The Mediterranean Melting Pot: Commerce and Cultural Exchange in Antiquity
The Mediterranean Melting Pot: Commerce and Cultural Exchange in Antiquity By the Bronze Age (ca. 3000–1100 BCE), the great sea-faring cultures of the Greek mainland, the Aegean, and Crete were already trading with Egypt and the Near East, as the archaeological record fully attests. By the 7th century BCE, the Greeks had cast their commercial net even wider, ultimately encircling the Mediterranean with colonies that stretched as far west as Spain, across North Africa, and through western Asia and south Russia. The result was an expansive nexus of towns and cities that traded in oil, wine, marble, and luxury goods such as perfumes, silk, ivory, gemstones, and precious metals. In the aftermath of Alexander’s conquests, and during the subsequent Roman Empire, the trade network expanded even further, sprawling into central Asia, India, and Arabia. Along with the unprecedented movement of material goods, new ideas and customs continuously swept the Graeco-Roman world, particularly influencing the religious realm, which saw foreign gods admitted to the Graeco-Roman pantheon. Fantastic creatures such as sphinxes and griffins, as well as other exotic motifs, were also imported and began to populate the arts. Coinage, introduced in the 6th century BCE, revolutionized commerce and replaced old bartering systems. The Mediterranean Melting Pot: Commerce and Cultural Exchange in Antiquity examines material evidence for commercial and cultural interchange in the ancient Mediterranean during the apogee of Graeco-Roman civilization, which spans more than a 1,000 year period. Representative objects include coinage, perfume bottles, wine, oil, and transport vessels, religious iconography, marbles, luxury goods, and various other objects illuminating the history of this commercial and cultural exchange.
[Show full text]