Finally, a few words seem in order regarding the
nature of the commerce involving ETS and WTS. At
least during the Roman Period large armies had been
brought into the Eastern Mediterranean and
garrisons established. It has been suggested that fine
table wares were brought in either by soldiers or for
them. As far as sites in Israel are concerned, this
thesis seems untenable. Some of the sites in which the
largest amounts of these wares were found had no
garrisons of foreign troops. In those sites which had
garrisons (e.g. Jerusalem and Masada), the places of
encampment are known but no wares of this kind
have been found at these sites.