Transformative Trade: The Impacts of Trade on the Periphery of the Roman Empire

Rather than emphasising the effect of the Roman Empire’s trade with Africa, Arabia, and India on the Roman core itself, this thesis will focus on cities within its periphery. Previously, the Eurocentrism of Rome’s eastern trade has overshadowed the developments that these cities made. As a result, they are often studied as passive participants in Rome’s greatness and consequently, the study of such developments has been overlooked. This study will argue that as a result of the growing trade heightened by the needs of the Roman Empire, societies along the trading routes were able to develop in tandem, growing through mutual interaction and stimulation. To decentre Rome in analyses of the connectivity, as a result of trade, would recognise the communities in smaller cities and towns as active agents shaping their own role within the business. As trade intensified during the Roman period, connectivity between disparate communities fostered mutual socio-cultural interactions that have shaped the histories of the communities part of the trading network. Reinterpreting the Roman imperial experience, when considering the socio-cultural effects of trade will not only highlight the dynamic nature of culture, but also the agency of the periphery. This thesis will examine three cities in the Roman periphery: Berenike, Dura Europos, and Palmyra, in an attempt to depart from a dichotomous perspective of the Roman centre and its provinces, by situating local studies of these cities in a broader regional framework.