Explaining the maritime freight charges in Diocletian’s Price Edict
Geospatial modeling enables us to relate the maritime freight charges imposed by the tetrarchic price controls of 301 CE to simulated sailing time. This exercise demonstrates that price variation is to a large extent a function of variation in sailing time and suggests that the published rates are more realistic than previously assumed.
Explaining the maritime freight charges in Diocletian’s Price Edict
Geospatial modeling enables us to relate the maritime freight charges imposed by the tetrarchic price controls of 301 CE to simulated sailing time. This exercise demonstrates that price variation is to a large extent a function of variation in sailing time and suggests that the published rates are more realistic than previously assumed.
The shape of the Roman world
‘ORBIS: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World’ simulates the time and price costs of travel by land, river and sea across the mature imperial transportation network, notionally approximating conditions around 200 CE. In the version used for this paper, the model links some 750 sites (mostly cities but also some landmarks such as passes and promontories) by means of c.85,000 kilometers of Roman roads selected to represent the principal arterial connections throughout the empire.
Glassware from Roman Egypt at Begram (Afghanistan) and the Red Sea trade
In the period of the early Roman Empire, the Mediterranean basin and south Asia were connected by vast and complex networks of long-distance travel and commerce. The itineraries given in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (maritime) and Parthian stations (overland) are not necessarily routes to be followed by a single merchant with a single cargo from beginning to end
From the Roman Red Sea to beyond the Empire: Egyptian ports and their trading partners
Given that their sole purpose was as outlets for trade with the East, their harbour facilities are of particular interest in understanding the organisation of the trade.
The Traders in Rome's Eastern Commerce
Despite opposition by certain members of society, the Eastern trade seems to have continued to grow for at least the first two centuries of Roman rule.
Human labor and harbor capacity at Rome
This paper aims to reconstruct and suggest many of the aspects of Roman dock workers including their numbers, hiring practices, and unloading practices. The role of harbor capacity will also be reviewed to understand Rome’s ability to safely import several hundred thousand tons and prevent famine.
Poisons, Poisoning and the Drug Trade in Ancient Rome
The first recorded instance of poisoning in ancient Rome occurred in 331 BC when, during an epidemic, a large number of women were accused of concerted mass poisoning.
Painting the wine-dark sea: traveling Aegean fresco artists in the Middle and late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean
By examining the fresco fragments themselves I establish that the motifs represented and the style of manufacture are in fact Aegean. Textual evidence from the Near East and Egyptian tomb paintings suggest that the Aegean was well-known for its artistic accomplishments and that Aegean goods and the artisans that produced them were treated as elite commodities.
Commercial Amphoras: The Earliest Consumer Packages?
This article presents the hypothesis that the ancient commercial amphora was not only a very well-designed shipping container, but it may have been the first “consumer package” as well.