Skip to 0 minutes and 5 secondsSIMON KEAY: I know you come from a classics background. So how do you think all of this archaeological view of the Roman Mediterranean, how is that making you think about the Roman Empire?
Skip to 0 minutes and 18 secondsMEAGHAN CARLEY: Well, as you said, we have all kinds of physical evidence for that. And sort of a span of their civilisation, which I never really grasped before. You said North Africa, Asia Minor, Spain. And I think it really speaks to a sort of globalisation, which is something that I think we often forget they did first.
Globalisation
You will have gathered that I think that the material culture demonstrates the span of the Roman civilisation and in turn suggest a sort of “globalisation” in the early first millennium.
Meaghan Carley - Portus Student Guide
Meaghan is using the term “globalisation” to express a sense of similarity - she doesn’t literally equate the Roman past with a contemporary concept. This is an important distinction.
So, we now want you to consider this question: to what extent can we apply a concept like “globalisation” to the Roman world? Please add your thoughts in the comments section below.
[Extra] References and sources
Discussions of “globalization”:
- Hingley, R. 2005 Globalizing Roman Culture. London: Routledge.
- Hitchner, R. B. 2008 Globalization avant la lettre: globalization and the history of the Roman empire. New Global Studies 2 (2): article 2. Available at http://www.bepress.com/ngs/vol2/iss2/art2.
Work comparing empires:
- Morris, I.; Scheidel, W. (eds.) 2009. The dynamics of ancient empires: state power from Assyria to Byzantium, Oxford.
- Scheidel, W. (ed.) 2009. Rome and China: comparative perspectives on ancient world empires, Oxford.
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