ABSTRACT
Direct testimony about these transportations and the routes of the art trade are available from the archaeological remains. Shipwrecks on the seabed of the Mediterranean have been very valuable in determining these routes, as well as aspects of the Roman taste. Among the most well-known wrecks that provide information on the art trade are those of Madhia, that dates from approximately 86 BC, and Antikythera (c. 80-70 BC), the first testifying to a trade from Athens, the second to one from Délos.1 Examples of similar cases are the Riace warriors, found in Sicily (1972), and the discovery at Piraeus in 1959 of a quantity of works, possibly part of the booty of Sylla ready to be transferred to Italy. The intermediaries in this art trade, however, were not only friends. They were also specially employed agents, like the ones Verres had hired, or the more decent Damassipus whom both Cicero and Horace mention (Horace, Satires, 2.3.18). The trade also supported a range of other professionals, among whom were conservators, like C. Avianus Evander mentioned by Cicero (ad Famil. 12.2;13.23), and fakers, like those named by Martial (4.88; 8.34).
