Helen Parkins is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge University. She is the editor of Roman Urbanism: Beyond the Consumer City (Routledge 1997). Christopher Smith is a Lecturer in Ancient History in the University of St. Andrews. His publications include Early Rome and Latium: Economy and Society c. 1000-500 BC (Oxford University Press 1996).

• List of Figures Notes on Contributors Preface List of Abbreviations 1. Time for Change? Shaping the Future of the Ancient Economy Helen Parkins 2. The Old Assyrian Merchants Amelie Kuhrt 3. Traders and Artisans in Archaic Central Italy Christopher Smith 4. Trade on the Black Sea in the Archaic and Classical Periods: Some Observations Gocha R. Tsetskhladze 5. Ceramics and Positivism Revisited: Greek Transport Amphoras and History Mark Lawall 6. The Grain Trade of Athens in the Fourth Century BC Michael Whitby 7. Land Transport in Roman Italy: Costs, Practice and the Economy Ray Laurence 8. Trade and Traders in the Roman World: Scale, Structure, and Organization Jeremy Paterson 9. Trade and the City in Roman Egypt Richard Alston 10. Soul Merchants: Trade Networks, Religious Diffusion and Christian Origins in Northern Italy Mark Humphries 11. Ancient Economies: Models and Muddles John Davies Indexes.

'... the editors are to be congratulated, both on identifying so timely a theme and on assembling and coordinating so stimulating a collection of papers.' - John Percival, The Classical Review