ABSTRACT
If the existence of pre-modern globalization, or the application of theories of globalization to the ancient world, has been controversial (see Jennings this volume; Robertson this volume), there is no doubt that the Roman example holds a special place within this debate. For if an empire spanning parts of Europe, Africa and Asia and characterized by the mass production, exchange and consumption of a shared material culture does not qualify as a form of globalization, then it is improbable that any other pre-industrial example qualies either. For scholars of past globalizations, the globalized status of the Roman Empire is a given. Their challenge is to nd earlier, smaller or unexpected forms of globalization; the Roman Empire is the baseline, not the nish line.
