Lecture Summaries: 8 November, 2007

Trade and traders on the Roman Red Sea

 Roberta Tomber

 The Red Sea is strategically located at the juncture between East and West, and its ports existed in order to facilitate the trade between the Roman Empire and the East – East Africa, South Arabia, and India.  Exotic gems and pearls were imported into these ports, as were the more widely available but nevertheless expensive spices and aromatics. This trade and the goods involved are well-known from documents, particularly from first century texts, the anonymous writer of the Periplus Maris Erythraei, Pliny’s Natural History and Strabo’s Geography.

 Intensive exploration over the past 15 years at the Egyptian ports of Myos Hormos and Berenice, and at Aila in Jordan, has provided archaeological evidence for this trade during both the early and late Roman periods. There are some traces in the archaeological record of the items that drove this trade, such as pepper.  However, the ordinary objects that travelled alongside these goods – particularly ceramics – are more robust.  This talk will contextualise the recent port excavations in Egypt and Jordan and, drawing on the pottery, tackle the complexities of Indo-Roman trade, what goods reached the Red Sea, who may have brought them and when.

 The pottery and other archaeological finds demonstrate that a varied population drawn from the Roman world and beyond was living on the Red Sea.  These same artefacts are used to chart the flow of Eastern goods into the Roman Sea, and indicate that the main trading partners changed through time.  Importantly, it is clear that Indian Ocean commerce was active not only for the better known Early Roman trade, but remained strong at least into the sixth century AD.