Aegean trade in the Roman world: the view from North Adriatic

Pottery distribution analysis is a key method for understanding what controlled trading networks and long-distance maritime routes in particular, because these would have been conditioned by political and economic evolutions as much as by demand. The focus of this study is to highlight the correlation between Aegean and Asia Minor areas and the northern Adriatic region through the typological and chronological analyses of amphorae, fine and cooking wares. In order to perform a significant amount of quantitative and qualitative data, both published and unpublished materials have been used with a particular focus on Aquileia as a commercial hub. The result of this study offered the opportunity to reconstruct a comprehensive model of the relations that developed between both areas and makes it possible to trace the evolution of general trends on Aegean trade transformation in the upper Adriatic region over a large period of time from Late Republican to Late Antique times.