A recent synthesis mapped the distribution of Pontic, mostly Sinopean, amphorae in the Eastern Mediterranean during the fourth to seventh centuries. This study was basically concerned with amphorae of Kassab Tezgör type-group C Snp II-III datable to the fourth and fifth, and specimens of type-group D Snp I-III datable to the late fifth to early seventh centuries. One of this study’s preliminary conclusions was that the latter group appears to have been more widespread both quantitatively and geographically.

This raised, among others, the question what was happening prior to the fourth century, and whether a longue durée picture could help to improve our understanding of the role of Sinopean amphorae in the Roman East more generally. This paper therefore aims to present preliminary findings on the distribution of amphorae of type-group B Snp I-III, again presumably mostly of Sinopean manufacture, of the second and third centuries.