Resumen de Contracts and costs for shipping marble in the Roman Empire
This paper explores the contracts of "locatio-conductio" (hire and lease), under which all goods were shipped during the Roman Empire, and their particular role in shipping marble. Each forms of the contract had its advantages. The relationship of the ship captain or owner to Imperial agents are also considered, in particular whether they enjoyed the incentives extended to grain carriers. We try to calculate freight rates and make an attempt to estimate costs through the example of the Pantheon columns. The literary stereotype of the shipowner gambling on speculative cargoes was not the real-life captain who carried cargo for others at good rates and with legal protections. Since ships had long service lives, the capital investment could be paid off with a few dozen voyages; the rest was pure profit
