Rome: The Motion Picture, Migration and Mobility in an Ancient Empire with Professor Greg Woolf

Did most people in the Roman empire live in small, contained worlds, hardly aware of how vast the imperial system was? Or was the empire intensely connected?
Combining Latin epigraphy and underwater archaeology, forensic anthropology and the study of the trade in enslaved peoples, we are beginning to get some new and better answers to the questions of who moved, how often and for what purposes - and also who remained behind…
Hosted by Dr Mai Musié, Trustee of Classics for All, this topical talk delves into the history of movement in the Roman empire.
This was a Classics for All fundraising event hosted on Tuesday 10 May 2022.

[@drraoulmclaughlin7423]

A very Interesting talk. Thanks for posting 😊

[@drraoulmclaughlin7423]

Apicius mentions a dish called ‘Indian Peas’ in his cookbook. I wonder how it received that name? Garum is an ingredient in ‘Indian Peas’. But could it be an augmented Indian recipe brought back by sailors or merchants???

[@drraoulmclaughlin7423]

A great number of Roman recipes included Indian pepper as an ingredient! 🙂

[@drraoulmclaughlin7423]

I think the Beachy Head Lady might have been Eastern Mediterranean, possibly from Crete (?). She had some Ivory grave goods, but ivory from Africa and India was a popular commodity across the Roman Empire 🙂

[@drraoulmclaughlin7423]

Slaves from the Horn of Africa may have entered the Empire in significant numbers from the Red Sea trade routes. But I don’t think many of them would have reached northern Europe, which had its own slave markets supplying the Mediterranean core of the Empire. Perhaps Professor Hopkins’ Model for the Roman Economy could explain the new DNA data for ancient population shifts?