be surprised if privately owned mines of vital resources were all that common.

Sadly, I don't know much about the policies for production runs on coins.

You might find some shops using primitive (relatively speaking) forms of production line manufacturing, but there were no truly interchangeable parts by this point. As a rule, the more attention an item gets from a single craftsman, the higher quality it will be. Simple items like swords might be made in segments by different craftsmen, but complicated items like spring-arm ballistas would likely be made by a single craftsman and a few apprentices. But in most cases, the parts would all be made in the same place.

One of the few exceptions I know of was pila (though there are probably many others). I have seen records of businesses contracted to make all the metalwork for pila, and then ship them to the garrisons and field camps where the army's craftsmen or local contractors would make the rest from local wood. It reduced shipping costs. Also, since wood parts are easily damaged, those skills would already be needed locally.

I have seen an example of siege engines made the same way. The iron parts and ropes were carried in the baggage train, to be fleshed out with local timbers when needed. This was only noted because the army was having huge logistics problems (this was during one of the eastern campaigns, possibly the jewish revolt, but I'm not certain).

LacusCurtius is a fine website that covers a wide variety of Roman and Greek technical topics. It's not an end-all, but is a great starting point.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.html

[Tertius Mummius]

From lead ingots found in a shipwreck in the mediterranean, we can define that the lead mines in the Bergisches Land (just opposite Cologne) was lent to a private person, who had the mining rights for the short span of time the would-be province Germania existed. From silver ingots originating in Britain we can say that the mine was under direct governmental management. From all we know, Roman mining business was not very different from that of Athens in Laurion.

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

Thank you both for your responses.

I am always surprised at the wide range of information you guys have tucked away in your heads.

I have visited LacusCurtius but did not find much on manfacturing (there was a very interesting article on floating mills though)

I found a site, the URL is http://www.ancientcoins.biz/pages/mints/ and another at http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/ .

Both lists the mints of the Later Roman Empire and the years they were producing coins.

That was very useful information you both provided me and I know I will be busy for a few days digesting it and organizing searches based on your information.

I appreciate your help.

Thanks again.

[richsc]

Glass blowing changed that industry very quickly and lead to mass production of glass from molds: this is very common although I don't know how many glass factories there were. I think there were entire crates of glass and samian ware found in Pompeii, transported from Gaul and other manufacturing sites.
Cheap Roman wares like Samian flooded new territories and tended to overrun local production, sort of like Walmart. Remember, the Romans had 1) common contract law; 2) common currency; 3) free trade borders; 4) usually cheap shipping by boat/water.
I think in southern France (?) there has been found a factory for grain, with multiple downstream mill wheels set up to grind huge amounts of grain.

[Lothia]

Ave Civitas,

Thanks for the note. Yes, I recall seeing drawings of the mill in southern Gaul. I had not thought of it as a commercial site, but then why else would they grind so much grain in a single location.

I wonder how that mill got its grain. Surely not all that grain could have been grown on land immediately surrounding the mills. I will try to find that article again and locate the mill to see if it was near any navigable rivers.

Thanks again.

Me.

[Endre Fodstad]

I think in southern France (?) there has been found a factory for grain, with multiple downstream mill wheels set up to grind huge amounts of grain.

It was at Arles. 8 mills in a double line down a stream (as reconstructed). It was built in the 3rd century and apparantly maintained until after the fall of the western empire, until Arles declined in size due to trade distruption.