Local, Regional, and Long-Distance Economic Activity in Dura

النشاط الاقتصاديّ المحلّيّ والإقليميّ والنشاط الاقتصاديّ عن بُعد في دورا

Sitta von Reden

The role of Dura-Europos in long-distance trade has been debated since Michael Rostovtzeff’s influential description of Dura as a “caravan city” located at a strategic position on the Euphrates. More recent research has questioned this role by pointing to the almost complete absence of explicit evidence for the city’s involvement in long-distance trade. In 2016, Kai Ruffing established a middle ground by arguing that, in the third century at least, some Roman landowners of Dura with considerable spending power were involved in regional exchange that might have been interconnected with long-distance networks extending to the Gulf, and beyond.
This paper will aim to take the discussion further by analysing the evidence of the economic connectivity of Dura into the concepts of globalisation theory. This might help to break down unhelpful distinctions between local, regional, and long-distance economic activity in a cosmopolitan city like Dura-Europos.