The Roman Forum is the historic heart of ancient Rome, situated in the low valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills.

Originally a marshy area that was drained in the 6th century BCE, it evolved over centuries into the monumental center of the Roman Empire, serving as the bustling hub for public meetings, political debates, religious ceremonies, and legal trials.

Today, it stands as a massive open-air archaeological park filled with iconic ruins, including the towering columns of the Temple of Saturn, the ancient Senate House, and grand triumphal structures like the Arch of Septimius Severus.

One of the most interesting research papers I have read recently is The Eastern Commercial Revenue Model: The Economic Significance of Ancient Eastern Trade, published within The Indian Ocean in Antiquity: Political, Cultural and Economic Impacts (Routledge, 2018). The paper argues that:

"This Eastern Commercial Revenue Model evidences that trade conducted through the Indian Ocean generated approximately a third of Roman Revenues during the early imperial period."

Drawing upon evidence such as the Muziris Papyrus, Strabo, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, archaeological finds and Roman customs records, the model estimates that Indian Ocean commerce may have generated around 270 million sesterces annually in customs revenue alone.

What is particularly interesting is that later scholarship did not simply dismiss these conclusions. In The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy, Andrew Wilson suggested that customs revenues from Red Sea trade may have amounted to between one-quarter and one-third of the Empire's military budget. Later, in Trade, Commerce, and the State in the Roman World (Oxford University Press, 2017), Andrew Wilson and Alan Bowman considered it "very possible" that something like one-third of the Roman state's military budget could have been met from customs revenues on the Red Sea trade alone.

If broadly correct, this suggests that commerce linking Rome, Egypt, the Red Sea, Arabia and India was not merely a peripheral activity but one of the major economic engines of the ancient world.

An interesting parallel comes from the recently announced possible Bronze Age shipwreck discovery off the Turkish coast. If confirmed by further research, it would add to growing evidence that the world was already becoming interconnected over 5,000 years ago through maritime trade. The three largest and most economically significant civilisational centres of the 3rd millennium BCE, the Indus Valley Civilisation, Mesopotamia and Egypt, were separated by vast distances yet increasingly linked by demand for raw materials, prestige goods, metals and agricultural products. Maritime connectivity was therefore not merely plausible but increasingly necessary for sustaining complex societies.

The deeper we dig into the archaeological record, the more it appears that complex trade networks were already connecting major population centres thousands of years before the Age of Exploration. Columbus and da Gama did not invent oceanic commerce; they entered a world where maritime networks had already been evolving, expanding and linking civilisations for several millennia. From Bronze Age maritime networks, through Indo-Mesopotamian exchange, to Roman trade with India, the evidence increasingly points towards a long-duration commercial system that connected the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Indian Ocean worlds.

For me, the bigger takeaway is that Rome did not create eastern maritime commerce. Rather, it inherited and integrated itself into existing maritime networks that had likely been evolving across the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Arabia and the Indian Ocean for millennia. The Roman documented evidence simply shows how economically significant those networks eventually became.

Paper (direct access): https://www.academia.edu/35400808/Article_Excerpt_The_Indian_Ocean_in_Antiquity_Political_Cultural_and_Economic_Impacts_Routledge_2018_Cobb_McLaughlin_et_al

Book details: https://www.routledge.com/The-Indian-Ocean-Trade-in-Antiquity-Political-Cultural-and-Economic-Impacts/Cobb/p/book/9780367665708

Related review by William Dalrymple: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/04/20/garum-masala-indian-ocean-trade-in-antiquity-cobb/

Ancient Turkish shipwreck announcement (4,400 and 4,700 years old; a trade vessel carrying cargo across the Mediterranean Sea): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6gr80rk1yyko

Related post: Previous post related to Indo-Roman commerce and evidence linking Roman demand for eastern goods with trade across South Asia:
https://www.reddit.com/r/romanempire/comments/1ugzi54/roman_luxury_markets_and_trade_with_the_dravidian/

Fact: No ancient source says this. Carthage was destroyed in 146 BC, then later rebuilt by the Romans as a major colony.

The “salted earth” story appears much later and is not historical.

Built in the 1st century CE to carry fresh water ~50 km to the city of Nîmes, the Pont du Gard is a masterclass in Roman engineering.

At nearly 49 m high, it’s the tallest surviving Roman aqueduct bridge.

The precisely cut stone blocks were fitted without mortar, and the gradient is an incredible 1 in 3,000.

Reliable clean water like this underpinned Roman public health: powering baths, fountains, and urban sanitation for centuries.

Despite the title, this is a story of hope. It is simply how the republican tradition survived the fall of Rome and was later recovered.

London is basically two cities stacked on top of each other—and one of them is nearly 2,000 years old. 🏛️

Beneath modern skyscrapers, historic markets, and busy streets lie the remains of Londinium, the Roman settlement that helped shape the city we know today. From the ancient road network and the original Thames crossing to the Roman basilica rediscovered beneath Gracechurch Street, London's past is hiding in plain sight.

The wildest part? Some of these ruins survived centuries of rebuilding, while others were uncovered only after World War II bombings or during modern construction.

How much of modern London do you think still follows the blueprint of its Roman predecessor?

Parco degli Acquedotti, Rome. The Aqua Claudia carried water into the city. Long stretches of the arches are left in the park. People walk and cycle under them.