ABSTRACT
The Greek and Roman written sources do not present people with a uniform picture of the relationship between space and economic life in antiquity. Aristotle famously wished to follow the example of the Thessalians in providing his ideal city with a ‘free agora’ forbidden to traders, artisans and farmers selling their produce, which was to be spatially separated from ‘the agora for buying and selling’, that is the city’s commercial market. While drawing inspiration from space-related scholarship on other historical periods and within the social sciences, the ‘spatial turn’ in the study of the Greco-Roman world received a lot of stimulation from archaeology, the spatial discipline par excellence. Empires tend to generate big cities, as rulers, elites and their large households cluster into urban centres, together with myriad artisans, traders, service providers and others drawn to the huge demand exercised by these wealthy elites.
