ABSTRACT
In the time of the Roman empire the lands around the Mediterranean were knit together more closely than at any other period in human history. Spreading outwards from a peninsula in the centre of the sea, the arms of Rome had conquered a wide swathe of territory throughout which the imposition of the one government, the practice of Roman law, the use of a unified system of coinage and, ultimately, the existence of one state religion progressively tended to lessen regional distinctions. The empire constituted a vast, largely self-sufficient common market within which areas could specialize in the production of such items as grain, wine, oil, pottery and papyrus; every summer what Julius Caesar nonchalantly referred to as 'our sea' was filled with cargo ships. Its cohesiveness was displayed in the remarkable uniformity of its towns, from Britain to Syria, which a fine network of roads brought close together.
