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The Roman Empire at its height ruled a vast area of Europe, western Asia, the Middle East, and north Africa. Romans traded within the empire, sending wine from Gaul (France) in exchange for olive oil from Libya or grain from Campania or Sicily. The Romans also exchanged goods and ideas with civilizations outside their own, importing luxury goods such as spices, marble, silk, perfume, and ivory with merchants from China, Persia, India, and southeast Asia.

Making Trade Easier Think how hard it would be to trade if you did not know how much a sack of grain weighed or a length of cloth measured. In the ancient world, each city-state had its own

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Global Trade in the Ancient World