Procurators’ Business? Gallo-Roman Sigillata in Britain in the Second and Third Centuries AD

The publication of the potters’ stamps on Gallo-Roman sigillata (Names on Terra Sigillata: An Index of Makers’ Stamps & Signatures on Gallo-Roman Terra Sigillata) offers an unparalleled opportunity for re-examining the movement of sigillata (samian) across the western provinces of the Empire between the first and third centuries AD from production centres in south, central, and eastern Gaul, and in Germany. The potters’ stamps provide a common means for quantitative analysis. This chapter examines examples where there is no decline in volume of supply of samian with distance from production centres, suggesting that this can be explained if the cost of transport was subsidized or met in full by the state, probably through the organization of the cursus publicus. Controlled supply raises further questions about the nature of luxury in the Roman world and, for Britain, of the role of London in the supply system.