Blurs

Beneath the waters of the Mediterranean lie the remains of thousands of ancient shipwrecks. Some are little more than scattered pottery. Others preserve evidence of ships that once carried enormous quantities of wine, olive oil, grain, metals and luxury goods across the Roman world. Together, these wrecks reveal something remarkable: the Roman Mediterranean was not simply a collection of isolated coastal communities. It was an enormous interconnected trading system. But the shipwrecks also raise a more difficult question. How large was this maritime economy really — and how much of it has disappeared from the archaeological record? A sea full of trade At its height, the Roman Empire controlled territory stretching across much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The Mediterranean sat at the centre of this world. It provided the fastest practical route for moving large quantities of goods between distant regions. A cargo that might have required weeks or months to transport over...