Punic and late Punic amphorae between the 3rd and 2nd centuries. B.C. from the Latium Vetus area

. This article concerns the preliminary study of Punic materials, attested in the Latin area and datable to the period between the treaties and the Punic wars. A focus will be made on possible imports from the Tunisian and Libyan area, based on the morphology and fabric of the ceramics analysed. One of the aims of this study is to investigate the presence of 'Punic hostages', mentioned in the sources between the last decades of the 3rd and the first half of the 2nd century BC, in Rome and Latium . To this end, Punic materials of the same chronology, found in the cities mentioned by Titus Livius and Cornelius Nepos as places of keeping the hostages were considered, such as the cities of Norba , Setia , Signa , Fregellae , and Praeneste . In addition, some material from a period after the destruction of Carthage will be mentioned, such as the amphorae of types T-7.5.3.1. or T-7.5.2.2. as evidence of trade even after the fall of the Punic city. Unpublished contexts, both sacred (such as votive deposits) and inhabited (material from rural settlements and inhabited centers) will be briefly presented in order to synthetically outline the trade network between Rome and Carthage and its changes between the 3rd and the second half of the 2nd century BC.