"Mediterranean Marketplaces: Connecting the Ancient World" Opens to the Public

On Friday, Nov. 26, the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments—reopen to the public. See their website for hours and reservations.

Much like today, ancient “consumers” were connected to distant markets. Both basic and precious goods from faraway lands “shipped” to royal palaces, elite estates—sometimes even rural households—and technological advances in craftsmanship and commerce transcended boundaries of language, religion or culture to spread rapidly. Mediterranean Marketplaces explores how the movement of goods, peoples and ideas around the ancient Mediterranean transformed the lives and livelihoods of people at all levels of society, driving innovations that had lasting impacts—even on the modern world.

Image credit: Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East 1902.16.3 © President and Fellows of Harvard College