Temporary stalls in the cities of Roman and Late Roman Asia Minor through a re-analysis of “topos-inscriptions” and of archaeological data

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development and distribution of temporary market stalls along the streets, under the porticoes of streets and agorai, and in other public buildings of Roman and Late Roman cities of Asia Minor. This peculiar type of shops, that was doubtless largely widespread in ancient cities (maybe more than it is in modern ones), even if being an important marker of shopping trends and of a dynamic economic life, is not easily perceivable in the urban layout. In fact, very few traces of movable or semi-permanent stalls, made of perishable materials and not intended to be permanent, are preserved, and often uncertain archaeological hints need to be carefully interpreted. On this respect epigraphic sources can supply the lacking archaeological information and, when analysed in combination with some important literary sources (such as Libanios), they can shed a new light on the wider phaenomenon of shopping activities. In particular, this research will take into account systematically the “topos-inscriptions” from Asia Minor that were carved - and even painted - on the columns of the stoai both of main squares of the cities and along the streets, on the stylobate of the porticoes, and elsewhere. As it is well known, the so-called “topos-inscriptions” pertain to different categories, and not all of them can be actually connected with selling activities. But a large part of them would hardly be interpreted differently than as marking the place where movable stalls could be positioned, mainly between the columns of the stoai which gave shelter from both sun and rain. Another important aspect of these movable shops must be also better investigated: were the stalls officially assigned to different categories of sellers or to single persons, or was this process, in some cases, the result of individual initiative outside the control of public authorities? The analysis of all available data under a multidisciplinary perspective (historical, epigraphic, archaeological, legislative etc.) will allow to draw a new picture of the complex socio-economic life of ancient cities in Asia Minor and to depict how busy was life along the streets and in the main squares of those cities.