In this book, an international team of experts draws upon a rich range of Latin and Greek texts to explore the roles played by individuals at ports in activities and institutions that were central to the maritime commerce of the Roman Mediterranean. In particular, they focus upon some of the interpretative issues that arise in dealing with this kind of epigraphic evidence, the archaeological contexts of the texts, social institutions and social groups in ports, legal issues relating to harbours, case studies relating to specific ports, and mercantile connections and shippers. While much attention is inevitably focused upon the richer epigraphic collections of Ostia and Ephesos, the papers draw upon inscriptions from a very wide range of ports across the Mediterranean. The volume will be invaluable for all scholars and students of Roman history.

Table of Contents:
1. The Context of Roman Mediterranean Port Societies: An Introduction to the Portuslimen Project SIMON KEAY; 2. Inscriptions and Port Societies: Evidence, 'Analyse du discours', Silences and Portscapes PASCAL ARNAUD and SIMON KEAY; 3. Stationes and Associations of Merchants at Puteoli and Delos: Modes of Social Organization and Integration DIRK STEUERNAGEL; 4. Boatmen and Their Corpora in the Great Ports of the Roman West (Second to Third Centuries AD) NICOLAS TRAN; 5. Roman Port Societies and Their Collegia: Differences and Similarities between the Associations of Ostia and Ephesos DOROTHEA ROHDE; 6. Port Occupations and Social Hierarchies: A Comparative Study through Inscriptions from Hispalis, Arelate, Lugdunum, Narbo Martius, Ostia-Portus and Aquileia HÉLÈNE ROUGIER; 7.Warehouse Societies CATHERINE VIRLOUVET; 8. The Imperial Cult and the Sacred Bonds of Roman Overseas Commerce TACO TERPSTRA; 9. Law and Life in Roman Harbours JEAN-JACQUES AUBERT; 10. Living Like a Cosmopolitan? On Roman Port City Societies in the Western Mediterranean SABINE PANZRAM; 11. Ports, Trade and Supply Routes in Western Europe: The Case of Narbonne MICHEL CHRISTOL; 12. The Port Society of Narona MARC MAYER; 13. Municipal Authority, Central Authority and Euergetists at Work at the Port: Layers of Activity and Interplay at Ephesos PASCAL ARNAUD 14 The Structure of Mercantile Communities in the Roman World: How Open Were Roman Trade Networks? Koenraad Verboven 15 Polysemy, Epigraphic Habit and Social Legibility of Maritime Shippers: Navicularii, Naukleroï, Naucleri, Nauculari, Nauclari Pascal Arnaud 16 Reading Roman Port Societies Nicholas Purcell