Trade in antiquity and the (social) networks that go along with it, has become one of the main topics amongst researchers of diverse fields in classical and ancient studies during the last decades – especially when they are combined with a second topic: seafaring. Recent projects along with new results and modern techniques today, allow us to shed some more light on ancient oceanic routes and the types of ships that fulfilled their various needs. Another topic of interest is the flow of goods between continents and different parts of the Roman Empire. This year´s Melammu-Conference gave some leading experts, together with some young academics in their respective fields the opportunity to present their results and discuss them intensively.

The conference was opened by CHRISTOPH SCHÄFER (Trier). Subsequently Patrick Reinard gave an introduction to the topic in question by showing some examples of economic exchange between east and west in antiquity. The first panel aimed at the trade with India in antiquity. The keynote was given by ROBERT ROLLINGER (Innsbruck) who focused on Afro-Eurasian networks and trade in Achaemenid times. In his paper he stressed the early commercial relationships between the Persian Empire which also included India and Egypt at that time, and the Greeks. Culture travelled along with the traded goods, which led to a spread of regional artistic styles and skills. Sources like the Susa Inscription Charta or the Persepolis Fortification Archives demonstrate that global trade was functioning very well before Hellenistic times. The second paper was presented by PATRICK REINARD (Trier). He focused on the Egyptian port of Berenike being crucial as a treading post for goods bound for India or the Red Sea. As some sources like the Muziris papyrus or ostraca suggest, the history of India trade outgoing from Egypt needs to be predated about several centuries. A stress was put on the differentiation between hauliers and merchants along with the high percentage of slaves involved in the India trade. After that CLEMENS STEINWENDER (Innsbruck) offered some insight into his recent project by showing some results on trade between India and China. Topics in question were utilised networks, people active in trade and the ships in use for this purpose. He showed how Buddhist monks used the opportunity offered by the seafaring merchants to gather wisdom. This on the other hand allowed their religion to spread across the borders. PASCAL ARNAUD (Lyon) presented a paper on oriental shippers and maritime routes as conveyed in epigraphic evidence. By evaluating inscriptions he was able to retrace families of seafarers who passed their profession along with their wisdom on to their descendants. It turned out that reputation, strict rules and a strong network of relations was essential for having success in maritime trade.

Day two started with the second panel regarding ports and trade in the Mediterranean area. The first paper in this session was given by ZARAZA FRIEDMANN (Haifa) who used mosaics and reliefs to reconstruct every day work flows in antique harbors. MARTINA SEIFERT (Hamburg) and SEBASTIAN ADLUNG (Hamburg) compared the three ports of Brundisium, Pola and Issa to each other, examining their appearance in stamps on amphorae. This allowed them to trace the goods shipped at those ports and to get some insight into the local networks between hauliers, manufacturers and the flow of goods. They deduced that the aforementioned ports were quite heterogenic concerning their convenient location in estuaries as well as in their linking of communication areas and economic relationships. CARLOS CABRERA (Oxford) referred to the wreck of ship 11 found at the western end of the great canal of Thonis-Heracleion. He assumes that the well preserved ship was sunk on purpose by removing a part of its keel for its probable function as a sacred ritual Barque of Osiris. Its sacred character would have made it necessary to perform said specific actions to put it out of service. Adjacent CHRISTINA LAURENTI (Pisa) of the Museo delle Navi Antichi di Pisa gave some insight into the excavation and the preservation of the so called ship A from Pisa San Rossore. Considering the other shipwrecks and their cargo in this area, meteorological changes in the region made it permanently necessary to adjust the position of the harbor during 13 different phases from the 6th century BC to the 7th century AD.

Panel 3 outlined the Trier TRANSMARE-Institut´s current projects. CHRISTIAN ROLLINGER (Trier) offered some considerations regarding the handling of maritime risks in Roman and late antique travel literature. He clearly rejected the premises that praying to the gods was the only way used by sailors in antiquity to prevent shipwreck. Religious rituals indeed turned out as very important to the seafarers but there definitely was a more discursive approach. Rollinger argued by showing different sources that the mariners were absolutely aware of the risks they had to face and balanced their chances very well before setting sails. Next was a project on voyages undertaken by philosophers and scholars in antiquity. FABIA NEUERBURG (Trier) summoned up the general idea and philosophy behind the journeys in question. To ancient philosophers travelling was a means to gather and spread their wisdom. Subsequently PIOTR WOZNICZKA (Trier) offered a perspective of how the data gained from this kind of travelling literature can be used. The places and routes mentioned in the sources can be inserted in a database and made accessible for further research. This would allow users to reconstruct voyages of ancient philosophers or scholars and check their plausibility by retracing the sea routes taken or the places they went to. FRANK DAUBNER (Trier) offered a perspective of the interpretation of Euripide´s Ion regarding Athen´s legitimation in the Delian League. He stated that situations of radical change require the consolidation of a new status quo. Because of that Athens needed to find an imaginative historical connection between its newly gained (naval) power in the Delian League and former maritime expansions. This historical perspective constructed by Euripides in his play Ion aimed at the representation of the main character as an Athenian – which would have made the Attic allays Athenians as well, but in fact this construction of history didn´t work very well with its addressees.

In the following session 4 more projects of the TRANSMARE-Institut Trier were introduced. ERASMUS GAß (Trier) described the rise of the ancient city of Ashkalon as an important commercial centre for the trade with Egypt. Excavations laid open some vineyards and a market place along with smaller findings of Egyptian artefacts and Greek ceramics. Likewise the strong Egyptian influence may be seen as the cause for the decline and destruction of the city by the Babylonians. The last paper of the second day was given by ULRIKE GEHRING (Trier) on how maritime knowledge was passed on between seafarers, artists and scientists in the 17th century. The high number of Dutch maritime paintings and the detailed descriptions of landscapes in sailor´s handbooks imply that there had to be an exchange between the two groups of seafarers and artists. It is most probable that both professions met at the Haarlem St. Lucas guild, map chambers of the trading companies or at nautical courses given by Leiden scientists.

The final day of the conference started with the last paper of panel 4. MARCELLO GHETTA (Trier / Luxembourg) presented some first considerations on his future project on slavery in antique seafaring. He stated that war was generally viewed as the business of free men. But sources confirm that slaves were appointed to military service in certain emergency situations like the battle of Artemisium or during the Punic Wars. Ghetta showed a number of sources concerning further use of slaves and freed men in seafaring professions.1

Panel 5 was dedicated to trade and mobility in the Mediterranean area and the Orient. LEONARDO GREGORATTI (Durham) stated that the modern view on ancient history is very much concentrated on Rome. This means that other parties like the Parthians or the Palmyrenians tend to be marginalised. Although Parthia has to be seen as one of the big players regarding its position in the maritime trade with India and China. Its location next to the Persian Gulf allowed it to gain some control over the sea routes, even though the empire was not involved into the trade with India directly. They rather used client kingdoms to make sure that their influence on the Gulf was secured. This led to a tight network that allowed the Parthians to strengthen their position and connect their empire. It is important to notice that this network did not exclude Roman merchants. SVEN GÜNTHER (Changchun) stressed the significance of the connection between economy and military for the foundation of a new settlement as it is mentioned in Xenophon´s writings. In this philosophical perception economy supports a functioning system, which on the other hand needs strong (military) leaders to create a successful community. In the following KAI RUFFING (Kassel) offered some thoughts on the use of different ship types in the eastern Mediterranean trade based on information from the Papyrus Bingen 77. The source lists points of origin and points of departure along with ships´ names and their cargo. According to the papyrus the Akatos, a cargo ship equipped with a sail and 30 to 50 oarsmen, seemed to be a quiet prominent choice for merchants. It has been questioned if a ship type like this would have been profitable enough regarding to the high cost of its staff. Many entries of P. Bingen 77 predominantly mention ships incoming from Asia Minor or the Levante. But a simple calculation proves the economic benefit of Akatoi in sea trade: The longer and harder way over land, the value of the transported goods as well as their demand and further economic reasons have to be taken into consideration. All together this leads to the conclusions that cargo ships like the Akatos were profitable, regardless to their size and their high number of staff. The last paper was given by CHRISTOPH SCHÄFER (Trier). He retraced the reconstructions of the Laurons II, a 16 meters long Roman merchantman that was excavated between 1978 and 1983 at the bay of Laurons, near Martigues. Due to its very good preservation the ship from the 3rd century AD was reconstructed in a project by the department of Ancient History of the University of Trier, the excavation team of the wreck, the Museum für Antike Schifffahrt of the RGZM Mainz and the Hochschule Trier. This 1:1 reconstruction became necessary for the retrieval of data concerning ancient sea routes. Plin. Nat. 19, 1 for example offers some information on sailing distances and schedules, but the only possible way to prove ancient sources wrong or right is to gather some data with modern techniques and compare them with the ancient sources. This on the other hand is impossible without a ship that follows the same conditions. New approaches combined with the latest racing technology deliver information that allow the team to use the data of Laurons II as an offset to the historical sources.

Altogether the three days offered different perspectives of a topic which still holds many questions that can only be answered by interdisciplinary approaches. The different topics and ways of accession presented during the conference shed some light on maritime trade in antiquity as well as on its manifold international networks. The presented results simultaneously attested the subject as one of the important and still promising fields in research.

Conference overview:

Christoph Schäfer (Trier) / Patrick Reinard (Trier): Begrüßung und Einleitung

Panel 1: Indienhandel im Altertum
Chair: Sven Günther

Robert Rollinger (Innsbruck): From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean: Afro-Eurasian Networks and Trade in Achaemenid Times

Patrick Reinard (Trier): Between Puteoli and India: Agents and their economic behavior in Roman India Trade

Clemens Steinwender (Innsbruck): Silk, Jewelry and Buddhism – The Far Eastern perspective on the Indian trade network

Pascal Arnaud (Lyon): “Oriental” Shippers along Maritime Routes after Epigraphic Evidence

Panel 2: Häfen und Handel im Mittelmeerraum
Chair: Kai Ruffing

Zaraza Friedman (Haifa): Sea Trade, Ports and the Related Activities in Eastern Mediterranean

Martina Seifert (Hamburg) / Sebastian Adlung (Hamburg): Kommunikationsraum Adria – regionale und überregionale Verkehrswege in römischer Zeit

Carlos Cabreira (Oxford): Ship 11 from Thonis-Heracleion

Cristina Laurenti (Pisa): Ship A of the Pisa San Rossore Context: a preliminary study of the naval architecture

Panel 3: Das Trierer TRANSMARE-Institut und seine Projekte I
Chair: Patrick Reinard

Christian Rollinger (Trier): Das Meer als Diskurs. Überlegungen zum Umgang mit maritimen Risiken in der römischen und spätantiken Reiseliteratur

Piotr Wozniczka (Trier) / Fabia Neuerburg (Trier): Reisen von Philosophen und Wissenschaftlern in der Antike

Frank Daubner (Trier): Ion der Kekropier: Euripides und die intentionale Vergangenheit des Attischen Seebunds

Panel 4: Das Trierer TRANSMARE-Institut und seine Projekte II
Chair: Christian Rollinger

Erasmus Gaß (Trier): Aschkelon und Ägypten – Zur politischen und wirtschaftlichen Verbindung zweier Machtzentren

Ulrike Gehring (Trier): Trading maritime knowledge: The Circulation of Nautical Expertise among Seafarers, Artists and Scientists in 17th Century

Marcello Ghetta (Trier / Luxemburg): Unfreie Arbeit an Bord – Sklaven und Freigelassene in der antiken Schifffahrt

Panel 5: Handel und Mobilität im Mittelmeerraum und im Orient
Chair: Raija Mattila

Leonardo Gregoratti (Durham): Trade in the Gulf: Parthians, Palmyrenians and all the others

Sven Günther (Changchun): Domestic and Maritime Trade in Xenophon’s Works

Kai Ruffing (Kassel): P. Bingen 77 und der Handel im östlichen Mittelmeerraum

Christoph Schäfer (Trier): Laurons II. – Ein römisches Handelsschiff

Note:
1 More information on TRANSMARE along with its partners and projects can be viewed on http://www.transmare.uni-trier.de (24.02.2020).