Ring of Commerce

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Archeologists have discovered ancient coins in near Antioch, Syria from a variety of neighboring countries dating to the time of the Roman Empire. They have inferred that the Roman Empire established the Antioch as a center of trade, or at least a hub through which trade routes of many countries passed.

Which of the following would, if true, most significantly strengthen the archeologists' inference?

Situated at the crossing of both north-south and east-west trade routes, Antioch was perfectly positioned to be a commercial center.

A historian's journal reveals that, when Alexander the Great visited Antioch, he made a dedication speech at a temple in which he referred to Antioch as "the commercial jewel of the Empire, Syrian-born."

During the Empire, the Romans saw fit to build great temples, a forum, a theater, baths, aqueducts, and other public buildings in Antioch.

There were virtually no coins from neighboring countries found in Antioch that dated to the time prior to the advent of the Roman Empire in the city.

Archeologists also found a record of a gold wire-fashioner's guild, dated from the same time as the coins, which had detailed notations of the shipments coming and going from Antioch to a number of nearby countries.

Review: Ring of Commerce

Explanation

Reading the question: we find an extremely brief argument. We can compare with Taxes and Growth: both questions present arguments, and both arguments are brief. The argument in Taxes and Growth has a structure more like a syllogism, so this question may not be quite so perfect for term matching as Taxes and Growth, but we can still try term matching. Term matching is viable on some level whenever you have an argument with evidence and a conclusion.

Creating a filter: the key terms in this argument are "coins," in the evidence, and "trade center," in the conclusion. The argument's purpose is to establish a connection between these two concepts, so the answer choice that most strengthens our connection between "coins" and "trade center" will be the correct answer. With that criterion as our filter, we can head to the answer choices.

Applying our filter, we can examine each choice in turn first for whether it has to do with the linkage of 1) coins and 2) trade center. Which answer choices mention both the coins and the trade center? None of them! Taking a step back and looking at basic relevance, we can see that choices (D) and (E) are most relevant. If we can logically prove one, we'll have our answer.

Logical proof: If we accept the negation of (D) as fact, then there were coins predating the Roman Empire in the area. This fact would destroy the argument, because in that case coins would not be proof that Romans established the center of trade. Since accepting the negation of (D) destroys the argument, accepting (D) itself strengthens the argument: it patches a critical weakness in the argument. How about (E)? Choice (E) is tricky, because it gives strength to the conclusion of the argument. It introduces a new piece of evidence supporting that conclusion, and that does strengthen the conclusion. But it is less material to the argument given, which involves the connection between coins and the conclusion drawn from the coins found. Choice (D) "passes" the negation test and (E) does not. Therefore, the correct answer is (D).

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Ring of Commerce