 Imperial Rome - Commerce & Consumerism
Rome was the greatest consumer city in the ancient world. Her appetite for food, people, ideas and raw materials dominated the trade networks of the Mediterranean and beyond to encompass North Africa and all of Eurasia. Food in staggering bulk, slaves, polychrome marbles, exotic spices, silks and a world of varied philosophies, flowed to the mouth of the Tiber and up to the heart of Rome. Recent work on the commercial landscape of ancient Rome and its ports has provided new insights into the economy and culture of the Empire. This volume will examine a wide range of recent research into Rome's trading contacts with her own Empire and beyond, and at the archaeology of transport, storage and consumption. It is aimed at a broad audience from Roman specialists through to students. Each chapter will be accessible yet also provide a statement on the state of current research. There will be a considerable, research bibliography to accompany it. It will form a companion to Coulston and Dodge, Ancient Rome: the Archaeology of the Eternal City (OUSA 54 and MNES), Oxford 2000 and Coulston, Dodge and Smith, Ancient Rome: a sourcebook for the city of Rome, Routledge forthcoming 2008. (Dr Dodge, Dr J. Coulston [St Andrew's University]).
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