11 - Transport

Summary

The role of transport in the economy of the Roman world is far from clearly understood, and is a controversial issue in modern historical debate. Our knowledge is hampered by two main factors: first, the nature of our evidence. Ancient authors were generally not interested in how commodities were transported, and really only comment on the exceptional. And second, our understanding of transport has arguably been hampered by both a failure of modern scholars to fully appreciate its complexities, and by, it has to be said, in some cases, willfully bending the facts, and more seriously evidence, to fit preconceived ‘models.’ The purpose of this chapter is to review evidence for transport, survey modern views of its role, assess the still prevailing orthodoxy that it restricted economic growth, and suggest a way forward to understanding its real capacity and function in the Roman economy. It can only scratch the surface of a very large and complex topic, which deserves a full treatment.

Conditioning factors

The geographer Strabo makes the following comment on the Mediterranean, but more importantly its relations with the lands on which it bounds: “It is the sea more than anything else that defines the contours of the land and gives it its shape, by forming gulfs, deep seas, straits, and likewise isthmuses, peninsulas and promontories; but both the rivers and the mountains assist the seas herein.” While it is clear that for Strabo the sea is the principal factor, he raises the important point that rivers and mountains are the points of connection to inland regions. Indeed, an essential part of how Strabo viewed his world is how specific points (cities, ports) and wider regions are connected with each other:

But it is above all worthwhile to note again a characteristic of this region (Toulouse) which I have spoken of before – the harmonious arrangement of the country with reference not only to rivers, but also to the sea, both the outer sea and the inner alike; for one might find if he set his thoughts upon it, that this is not the least factor in the excellence of the regions – I mean the fact that the necessities of life are easily interchanged by everyone with everyone else and that the advantages that have arisen therefrom are common to all.