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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The Role of Palermo in the Central Mediterranean: The Evolution of the Harbour and the Circulation of Ceramics (10th–11th centuries)

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Palermo in the 10th and the first half of the 11th century was one of the big Mediterranean cities, fully integrated in the dār al-islām and in the area of Fatimid prosperity. This article deals with the role of Palermo in the central Mediterranean, crossing the information coming from the written sources and from the recent archaeological finds. The written sources show that, with the Fatimids, Palermo’s harbour became a built harbour, characterized by imposing defences and fortified structures, which not only had a functional character but were also a representation of power. Furthermore, the written sources reflect the commercial centrality of Palermo, while the study of ceramics allows us to elaborate more and more detailed panoramas. This study attempts to give a picture of the productions identified for the Kalbid age (mid 10th-mid 11th century) and to use them as indicators of the Mediterranean traffics that intersected Palermo’s harbour. The data related both to importations and to the distribution of Palermo amphorae is beginning to trace out a broader and broader picture of the network of traffics, with routes that already connected Palermo with Ifrīqiya, the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic in the first half of the 10th century. The study of glazed ceramics reinforces the amphorae-based evidence and establishes the circulation of Palermitan productions in the Tyrrhenian area. It also begins to document, though still weakly, the complexity of the networks which, after the transfer of the Fatimid capital to Cairo, came to characterize the areas gravitating in the caliphate’s orbit, as well as the integration of the Palermitan market in a vast commercial area and its penetration by fashions coming from the new centre of power.