The bearded and mature figure of Christ stands majestically raising his right hand, open palm facing the viewer. In his left he holds an unfurled scroll. Saints Peter and Paul appear on either side, Peter approaching to catch or protect the dangling bookroll. This image, the so-called traditio legis, first appeared in late fourthcentury Rome in a variety of media, from the monumental to the miniature, including mosaic, catacomb painting, gold-glass and, the most numerous group, marble relief carving on sarcophagi. This monograph engages in a close reading of the traditio legis, highlighting its novelty and complexity to early Christian viewers. The image is analyzed as a conflation of two distinct forms of representation, each constructed of unusual and potentially multivalent elements. Iconographical details like the hirsute Christ, his gesture, Peter's covered hands and the unorthodox positioning of the two saints are examined in isolation and as elements of the whole. The synthetic composition invited alternative and over-determined meanings.

Egyptian Cultural Identity in the Architecture of Roman Egypt (30 BC-AD 325) considers the relationship between architectural form and different layers of identity assertion in Roman Egypt. The Roman province of Aegyptus was a peculiar province such that many scholars have generally assumed that it was given a special status in the Roman Empire. The text covers the period from the Roman conquest of Egypt under Octavian in 30 BC to the official recognition of Christianity in AD 325. It stresses the sophistication of the concept of identity, and the complex yet close association between architecture and identity. This monograph is the outcome of four years of research at the Department of Classics and Ancient History, the University of Durham. The book will be of interest and value for both Classicists and Egyptologists working on the archaeology of Egypt under Roman rule and the concept of identity.

Large numbers of Greco-Italic and Dressel 1 amphorae were exported to many parts of Gaul during the late Iron Age and they provide a major source of information on the development and growth of the Roman economy during the late Republican period. This volume examines in detail this trade to the Auvergne region of central France and provides a typological and chronological study of the main assemblages of Republican amphorae found on the farms, agglomerations, oppida, and funerary sites, dating from the second century BC until the early first century AD. Other topics examined include the provenance of the amphorae, the stamps, painted inscriptions and graffiti, the distribution of Republican amphorae in the Auvergne, and the evidence for their modification and reuse. Finally, a gazetteer of Republican amphora findspots from France is also provided.

This book is the first to closely examine the location of the earliest purpose-built Christian buildings inside the city of Rome in their contemporary context. It argues that some of these were deliberately sited by their builders so as to utilise prominent positions within the urban landscape or to pragmatically reuse pre-existing bath facilities for Christian liturgical practice. Several examples are discussed with the latest archaeological discoveries explored. Two particular case studies are also examined within the Subura area of the city, and their urban location is examined in relation to the commercial, religious, social and public spaces around them, known through a 3rd century A.D. survey of the city. Certain other Christian basilicas in the city encroached or blocked roads, were situated by main arterial highways, were located on hills and eventually reused prestigious public buildings. Other examples were located by potent 'pagan' sites or important places of public congregation, with two structures suggesting the political astuteness of a 4th century pope. This book shows that the spatial Christianisation of Rome was not a random and haphazard process, but was at times a planned project that strategically built new Christian centres in places that would visually or practically enhance what were generally small and modest structures.

This volume is in honour of the Austrian scholar Prof. Dr Hannsjoerg Ubl. It contains a tabula gratulatoria, a bibliography and 24 contributions covering a wide range of topics. The focus being Greek and Roman, the volume includes papers about the Langobards, renaissance replicas of classical sculpture, and the archaeology of World War I. The 'classical' papers deal with Greek and Roman art and art looting; dogs in Greek and Roman warfare; Roman looking-glasses; erotic inscriptions of Gaulish spindle whorls; military equipment and dress accessories; Roman military history and the non-military archaeology of Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia.

Discussions and scientific exchange are crucial for the advancement of a young discipline such as the study of Roman pottery in the Near East. Therefore, in addition to large conferences such as the 'Late Roman Coarse Ware Conference' (LRCW) where the Near East plays only a marginal role, an international workshop with 20 participants dedicated solely to the study of Roman common ware pottery in the Near East was held in Berlin on 18th and 19th February 2010. The goal of this workshop was to provide researchers actively engaged in the study of Roman common wares the possibility to meet and discuss the current state of research as well as questions and problems they are facing with their material. Some of the participants were able to bring pottery samples, which provided the possibility to compare and discuss the identification and denomination of specific fabrics on a regional and supra-regional scale. This volume presents 17 papers from this stimulating event. The Archaeopress series, Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean Pottery (RLAMP) is devoted to research of the Roman and late Antique pottery in the Mediterranean. It is designed to serve as a reference point for all potential authors devoted to pottery studies on a pan-Mediterranean basis. The series seeks to gather innovative individual or collective research on the many dimensions of pottery studies ranging from pure typological and chronological essays, to diachronic approaches to particular classes, the complete publication of ceramic deposits, pottery deposit sequences, archaeometry of ancient ceramics, methodological proposals, studies of the economy based on pottery evidence or, among others, ethnoarchaeological ceramic research that may help to understand the production, distribution and consumption of pottery in the Mediterranean basin.

When soldiers of the Roman 9th Legion arrived in AD 70, they built a fortress and this huge military camp formed the foundation of the modern city of York. Roman legionaries were garrisoned in the city for over three centuries and a huge provincial town grew up around them. Eboracum was a city at the edge of the Empire. The city was a thriving metropolitan hub and a cultural and technological boiling pot, as well as being a seat of power visited by Roman Emperors. Author Adam Parker introduces the archaeology of Eboracum, discussing the people, the places, and the objects in an accessible way, illustrated throughout.

Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiqua XI: Monuments from Phrygia and Lykaonia is a corpus of 387 Greek and Latin inscriptions and other ancient and medieval monuments from inner Anatolia (Phrygia, Lykaonia, and south-western Galatia). Most of these monuments were recorded by William Calder and Michael Ballance in annual expeditions to Asia Minor between 1954 and 1957. The results of these expeditions were never published, and around three-quarters of the monuments in the volume are published here for the first time. All the inscriptions are translated in full, with extensive commentaries and photographic illustration. The volume includes a geographical introduction to the sites and regions covered by the corpus, and full indices. Peter Thonemann teaches Greek and Roman history at Wadham College, Oxford. He is the author of The Maeander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity to Byzantium (Cambridge, 2011), and the editor of Roman Phrygia: Culture and Society (Cambridge, 2013), a companion volume to this corpus.

Les pratiques funeraires en Pannonie de l'epoque augusteenne a la fin du 3e siecle aims to give an overview of Roman burial practices in Pannonia during the Early Roman period. Among the different approaches proposed by R. Reece for the study of Roman cemeteries, this work focuses on the grave treatment and grave furnishing. The funerary practices are thus apprehended through the study of tomb structure, the selection and treatment of grave goods and human remains. The book proposes a synthesis of the published finds to serve as a base for future research. The analysis consists of a documentary review (presented in the catalogue and numerous tables) as complete as possible from the published data, accompanied by a detailed analysis of the information available today to highlight the trends regarding the entire province but also the peculiarities that can be distinguished at the regional level. The analysis is supported by many graphics and maps. Many general trends, common to the western provinces of the Roman Empire, were detected but also many particularities linked to the economic and social situation of the communities, the different components of the population of Pannonia and the political and military history of the province.

This study (the second volume in the Archaeopress series devoted to the publication of ceramics in the Roman Mediterranean and outlying territories from the late Republic to late Antiquity) addresses the level of interregional trade of ceramic building material (CBM), traditionally seen as a high bulk low value commodity, within the ancient Mediterranean between the third century BC and the seventh century AD. It examines the impact of different modes of production, distribution and consumption of CBM and how archaeological assemblages differ from what is predicted by current models of the ancient economy. It also explores how CBM can be used to investigate cultural identity and urban form. CBM has great potential in investigating these topics. It survives in large quantities in the archaeological record; it is transported as a commodity in its own right, not as a container for other products like amphorae. The amount of CBM used in a building can be estimated, and this can be extrapolated to urban centres to model consumption in ways that are not possible for other goods. This allows the potential derivation of economic information to a higher level of precision than is the case for other materials. The material used in this study derives from stratified assemblages from two major ports of the ancient Mediterranean: Carthage and Beirut. CBM as a material is comparable to pottery, only it does not exhibit the same range of forms. This leaves fabric as a major means of analysing CBM samples. For this reason a programme of petrological thin sectioning has been carried out on these assemblages. These data have been combined with the taphonomic and dating evidence from the excavations. The results showed that the levels of imports of CBM into these two cities were much higher than would normally be expected from the orthodox model of the consumer city. They also suggest that CBM can be used as a tool to investigate cultural identity.

The Running of the Roman Household explores the real 'every-day' life of the Romans and the effort required to run a Roman household. It considers the three elements of housework - supply, maintenance and disposal. It is divided into sections on how the Romans collected water and fuel, milled flour and produced thread; how they cleaned the house, illuminated it, did the washing up, cleaned their clothes, got rid of waste water and sewage, and threw out their rubbish. The evidence is taken from literary, archaeological and artistic sources, and often compared to historical or modern parallels from communities using the same methods.

Examples of Roman period red-gloss and red-slip pottery (terra sigillata) found during excavations in the Athenian Agora form the focus of this volume. These fine wares, like the other table wares of the first seven centuries A.D. discussed here, were all imported--a very different situation to earlier periods where Athens was known as a great ceramic-making center, and perhaps the result of mass destruction of potters' workshops during the Sullan sack of 86 B.C. While the image of a demolished pottery industry is tragic, the consequent conglomeration of fine-wares from many parts of the Roman empire in one city makes the Athenian Agora a tremendous source of comparanda for archaeologists working all round the Mediterranean. Written by the world's leading expert on Roman pottery, this huge catalogue illustrating and identifying multiple shapes and types of decoration will therefore be an essential reference book.

Beneath the famous remains of the House of the Tiles and the other Bronze Age remains found at Lerna, a large amount of Neolithic pottery was found during 1950s excavations by the American School of Classical Studies. Although the mixing of material makes it impossible to establish an independent ceramic sequence for the site, the author is able to differentiate Early and Middle Neolithic types using her knowledge of material from the well-stratified Franchthi Cave, across the Argolic Gulf. By placing the ceramic material in archaeological context, the author makes a number of important new claims about Lerna's earliest history. While the date of the first settlement is still unclear, the Middle Neolithic was clearly a time of intensive occupation at Lerna, when the digging of at least one long ditch across the site suggests some internal planning. Sherds of the first Late Neolithic phase are totally absent, suggesting that Lerna had been abandoned by the end of Middle Neolithic but substantial quantities of Final Neolithic pottery, found largely in pits and two graves, suggest ritual reuse in this period. A final chapter (in both English and Modern Greek) summarizes the results of the study, including the changing patterns of burial practices over the course of the Neolithic. (A CD-ROM with 86 color images of the pottery is included.) This volume is also available to download in .ePub format. This digital format allows reading on your mobile device (such as an iPhone or a Sony Reader) or on your computer (using a reader such as Adobe Digital Editions). Click on the following link to download the .ePub edition: Download as .zip file

Rome in the Pyrenees is a unique treatment in English of the archaeological and historical evidence for an important Roman town in Gaul, Lugdunum in the French Pyrenees, and for its surrounding people the Convenae. The book opens with the creation of the Convenae by Pompey the Great in the first century B.C. and runs down to the great Frankish siege in A.D. 585 and its aftermath. Now the town of Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, Lugdunum is one of the best-known Roman towns in Gaul, with a rich selection of monuments at the town itself and important remains in the countryside, such as the classic villa at Montmaurin or the votive altars, cinerary caskets and sarcophagi in the local marble. The book traces how the Convenae used their marble to help create their identity, invisible before Pompey but amongst the richest and most distinctive in Gaul by the second century A.D. Drawing on his own excavations at Saint-Bertrand and the extensive earlier and recent work there, Simon Esmonde Cleary combines a clear description of the buildings and monuments of Lugdunum and of its countryside with a discussion of what they can tell us about the impact of Rome on this remote corner of its empire. This book will be extremely valuable to ancient historians, classicists and students of Roman archaeology, and contains a guide to the visible Roman remains of the area.

The only systematic study in any language of all known Greek statue bases with sculptural relief, both surviving and known through literary sources

The Exilarchs, professed scions of the biblical Davidic royal line, were leaders of the Jews of Babylonia in antiquity. They were said to be powerful political figures and to lead a decadent lifestyle. Their princely trappings and high-handed manner were legend. They were reported to be completely assimilated into Persian culture. Geoffrey Herman examines the evidence, culled mainly from the Talmudic and Geonic literature, subjecting the institution of the Exilarchate to literary-historical and source-critical analysis. In addition, Herman innovatively utilizes comparative sources from the fields of Iranian studies and Persian Christianity to find the truth underlying the accounts of the historical Exilarchs.

Christopher Wordsworth (1807-85), the "Great Christopher" of Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge, was a nephew of William the poet, and brother to the student who launched the University Boat Race. In 1832 he took a gap-year, after his brilliant studies in ancient Greek and Latin classics, to travel back in time over two thousand years to Pericles' Athens. The account of his tour, Athens and Attica (1836), is still the perfect scholarly companion to the history, topography, and myths of an area compact in dimension yet vast in terms of its contribution to Western civilization. "The Bazaar or Market at Athens is a long street. Looking up you command a view of the commodities. Barrels of black caviar, small pocket-looking-glasses in red pasteboard cases, onions, tobacco piled up in brown heaps, black olives, figs strung together upon a rush, pipes with amber mouthpieces and brown clay bowls, silver-chased pistols, dirks, belts, and embroidered waistcoats. Such is the present state of Athens...a few Turks still doze in the archways of the Acropolis, or recline while smoking their pipes, and leaning with their backs against the rusty cannon. A few days ago the cannon of the Acropolis fired the signal of the conclusion of the Turkish Ramazam - the last which will ever be celebrated in Athens." - Christopher Wordsworth, 1832

Every year archaeological research is producing new evidence for the study of Greek colonisation. The eight essays in this collection dedicated to Sir John Boardman provide an up-to-date survey of these new discoveries. They introduce new approaches to handling both the old and new data, pointing out at the same time the gaps and possible future directions for the study of Greek colonisation from the archaeological viewpoint. Contributors include A M Snodgrass (The growth and standing of the early Western colonies), M R Popham (Early Greek contact with the East), D Ridgway (Phoenicians and Greeks in the West), J N Coldstream (Pithekoussai, Kyme and central Italy), B. Shefton (Massalia and colonisation in the north-western Mediterranean), F. De Angelis (The foundation of Selinous: Overpopulation or opportunities?), G. Tsetskhladze (Greek penetration of the Black Sea), John Boardman (Settlement for trade and land in North Africa).

The definitive work on the monuments of ancient Athens and Attica In this book, a leading authority on the archaeology of ancient Greece presents a survey of the monuments-first chronologically and then site by site. John M. Camp begins with a comprehensive narrative history of the monuments from the earliest times to the sixth century A.D. Drawing on literary and epigraphic evidence, including Plutarch's biographies, Pausanias's guidebook, and thousands of inscriptions, he discusses who built a given structure, when, and why. Camp presents dozens of passages in translation, allowing the reader easy access to the variety and richness of the ancient sources. In effect, this main part of the book provides an engrossing history of ancient Athens as recorded in its archaeological remains. The second section of the book offers in-depth discussions of individual sites in their physical context, including accounts of excavations in the modern era. Written in a clear and engaging style and lavishly illustrated, Camp's archaeological tour of Athens is certain to appeal not only to scholars and students but also to visitors to the area.

Scholars of rabbinics and Iranists are increasingly turning to the orbit of Iranian civilization in order to explore the extent to which the Babylonian Talmud was exposed to the theological and liturgical discourse of the Zoroastrian religion, as well as Sasanian legal practices. Here possibly for the first time, scholars within these fields are brought together in concert to examine the interaction between Jewish and Iranian cultures in terms of legal exegesis, literature, and religious thought. The implications of this groundbreaking effort are vastly significant for Jewish and Iranian Studies. With contributions by: Yaakov Elman, David Goodblatt, Geoffrey Herman, Richard Kalmin, Maria Macuch, Jason Sion Mokhtarian, Shai Secunda, Shaul Shaked, Prods Oktor SkjAervo, Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina

'Archaic and Classical Harbours of the Greek World' explores the archaeology and history of ancient harbours and focuses on the Greek world during the Archaic and Classical eras. Its objective is to establish a consensus on three fundamental questions: What locations were the most propitious for the installation of harbours? What kinds of harbour-works were built and for what purpose? What harbour forms were documented? These subjects have been addressed by evaluating multiple forms of evidence (archaeological, geographical, nautical, textual, iconographic and geological) in the context of the Aegean and Eastern Ionian maritime settings.

Who's Who in the Roman World is a wide-ranging biographical survey of one of the greatest civilizations in history. Covering a period from the 5th century BC to AD 364, this is an authoritative and hugely enjoyable guide to an era which continues to fascinate today. The figures included come from all walks of Roman life and include some of history's most famous - not to mention infamous - figures as well as hitherto little-known, but no less fascinating, characters. These include :
* the notorious emperors - Caligula; Nero; Elagabalus; Commodus
* the great poets, philosophers and historians - Virgil; Tacitus; Seneca; Ovid
* the brilliant politicians and soldiers - Hannibal; Scipio; Caesar; Mark Antony; Constantine
* noteworthy citizens - Acte, mistress of Nero; Catiline, the revolutionary; Spartacus, champion of the slaves; Gaius Verres, the corrupt governor of Sicily.
The inclusion of cross-referencing, a glossary of terms, select bibliographies, maps, genealogies and an author's preface complete what is at once a superb reference resource and an enormously entertaining read.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203425995

The Hypogeum of the Aurelii: A new interpretation as the collegiate tomb of professional scribae' examines the frescoes of one of the most enigmatic funerary monuments of ancient Rome. The three chambers of the Hypogeum of the Aurelii, so-named from an mosaic inscription in one of the surviving chambers, contain a varied series of images that have long been considered an example of early Christian or Gnostic iconography. One hundred years after the monument's discovery Dr Bradley challenges earlier theories and concludes that far from having religious significance the pictures reveal a world of professional pride among a group of what we might today call 'white collar workers'. Although not among the rich and famous of Imperial Rome, the deceased nevertheless rose from a state of slavery to positions within the bureaucracy at the centre of an empire at its height. Although part of a strictly hierarchical, and male-dominated, society the community to which the Aurelii belonged provided an environment of comparative equality: a community that acknowledged the contribution and expertise of both women and children in their profession. The pride in their achievement is reflected in the decoration of the tomb in which they expected to spend eternity. This study, the first in modern times to examine all the extant images in detail, will be of interest, not only to historians of ancient Roman art, but also to social historians who wish to more fully understand the lives of those who helped support the running of an empire.

The cult of relics, encouraged by, among others, the emperor Constantine, Pope Damasus and the bishops Ambrose of Milan and Paulinus of Nola, led to the transformation of the Late Antique Italian landscape, and of suburban areas in particular. The process of gradual enhancement of the martyrs' tombs led to the creation of extensive sanctuaries, generally composed of funerary and cultic buildings, as well as service structures, pilgrims' lodgings and monasteries. The most important sanctuaries, such as those of Saints Peter in the Vatican, Paul on the Ostiense, Erasmus in Formia, Alexander in Nomentum, Felix in Cimitile, Gennaro in Naples, Felix in Venosa, Marcianus in Syracuse, and the Apostles in Concordia Sagittaria, became so popular that they justified Jerome's phrase: movetur urbs sedibus suis et currit ad martyrum tumulos. Between the 5th and 6th century, sanctuaries spread also in rural areas, usually along important roads, as documented by the site of San Canzian d'Isonzo. Analysing hypogeal and subdial contexts, Santuari e spazi confessionali nell'Italia tardoantica outlines the evolution of loca sancta, in a process that led the venerated tombs to become first memoriae, then places of worship and finally articulated sanctuaries. For the first time, the contexts of Rome are organically compared with those of the rest of Italy.

The Archaeology of Death: Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of Italian Archaeology held at the National University of Ireland, Galway, April 16-18, 2016 includes more than 60 papers, with contributors from the British Isles, Italy and other parts of continental Europe, and North and South America, which consider recent developments in Italian archaeology from the Neolithic to the modern period. Each region of Italy is represented, with specific sections of the volume devoted to Etruria, South Italy, and Sicily. Other sections have a chronological focus, including Italian Prehistory, the Roman period, and Post Antiquity. Following the primary theme of the meeting, the majority of papers revolve around the archaeology of death; numerous contributions analyse the cultural significance of death through examinations of funerary rituals and mortuary practices, while others analyse burial data for evidence of wider social and political change. Various papers consider new and recent discoveries in Italian archaeology, while others ask fresh questions of older datasets. In addition, a number of contributions showcase their employment of new methodologies deriving from technological innovations. The volume opens with a dedicatory section to mark the achievements of the Accordia Research Institute, and to celebrate the careers of two of its founders, Ruth Whitehouse and John Wilkins. The following paper(s) are available to download in Open Access: Cremation structures and funerary dynamics in Roman Veneto. New perspectives from Padua/Patavium - Cecilia Rossi and Irene Marini: Download