SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS OF CERAMIC PRODUCTION IN ROMAN THRACE

Abstract

The province of Thrace was established in ca. AD 45-46 on the territory of the last Thracian Kingdom. In the course of more than two hundred years, between the second half of the First and the late Third century, ceramic production was developed in an unprecedented scale in this territory, in both rural and urban context. A number of rural settlements in Thrace, including agricultural estates (villae), agrarian and artisan’s villages (vici), have accommodated pottery and tile workshops since the second half of the First – the beginning of the Second century. From the late First – early Second century onwards potteries were established also in towns and cities.

The data analysed and presented for the location and internal organisation of the ceramic workshops in Thrace indicates that the most widespread type of organised production was the individual workshop. Some of these ateliers were clustered near available resources and developed trade routes, and occasionally incorporated in single settlement units. However, the considerable size and complex layout of the workshops from the early phase of ceramic production under Roman rule could be viewed as a proof that the craft was initially developed by people with certain financial abilities and social status (local dynasts, immigrant civilians, enfranchised itinerant and indigenous army veterans). These individuals were among the first to perceive and advertise the Roman way of life through, on the one side, the new construction techniques and materials, and, on the other, the concomitant culture of eating and drinking, visible through the archaeological discoveries of pottery and other vessels used for these purposes.