The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia: From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks by Philipp Niewöhner

Abstract

382 BOOK REVIEWS the tracing of the story of what that city’s name has meant across time and space (it would serve well, too, as secondary reading in a number of courses on Roman history and culture). Literary scholars will be interested in her reappraisal of famous passages from Virgil’s Aeneid 8 and the last book of Propertius’ elegies in particular (and lovers of Latin verse will find that Vout has done much in these pages to rehabilitate the reputation of the underappreciated poet Claudian; in some ways the treatment of poetic passages in this book offers a brief commentary on the history of the representation of Rome in Latin verse). Art historians will be richly served by the treatment of the depiction of the city and its environs in painting, photography, and the plastic arts. Numismatists will enjoy the author’s examination of the iconography of the city and its foundation lore on coins. Rarely has a book of this modest scope of length succeeded so admirably in offering valuable commentary on so varied an assortment of topics. There is a quality to the writing and range here that harks back to the best prose of a bygone age, though with a detailed scholarly apparatus that grounds Vout’s work in the vast tradition of classical scholarship on the city (the bibliography is especially valuable for further research, alongside the extensive notes and detailed index). By the end of Vout’s work, one will have gained a renewed appreciation for the immense difficulty attendant on any historical writing about Rome, and a broadly based, soberly presented appraisal of the efforts of both scholars and artists to “write” the city. In short, both press and author are to be warmly thanked for making available this evocative, unfailingly engrossing survey of the city and its signature hills. Those who missed the original edition will want to take advantage of the convenient new paperback printing. In the seemingly never-ending queue of works on the city and its legends, Vout’s volume should be privileged to skip the line. LEE FRATANTUONO Ohio Wesleyan University, lmfratan@owu.edu * * * * * The Archaeology of Byzantine Anatolia: From the End of Late Antiquity until the Coming of the Turks. By PHILIPP NIEWÖHNER, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. xii + 470. Hardcover, $125.00. ISBN 978-0-1906-1046-3. In the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, Anatolia was an anomaly. With the administrative seat of power situated in Constantinople, it was the only major region of the empire where Roman rule persisted until the 11th century CE BOOK REVIEWS 383 and the people still considered themselves to be Romans. As a result, Anatolia serves as a unique case study, informing us about the ways in which Roman government and society changed in the period after the collapse of the panMediterranean empire. This volume focuses on life in Anatolia from the 5th century CE through 11th centuries CE—bookends which mark the collapse of the Western and Eastern Empires, respectively. Since there is a dearth of contemporary literary sources, the results of archaeological research are key to understanding this volatile period as they provide us with a glimpse of daily life activities, cultural developments, and the ebb and flow of settlement patterns. For instance, there was a significant decline in urban population in the 5th century CE as people relocated from cities to prosperous rural settlements. Ruralization, however, was stymied from the 7th through 9th centuries by Persian and Arab incursions, which prompted the repopulation of fortified urban centers as Anatolians sought refuge from foreign invaders. A subsequent period of peace from the 9th century through 11th centuries encouraged another population shift to the countryside, resulting in the abandonment of many cities. Then, in the 11th century, fortified urban centers were revived yet again as the arrival of the Seljuk Turks caused widespread sociopolitical instability and fear for personal safety. The book opens with an introduction by the editor, Philipp Niewöhner, which discusses the history of research on the subject, as well as themes and terminology that appear in the volume. The 38 essays that follow are divided into two...