Heu male tum Libyæ solis erratur in agris : the Punic tribunate at the Bir ed-Dreder necropolis

[Some aspects of the personal legal status in the Roman army with special regard to the period of the III century AD]. The presented article covers a few issues that could be linked to the general topic of the personal status in the Roman army with a special regard for the period of transition towards the Late Antiquity – III century AD. An analysis is made of the different types of discharge from the army and the veteran’s certificate, given to the former soldiers. Some of the privileges, brought by this certificate upon the receiver are further researched, including the fact that it was a specific way of real estate acquisition. The second part of the article deals with the effect of military awards on the personal status and includes a short overview of their development through the centuries. Conclusions are made based on the analysis.

The decline of Mithraism in the fourth century AD is used as a case-study for understanding the end of other classes of paganism' in the Roman western provinces. The author reviews epigraphic and numismatic evidence to date the final uses of Mithraea. He then discusses examples of wilful damage to Mithraic monuments. Drawing all this archaeological evidence into a historical framework, Sauer argues that rather than losing its social function as the Roman army became splintered, Mithraism was a healthy religion with active shrines until the very late fourth century. Rather than fading away, its desecrated monuments indicate that the religion was the victim of a sustained Christian attack which was also directed at other established faiths in the western provinces.

Everyday Life <i>in extremis</i>

The results of the international collaboration of the three institutions from Austria, Italy and Slovenia (Alpen-Adria-Universitat Klagenfurt, Universita degli studi di Udine and Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Institut za arheologijo of Ljubljana) are being published in the Studia Alpium et Adriae series. New discoveries and the re-examination of old ones is offering new insights into the Roman army and the historical questions related to its presence and activity in the regions of the northern Adriatic and the eastern Alps. The first volume of Studia Alpium et Adriae contains the contributions of twenty-one authors from four countries (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria) who present the results of their work conducted in recent years within different research groups and projects. The book titled The Roman army between the Alps and the Adriatic spans the time from the beginnings of the Roman conquest to the Late Roman period (1st century BC – 5th century AD) in Regio X of Italy and parts of the Roman provinces of Noricum, Pannonia Superior and Dalmatia. The contributions tackle the questions of the chronology and strategy of the Roman conquest, the architecture of the military posts, as well as the remains of weapons and military equipment, while the inscriptions on stones reveal the origins of the soldiers, the methods of recruitment, the movements of the army units and the settlement of the veterans. The chapters of the book follow a geographical order, from west to east, beginning at Aquileia, which was the starting point for the military operations in the period of conquest and later served as the point of defence against the incursions from the east. The last chapters deal with the questions pertaining to the role of the Roman army in Pannonia.

Jon Lendon offers a new interpretation of how the Roman empire worked in the first four centuries AD. A despotism rooted in force and fear enjoyed widespread support among the ruling classes of the provinces on the basis of an aristocratic culture of honour shared by rulers and ruled. The competitive Roman and Greek aristocrats of the empire conceived of their relative standing in terms of public esteem or honour, and conceived of their cities - towards which they felt a warm patriotism - as entities locked in a parallel struggle for primacy in honour over rivals. Emperors and provincial governors exploited these rivalries to gain the indispensable co-operation of local magnates by granting honours to individuals and their cities. Since rulers strove for honour as well, their subjects manipulated them with honours in their turn. Honour - whose workings are also traced in the Roman army - served as a way of talking and thinking about Roman government: it was both a species of power, and a way - connived in by rulers and ruled - of concealing the terrible realities of imperial rule.

The main debate regarding Jewish soldiers serving in the Roman armies is still focused on the question whether these Jews actually existed. Unfortunately, this debate is not only limited, but at times it also misses the larger picture. The current article will conclusively show that Jews served in the Roman armies, even in large numbers, and that the main debate we must conduct is whether they served in accordance with their percentage of the general population, or even in higher numbers. Furthermore, the article will irrefutably prove that Jewish military service was a continuous phenomenon from the last decades of the Republic until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, and possibly continued, to some extent, in the Eastern Roman Empire until the first half of the 6th century AD.

Већи део територије данашње Србије ушао је у састав Римске империје током I\nвека наше ере. Укључивање у римски провинцијални систем донео је овом простору\nдругачији вид организације насеља у складу са потребама нове управе. Римска провинција\nГорња Мезија, нудила је осим рудног богатства којe се у античким изворима помиње уз\nњено име, и услове за развој сточарства и земљорадње. Оснивањем римских провинција\nна територији данашње Србије неминовно је порастао број становника доласком војних\nјединица. Из извора сазнајемо да су Римљани познавали и разне типове земљишта и према\nтоме вршили поделе у зависности за шта ће земљиште бити коришћено. Тако наилазимо\nна термин ager sationalis, који се односи само на терене под житарицама. Истраживана је\nтериторија провинције Горње Мезије са геоморфолошким карактеристикама те регије и\nмогућностима за производњу житарица, затим врсте житарица које су могле бити гајене,\nкао и значај пољопривредне производње у економском развоју провинције Горње Мезије.\nНајвеће промене провинцији Горњој Мезији донела је римска војска која је своје сталне\nлогоре подигла већ крајем I века у Сингидунуму (Београд) и Виминацијуму (Костолац), а\nбројна мања утврђења широм границе- лимеса и унутрашњости провинције. Римска војска\nје имала организовани систем снабдевања храном. Међу намирнице које су спадале у\nредовна војникова следовања убрајају се и житарице. Археолошка истраживања античких\nлокалитета, анализа алата коришћеног при обрађивању земље, као и материјала који\nпосредно има везе са пољопривредном производњом, доприноси утврђивању степена\nискоришћености обрадивих површина и њиховог ширења доласком римске управе на\nцентрални Балкан, утврђивање промена насталих у непосредној производњи житарица и у\nорганизацији њихове експлоатације и дистрибуције, као и утврђивање могућег увоза\nжитарица из суседних провинција. Улога војске, нарочито њених ветерана који су након\nодслужене војне службе добијали земљишни посед велика је, и заслужује важно место у\nпроучавању организације пољопривредне производње и укључивања балканско-\nпанонских провинција у римску империју. Ради допринеса сазнању о привреди римске\nпровинције Горње Мезије од I до краја III века изабрани метод комбинује обраду\nархеолошког материјала са античких налазишта везаног за производњу и складиштење\nжитарица и античке изворе који се баве пољопривредом у Римском царству, односно\nархеолошки са теоријским методом. Значајна је распрострањеност култова аграрних\nбожанстава у римској провинцији Горњој Мезији (Либер, Либера, Церес, Силван, Тера\nМатер, Пријап). Општи је закључак да становништво територије Горње Мезије, иако\nпретежно земљорадничко, није било у стању да произведе довољне количине житарица за\nсебе и војску. Сељачка имања Горње Мезије су, вероватно била малих димензија, а не тако\nбројно становништво провинције сконцентрисано на подмиривање сопствених потреба у\nхрани. Током читавог трајања провинције Горње Мезије (од краја I до краја III века), слика\nпроизводње житарица се није знатније мењала. Карактеристична појава са краја III века на\nпростору тада већ подељене провинције Горње Мезије, су велика пољопривредна имања и\nбројна складишта за житарице. Враћање становништва на земљу, и везивање за\nпољопривредна имања, држава примењује када више нема начина да опорави своју\nпривреду. Релативна стабилност, и привредни развој у провинцијама, поремећени су,\nвероватно, од тренутка када је држава, односно њени грађани, почели више да троше,\nнего што зарађују. Опет су, најбројније земљорадничко становништво Горње Мезије, те\nпромене најмање погодиле

Jon Lendon offers a new interpretation of how the Roman empire worked in the first four centuries AD. A despotism rooted in force and fear enjoyed widespread support among the ruling classes of the provinces on the basis of an aristocratic culture of honour shared by rulers and ruled. The competitive Roman and Greek aristocrats of the empire conceived of their relative standing in terms of public esteem or honour, and conceived of their cities - towards which they felt a warm patriotism - as entities locked in a parallel struggle for primacy in honour over rivals. Emperors and provincial governors exploited these rivalries to gain the indispensable co-operation of local magnates by granting honours to individuals and their cities. Since rulers strove for honour as well, their subjects manipulated them with honours in their turn. Honour - whose workings are also traced in the Roman army - served as a way of talking and thinking about Roman government: it was both a species of power, and a way - connived in by rulers and ruled - of concealing the terrible realities of imperial rule.

The Emperor Augustus believed that the Roman army occupied a crucial lace at the heart of the empire and it was he who made it a fully professional force. This book looks at the structure and development of the army between the Republic and the Late Empire, examining why the army has always been accorded such a prominent position in the history of the Roman Empire, and whether that view is justified.The book is divided into three sections. The author first examines the major divisions of army organization - the legions, the auxiliary units, the fleet - and how the men were recruited. Secondly he looks at what the army did - the training, tactics and strategy. Finally he considers the historical role of the army - how it fitted into Roman society, of which it was only part, and what influence it had economically and politically.In exploring these themes, the author gives equal weight to epigraphic, documentary and archaeology evidence. With tables summarizing detailed information, Yann Le Bohec provides a synthesis of current knowledge of the Roman army from the first to the third century AD, putting it in its context as part of the state structure of the Roman Empire.

The number and the intensity of the threats directed against the Roman state increased during the middle of the third century, creating an entirely new situation with which the Augustan frontier system could not cope. The Roman frontiers have been the focus of much scholarly research in recent years. The frontier was largely an area where the Roman world confronted the outsider in the form of trade. Historians often use the reign of Diocletian (284-305) as a convenient starting point for the later Roman empire or Late Antiquity. The Notitia Dignitatum shows that the bulk of the army was now dispersed along the frontier in units much smaller than the 6,000 man sized legions of the second century. Scholars since the time of Gibbon have pointed to the barbarization of the Roman army as probably the key element in the loss of Roman control in the west.Keywords: barbarization; Diocletian; Notitia Dignitatum ; Roman army; Roman state

In 235 CE , at the beginning of Late Antiquity, the Roman army was not all that different from the army of 14 CE at the end of the reign of Augustus. By the seventh century, and in the aftermath of the Arab invasion of the Near East, the Roman army had been transformed, with significant differences with regard to its organization, size, tactics, strategy, and operations. What had been a heavily armed force, which sought to engage its foes head‐on and whose primary strength lay in its infantry, had become a force that often sought to avoid pitched battle unless left with no alternative, and whose strength lay in its cavalry.

During the fourth and fifth centuries AD the Roman army recruited soldiers (a phrase including foederati but excluding allies) from both inside and outside the Empire. The Roman army in this period was at least 300,000 and may have been 600,000 strong. Recruits served for twenty years (or twenty-four years in the case of limitanei not in legions or vexillations). Given an even distribution of discharges, there was a minimum requirement of 15,000 men per year. This does not take losses in battle, to disease, or to desertion, into account. If the army was 600,000 strong then imperial requirements would be at least 30,000 men annually.

From the fourth or third century until the beginning of the À rst century bc, Rome's armies were also the armies of her allies.The socii and nomen Latinum raised at least half of the soldiers that fought wars for Rome.The Italic allies were clearly distinguished from the non-Italic troops, such as Cretan archers or Numidian horsemen, by the fact that they were governed by the formula togatorum.This can be concluded from their 'deÀ nition' in the lex agraria from 111 bc: socii nominisve Latini quibus ex formula togatorum milites in terra Italia imperare solent.The formula togatorum is seen as a deÀ ning element, distinguishing the Latin and Italic peoples from Rome's overseas allies.Although in the second century bc a consciousness of Italy as a political and cultural unity gradually emerged, it was still referred to as a military alliance of Roman citizens and allies at the end of that century. 1 The beginnings of this system remain in the dark, due to the inadequacies of our sources.The foedus Cassianum between Rome and the Latin League (traditionally dated to 493 bc) supposedly established a federal army under Roman command, but next to nothing is known about its functioning.The participation of the allied peoples was based on the treaties between their communities and Rome.The position of the Latin colonies was slightly different, because their obligations were probably based on the lex coloniae governing each Latin colony. 2 We may assume that the role of the allies was re-deÀ ned * I wish to thank John Rich, Luuk de Ligt and Simon Northwood for their many valuable comments.1 Thus, T. Hantos, Das römische Bundesgenossensystem in Italien (München 1983), 185; P.A. Brunt, 'Italian aims at the time of the Social War,' in The fall of the Roman republic and related essays (Oxford 1988), 113.On the term socii Italici, E. Gabba, 'Rome and Italy in the second century bc', Cambridge Ancient History VIII (Cambridge 1989), 209 observes, "it is only in relation to the predominant partner, that is to say Rome, that they are seen as a group and thus bear this title".

Reviewed by: Augustine: A New Biography Brent Shaw Augustine: A New Biography. By James J. O'Donnell. (New York: Harper Collins Publishers. 2005. Pp. xvi, 396. $26.95.) The subtitle of this new life of Augustine announces a biography. It is both that and rather more. Before O'Donnell's Augustine, there were two big standard works on Augustine's life. Peter Brown's now-classic Augustine of Hippo first appeared in the 1960's. It was a spectacular and pathbreaking work of genius written by a young man who was then only in his early thirties. Not without good reason does O'Donnell himself laud Brown as "Augustine's best biographer" (p. 73). Brown's Augustine appeared again at the turn of the millennium, with reconsiderations [End Page 132] that looked back on the author's original work from the perspective of a half-century of changes in which Brown himself had a large part. Then Serge Lancel's Saint Augustin appeared just before the turn of the millennium, first in French and then, within three years, in an English translation—a biography whose extraordinary quality was assured by the author's incomparable command of the whole range of ancient North African history. Whereas Brown's work set Augustine's life in the context of the development of Late Antique culture and thought, Lancel offered a more strictly biographical perspective that placed the man more firmly than ever in his African homeland and culture. O'Donnell's Augustine is not like either of these now-classic lives. His Augustine is not set in any context. Instead, the reader is taken for a sometimes breathtaking ride, invited to sense the forces involved in making the man from the inside out. The "more" that the reader gets is a postmodern rush. We feel the depression and anxiety, the rage and anguish of a man living his driven life of success and failure. Patently influenced by cybernetics, virtual and deconstructive currents, this Augustine is not a neat narrative retold in careful chronological order. It is a critical inspection that strives to break down the pieces of personality (p. 84). In the postscript that has appeared with the paperback version (2006, p. 7), the author confesses that he had toyed with the subtitle of "An Antibiography," much in the manner that my clothing has sometimes been derided as an Antifashion, I suppose. The result is anything but neat or intended to satisfy. O'Donnell's Augustine is a site of immense talent, huge ambition, and great frustrations whose self-fashioning, down to the center of the famous conversion, was deliberately constructed in his Confessions. Alert to the stratagems of deliberate amnesia and fiction, there is a constant drive to interrogate the subject. What is it that Augustine is not telling us? And why? In a man who was so attuned to his increasing celebrity, the tactic is useful and produces better insights. Moved by a hermeneutic of suspicion, O'Donnell is determined not to be seduced or hypnotized by his subject's words. In his prying apart, he does not shrink from imaginative reconstructions, fictional biographies, and counterfactual scenarios that might well make an Edmund Morris blush (e.g., pp. 51-52, 80-81, 171-172, 205-207, 230-231). He brings into the glare of his spotlight experiences that Augustine most wants us not to see—amongst others, his eleven (not nine, as he minimized) years as a devoted Manichee, and his beloved mother's involvement in the Donatist church. The personal story is set against a deep cultural background: the making of sermons, the writing of letters, the quality and knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Punic, and the complex and rapidly evolving template of late antique social relations. O'Donnell warns us, as we might expect, not to take the power of late paganism as gravely as it is presented to us: "Christian parody and polemic is taken too seriously" (p. 189). The fright of a great religious threat was needed in the forging of a new Christianity in the late fourth century. The polemics did serve one great end and personal success: "Augustine's part in shaping catholic identity was...

As in any port city of the Roman world, the population of Ostia was very mixed. An extraordinary discovery was made on the outskirts of Ostia in 1961, while a road was being constructed linking Rome to its new door to the world, Fiumicino airport: the synagogue of Ostia, the oldest synagogue structure to have survived in Europe. The earliest part dates from the first century AD, but the building was repaired or partly rebuilt in the fourth century. It was in continuous use for Jewish prayer for at least 300 years. An inscription from the second century commemorates the building of the Ark for the scrolls of the Law, at the expense of a certain Mindis Faustos; the inscription is mainly in Greek, with a few Latin words, for the Jews of Rome, with their connections to the East, continued to use Greek as their daily language. The building and its annexes have an area of 856 square metres, and everything suggests that this was the major synagogue of a prosperous community of hundreds of Jews. More than a synagogue, by the fourth century the complex contained an oven, possibly for the baking of unleavened bread for Passover, and a ritual bath. There were side rooms that were probably used for teaching and for meetings of the Jewish council and of the rabbinical court. A carved architrave portrayed the great candlestick that had stood in the Temple, the ram’s horn blown at New Year, and the symbols of the Feast of Tabernacles, the citron and decorated palm branch. Nor was Judaism the only eastern cult with many followers in Ostia. A small brick-built temple elsewhere in the city has been identified as a shrine of Sarapis. Within the precinct there was a courtyard paved with a black-and-white mosaic of Nile scenes. Plenty of inscriptions refer to the cult of Isis; there were several shrines to Mithras, much favoured in the Roman army; during their wild ecstasies, male devotees of the mother-goddess Cybele, who was also worshipped at Ostia, were said to castrate themselves.