Abstract

Transport containers such as amphorae offer an important insight into the commodity trade which promoted economic expansion and sociocultural unity within the Roman empire. This volume includes 16 papers by prominent specialists on the morphology, production and distribution of eastern amphora types, dating from the Early to the Late Roman period, with a focus on the application of scientific techniques, such as petrographic and statistical analyses. The contributors address methodological and technological issues and discuss amphora production in Cyprus, Kos, Syro-Palestine, Cilicia, Judaea and the Black Sea region, and at Alexandria, Cyrenaica, Sagalassos and Ephesus. They provide new information that adds substantially to our knowledge of the development of Roman trade. Previously, limited knowledge of eastern amphora types has restricted the ability to identify and assess eastern exports to the West and among the eastern regions.
This volume thus fills a significant gap and will be a major starting point for future studies of maritime exchange networks and the mechanisms underlying the Roman economy.