A Study on the Late Antique Board Game Duodecim Scripta/Alea from Stratonikeia and Lagina

Knossos was an important city on Crete and within Mediterranean networks during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Late Antique periods. However, there were significant social, cultural, and economic shifts that appear to have caused changes to daily lifeways, including diet. This paper sets out to explore dietary changes across these time periods by looking at dental caries, with reference also to antemortem tooth loss, calculus, and stable isotope data. This study also looks to contextualize these results using archaeological and textual information relating to diet. It presents a thorough methodological approach to the investigation and interpretation of caries and discusses some of the shortcomings of using a fragmentary and commingled skeletal assemblage. The Roman diet was more cariogenic than in the Hellenistic or Late Antique periods. The caries‐zone analysis of the teeth suggests that there may have been a greater addition of sugars to the diet in the Roman period, though the increased caries could also be due to improved preparation techniques and technologies producing a more refined and sticky carbohydrate diet. Such changes could be due to either increased connectivity making certain foods more readily available, the cultural changes in food consumption or dental hygiene due to the influx of merchants, colonists, migrants, and other newcomers to the Colonia Iulia Nobilis Cnosus that was Roman Knossos, or increased prosperity at the site in this period. There was a significant difference detected between females and males for caries indicating differential dietary practices between the sexes, which was most notable for the Roman period.

This paper begins with an accusation of theft. 'The fall of the Roman empire' is a common, indeed standard, phrase used to refer to the effects of events such as the sack of Rome in 4io, and the deposing of Emperor Romulus Augus tulus in 476. Yet these events are relevant only to the fall of the western Roman empire. Of course everyone knows this; some authors even using the first formu lation and then changing to the second. What makes this self-deception of 'the fall of the Roman empire' possible, especially as we also all know that the eastern Roman empire continued beyond the fifth century, via Justinian in the sixth, until I453? Part of the answer seems to be that we-or at least those of us writing within the anglophone tradition-obscure the Roman status of the eastern empire by referring to it as the Byzantine empire, a term never as far as I know used by the rulers of that empire themselves. The combined effect of using 'Roman empire' for 'western Roman empire' and 'Byzantine empire' for'eastern Roman empire' is to deprive the eastern Roman empire of its romanitas (the 'theft' of my introduction) and, in turn, to make the West appear the sole inheritor of the Roman tradition. I have introduced the paper with this observation because the end of antiquity in the West is a fulcrum in arguments about the origins of Europe, and because any discussion of those origins involves well-known terms and phrases which may allow more than one meaning. In fact, it is likely that there is not a single concept of any importance in this paper which has not been the subject of debate. This is so not least with the concept of the continent of Europe, since Europe is not a con tinent (in the sense of being separate and contained), but rather a region of Eurasia. Europe is never referred to as a subcontinent, as India is, despite the vastly greater barrier represented by the Himalayas than by the Urals or the Don. Taking Europe to mean the culture identified with Europe for the last few centuries and in the modern world, the most prominent candidates for its origins are the Bronze Age, ancient Greece, the Roman empire, late antiquity in the West, the Carolingian dynasty, the Ottonian dynasty, and finally the Renaissance (or, after prehistory, one might say, the Greeks, the Romans, the barbarians, the Franks, the Saxons, and the Italians). All have been proposed as originators at various points over the last century; deciding between them is not a matter of establishing one right answer and six wrong ones, so much as weighing different criteria against one another. To me the evidence suggests that three criteria in particular are crucial, namely (a) cultural characteristics that are identifiable over an extended length of time; (b) an awareness of the concept of Europe; and (c) signs of a coherent process leading to the culture of present-day Europe.

This paper begins with an accusation of theft. 'The fall of the Roman empire' is a common, indeed standard, phrase used to refer to the effects of events such as the sack of Rome in 4io, and the deposing of Emperor Romulus Augus tulus in 476. Yet these events are relevant only to the fall of the western Roman empire. Of course everyone knows this; some authors even using the first formu lation and then changing to the second. What makes this self-deception of 'the fall of the Roman empire' possible, especially as we also all know that the eastern Roman empire continued beyond the fifth century, via Justinian in the sixth, until I453? Part of the answer seems to be that we-or at least those of us writing within the anglophone tradition-obscure the Roman status of the eastern empire by referring to it as the Byzantine empire, a term never as far as I know used by the rulers of that empire themselves. The combined effect of using 'Roman empire' for 'western Roman empire' and 'Byzantine empire' for'eastern Roman empire' is to deprive the eastern Roman empire of its romanitas (the 'theft' of my introduction) and, in turn, to make the West appear the sole inheritor of the Roman tradition. I have introduced the paper with this observation because the end of antiquity in the West is a fulcrum in arguments about the origins of Europe, and because any discussion of those origins involves well-known terms and phrases which may allow more than one meaning. In fact, it is likely that there is not a single concept of any importance in this paper which has not been the subject of debate. This is so not least with the concept of the continent of Europe, since Europe is not a con tinent (in the sense of being separate and contained), but rather a region of Eurasia. Europe is never referred to as a subcontinent, as India is, despite the vastly greater barrier represented by the Himalayas than by the Urals or the Don. Taking Europe to mean the culture identified with Europe for the last few centuries and in the modern world, the most prominent candidates for its origins are the Bronze Age, ancient Greece, the Roman empire, late antiquity in the West, the Carolingian dynasty, the Ottonian dynasty, and finally the Renaissance (or, after prehistory, one might say, the Greeks, the Romans, the barbarians, the Franks, the Saxons, and the Italians). All have been proposed as originators at various points over the last century; deciding between them is not a matter of establishing one right answer and six wrong ones, so much as weighing different criteria against one another. To me the evidence suggests that three criteria in particular are crucial, namely (a) cultural characteristics that are identifiable over an extended length of time; (b) an awareness of the concept of Europe; and (c) signs of a coherent process leading to the culture of present-day Europe.

A total of 1496 investigated colourless glass analyses have been collected with the aim of achieving a clear geographical, typological, chronological and compositional overview on this particular type of glass. Based on manganese and antimony contents, four main groups were characterised: naturally colourless, Mn-decoloured, Sb-decoloured and Mn/Sb-decoloured. Main achievements relates to the chronological distribution of manganese and antimony technologies, the former being associated to a long lasting technology which culminated during the Late Antique period while the latter being practically absent after the 8th century AD, being at its acme during the Roman imperial period. Except for naturally colourless glass, glass-making technology mostly implied the use of impure sands and natron, relegating the other components to a virtually irrelevant presence, except during the Late Antique and Medieval periods.

Tarsus is located in the lowland part of the Cilicia Region. The modern city was built on the ancient city. Therefore, the ruins of the Ancient Period are encountered at different points of the modern settlement. The excavation area, called the Zeytin Pazarı, is located about 700 meters north of the Roman colonnaded street. A water reservoir structure and a mosaic from the Roman Period were discovered during the rescue excavation. After the structure lost its function, it was filled with soil, rubble, and many ceramics of different forms from the Late Antique Period. Among the ceramics are amphorae from different centuries and production centers. They prove Tarsus' trade relations with the Mediterranean, the Aegean, and the Black Sea. This article examines the Aegean and Western Anatolian amphorae of the Zeytin Pazarı. The paper aims to classify and date these amphorae. The finds were discovered alongside mixed fill material dating to the Roman and Late Antique Periods. Therefore, the amphorae were dated with the help of similar samples. As a result of the research, the excavation at Zeytin Pazarı has yielded the Aegean and Western Anatolian amphorae, such as DR 2-4, Late Rhodian, Kapitän II, LR 8, LR 2, and LR 3 types.

The archaeological research carried out within the fort and vicus of Favianis/Mautern, on the Austrian-Danube limes, has provided scholars with important new information for the development of settlement structures and for material culture in the Roman imperial and late antique periods, as well as for the Early Middle Ages. Archaeological structures in the fort were analysed alongside the structures in the vicus. A major focus of this analysis lay in the examination of diverse forms of waste management during the Roman imperial and late antique periods, and the interpretation of primary and secondary rubbish. The findings provide us with new evidence for the population migration from the vicus to the fort in Late Antiquity, for the dating of Horreum ware and late antique burnished pottery, as well as for the transition from the late antique fort to the Early Medieval town.

The natural and cultural landscape of Naples (southern Italy) during the Graeco-Roman and Late Antique periods

Knossos was an important city on Crete and within Mediterranean networks in terms of trade and political status, though its status differed throughout the Hellenistic, Roman and Late Antique periods. This paper uses stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to consider whether people at Knossos had differential diets due to the social, political, cultural, and economic changes across this time frame, factoring in age, sex and social status. Samples of human bone were selected to represent this range of time periods and variables.In this initial study, a small but insignificant increase in δ13C values was observed between the Hellenistic and Roman periods and there was a significant increase in δ15N values for the Late Antique period. No relationship between δ13C or δ15N and age was observed and while the female and male means were similar, the females had wider ranging values. No significant differences were detected by social status as represented by tomb type but there were small sample sizes for several of the tomb types.The results indicated a C3 terrestrial diet with meat or other animal products included for most individuals. The slight increase in δ13C values in the Roman period may represent either the introduction of a small amount of C4 plant or marine food, or very low trophic level marine foods into some Roman diets. The higher δ13C and, in particular, δ15N values observed in the Late Antique samples, suggests an increased consumption of seafood, potentially linked to Christian dietary practices or advances in fishing technologies and preservation techniques. The wider spread values of females compared to males, indicating a more varied diet, could have resulted from differential participation in religious institutions connected to food or may have been caused by greater nutritional stress in females in relation to pregnancy and reproductive issues.This study does not show a pattern of higher animal protein consumption in times of economic and cultural growth and prosperity but differences were detected between the different time periods in connection with the concurrent socio-economic changes.

The paper presents the first interdisciplinary results of a joint survey project in the north-west of Malta, with finds ranging from the Prehistoric till the Early Modern period. Three permanently inhabited sites were encountered dating to at least the late 6th or early 5th century BCE, with a clearer attestation in the Hellenistic/Roman and Late Antique periods. The resulting reconstructed settlement pattern of the Phoenician/Punic period suggests a managed landscape that seems to be a good reflexion of what is happening in North Africa and elsewhere in the central and western Mediterranean. At least from the Roman period on, these sites seem to have specialised on the production of olive oil.

<p>A large archaeological excavation was undertaken in 2023 prior to the construction of the new Cambridgeshire Southern Police Station directly west of the village of Milton, 4km north-east of the historic core of Cambridge.</p> <p><br> </p> <p>The main features revealed were ditches that formed part of an extensive and complex series of intercutting late Roman period enclosures with associated boundary ditches, trackways, small timber structures, pits , waterholes or wells, a pond and an oven. Activity on the site probably began in the mid-3rd century AD, apparently peaked in the mid- to late 4th century AD and possibly extended into the 5th century AD.</p> <p><br> </p> <p>The remains indicate an intensive agricultural working area where activities related to the surplus production of grain and the penning/keeping and breeding of considerable numbers of domestic animals, principally cattle for traction activities such as ploughing and transport. This working area may well have formed part of a villa estate and evidence from the site and its vicinity indicates that a villa probably lay nearby—most likely in the unexcavated area immediately to the south.</p> <p><br> </p> <p>A wide array of Roman finds was recovered, including a large pottery assemblage, 68 coins, ironwork, copper-alloy objects, glass vessels. These suggested basic, utilitarian occupation and activity, although some objects suggest ‘higher-status’ occupation in the vicinity. Evidence for small-scale bone and antler working appeared to reflect the manufacture of pins and handles respectively. A poignant discovery was a burial of three infants of the same age, very likely triplets, in a pit cut into the inner side of an enclosure ditch, probably in the late 4th century AD.</p> <p><br> </p> <p>This agricultural working area/probable villa estate appears to have gone out of use around the end of the Roman period, <em>c.</em>AD 400 or shortly after, with enclosure and boundary ditches filled up at about this date. No features or finds of Anglo-Saxon date were recorded.</p> <p><br> </p> <p>The results raise important questions as to how land tenure and land use changed after Britain left the Roman Empire in AD 409. Was the estate confiscated or was it abandoned and left to fall out of use? By whom and why was the system of land allotment filled in and levelled? Did woodland regenerate or were larger fields created and still tilled or given over to grazing? Infilling of the ditches suggests that land divisions, and potentially ownership or tenure, were deliberately changed as new systems of control, governance, coercion and military-political dominance took hold.</p>

This volume takes a broad view of the intersection of maritime activities with the socioeconomic development of the Mediterranean world. Focusing on evidence from the Roman and late antique eastern Mediterranean, with particular attention to the area of southwestern Turkey and southern Cyprus from the second century BCE to the seventh century CE, Leidwanger presents an economic history intrinsically connected to the dynamic maritime world.The initial chapter, “Maritime Interaction and Mediterranean Communities,” utilizes previous influential works of F. Braudel (1972), C. Broodbank (2000), and P. Horden and N. Purcell (2000) to establish the opposition of approaches taken in conceptualizing the Mediterranean from the perspective of a “unified sea” to “fragmentation and microregions” considered over the longue durée. In this volume, Leidwanger’s aim is to take a diachronic and multiscalar approach to the maritime activities that shaped the economic and daily lives of those tied to the Mediterranean. He applies his knowledge of connectivity in the analysis of the multiscalar movements between maritime landscapes to understand the impact of the sea on the development of commerce, among other facets of daily life, in the ancient classical (Roman/late antique) world. His work with social network analysis (SNA) is applied here to model the diachronic evolution of economies linked to maritime activity, as well as landscapes. At the core of his network analysis is the relationship between nodes; his consideration of both ports and shipwrecks, as well as their cargoes, represents distinct datasets, valuable by themselves but given a new dimension of depth considered together in his overarching analysis. The choice of southeast Turkey and Cyprus as the focal point for his case study provides numerous centers of maritime activity in addition to extensive archaeological evidence from a single region. Within the Braudelian process, the long durée temporal scale of his study allows for the observance of changes in maritime and economic patterns within this single, particularly active region.The physical and social parameters encountered in his model are explored in Chapter 2, “Topography and Tools of Interaction,” through the examination of the region’s marine and coastal topographies, currents, and winds, which in turn impacted ship-building technologies and construction techniques, cargos and their capacity, as well as crew size. The interplay between these parameters is exemplified in his incorporation of current research on sailing seasons with the Mediterranean and their influence and effect on maritime technology, specifically in shipbuilding. The data under consideration for this region and study derives from shipwrecks and is reinforced by evidence from ancient texts and iconography. Leidwanger notably distinguishes between the iconography of the elites in sources such as ornate mosaics and those reflective of the lower classes in the form of dipinto. He applies these parameters along with data from the replica fourth-century BCE ship Kyrenia II (originally wrecked off the coast of Cyprus) to demonstrate the strength of recent research, which shows that sailing not only continued into the night but also through the winter season. His model ascribes these considerations not to a linear development but rather views it as the result of knowledge and experience of sailors and merchants, who over time responded to local environmental and economic variables. Given that this knowledge existed on a local and regional level, a strong case emerges for the legitimacy of interconnected, smaller networks driving maritime exchange.Chapter 3, “Modeling Maritime Dynamics,” moves on to the theoretical implications of the author’s network model set within a regional scope. Leidwanger dives into the complex terminology of concepts of “regionalism” and “regions,” along with their ties to maritime connectivity. Using the parameters explored in Chapter 2 together with descriptions of regions and journeys by ancient authors, he argues that the experiences of mariners are reflected in the nomenclature of informal boundaries, which in turn highly influenced sailing habits. Leidwanger acknowledges the “importance of the interrelated mobilities of goods and people” (91), along with the centrality of fishing, which help to create links across regions, economies, and social classes. This multiscalar approach gives much greater agency to the broader spectrum of players involved in maritime trade, looking beyond elite movement between large ports.At the center of this volume is a valuable dataset presented in Chapter 4, “Exploring Shipwreck Data,” in which 67 shipwrecks are evaluated based on the proposed model put forth in the previous chapters. This is a significant analysis and contribution to the field as there are less than 200 total shipwrecks published from the Roman and late antique eastern Mediterranean. Leidwanger’s corpus therefore represents a valuable undertaking. The most compelling takeaway from his analysis is the identification of spikes in maritime activity during the early Roman and late antique periods, with a relative lull during the third century CE, a phenomenon limited to the eastern Mediterranean. Leidwanger uses his experience with network analysis to evaluate the connectivity based on the various cargoes of ships. The quantification of the data reveals not only patterns over the breadth of time covered in this study but also allows for the identification of important developments on variable scales and in different areas (152). This model takes into consideration the impact of dynamic landscapes, spatial and relational data from shipwrecks, and temporal rhythms, among other factors, presenting a more nuanced picture of the ancient maritime economy.The other line of evidence in his analysis is presented in Chapter 5, “Ports and Everyday Economies,” in which he provides an assessment of port sites. Here too, a multifaceted approach is taken to the material by evaluating the archaeological evidence, as well as issues of geography, topography, and environment. This methodology highlights Leidwanger’s attention to regionalism and the variables specific to the different maritime and coastal landscapes. Using the GIS software Gephi for network analysis, he creates models of his study areas with port sites, providing new data on many unpublished sites. Exemplifying the usefulness of GIS applications, Leidwanger then combines his port-site models with data from terrestrial archaeological surveys on the agricultural production of commodities found in ports and wrecks to illustrate the connectivity between the inland networks of production and transport with those of the maritime pathways. This is an important contribution as it coalesces what are two usually distinct datasets from land and sea into a single, more complete picture of economic production and distribution. The mapping reveals a complex network of ports of varying scales that was intimately tied to environmental constraints, geography, and navigational abilities specific to that region. The value of local ports is highlighted in which the movement of goods through this highly localized geography could occur more easily, and frequently solidify connections with the regional network (195). The chronological framework of the author’s project allows for the recognition of development and changing patterns in the maritime networks of production and exchange in which during the Roman period the Aegean is the central node with networks radiating to more immediate connections in Cyprus, Cilicia, and the Levant, but also extending to the Adriatic, Black Sea, and the western Mediterranean in Gaul. However, the picture changes during late antiquity when Cyprus, Cilicia, and the Levant gain centrality within the broader production network.Chapter 6, “Maritime Networks in the Roman East,” brings together the data and arguments from the previous chapters and frames them within the eastern Mediterranean’s sociopolitical and economic spheres. Leidwanger discusses the shifts in maritime activity with concentrations in the early Roman period and during late antiquity. The economic zone created between Cyprus and the Aegean in the early Roman period, from the second century BCE to the second century CE, and reaching an apex slightly earlier than the western Mediterranean in the first century CE, shows that this region was integrated into the imperial network but maintained its own distinct zone of economic interaction. The other upturn in maritime activity corresponds to the establishment of Constantinople at the beginning of the fourth century CE, when the case-study regions of southwestern Turkey and southern Cyprus emerged as central nodes within the broader late antique economic networks, extending through the fifth century CE. At this time the regions developed greater connectivity through interregional trade as well as linking with broader networks associated with the Black Sea and Danube regions. Leidwanger reveals that the well-held perception of economic decline and reduction of late antique shipwrecks does not reflect a retraction of network use. Rather, late antiquity was a period of busy regional markets in the eastern Mediterranean.A short closing section, “Further Journeys,” postulates the direction of maritime archaeology and its development as a field of study. One area where the field could be exponentially enriched is with the addition of more multiscalar regional assessments, identifying southern France, Sicily, and Israel as regions with potential for regional projects similar to Leidwanger’s own. Echoing Horden and Purcell, the value of an analysis in the longue durée allows for greater detail, further broadening the chronological scope to include material from the Hellenistic through the later medieval periods in order to potentially add to this already rich corpus of evidence. Beyond expanding the temporal framework, Leidwanger suggests expanding the contextual data to include “other major indicators of mobility, interaction, and economic development throughout the hinterlands” (226). Ties between maritime networks with coastal and inland markets would provide new insights across a more unified regional economy.Two appendixes conclude the monograph. The first one of Roman and late antique shipwrecks from southwest Turkey and the northeast Mediterranean provides valuable information to further support Leidwanger’s analysis, such as the types of cargo recovered and wreck context in deposition. This is also a concise record, useful for future scholars to access the primary datasets (Parker, OXREP, DARMC) in one place through Leidwanger’s meticulous reassessment. The second appendix presents a thorough discussion of and data on wind patterns for the relevant regions through which one can see the impact of environmental variation on maritime movement.This volume makes several strong contributions to theoretical and methodological approaches toward the analysis of maritime economy. Leidwanger’s model highlights the continued need to move away from the previous, and somewhat current, trends of top-down approaches focused on exchange between large, urban ports. His case studies clearly demonstrate the complexity of maritime networks operating from the bottom-up, highly affected by regional variation in landscape, weather, and geography. They also highlight the local agency of mariners working at multiple levels of involvement in maritime movement and trade, producing a comprehensive model with aspects not previously considered in broader pan-Mediterranean models. An aspect of his research, rarely acknowledged, are the multifaceted roles these maritime agents played in trade, with varying identities, likely simultaneously as sailors, merchants, fishermen, and other operators that drove the regionalized worlds of maritime trade. Their small worlds, connected on a scale of no more than a few days’ journey in familiar territory, reinforce the focus on opportunistic harbors and regional networks operated by local experts. The geographical flexibility and dynamic nature of this model solidifies it as the primary mode of maritime trade in the eastern Mediterranean, despite different narratives held for traditional Mediterranean-wide models based on large port-to-port exchange.As with any study including ceramics and network analysis, petrography can add a whole other dimension of information. While this is an ideal inclusion for analysis, it is often unrealistic to be able to obtain extensive petrographic information, especially when looking at numerous assemblages from various excavations over an extended period. It would also be of interest to expand the dataset by including other ceramic vessel types, beyond those of transport amphorae, found in wrecks and port assemblages. Inclusion of ceramic vessels such as fine wares within this model would lend new information about their distribution from port to inland sites, including vessels moving with, and on, established agricultural market networks. As Leidwanger suggests in his “Further Journeys” section, inland trade-network studies provide another dimension of analysis toward understanding the complete movement of goods to inland sites, beyond their entrance at ports and small harbors.This volume represents an important move forward in our understanding of how multiscalar connectivity influenced not only maritime trade but the Roman economy itself. This comprehensive research provides a valuable model for future regional studies.

Palmyra was more than a caravan city. Throughout the Roman period, it served as an important recruitment centre for auxiliary units to the Roman legions. Palmyrenes were exceptionally skilled archers and riders, swelling the ranks of the Roman army in auxiliary alae, numeri, and cohorts of sagittarii (archers) and dromedarii (camel riders). In late antiquity, Palmyra maintained its function as a recruitment centre, but its military importance grew considerably after the strengthening of the eastern frontier under the reign of Diocletian, when a monumental camp, the so-called Camp of Diocletian, was constructed within its urban perimeter. This chapter will briefly explore the relation between Palmyra and the military in the Roman and Late Antique periods.

The article is devoted to the reconstruction of leisure of the Late Roman nobility based upon the one of the letters of Sidonius Apollinaris (c. 430–489). In the framework of the everyday life history, in combination with the hermeneutic approach, the characteristic features of the ordinary pastime of representatives of the upper stratum of the aristocracy in the 5th century AD are revealed. The letter (II. 9) contains information about the visit of Sidonius to the estates of his two relatives – Tonantius Ferreolus (family member in-laws) and Apollinarius (his uncle on the paternal side), located in close vicinity. A typical day of Late Antique noblemen consisted of a series of easy activities – meals, walks, sports (ball) and gambling (dice) games, intellectual discussions, bathing. Obviously, the Late Antique otium was identical as good as its classical patterns presented, for example, in the letters of Pliny the Younger. The author notes that in this case, epistolography can be regarded as a necessary condition for maintaining the connection of generations, which was especially important in the Late Antique period, before the challenges of the time, which is replacing the ancient cultural settings.

The article explores red-lacquered ceramics discovered in Gonio-Apsaros in recent years. The southwestern Georgia has yielded many diverse red-lacquered ceramics from the ancient and late antique periods, less from the early Byzantine era. However, recently more have been discovered, forming an intriguing category within the kitchenware. Being imported goods, they provide insights into the region's interactions with the world.The fragments of bowls (Late Roman C) including mouth, body, base, mouth-wall, fit into three distinct forms (10A, 10C, 3G/F) identified by Hayes. They are defined by orange, fine-grained ware, flared body and a mouth of varying cross-sections, separated by a delicate groove, traces of reddish varnish on the inside. A bowl fragment bears a cross-shaped mark with rings and can be associated with the types 67 and 68 of Hayes (LRC), with thickened, upturned mouths of polygonal or quadrangular cross-sections, light reddish-brown and fine-grained ware with occasional admixtures, somtimes remnants of pinkish-reddish varnish.
 2019Due to the Byzantine Empire's expansion eastward, parts of Lazica became influenced by Byzantine economy, culture, politics. Apsaros fell within the Byzantine borders from the late 5th century. The growing discovery of materials near the Roman castle highlights the newfound significance of Apsaros increasing interest in it.keywords: Late Antiquity-Early-Byzantine period, South-west Georgia, Ceramics, Red-lacquered ceramics

After the Late Antique period, the city of Attaleia assured its continued safety against threats coming from the east by renewing and strengthening its defenses. As a result, the appearance and character of the city walls changed considerably from what they had been in Roman Imperial times. These changes affected city gates the most, as they constituted the weakest points both structurally and strategically, and many of the Roman Imperial era gates were closed. The pulling down or partial or complete destruction of these city entrances already in the Early Byzantine period, changed the fabric of those parts of the city near the walls until the end of the Ottoman period. The most extensive destruction of the city walls, the remains of which can be seen on several towers and curtain walls today, came about during the systematic demolitions of the early 20th century. This study deals with a monumental Roman city gate that has been recently revealed. An arched entrance which was built very close to and possibly at the same time as Hadrian’s Arch, this gate was completely closed during consolidation of the fortification walls in the Early Byzantine period in a manner that concealed it from the exterior. Due to the weakness of the Roman Imperial era curtain wall in which it is located, this gate, which was decorated with pilasters and capitals on both sides, was given the form of a small arch rather than a simple city entrance.