Rural Trade and Economy in Hellenistic and Roman Palestine. A Case Study from Tel Zahara

 

Rural sites hold significant importance for the ancient economy. While urban centers may occupy a more archaeologically visible position in the ancient world, these cities must rely on rural sites in the surrounding countryside for resources, supplies, and maintenance; concurrently, rural sites may also rely on an urban center for protection, markets, and other services. This interaction and interdependency between rural and urban creates an interconnection between village and city that, in the rural sphere, may be illustrated by growth and/or regression of settlement, as well as by changes in patterns of economy, trade, and subsistence. Excavations at the small site of Tel Zahara, located five km from the large metropolis of Beth Shean (Scythopolis) in the Jordan Valley in modern Israel, have produced data that illustrate this interconnected relationship between urban and rural, and provide a window into rural economic practices, particularly in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods in Palestine.

Special issue around the theme: "The rural World during the ancient Medditerranean Culture: Right/Laws, Religion, Trade, Practices"

 

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