In Trading Communities, Taco Terpstra shows that long-distance trade in the Roman Empire was conducted through foreign trading communities living overseas, held together by ethnic and geographical identity.

Taco Terpstra, Ph.D. (2011), Columbia University, specializes in Roman socio-economic history and classical archaeology. He has published articles on Roman long-distance trade and editions of Egyptian papyri, as well as articles resulting from his field work in ancient Stabiae.