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Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeology by period / region > European archaeology > Classical Greek & Roman archaeology
One Sunday evening in the summer of 2008, while prospecting on commercial land in the vicinity of the village of Warmington, situated on the summit of Edge Hill (south Warwickshire, England), a metal-detectorist saw a small silver disk on the surface. This was followed by the registration of a further two coins by his equipment, then others as he began a methodical survey of the area. After he had alerted the local Warmington Heritage Group to his discovery, the decision was taken to locate and mark the nucleus of the soundings being made and to leave further work to the following day. This revealed a spread of coins, at times up to fifty metres away from the original finds, but it was not till Tuesday that the nucleus itself was excavated, revealing a pot full of unstratified coins. Following cleaning, photographing, and initial identification, the hoard was deposited in the Warwickshire Museum pending arrangement of the necessary inquest in accordance with the Treasure Act. During this period additional coins came to light, bringing the total to 1146 specimens. Chronologically the hoard covers the period from 194/190 BC to AD 64,
This pioneering volume approaches the languages and scripts of ancient Cyprus from an interdisciplinary point of view, with a primarily linguistic and epigraphic approach supplemented by a consideration of their historical and cultural context. The focus is on furthering our knowledge of the non-Greek languages/scripts, as well as appreciating their place in relation to the much better understood Greek language on the island. Following on from recent advances in Cypro-Minoan studies, these difficult, mostly Late Bronze Age inscriptions are reassessed from first principles. The same approach is taken for non-Greek languages written in the Cypriot Syllabic script during the first millennium BC, chiefly the one usually referred to as Eteocypriot. The final section is then dedicated to the Phoenician language, which was in use on Cyprus for some hundreds of years. The result is a careful reappraisal of these languages/scripts after more than a century of sometimes controversial scholarship.
This research takes an integrative approach to the study of Hellenistic cult and cultic practices in an important part of western Asia by employing a combination of archaeological, numismatic and historical evidence. Although any thorough investigation of Seleukid religion would prove illuminating in itself, this research uses religion as a lens through which to explore the processes of acculturation and rejection within a colonial context. It discusses the state attitude towards, and manipulation of, both Hellenic and indigenous beliefs and places this within a framework developed out of a series of case studies exploring evidence for religion at a regional level. The study outlines the development of religious practices and expression in the region which formed the birthplace of the modern world's three most influential monotheistic religions.
Resheph was quite a popular god in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC - especially in Syria - but during the 1st millennium his cult became extinct. Finally it was only maintained in several peripheral and isolated sites, such as in the Palmyra desert and in Cyprus. Maciej M. Munnich presents the written sources which mentioned Resheph and analyzes the features of Resheph's cult. He emphasizes that there is no confirmation for the theory that Resheph was a lord of the netherworld. Resheph was a belligerent, aggressive god who used diseases to attack people, but who could also heal. In Egypt, Resheph was originally venerated as the deity who supported the Pharaoh in battles, but then he was summoned mainly because of illness and everyday needs. In ancient Israel, Resheph was at first reduced to the level of a demonic assistant of Yahweh, but his name then became a common term, always however in reference to the character of the deity. Among the Hurrites, Resheph appeared as a divine guardian of trade. He was not treated as a solely harmful, dangerous god, as has been suggested in numerous previous studies.
This authoritative study covers the period from the eighth century BC, which witnessed the emergence of the Greek city-states, to the conquests of Alexander the Great and the establishment of the Greek monarchies some five centuries later.
In 1995, Jeremy B. Rutter presented the pottery of the Fourth Settlement at Lerna in Lerna III: The Pottery of Lerna IV. The present volume is the companion to the Rutter volume, outlining the architectural sequence of the EH III period at the site with descriptions of the major building types and other features, such as hearths, ovens, and bothroi. Careful examination of the individual buildings and their contents constitutes the core of the text. The changing settlement patterns of the site through time are considered, and sources of influences are suggested.
This monograph examines the religious and mythological concepts of Zeus from prehistoric times until the Early Archaic period. The research was performed as an interdisciplinary study involving the evidence of the Homeric poems, archaeology, linguistics, as well as comparative Indo-European material. It is argued that Greek Zeus, as a god with certainly established Indo-European origins, was essentially a god of the open sky and the supposed progenitor of everything, a supreme, but not ruling deity; initially, he must have been distinct from the god of storms, who, for unknown reasons, completely disappeared from Greek religion and mythology by as early as the Late Bronze Age. From the time of Homer, Zeus-Father appeared as a storm-god, the autocratic ruler of the universe, and an offspring of elder deities, on the level of mythology. Such a concept does not correspond to the traditional Indo-European patterns and seems to have been formed under the influence of Near-Eastern concepts of the supreme almighty god, on the one hand, and the Cretan-Minoan concept of a young god/divine child, on the other. However, the Homeric concept of Zeus was adopted by his practising cults much later, only from the Late Archaic period.
A detailed study of the masonry defences of one England's most important Roman sites. Erected in c. 270 AD, the masonry walls of the Roman town of Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum; Hampshire, S. England) are part of the third system in a series of defensive works. They stand today to a height of almost 5m and are composed of up to seven lifts or stages, each consisting of a flint core and facing (now almost completely robbed away), capped by a string-course of large blocks and slabs that stretches across the full width (c. 3m) of the walls, formed of a wide variety of rock-types foreign to the district.
This volume combines diverse interests and methodologies with a single purpose: to give an overall picture of the new trends and perspectives currently used in the study of the epoch of Theodosius the Great and his successors, with special emphasis on the dynamics of places, power, belief and learning, and their mutual interdependencies. It is structured in two main sections - Ancient History and Archaeology and Philosophy and Literature. 16 essays in English, 8 in Spanish.
This is a study on textile production in central Tyrrhenian Italy from the final Bronze Age to the Republican period. Textile production is studied here through its technological, social and economic aspects. Textiles and their making were important parts of all fields of life in ancient Italy. Textiles and textile implements are found from settlement sites, burials, votive deposits and sanctuaries. The differences between the finds from different contexts through time point out the changes in material culture related to textile-making. The changes in the materials also indicate the change from household production of textiles
The present study evolved out of an attempt to explore the mechanisms involved in the transformation of a social practice and its spatial context from one cultural, technological and architectural system to another in a given geographical area in classical antiquity. The practice chosen was that of the bath, the two main and overlapping cultural traditions were the Greek and the Roman and the two technological traditions are termed in the present study 'before' and 'after' the hypocaust. The geographical area covered in the study is that of modern Greece with a more detailed analysis of the Peloponnese.
These papers demonstrate the importance of archaeological context in the study of Greek pottery. Topics include the reception and consumption of Greek pottery in various Italic societies, the archaeological interpretation of Attic pottery in Greek contexts, questions of trade and commissions, and the birth of red-figured pottery in Sioily. Four papers in English, two in Italian.
This study investigates the nature of indigenous settlement in northern England. Chapter 1 covers the geological background, modern literature on the Brigantes and the history of archaeological work in the area. Chapter 2 considers the relevant Roman literature and epigraphy. Chapter 3 discusses the artefactual and material evidence covering pottery, metalwork, taphonomy, querns, glass and coinage. Regional patterns based on use, decorative styles and the use of imported Roman goods and styles, are identified which may indicate the presence of indigenous societies. Chapter 4 also identifies evidence for regionalisms by observing patterning in settlement sites themselves. In both cases factors affecting the archaeological record are highlighted. These two diverse approaches produce broadly similar results. In chapter 5 conclusions are drawn regarding indigenous society and possible regional identities.
Excavations at Komini near Pljevlja and at Kolovrat near Prijepolje were conducted from 1964-1967, and again in 1970-1977. Two Roman-city cemeteries were discovered and nearly 700 graves, many of them with inscribed monuments. These excavations represent the significant finds of a Roman municipium at Komini, near present-day Pljevlja, which sprang up in the central Balkan area far from the main Roman communications network. The settlement grew in Roman times in the valley through which the small Cehotina river flows, a tributary of the river Lim. The municipium was situated in a plain enclosed by high mountains, not far from another big Roman settlement in present-day Kolovrat near Prijepolje. The Roman city existed, as the findings from the excavated cemeteries prove, for no longer than three and a half centuries, from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD. There is no doubt that the settlement was granted municipal status. Citizens holding municipal offices appear in the inscriptions, but the actual name of the municipium has not yet surfaced - either in inscriptions or in literary evidence. It is believed that the abbreviation 'S' in one inscription refers to the name of the municipium, although this is not proved by any other inscription. The author, in this new study of the site, has adopted the toponym 'Municipium S.', focussing on the collection, commentary, and re-publication of all the inscriptions from this location in the hope of presenting a reconstruction of the life of the city, from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD, basing his research on the literary, archaeological and epigraphical evidence.
The central focus of this research (covering the period from the middle of the Second Century BC to the middle or late Second Century AD) concerns the form and function of suburban villas and their meaning within Roman society. The research reveals that these buildings served a unique role within the community, portraying an appearance of leisure and culture to the wider community and yet maintaining an intimate connection with the city centre. For the purpose of this study the region of central Italy has been chosen, concentrating on two regions; the political capital at Rome and the vicinity around the Bay of Naples (the centres of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae). These sites have been selected because of the wealth of archaeological and literary evidence centred upon this region. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which covered a wide area, including Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae, has provided a unique location for analysing the architecture, decoration and lifestyles of Roman residences. This region was of great social importance to the political leaders of Rome, allowing an in-depth understanding of the domestic residences of many of the highest political leaders during the period. The literary evidence shows that the regions around Rome and the Bay of Naples had many villas owned by leading Roman citizens, and by examining these structures it is possible to gain a greater understanding of their lifestyles and the social climate within the upper strata of the community.
A catalogue and analysis of over 1000 Roman-period oil lamps from the Holy Land within the collection of the Israel Antiquities Authority. The Roman period in Palestine begins with the conquest of the East by Pompey in 63 BCE - essentially the period representing the continuation of the partial political and cultural annexation of the country to Western civilisation following the earlier arrival of Greek and Hellenistic culture.
The excavations on the Koukounaries Hill, Paros, Greece, conducted under the direction of Demetrius U. Schilardi for the Archaeological Society at Athens from 1976 to 1992, revealed a 12th century B.C.E. Mycenaean building, an Iron Age settlement, and an Archaic sanctuary. Koukounaries I: Mycenaean Pottery from Selected Contexts presents the pottery from five areas inside the building: three large storerooms, the main east-west corridor, and a small shrine, as well as the pottery from a limited reoccupation after the building's fire destruction and abandonment. The ceramics from the main occupation phase comprise the largest and best-preserved domestic assemblage from the 12th century B.C.E. in the Cyclades and offer important evidence for the continuation of Mycenaean culture after the destruction of the mainland palatial citadels. The small deposits of pottery from the reoccupation phase, provide important stratigraphic evidence for defining the Late Helladic IIIC ceramic sequence. The volume also considers the function of the individual spaces within the building, based largely on the patterns of shape distributions and quantities, with the statistics for each context presented in a series of appendices. Other issues area also explored, including the evidence for itinerant potters, the trade in antique vases, and the place of origin of the settlers who founded and inhabited the Mycenaean building on the summit of the Koukounaries Hill.
The modern Cypriot town of Polis Chrysochous-"City of Gold"-lies above the city of Arsinoe and the earlier city-kingdom of Marion. In 1885 excavators began exploring the extensive cemeteries of these cities. Since 1983 the Princeton Cyprus Expedition has focused on the remains of sanctuaries, public buildings, workshops, and private residences spanning the Geometric through Classical periods of Marion and the Hellenistic through Roman, early Christian, and medieval periods of Arsinoe. Combining archaeological investigation and historical analysis, City of Gold relates the discoveries establishing that these cities had close ties with Greece and with regions from Egypt to Anatolia, findings best represented by the painted vases and terracotta sculptures of Marion and the architecture of Arsinoe. Nearly half of the 110 artifacts included in the catalogue are previously unpublished, and another third are published in detail for the first time. Distributed for the Princeton University Art Museum Exhibition Schedule: Princeton University Art Museum(10/20/12-01/20/13)
This volume publishes the intial results from the excavation of a significant temple complex in northern Galilee dating from the earliest years of Roman imperial rule. Specialist reports describe the structural remains, wall painting fragments, pottery and small finds from the site, as well as looking at conservation issues. Further chapters discuss the complex as a major statement of Roman political control and influence in the region, and analyse its iconography.
The purpose of this study is to examine the healing strategies employed by the inhabitants of Egypt during the Roman period, from the late first century BC to the fourth century AD, in order to explore how Egyptian, Greek and Roman customs and traditions interacted within the province. Thus this study aims to make an original contribution to the history of medicine, by offering a detailed examination of the healing strategies (of which 'rational' medicine was only one) utilised by the inhabitants of one particular region of the Mediterranean during a key phase in its history, a region, moreover, which by virtue of the survival of papyrological evidence offers a unique opportunity for study. Its interdisciplinary approach, which integrates ancient literary, documentary, archaeological and scientific evidence, presents a new approach to understanding healing strategies in Roman provincial culture. It refines the study of healing within Roman provincial culture, identifies diagnostic features of healing in material culture and offers a more contextualised reading of ancient medical literary and documentary papyri and archaeological evidence. This study differs from previous attempts to examine healing in Roman Egypt in that it tries, as far as possible, to encompass the full spectrum of healing strategies available to the inhabitants of the province. The first part of this study comprises two chapters and focuses on the practitioners of healing strategies, both 'professional' and 'amateur'. Chapter 2 examines those areas of ancient medicine that have traditionally been neglected or summarily dismissed by scholars: 'domestic' and 'folk' medicine with particular emphasis on the extent to which the specific natural environment of any given location affects healing strategies. Chapter Three examines the nature and frequency of eye diseases and injuries suffered by the inhabitants of Roman Egypt. Chapter Four examines the nature and frequency of the fevers suffered by the inhabitants of Roman Egypt, focusing first on the disease malaria, which is attested by papyrological, archaeological and palaeopathological evidence as having been suffered throughout Egypt. Chapter Five examines the dangers that the animal species of Egypt could pose to the inhabitants of the province, focusing particularly upon snakes, scorpions, crocodiles and lions, as attested by papyrological and epigraphic evidence such as private letters, mummy labels and epitaph inscriptions. The concluding chapter underlines the importance for a study of the healing strategies utilised in any province of the Roman Empire (or indeed any region in the ancient world) of taking into account the historical, geographical, cultural and social context of the location in question.
Between 1999 and 2003 the University of Southampton conducted excavations on the site of Quseir al-Qadim (western shores of the Red Sea), a place that had not been examined since the excavations by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago ended in 1982. The new work was prompted by the discovery that the site of Quseir al-Qadim was, in all probability, not that of the minor port of Leucos Limen, as had been previously thought, but none other than Myos Hormos. This port, together with its sister harbour Berenike, articulated Rome's trade with India and the East. This second volume concentrates on the finds made during the excavation period and the volume concludes with an overview of what we now know of the nature and function of the ports of Myos Hormos and Quseir al-Qadim and a discussion of outstanding problems which can only be resolved by further work.
The important city of Halmyris lay where the Danube empties into the Black Sea (Romania). The sizable present collection of inscriptions published here contains the complete number of the epigraphs found before and during the excavations at the site of Murighiol (ancient Halmyris) in the span of time before ca. 1896 and 2010. The epigraphic material presented in this volume intends to be a contribution to the knowledge of the social, economic and military history of the local society in the remotest part of the province of Moesia inferior, the extrema Minoris Scythiae, and to provide additional documents to the already impressive collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions related to the territories between the Danube and the Black Sea.
The volume collects the papers of the International Conference on Disaster and Relief Management in Ancient Israel/Palestine, Egypt and the Ancient Near East held from the 4th of October to the 6th of October 2010 in Leipzig. Scholars from different fields are having a close look at the concepts of disasters in antiquity, their impact on society, possible dynamics and cultural dimensions. They give insights into their actual research on the destructivity and productivity of disasters, including the possibility that disasters were used as topoi in ideological, mythological and theological discourses. Their contributions in this volume represent a first step to a cultural history of disasters in antiquity.
This second volume on the ancient rural spa at Mezzomiglio, in use from at least the 2nd century BC, and flourishing in the 2nd century AD, reports on the finds from excavations conducted in 2002-10. The vast majority of the book is given over to presenting and analysing the pottery to give a detailed picture of occupation of the site and its integration into the wider economy. The volume also presents computer generated reconstructions of the site's structures.
'offers not only that breakfast for the mind we keep hearing about, but lunch, tea, dinner, supper and non-stop snacks...offers a cornucopia of accurate and succinct knowledge that would be hard to equal' (Peter Green, Washington Times about the third edition). For over sixty years, The Oxford Classical Dictionary has been the unrivalled one-volume reference in the field of classics. Now completely revised and updated to include the very latest research findings, developments, and publications, this highly acclaimed reference work will be the most up-to-date and comprehensive dictionary available on all aspects of the classical era. In over 6,700 entries written by the very best of classical scholars from around the world, the Dictionary provides coverage of Greek and Roman history, literature, myth, religion, linguistics, philosophy, law, science, art, archaeology, near eastern studies, and late antiquity. New entries supplement the existing material, including entries on topics such as Adrasteia, Latin anthologies, Jewish art, ancient religious beliefs, emotions, film, gender, kinship, and many more. Other specific developments include an added focus on two new areas: 'anthropology ' and 'reception'. All entries are written in an accessible style and all Latin and Greek words have been translated to ensure ease of use. Under the editorship of Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow, a huge range of contributors have revised and updated the text, which has made an already outstanding work even better. The Dictionary covers: 1) politics, government, economy - from political figures to political systems, terms and practices, histories of major states and empires, economic theory, agriculture, artisans and industry, trade and markets 2) religion and mythology - deities and mythological creatures, beliefs and rituals, sanctuaries and sacred buildings, astrology 3) law and philosophy - from biographies of lawgivers and lawyers to legal terms and procedures, from major and minor philosophers to philosophical schools, terms, and concepts 4) science and geography - scientists and specific theory and practice, doctors and medicine, climate and landscape, natural disasters, regions and islands, cities and settlements, communications 5) languages, literature, art, and architecture - languages and dialects, writers and literary terms and genres, orators and rhetorical theory and practice, drama and performance, art, painters and sculptors, architects, buildings and materials 6) archaeology and historical writing - amphorae and pottery, shipwrecks and cemeteries, historians, and Greek and Roman historiography 7) military history - generals, arms and armour, famous battles, attitudes to warfare 8) social history, sex, and gender - women and the family, kinship, peasants and slaves, attitudes to sexuality |
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