Panel 8.11 – Cities, Micro-regions and Economy in an Interdisciplinary Perspective. Three Case Studies from Hellenistic-Roman Asia Minor


Organiser/Chair:

  • Daniel Knitter (Universität Kiel)
  • Bernhard Ludwig (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Istanbul)
  • Ulrich Mania (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Istanbul)
  • Felix Pirson (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Istanbul)

External Discussant:

  •   Frank Vermeulen (Universiteit Gent)

Panel abstract

Economic relations between ancient cities and the rural hinterland have for a long time been described in terms of a hierarchic dichotomy of "town" and "country". Against this background, the double-panel applied for seeks to understand the economy of ancient cities as a system of interdependencies in the context of micro-regions. This includes economic relations amongst urban communities and with the rural hinterland. A central role here is played by the ecological dimension, namely the human–environment relationship and its impact on the landscape and urban development. The interplay of specific topographic situations with the individual physiognomies of ancient cities and their economies will be discussed with reference to Ephesos, Pergamon and Sagalassos. These three sites are particularly relevant to the topic under discussion. Ephesos was a seaport throughout antiquity; Pergamon, though situated inland, had access to the sea via its harbours, while Sagalassos significantly lay in the interior in the Taurus mountains. While the mentioned differences offer highly promising conditions for scientific enquiry, comparability in fact extends over several levels: differing in status in Hellenistic times, all three cities experienced a massive expansion in the Roman imperial period, a circumstance that needs to be analysed in the context of their respective micro-regions. At all three sites a wealth of archaeological and geoscience data is available. On the other hand the three sites are anchored in different research traditions, which presents an opportunity to re-evaluate the role of the economy in interdisciplinary archaeological urban research projects.
So that comparative discussion of the selected sites can be conducted as productively as possible, the double-panel is divided into three sections – (1) Resources: needs, supply and infrastructure, (2) Production, distribution and consumption, (3) Economy and urban physiognomies. In each section contributions will be presented on all three cities. The ancient history perspective on the interplay of settlement structure, urban development and the economy in Hellenistic-Roman Asia Minor will be augmented by a paper on the emergence and abandonment of urban settlements.
Frank Vermeulen (Ghent University), an internationally recognised specialist in the archaeology and geo-archaeology of ancient Mediterranean landscapes and Roman rural and urban settlement history, has been invited as a discussant in order to extend the focus beyond Anatolia and to establish a connection with the discussion of these phenomena in the western Mediterranean region.

Paper abstracts

1. Alexander Sokolicek and Horacio Gonzalez Cesteros (Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Ephesos: Not enough grain, but too much wine? A diachronic perspective on demand and supply of Ephesos with basic foodstuff
For the most time of its existence, Ephesos had a key role as local and global distributor of various goods, both raw and processed. Whereas Ephesos’ economic importance is evident, the question of its dependence on and its interaction with other economic systems has not yet been studied. Politically and economically, Ephesus is closely linked with almost any region in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea areas. This paper discusses the relationship of import and export of foodstuff of an ancient metropolis, whose population has exceeded self-sustainable food supply at least since late Hellenistic times. Due to its size and geopolitical importance, Ephesos is a perfect case study of the functioning of ancient economy and food demand/supply.

 

2. Bernhard Ludwig (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Istanbul) / Daniel Knitter (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, CAU)

Pergamon: Stone, Wood and Food. Geographical and Digital Approaches towards Major Resources in a Diachronic Perspective.
The transition from the Hellenistic to the Roman Imperial Period is characterized by a phase of significantly increased urbanization. Within the city, this is mirrored by an extension of the city's build space, while many settlements and farms in the Kaikos river valley may have been abandoned. This development raises various questions in terms of resource availability, transport, production, and exchange. The socio-economic configuration of the entire Pergamenian Micro-region must have been changed considerably and new modes of organization were necessary in order to supply the city itself and to link its reduced complementary, supplying hinterland.
In this study we use quantitative models to investigate the potential distribution and supply system of key resources, i.e. stone, wood, and food during Hellenistic as well as Imperial Roman times. Based on this diachronic approach we aim to derive general hypotheses about the economic system and the changing relationship between the city and its hinterland.

 

3. Maarten Loopmans (Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project) / Dries Daems, Sam Cleymans and Peter Talloen (KU Leuven)

Tracing organisation of labour and material production.
Human societies – past and present – as open systems, are characterised by flows of materials and energy. People expend energy in the form of labour to sustain themselves, produce new things, and maintain a social organisation. For each of these activities, material resources are appropriated, distributed, transformed, consumed and discarded. The combination of these processes and flows can be subsumed under the moniker of ‘social metabolism’. Different kinds of metabolisms, for example rural versus urban metabolism, are characterised by different material configurations expressed in various spatial compositions. By analysing these differences in material and spatial expressions in the archaeological record, archaeologists can trace the underlying metabolic processes and flows of societies in the past.
The Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project has been conducting multidisciplinary research at the site of Sagalassos and the surrounding environment ever since the late 1980’s. Over the course of its long history, the project has amassed a variety of datasets pertaining to the production, distribution, and usage of artefacts in Sagalassos and its primary catchment of the Ağlasun valley, from the Archaic period until Mid-Byzantine times (8th century BCE – 13th century CE). This paper will use these datasets to trace and compare structures of organisation of labour and production of material culture. It will be demonstrated how changes over time in these structures and associated metabolic flows can be linked to overall developments and dynamics in the underlying social fabric of societies at that time.

 

4. Sabine Ladstätter (Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut)

Ephesos: There is still much to say about Eastern Sigillata B, the table ware boom and Ephesos
With the establishment of a pottery industry in the large Meander Valley, the idea of sigillata production, which was begun in Italy, was transferred to Asia Minor. By means of the settlement of Italian potters and the initiation of subsidiary operations of Italian manufacture a direct transfer of knowledge and technology was also achieved. This, however, in no way led to the situation that exclusively Italian forms were imitated; instead, an individual style and a particular repertoire was developed in Eastern Sigillata B which can be clearly differentiated from other sigillata groups. The sales areas were located in the region, in particular including of course the large coastal cities.
Due to the abundance of material, yet also the exceptional state of publiation, Ephesos provides the best preconditions for the discussion of the phenomenon of Eastern Sigillata B and for deriving economic-historical implications from it. The focus is on the 1st century AD, where after the dynamic Augustan epoch of the "table ware boom", an evident regionalisation, as well as a standardisation and reduction in forms can be observed in the pottery market. In a comparison of the situations in the Augustan and Flavian periods trading- and supply networks will be thematised, and the significance of sigillata as an expression of Roman living culture will be investigated. Furthermore, the situation in Ephesos will be placed in a supraregional context, and the question will be posed whether the city can actually be approached as a case study, or whether in fact it is far more to be viewed as an exceptional situation.

 

5. Philip Bes (University of Leiden) / Anneke Keweloh (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)

Pergamon: Patterns of Diversification in the Pottery Production of Pergamon and its Micro-region
Pergamon and Pitane have long been known as places where, in Antiquity, the right combination of circumstances allowed the manufacture of pottery, particularly high quality slipped tablewares during the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods. More recently, this picture has been considerably expanded: research at both Pitane and Elaia have produced archaeological evidence also for later production. This new knowledge urges us to address several questions. Was, for instance, the region of Pergamon home to a number of individual workshops, or – perhaps more likely – did these workshops interacted with one another with regard to their organisation and output, both immaterially and materially: did these workshops operate contemporaneously, and to what degree did these share the shame or a similar morphological repertoire? And for whom did these cater? Even if ceramic products from Pergamon (and its micro-region?) may not have overwhelmed the international markets for slipped tablewares as ESA and ARSW exceptionally did, they did make a significant regional impact, as well as travelling far and wide in smaller numbers. With the new evidence at hand, a re-evaluation of pottery manufacture in the micro-region of Pergamon is in place, which shows signs of regional, dispersed manufacture. Such a model may have been the rule rather than the exception in a number of case studies. This paper wishes to address these questions, set within a wider framework of urban and regional economies.

 

6. Jeroen Poblome (KU Leuven)

Sagalassos: The ancient economy in dialogue with social-ecological systems: à quoi ça sert?
Classical Archaeology has a rich history in urban studies. Ancient historians like this theme too. One or other has to do with the recent past, in which modern European state formation was in need for a socio-political rationale and a cultural soul. The ruling/intellectual elites looked towards the classical past for exalted trajectories, combining the classical Greek ‘democratic’ urban past with the ‘orderly’ Roman approach with cities sustaining the message of empire as exemplary inspiration. More or less hand in hand the discipline of Archaeology was asserting itself, with the study of the Graeco-Roman past dominating the early agenda of the discipline. Many large-scale excavations in famous ancient towns were launched.
In the meantime, archaeology has gone global, luckily, and so did the European nations. The domain of classical archaeology has lost its dominance and also its innocence, in the sense that it too needed to develop its conceptual agenda. The latter has worked quite well as far as social and cultural themes and topics are concerned. The economic framework in which ancient cities were situated has fared not so good. Although many aspects of ancient towns are very revealing on aspects of economic logic, the debate has crystalized on idealized concepts and modes of production/consumption. Alternatively, there is not much debate at all, with aspects of ancient towns being approached from the implicit acceptance of the not very deeply considered principles of the neo-classical/liberal economy.
Against this background, archaeological case-studies have been growing ever richer, especially with the addition of truly interdisciplinary research strategies. These results highlight, on the one hand, the particular conditions of the classical past in economic terms, and, on the other hand, the challenging potential of the domain. Taking its cue from one particular case-study, ancient Sagalassos and its region, this paper wishes to present critical reflections on reconstructing the ancient urban economic framework, valuing the Sagalassos Project’s interdisciplinary tradition.

 

7. Martin Steskal (Austrian Archaeological Institute)

Ephesos: The necropolis as a reflection of the city? The economy of death and burial in Ephesos
This talk discusses the economy of death and burial in Ephesos from a diachronic perspective. The core question will be: Is the economic power of the city of the living reflected in the city of the dead? Are there direct correlations or is the picture that we obtain filtered or idealized? Furthermore, are there differences between an individual and a collective level? This talk will also address the “economic factor death” with regard to the activity of building firms and developers on burial land: what kind of businesses were conducted and run in the area of the dead and how could the city profit? Finally, it will be discussed how the ownership and passing on of burial places was organized. Is it possible to specify the means and resources that needed to be used to get a decent funeral?

 

8. Felix Pirson and Ulrich Mania (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Istanbul)

Pergamon: Layers of Interrelation between Economy and Urban Physiognomy
Until today, the relations of `the economy´ with the urban physiognomy of Hellenistic-Roman Pergamon has only been assessed superficially. The state of research is characterized by general statements about wealth as precondition of urban splendor or the concentration of shops at the frequented main road. Our paper therefore attempts to characterize the levels on which future research might contribute to a better understanding of the complex interrelations. These levels include (1) resources of urban physiognomies and their dependence on the macro economy, (2) economic aspects of relations between city and micro-region, (3) spaces of production, distribution and consumption within the city, (4) actors, structures and processes of the urban economy, (5) stability and change in the urban economy. It is the aim to reassess the economy as a crucial factor for the development of an individual urban physiognomy besides politics, ideologies and cultural traditions.

 

9. Veli Köse (Hacettepe University)

Trade and Routes in Aspendos in Pamphylia
Aspendos has witnessed significant developments in its economic life, thanks to its geographic location, natural resources, and the political maneuvering of its inhabitants. In its economic development, the political relationships with great powers such as Persia, the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Roman Empire, were a major factor.
In ancient sources, the city is famous for horse breeding, endless salt reserves, and grain cultivation. Thanks to some still-standing and clear structures in the city, economic ties can still be partially grasped. Archaeological surveys in the territory of Aspendos show that olive oil production was an important part of the economic revenues of the city and its inhabitants. The timber business was another of the industries of the ancient world, and Aspendos must have profited especially from transporting the rich cedar and other timber reserves of the Taurus Mountains along the river from both the city itself and other Pisidian cities further north.
Another contribution to the economic production of Aspendos is indicated by the detection of ceramic dumps where there is evidence for production of the rich 'Late Roman D' (Cyprotic Red-Slip Ware) probably from the 4. century AD onwards at least into the 7. Century.
This study will be concerned with the economic history and development of Aspendos alongside its socio-economic and political development and as determined from the archaeological and epigraphic evidence.

 

10. Martin Zimmermann

Lost cities - the settlement structures in western Asia Minor in an historical perspective
Like many others regions of the ancient Mediterranean world, western Asia Minor shows an interesting phenomenon that contributed to shaping ancient cultures: lost cities. Departing from the cultural landscape centred on the Attalid capital of Pergamum, a number of such cities shall be presented, all of which were abandoned already in the Hellenistic period. They provide an important indicator of the fundamental historical shifts in settlement structures both at the level of micro region and in broader geographical contexts. Economic Change, the development of the hellenistic agriculture and a new creation of rural landscapes is the background of these abandoned places.