Beate Dignas & Engelbert Winter - Kaveh Farrokh

28 Economy and trade 203
The consequences of making Nisibis the only place in the border area for
the exchange of goods were thus less dramatic for Roman merchants than
they were for their Sasanian counterparts. The same impression is given
by the anonymous author of the Expositio totius mundi et gentium when he
names not only Nisibis but also Batnai and Kallinikos (far west of Nisibis)
as important centres of trade. 151
It would be helpful to know to what extent the political climate throughout
the centuries altered the trade relations between Rome and the East.
Until the end of the Parthian kingdom the ‘international’ trade along the
Eastern frontier of the Roman Empire had flourished without any restrictions.
Economy and trade had never been an issue in Parthian–Roman
peace treaties. 152 For the period of Roman–Parthian relations we observe
active trade between the two powers and Roman contacts with the ports
of India from where Chinese silk was imported into the Roman Empire. 153
When the Sasanian Empire was founded in the year 224 a new development
began, which presented entirely different premises for the relations
between East and West. Immediately after the fall of the Arsacids Ardaˇsīr
I(224–40) 154 occupied Spasinu Charax on the ˇ Satt al-‘Arab and thereby
restricted Palmyrene activities in a provocative way, which in turn had a
negative effect on Roman trade interests. 155
During the following centuries the rivalry between both states did not allow
for a free development of trade between Rome and the Sasanian Empire.
An increasingly suspicious attitude towards the neighbouring state led to
closed borders where a type of frontier police were to guarantee that trade
regulations were adhered to. 156
According to instructions from the reign of Theodosius I the comes
commerciorum was the only person permitted to acquire and sell (raw)
silk from the barbarians. 157 This official, who was also largely in charge
of assessing import and export duties, 158 was responsible for ensuring that
151 On the history and significance of Edessa in late antiquity see Kirsten 1963: 144–72; Segal 1970;
Ross 2001.
152 Ziegler 1964: 87–8.
153 Raschke 1978: 641–3 and 815–47; Wissemann 1984: 166, however, points to possible difficulties for
Rome resulting from the mediating role played by the Parthians.
154 Cf. above, p. 19 with n. 8 and Drexhage 1988: 70–6 and 139–40.
155 Wagner 1985: 12.
156 Cod. Theod. vii.16.2 (410); cf. also Güterbock 1906: 71–2 and Segal 1955: 127.
157 Cod. Iust. iv.40.2; see Stock 1978b: 602 n. 10.
158 Cod. Theod. iv.13.8–9 (381); all duties (import, export and transit) went to the comes sacrarum
largitionum, who supervised the trade within the empire and in particular border traffic; cf. Cod.
Iust. iv.63.2 (374) and 6.