Amphorae in the Phoenician-Punic World: The State of the Art

This thematic volume comprises 30 articles by 44 specialists and is the first collection solely dedicated to the study of Amphoras of the Phoenician-Punic world. The articles take their lead from presentations at a conference held in Ghent in December 2016. It is a welcome update to the terrain covered more than a quarter-century ago by the highly influential monograph of Juan Ramon, Las anforas fenicio-punicas del Mediterraneo Central y Occidental (Col?leccio Instrumenta 2), Barcelona: 1995. The link between trade and the Phoenician and Punic World is so pronounced that these subjects have often been treated synonymously. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that "the Amphora, the key element of the trade in foodstuffs during Antiquity, has been considered the guide fossil for Phoenician and Punic trade". Geographically, the present contributions cover the space from the Levantine coast to the Atlantic shores of the Iberian Peninsula. Chronologically, they range from the earliest moments of the Phoenician presence in the western Mediterranean during the ninth century BCE until the centuries following the destruction of Carthage and its empire. Thematically, the volume deals with issues of production, typology, distribution, contents, and even socio-economical aspects. As such, it may be considered as a true state of the art on the Amphoras of the Phoenician and Punic World.