From Decline to a Deeply Connected World: The Southern Levant between the Mediterranean and the Early Indian Ocean Trade

Abstract

From the perspective of Greek and Latin literary sources, the history of the Levantine coast between 150–50 BCE is one of state collapse of the Seleucid kingdom, local wars, pirates, and fiefdoms. Judaean sources describe the reemergence of a Judaean kingdom and local strength, but very few of these sources give us an adequate view onto the daily life of those making a living in the Levant. This paper shall explore the question of social and economic life in the towns on the Levantine coast, and it shall use Eastern Sigilata, a fine ware that often gets associated with questions of the Roman Economy, as its guide. I shall use this fine ware to raise questions of exchange and life for the people in the Levant. Eastern Sigilata will also demonstrate a Levantine world that is deeply connected: the eastern and western Mediterranean, Egypt, Babylonia, central Asia, and the Indian Ocean Trade.