Goals

Goals

 We are confident that our proposal represents a groundbreaking project in three specific aspects:

1. Historical goal: “Production and distribution of food during the Roman Empire”
   The aim of the project is primarily to enhance our knowledge of ancient systems and dynamics. However, several specific goals can be described at that stage, looking forward to be more specific about them over the course of the project.

• To explain the organization of the Roman Empire trade system and its political implications.
• To explore different models of the interaction between economic and political dynamics.

2. Methodological goal: “New interdisciplinary perspective of trade network studies”
   The characteristics of the proposal imply the development of a new methodology. This will create new links between disciplinary fields and a new way of approaching our object of study.

•  To promote the use formal semantic in historical and archaeological studies.
• To use formal models and computer simulation in History studies (Agent Based and Complex Network Modelling)

3. Research Impact: “Diachronic view on modern economic systems”
   The political and economic implications of trade networks have been investigated from different perspectives (e.g., mainstream and evolutionary economy, financial and organizational studies and complexity studies). This project aims at filling a fundamental gap in this debate, by providing an historical perspective through the study of the first large-scale trade network, the Roman market. In order to produce a critical feedback loop on the contemporary debate we need to:

• Build formal model able to support a critical and alternative exploration of the Roman  trade network.
• Validate this model with empirical archaeological data.
• Provide robust explanation of the historical evolution of Roman trade systems.