Keynotes

Confirmed keynote speakers:

Prof. Eva Jakab (University of Szeged, Hungary)

Professor Eva Jakab is a faculty member of the University of Szeged in Hungary. She has published extensively about many fields of Roman law, of which we would like to highlight her work on risks in transport and on sale contracts. Her work provides a rigorous study of the documentary evidence of market practices as well as a socioeconomic vision of trade.

Abstract: Loans and Securities: A Rational Framework for Maritime Trade

P.Bingen 77 reports on a day-by-day register of ships boarding in a port (very likely Alexandria) in the 2nd. century AD. The capacity of the ships varied from one thousand artabas (30 tons) to seven thousand artabas (210 tons), the cargo included wine, olive oil, figs etc, coming from Crete, Syria, Lycia, Pamphylia and Ostia. SB XVIII 13167 verso presents the hypotheke of a maritime loan for the trade route from Koptos (Red sea) to Muziris (south-west cost of India) importing luxury goods from the Orient (ivory, silk, pepper etc). Several epigraphical, papyrological and literary sources open an impressing view on the significant costs and risks of maritime trade in the ancient world.

Trading activities are documented from the Black Sea to the costs of Italy, Africa or Hispania.

But what about the capital? Where did the money come from? What about the financing of maritime trade? According to Plutarch already Cato the elder was occupied with maritime lending and understood how to allocate the high risk of shipping. Later, banking activities are attested in papyri from Roman Egypt, in wooden tablets from Campania to Britannia, and in literary sources from all over the Empire.

Traders, creditors and shipmen carried out their business according generally accepted models, using old formulas, agents and personal networks. Legal framework and every day practice of contracting and crediting seem to represent a rather “global” character.

In my contribution, I deal with Greek and Latin sources on maritime and regular loans, on real and personal securities. I look also for empirical details in everyday practice, regulating the relations between traders and bankers, limiting the high risk to a reasonable level.

-Prof. Roberto Fiori (“Tor Vergata” University, Rome)

Professor Roberto Fiori teaches Roman law at the university “Tor Vergata” of Roma, where he is always head of the law department. Amonghis many scholarly interests, we would like to highlight his work in transport contracts, field in which he has published extensively. His undogmatic vision provides an insight on both the perceptions of merchants and jurists, yielding a complete outline  of the Roman commercial experience.

Abstract: The allocation of risk in carriage-by-sea contracts

When studied according to the traditional tripartition of the contract of letting and hiring, the solutions of the Roman jurists regarding the allocation of risk in carriage-by-sea contracts are difficult to understand in their economic ratio. On the contrary, when checked against the commercial praxis attested by the papyri of Graeco-Roman Egypt, they acquire a new light, and the legal fragments show that the jurists adapted their responses both to the needs of economy and navigation and to the contractual logic of locatio conductio. Moreover, it becomes clear that the regulations of contemporary Maritime law — not only in Civil law but also and above all in Common law — reflect the rules of ancient Mediterranean practice and are more consistent with the solutions of the Roman jurists than the reconstructions of the scholars of Roman law.

Prof. Annalisa Marzano (University of Reading, UK)

Profesor Annalisa Marzano teached Ancient history at the university of Reading in England, . Before her appointment at Reading Professor Marzano taught at Columbia University and the University of Oxford. Professor Marzano works on different aspects of the Roman economy including ancient agriculture and horticulture, fish-based economy, continuity and disruption in the exploitation of economic resources, settlement patterns, and urbanism in Britain, Spain, and Italy.

Abstract: The personal infrastructure of maritime trade

This lecture will examine the contribution of formal and informal social ties and personal relations to the workings of long-distance trade. Specific financial or juridical solutions, such as maritime loans or the use of institores, were essential to the development of maritime trade, as were the development of adequate physical infrastructure and services. But trade rested also on an intricate web of social links involving traders, professional associations, state officials, and local notables. These links can at times be reconstructed, largely through the evidence of honorific inscriptions. The exact nature of the advantages deriving from such relations may escape us, but it is clear that they played an important role in successful commercial transactions. Such ties may have lowered transaction costs, helped in finding credit, in building supply and distribution networks, and in establishing trust between local communities and foreign traders. The right connections, networks, and contacts were important in guarantying successful overseas trade. Hence, the framework within which the various economic agents operated was greatly shaped by the personal infrastructure they had in place.

-Dr. Peter Campbell (British School at Rome)

Peter is the assistant director of the British School at Rome. His PhD in Archaeology is from the University of Southampton and examines innovation and technological change in the archaeological record. Peter is a Federal Qualified Principal Investigator (US) in maritime archaeology and member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA). Peter’s research focuses on identifying social and behavioral aspects of maritime trade through quantitative methods, including using mass spectrometry, UV/IR fluorescence, and x-ray fluorescence.  Recent projects span Albania, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Spain, and United States. Current projects and upcoming publications include molecular analysis of shipwreck remains, ritual use of submerged caves, archaeology and modern identities, and 3D scanning and elemental analysis of bronze age mortuary caves.

Abstract: Ships and ports: Contingent movement in maritime landscapes

Movement within Roman landscapes is well-studied, whether it is travel along roads or religious processions. However, limited attention has been paid to movement within maritime spaces, especially within harbours. The method of travel is well understood – such as navigation through common sense geography and mental maps of maritime cultural landscapes – but the process of movement rarely examined. This is most likely due to the fact that the sea is a mutable space and movement is highly contingent, depending on winds, sea-state, and currents. This paper examines contingent movement through its challenges and pitfalls, as well as its benefits and the advances it offers to understanding the maritime connectivity that defined Roman trade and exchange.