Amber Road
Operations of the ancient Amber Road, a trans-European, north–south amber trade route, continued and intensified during the Roman Empire. From the 1st century BCE the Amber Road connected the Baltic Sea shores and Aquileia, an important amber processing center. This route was controlled first by the Celts, later by the Romans south of the Danube, and then by Germanic tribes north of that river. It was used for transporting a variety of traded merchandise (and slaves) besides amber. As told in "Naturalis Historia" by Pliny the Elder, during the reign of Nero an equestrian of unknown name led an expedition to the Baltic shorelines and returned to Rome with huge quantity of amber, which was subsequently used for propagandist purposes during gladiator matches and other public games. The infrastructure of the Amber Road was destroyed by Germanic and Sarmatian attacks in the second half of the 3rd century CE, although it was still intermittently used until the mid-6th century. The Przeworsk culture sites provide a rich assortment of objects traded along the Amber Road.