Defining a Market in Antiquity: Beyond the Ceramic and Commodity Exchange

International audienceThis contribution aims to propose new perspectives concerning the link between commoditiesexchange and ancient trade, in relation to the implication of an eventual market economy andwhat could have been the social meaning of such economic system in Antiquity. In the actualeconomic theory, the Market is presented as a metaphoric space where economic agents arefree to sell and buy goods, a definition that may be applied to some aspects of commodities exchangein the Hellenistic era. On the other hand, market economy implies a general and coherentsystem of coordinated exchange domains, regulated by a price system. As such, thepresence of a market economy would mean that there is an adaptation to supply and demand,economic agents being in search of higher profits. These two assumptions imply, traditionally,that a market economy has to be based on a monetary system, in its modern sense, whichshould rule out ancient trade from a relevant economic analysis. However, most of the currenteconomists neglect that money is many things and not only an exchange value, besides the factthat there were many different exchange values during Antiquity. After exposing the socialbackground at the root of commodities exchange, we propose to observe the connection betweendifferent ancient artefacts, social value and their trade pattern, in order to understandbetter the structure of ancient economy. Firstly, we wish to look more deeply into the case ofthe Torpedo-Levantine/Bettles A amphorae, ancient maritime packaging that were imitated byEgyptian workshops during the Classical era. Secondly, we will consider the example of the T-7431 amphora type, a Carthaginian container adapted by the Gaditan and Malacitan workshops,and, finally, the case of tableware exchanges. These three different cases could offer relevantinformation on what should b