Economic interdependence among urban communities of the Roman Mediterranean

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Abstract
Classical sources hint at the role of trade in the development and maintenance of urban communities with access to the sea. With very little surviving written evidence, the usefulness of the changing ratio of ‘imported’ to ‘local’ wares in ceramic assemblages is assessed as a means of gauging the economic interdependence of Roman coastal cities of the Mediterranean. The currently available data are assessed and tested against a number of independent sources; in particular the changing patterns of importation to Ostia is set against the historical evidence of Rome's corn supply. The potential for understanding the processes which produced the assemblages under consideration by reference to similar material from better documented pre‐industrial societies is also explored. It is concluded that there was a very high level of interdependence among Roman cities around the Mediterranean.

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