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Balancing the Trade: Roman Cargo Shipments to I ndia
Author(s) -
Cobb Matthew Adam
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/ojoa.12055
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , value (mathematics) , ballast , volume (thermodynamics) , space (punctuation) , gold coast , business , history , engineering , archaeology , computer science , electrical engineering , operating system , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning
Summary There has been a continuing debate about the extent to which the R oman E mpire suffered an economic imbalance in its trade with India (and more broadly the E ast), that is to say whether in volume or value the R oman E mpire imported more than it exported. This imbalance is often thought to be manifested in the export of R oman gold and silver to I ndia and the connected notion that other goods from the R oman E mpire were seen as merely items of ballast. It is the intention of this article to place this debate in a practical context by demonstrating not only the physical need for mixed cargoes on ships sailing to I ndia, but also the negligible amount of space taken up by the gold and silver. It is argued that in terms of volume (if not value) goods in kind were far more significant.