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Thursday 3 October - Panel VI
ROAD ACCESS FOR AMPHORAS IN DACIA
Adrian Ardet
The presence of
a large number of new colonists in Dacia at the beginning of the second
century AD, from different areas of the Roman Empire, resulted in an
active form of commerce consisting, at first, of the importation of
amphoras that contained oil, olives, wine, garum and sea fish. The rapid
development of the new province was based on economic activities involving
the mining of precious and non-precious metals, salt, as well as the
cultivation of land. Wine, fish and fruit were transported throughout
the neighboring provinces in amphoras, both by land and by river. Navigation
on the inland rivers of Dacia (Mures, Olt and Timis) facilitated the
transportation of amphoras coming from the West along the Danube, on
the Adriatic Sea-Sava-Danube route, or from the East, on the Black Sea-Danube
route.
In order to establish the routes we considered the existence of some
negociatores Dacicus in the area of the Adriatic Sea (for the products
coming from West) as well as information from the lower Danube (for
the products coming from the East) that prove the existence of commerce
with Dacia. The presence of texts indicating customs points on the necks
of the amphoras yields evidence allowing us to establish the route.
Unfortunately, we do not know, at present, of any amphora in Dacia that
bears written data referring to the customs points through which it
passed. The routes are much better known from the Peutinger Table and
from archeological discoveries throughout the province from the Danube
to the North.
Considering the results of recent archeological discoveries, the map
of the Roman Empire in the second and third centuries indicates the
main river and land routes as well as the sites where the amphoras have
been discovered. A very important place among the Roman routes was given
to commerce involving amphoras in Dacia, where we suppose the existence
of imported amphoras, local amphoras whose shape imitates imported ones
and amphoras produced in the workshops of Dacia. The development of
the most important centers in Dacia placed on the route of the main
rivers proves an active and prosperous commercial relationship with
the Roman world.
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