Traders on the Margins: The Resilience of a Fourth-Century Trading Community in Roman Egypt

Abstract

The contribution aims to shed light on economic relations between cities and hinterland in the antique world by examining papyrological material from Ismant el-Kharab (ancient Kellis) in Egypt’s Dakhleh Oasis. This material provides evidence for a village community in the Oasis and its trade relations with distant urban areas in the Nile Valley. The study draws on recent research into the ancient textile trade to situate the community’s economic strategies. In turn, it examines how these strategies facilitated trade with cities in Upper Egypt, employing the notion of capabilities drawn from communal resilience theory. In conclusion, it is argued that the Kellis material demonstrates how rural communities could attain a high degree of agency within the late antique economy, although it also highlights vulnerabilities to which they were subjected.