INHERIT, OWN, FLOW: The Different Ways of Managing Assets from the Literature of Late Antiquity (4th and 5th centuries AD)

Abstract

It is possible to find in the epistolary corpus of Jerome of Stridon, as well as in other literary documents from the 4th and 5th centuries AD, a series of information related to the flow of wealth amongst various members of the elite in the Late Roman Empire. In this context, sales, purchases, and exchanges of goods were discussed at various times by the so-called desert monk in his correspondences, involving a wide range of people. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present different modes of property management, focusing on the difference between dissipation and dilapidation of assets, from a gender perspective.