Introduction: Interaction on the Edge of the Earliest Empires

Abstract

This volume includes (a) papers dealing with theoretical and realistic frameworks helpful to understanding interaction in Antiquity and (b) papers elaborating on the history and nature of interaction or evidence of interaction in the East Mediterranean/Levantine/Egyptian region, taking account of most of the history from the early 2nd millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD. In the choice of papers, one aim was to offer input into a growing discussion about theoretical approaches taking account of different kinds of exchange and contact in Antiquity. Another aim was to include material which offers actual evidence (of prices and materials) demonstrating the parameters of exchange – without constraining the presentation by a theoretical approach, while offering stimulus to such.