At the end of the 3rd century B.C. the Aegean region, cradle of Greek civilisation, was divided among several large political entities which had their own systems of economic management and operated markets more or less independently of each other. Two centuries later, Rome controlled the entire region, by then divided into provinces and organised into a relatively unified market, from which Rome derived immense wealth. This was one of the major developments in western history, which has, however, never been studied from that point of view. The "Aegeum" series aims to help fill this gap by collating the evidence of both written and archaeological sources.

À la fin du III^e s. av. J.-C., l’espace égéen – berceau de la civilisation grecque – se trouvait divisé en plusieurs grands ensembles politiques ayant tous leur propre fonctionnement économique et constituant autant de marchés plus ou moins cloisonnés. Deux siècles plus tard, Rome contrôlait toute la région, désormais réduite en provinces et organisée en un marché relativement unifié, dont elle avait capté les immenses richesses. Il s’agit là d’un des faits majeurs de l’histoire occidentale, qui n’a pourtant jamais été étudié comme tel. La collection  «Aegeum» entend contribuer à combler cette lacune en confrontant témoignages écrits et sources archéologiques.