Programme: Horizon Europe ERC-2024-COG
Project title: Maritime Dependencies in Antiquity: how trade, geography and conflict are related. A maritime history and case study of Syracuse combining history, archaeology, oceanography, ships, economic theory
Acronym: MarDepend
Duration: 01/10/2025 – 30/09/2030
Project budget: € 1 948.174,75
ISMAR budget: € 400.000,00
Web site: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101170294
Summary:
MarDepend seeks to understand the existential dependency of states and communities on maritime trade. It aims to analyse and quantify how trade, geography, and conflict were interrelated in antiquity, with a focus on the city-state of Syracuse in Sicily. The study will explore economic structures, trade balance, and the impact of maritime routes on trade during both peace and war. Syracuse, a key maritime power from the early 5th century BCE until being conquered by Rome in 212 BCE, serves as an ideal case study. Its position at the crossroads of ancient maritime trade, from which it engaged with a wide range of actors, and its largely consistent trade policies over centuries make it particularly relevant and provide a wealth of evidence, in quantity and quality, conducive to quantitative economic analysis. Building on the case of Syracuse, MarDepend establishes maritime dependencies as a framework for comprehending global trade and political dynamics across diverse historical periods.
MarDepend, characterised by an innovative interdisciplinary approach and a broad methodological basis, combines historical research, archaeology, marine engineering, oceanography, and economic theory through modelling of wind, waves, and currents, measuring the performance of ancient ships with the help of Computational Fluid Dynamics, reconstructing trade routes through simulations, analysing material evidence (coins, inscriptions, amphorae), and developing a formal economic model for ancient trade. Advanced software and digital tools analyse the data and synthesise it in an open-access GIS. The unique approach provides a foundation for applying analogous methodologies to investigate the trade dependencies in a much broader historical and geographical context, such as a diachronic investigation of the relationship between trade and conflict. The research holds the potential to reshape our understanding of ancient economies and maritime history.
Contact person in ISMAR: francesco.barbariol@cnr.it
Partnership:
- Universitat Trier (Germany)
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy)
