Trade relations between Asia Minor and Athens: Some preliminary thoughts based on the Athenian Agora and Ephesus material.

The coastal territories of the Roman province of Asia were a very prosperous area, especially those enclosed in the main river valleys, namely the Hermos, the Kaystros and the Meander. The fertile hinterland and the various natural resources made the Imperial and the subsequent smaller Late Roman province of Asia, one of the richest in the Mediterranean.The density of cities that can be found in western Anatolia and the large extension of most of them underlines that the province was highly urbanized and counted with one of the most important and richest populations of the Mediterranean. Subsequently, this population required a large number of resources and boosted the intense exploitation of sea and land. In the harbour ofEphesus the arrival of external commodities is perfectly documented in the archaeological record.However, it is to be noted that most of the commodities consumed by the city’s inhabitants were supplied by the western Anatolian territories, which were able to produce surpluses that reached a broad diffusion in long-distance markets. Even if archaeological objects originated from Asia Minor have been documented all around the Mediterranean basin and even in remote regions such as India and Britannia, some of the main consumption centres of the Asia Minor agricultural and pottery commodities were placed at the western shores of the Aegean. More specifically, the early studies of H.S. Robinson and M. Lan in the 1950s but also the recent work of scholars such as J. Hayes, P. Reynolds and the Ph.D. of J.M. Boyer, indicate that Athens should be regarded as one the major markets for the Asia Minor pottery.

Since May 2023 the project “Crossing the Sea. Pottery from Asia Minor in Athens” attempts to analyse the arrival of those commodities in a significant key-site, that is to say the Athenian Agora.The excavations developed by the American School at Athens have resulted in large quantities of archaeological material that, in most cases, comes from reliable and well-documented contexts. Furthermore, it has a long studies tradition, with important publications, permitting to contrast our own research with the one developed by scholars such as J. Hayes or S. Rotroff. Based on the aforementioned pioneering studies, together with our research in Ephesus and in the Athenian Agora, we aim to explore specific questions such as the import of large quantities of wine, olive oil and other amphorae commodities, or the use of fine and cooking wares produced in Asia Minor by the Athenian population from late Hellenistic to early Byzantine times. By finding answers to these questions we expect to achieve a better understanding of the real scope of the trade relations between both shores of the Aegean with a special focus on the two geographical, political and economic metropolises: Athens and Ephesus.

Dimitra Voutirea earned her Degree in History and Archaeology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (2019). In 2021, she completed her Master’s degree at Aix-Marseille University in Maritime and Coastal Archaeology as a Scholar of the French Government (BGF) and the Onassis Foundation. Dimitra's archaeological fieldwork research encompasses various terrestrial and underwater archaeological projects in Greece, Turkey, and Southern France. She has also undertaken archaeological supervision in Preventive Archaeology projects, collaborating with the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the Ephorate of Antiquities of East Attica. Since 2021, Dimitra has been engaged in pottery material research in France in collaboration with the DRASSM (French Ministry of Culture) and the Aix-Marseille University. Currently, Dimitra is a doctoral candidate at the Austrian Archaeological Institute - Athens branch - and the Complutense University of Madrid, within the framework of the project “Crossing the Sea: Pottery from Asia Minor in Athens.” Some of her scientific work has been presented at international conferences in France, Malta, and South Korea.