Through a combination of archaeological, epigraphic, and literary evidence, this book offers a comprehensive overview of wealth and poverty in diverse contexts across the Graeco-Roman world. Suitable for students and scholars of ancient history, classical literature, and archaeology, as well as social scientists and social historians.

1. Introduction - Filippo Carlà-Uhink, Lucia Cecchet, and Carlos Machado, Part I: Greece, 2. Poverty, Wealth and Social Mobility: The cases of Megara and Athens - Lucia Cecchet, 3. Processes of Impoverishment: Bau Z in the Kerameikos and Discourses about Poverty - Claire Taylor, 4. Poverty and Honour in Classical Sparta - Gabriel C. Bernardo, 5. Greedy Gods and Hungry Humans: Sacrifice and the Poor in Classical and Hellenistic Greece - Irene Berti, 6. Poverty and Truth in Ancient Greek Philosophy - Étienne Helmer, Part II: Rome, 7. Impoverished Senatorial Women in Mid-Republican Rome: Opima gloria and felix paupertas? - Lewis Webb, 8. The Dynamics of Shame: Elite Poverty in Late Republican and Early Imperial Discourse - Christian Rollinger, 9. Cicero, the Poor, and Roman Rhetoric - Filippo Carlà-Uhink, 10. Rich and Hungry, Poor and Full: Social and Cultural Food Poverty in the Roman World - Erica Rowan, Part III: Late Antiquity, 11. 'Not all Poverty is to be Praised': Defining the Poor in a Christian Roman Empire - Daniel Caner, 12. Looking for the Poor in Late Antique Rome - Carlos Machado, 13. The Poor Facing Late Antique Justice: the Cases from Papyri - Christel Freu, 14. Poverty, Charity and the Social Strategies of the "Poor" in Late Antiquity: the View from North Africa in the Age of Augustine - Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira.