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Provinces of the Late Roman Empire (1–500)

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    The Roman empire's cultural, economic, and population centers were the great cities of the east. With the exception of Rome, the west was largely rural and agricultural. The wealthy elites of the western provinces of Gaul (now France, Switzerland, and Belgium) and Britain, many of whom owned estates worked by slaves and free Celtic peasants, patronized the workshops of local artists. They not only had a taste for luxury goods drawn from the Roman tradition, like silver (47.100.33) and glass, but appreciated the enamelwork that had long been the specialty of Celtic craftsmen.

    Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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    Area inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples in Roman times (dashed line indicates the approximate northern boundary of the Roman empire and dependent territories in 1 A.D.).