The Ancient Greek Economy. Markets, Households and City-States

MARKETS, AMPHORA TRADE AND WINE INDUSTRY 239

mistakes in the following charts, I have averaged the data in timeframes of ca.

10–20 years, which in most cases represent two united chronological groups.

The chronology used in the present paper represents a combination of the

scheme in Garlan 1999a for the so-called old-style stamps, Garlan 2004 –5 for

the new-style stamps, and the corrections suggested in Tzochev 2009. The

publication schedule does not allow me to incorporate here my forthcoming

revision of the Thasian amphora stamps chronology (Tzochev forthcoming) ,

which will introduce certain corrections in the present charts, but this will

hardly alter the main conclusions.

Sales Allocation Graphs

The sales allocation charts (Figures 10.2–10. 3 ) have been compiled using the

methods described above. They offer an alternative to the methodologies dis-

cussed at the beginning of the section, being more suitable for general studies

of the trade in Thasian amphoras. As the name suggests, this type of chart gives

percentages of the total sales as allocated to different markets. The total sales

represent the entire sample of Thasian stamps, except the workshop finds (some

9,200 stamps), which were discarded as production waste and were never sent

to markets. The exports to a given site or region, divided into timeframes,

represent the percentage of the stamps recorded in this site/region from the

total of stamps for each timeframe. Thus changes of the percentages over time

indicate how the amphoras were distributed to different places.

Some comments are necessary. First, the charts are based on proxy data for

production and distribution, and they provide only estimates for trends and

proportions; their accuracy depends on factors such as sample size and chrono-

logical precision, which, at present are sufficient only for general conclusions.

Second, the term ‘sales’ may raise objections in the sense that not all amphoras

were objects of sale. Certainly, non-commercial distribution did exist (e.g.,

plunder, gift, moving of private property), but I consider stamps resulting from

such distribution to be a small part of the whole when divided among all sam-

ples.^10 They do not therefore significantly affect the proportion of the traded

amphoras. The same should be valid for the reuse of amphoras as commercial

containers in international trade, a practice that undoubtedly existed,^11 but is

not expected to alter the results, unless one can prove that certain places regu-

larly re-filled and re-exported Thasian amphoras.

One can construct sales allocation charts for particular cities or for entire

regions. Figure 10.2 illustrates the first case, using the data from some of the

biggest cities/importers of Thasian amphoras. According to the chart, in the

first half of the fourth century Panticapaeum on the northern Black Sea

coast was a major market for Thasian exports. In the second half of the cen-

tury Histria on the western Pontic coast took over this role. A trend toward