ABSTRACT
The macellum, as one of the main market buildings in the Roman city, must have provoked two important flows of movement through the city. A first flow would be caused by the city’s residents who did their daily shopping in this market, and a second flow, perhaps the most important, was generated by the transportation of products to the market. Since the macellum was associated with the sale of fresh fish and meat, we can assume that these products must have been transported on a very regular basis, several times a week or perhaps even daily. Until today, there has been relatively little study of the organization of transport towards the macellum, leaving a number of key questions unanswered. By studying and comparing different case studies in Roman Italy and the provinces, I wish to tackle some of these questions in this chapter (e.g. Where did the products come from? Which means of transport were used? How was transport regulated within the city?) to eventually reach conclusions about the spatial embedment of the macellum in the city and its effect on economic movement and transportation.
