Filling the gap: Mediterranean amphorae in Late antique Palmyra

Abstract

Despite a dramatic marginalisation of its political role, post-Zenobian Palmyra continued to be a large urban centre. Its peripheral location far from the main trade routes did not diminish its position as a significant consumption site in late antiquity. An extensive ceramic assemblage from Polish excavations in the north-western town district includes a sizeable group of commercial amphorae for transporting wine and olive oil (LRA 1–7), produced in the Eastern Mediterranean. These vessels, originating from Palestine, the Aegean, and Egypt, the object of extensive inter-regional trade, are a ready source for studies of commercial ties. This article discusses the finds of imported amphorae from Palmyra in an effort to fill in a gap in the distribution maps of late antique Syria. At the same time, the author seeks to present this material in the broader context of the presence of imported amphorae in the territory of modern Syria, this being a departure point for determining Palmyra’s position in the Mediterranean trade of the 5th–7th century ad.