Olisipo (Lisbon, Portugal) and its place in the Roman trade

• Published in: Spal (Sevilla) Vol. 2; no. 30; pp. 189 - 215
• Main Author: Filipe, Victor Manuel Simões
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seville Fernando Amores Carredano 2021
• Subjects: Consumption; Food products; Provinces; Roman civilization; Iberian Peninsula
• ISSN: 1133-4525; 2255-3924
• DOI: 10.12795/spal.2021.i30.22

Although usually considered the most important city of Lusitania - after Augusta Emerita - and the main maritime harbour of the whole Atlantic peninsular façade, there remains a generalized absence of studies that highlight the role that Olisipo played in the most western of the Roman provinces’ economy and commercial relations. This work aims to address that absence, by focusing on the research on Olisipo, located at the Tagus estuary, during the period encompassing the Republic and the Principate, and based on the study of amphorae. The dataset resulting from the analysis of the amphorae from Lisbon discloses the existence of a vast network of commercial relations with the diverse areas of the Mediterranean throughout all of the considered chronology, thus revealing a cosmopolitan city, with an active and central role in the complex commercial exchanges of the West of Iberian Peninsula with the rest of the Roman Empire. These results underline Olisipo’s importance as a trading post in the Atlantic coast during the Roman period, a role that has been recognized long ago, allowing to draw in a more accurate way how the city’s economic history was shaped.