Feeding the legions. R oman?Republican amphorae epigraphy from Mertola (Portugal) ; Alimentando a las legiones. Epigrafía anfórica romano?republicana de Mértola (Portugal)

A new set of amphorae stamps and tituli picti dating to the Roman?Republican period and excavated in 2005?2006 at the site of the Public Library of Mertola are discussed in this paper. Most of them were found in context, either in waste deposits or large layers of rubbish associated with the city wall, which can be dated to the last third of the 2nd century BC. This is one of the largest and most varied groups of amphorae stamps and dipinti recorded on the western side of the Strait of Gibraltar and, in general, on the Atlantic façade of the Iberian Peninsulafor this period. It includes a significant group of Punic stamps, both of western and North African provenance, but also Greek and Roman examples, in addition to several tituli picti on Punic and Italic containers. Amongthem, some unpublished or unknown designs stand out, mostly among the Punic stamps, and the tituli picti revealnew data on the early stages of the operations of the Italic possessors in the western Mediterranean. Inaddition to the in?depth examination of each piece, the significance of this set in the commercial relations inthe western Iberian Peninsula after the Roman conquest and the role of Gadir as a key factor in these connectionsare considered. ; Presentamos un conjunto inédito de estampillas anfóricas y tituli picti de época romano?republicana documentados en las excavaciones realizadas entre los años 2005 y 2006 en el solar de la Biblioteca Municipal de Mértola. La mayor parte aparecieron en contexto, en pequeños basureros o grandes niveles de vertidos asociados a la muralla de la ciudad, que pueden fecharse en el último tercio del siglo II a. C. Se trata del grupo de epígrafes anfóricos más numeroso y variado de los registrados en la vertiente occidental del estrecho de Gibraltar y, en general, en la costa atlántica peninsular, para esta cronología. Reúne un nutrido grupo de estampillas de tradición púnica, tanto de procedencia occidental como norteafricana, así como también griegas y latinas, a los que se suman varios tituli picti ...