The papers collected here were given at a conference in Cambridge in 2003 in honour of Professor Peter Garnsey. All those contributing are in one sense or another pupils of Peter, and most of them had their doctoral studies supervised by him, at least in part.

The conference was held not to mark any particular anniversary or event, but to signal the enormous contribution that Peter Garnsey has made to our understanding of the social and economic history of the Graeco-Roman world, and to the way in which we do ancient history. All Peter's publications have been directed at explaining the social dynamics of the Greek and Roman worlds, and in particular explaining how social status is established and marked, how it interacts with political power, and how the structures of society impact back upon the life of the individual. Peter has repeatedly insisted on the importance of understanding the basic questions of how individuals and communities survive, what they eat and where they live. He has directed attention at social groups neglected by our main literary sources, and has shown how judicious reading of texts of all sorts against the knowledge that we have of the constants of human physiological and ecological realities can enable bright light to be thrown on even the most intractable of problems. In this volume his pupils try to emulate his example as they explore a facet of the Roman world peculiarly liable to neglect and distortion.