(Not) All Roads Lead to Rome: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Mobility in the Ancient World

(Not) All Roads Lead to Rome is a multidisciplinary volume that explores mobility in Antiquity from a variety of perspectives, including the movement of ideas, people, goods, and social relations. The Mediterranean, and the Roman Empire in particular, are dynamic areas that allow us to study mobility from many angles, and archaeology holds the potential to provide new data on long-distance contact and exchange.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 266 pages
Publication date: 27 July 2023
Publisher: Archaeopress

The captivating discussion that took place at the "Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Ancient History," a yearly congress of young graduates and researchers held in April 2022 at the University of Barcelona, gave rise to the intriguing notion of "All Roads Lead to Rome." This volume, which encompasses a multidisciplinary approach, delves into the broad realm of mobility in ancient times. Its primary objective is to provide promising young scholars, including postgraduates and Ph.D. students, with an opportunity to publish their early research on mobility and contribute to a cohesive yet thematically diverse body of work. While mobility has always played a significant role in studies of exchange and cultural diffusion, it takes center stage in this collective research endeavor. The aim is to foster academic discourse around mobility as a fundamental aspect of societies, inherent to their functioning and where cultural, social, and economic processes intersect.

The Mediterranean region, and by extension, the Roman Empire, serves as a dynamic backdrop, offering a wealth of perspectives for studying mobility. Within this volume, the movement of ideas, whether ideological or religious, is explored in relation to underlying social and economic patterns. Similarly, the physical mobility of individuals across empires or within settlements is considered a consequence and a means to facilitate social relations. Social mobility is also examined within the broader framework of socioeconomic dynamics, with case studies spanning from Egypt to Rome. Furthermore, the movement of goods, particularly through trade, is integral to this volume, as it played a crucial role in enhancing interconnectivity within the Mediterranean.

Archaeology holds immense potential in providing new data regarding the mobility of products, thereby shedding light on long-distance contact and exchange. In this regard, archaeology holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of ancient mobility and contributing to our understanding of the complex web of connections that shaped the ancient world.

Weight: 916g
Dimension: 201 x 276 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781803275178