This collection addresses the nature of trade, and the effects it had in cities throughout the ancient world, from the Bronze Age Near East to late Roman northern Italy, and challenges the received notion of the unsophisticated nature of early trade. The book explores a variety of aspects of ancient trade, a study of archaic central Italy which stresses the role of the artisan in social development, and a discussion of the complex issue of the exchange of grain between Athens and the Black Sea in the fifth and fourth centuries. A comprehensive and well-researched book, this volume employs the most current archaeological, papyrological, epigraphic and literary evidence to offer innovative and stimulating analyses of the importance and influence of trade in the ancient world.