2,000 Years Under the Sea

It had been a long day—and a very long trip—and the captain was tired. He had been so busy that he could barely remember where the journey had started. Was it the teeming port of Miletus on the Anatolian coast, where he had scoured shops for purple cloth, spices, and the city’s special carved wooden beds that rich people loved? Was it the island of Delos, birthplace of the gods Apollo and Artemis, where humans were traded alongside luxury goods in one of the Mediterranean’s largest slave markets? Or was it the island of Rhodes, whose bustling emporiums could provide whatever he desired? Exhaustion aside, the captain was elated that his ship was loaded with cargo sure to fetch a healthy premium when he finally made it to Rome. His mind drifted to the bronze statue of a youth he had acquired and to how he could hardly wait to deliver the artwork, which was already centuries old, to the dealer who had commissioned him to transport it. The glistening white marble sculptures he had picked up were another story—they were brand new, just out of the workshop. He could only imagine the stately city homes and sprawling seaside villas they would adorn. And then there were the costly ceramics from Syria, the crates of brightly colored glassware, the boxes of shiny gold jewelry, and the Levantine amphoras full of expensive wine.

Jarrett A. Lobell is editor in chief at ARCHAEOLOGY.