1st Century BCE Research Articles

A Cippus from Turris Libisonis: Evidence for the Use of Local Materials in Roman Painting on Stone in Northern Sardinia

The ancient Roman town of Turris Libisonis was located on the northern coast of Sardinia and was known in the past as an important naval port. Located in the Gulf of Asinara, it was a Roman colony from the 1st century BCE and became one of the richest towns on the island. Among the archaeological finds in the area, the cippus exhibited in the Antiquarium Turritano is of great interest for its well-preserved traces of polychromy. The artefact dates back to the early Imperial Age and could have had a funerary or votive function. The artefact was first examined using a portable and non-invasive protocol involving multi-band imaging (MBI), portable X-ray fluorescence (p-XRF), portable FT-IR in external reflectance mode (ER FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy. After this initial examination, a few microfragments were collected and investigated by optical microscopy (OM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in ATR mode (ATR FT-IR) and micro-ATR mode (μATR FT-IR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) to improve our knowledge and characterize the materials and to determine their provenience. The results contribute to a better understanding of the provenance of materials and shed light on pigments on stone and their use outside the Italian peninsula and, in particular, Roman Sardinia.

Analytical methodological adaptations for sampling ancient pigments in provenance research

Mineral pigment provenance is a promising direction in cultural heritage particularly in ancient polychromy research. The analysis of trace elements and Pb-isotopes can provide clues about the origin of pigment raw materials. While previous investigations already showed great potential for provenancing archeological-historical mineral pigments, sampling methods and reference data collections need to be developed further to evaluate the potential and limitations of this type of research. This work tests a new sampling method for pigment provenance research that collects sample material with easily available (suffused) cotton swabs for analysis by mass spectrometry. Three artifacts decorated with Egyptian blue and red pigments were selected for comparing sampling with cotton swabs to sampling with a scalpel. All three artifacts date to the 1st century BCE: The first is a colossal marble head from Lazio, Italy, which probably belonged to a seated cult statue of Zeus, and with extensive remains of ancient red paint. The two artifacts (a slag and a fragment of a terracotta vessel) were recovered during Petrie's excavations of an Egyptian blue production facility in Memphis, Egypt. The new results are consistent with previous studies, which provides the necessary quality control for the cotton swab sampling method. This work contributes to improving sampling methods for pigment provenance analysis as well as to a better understanding of past pigment production and trade networks.

Decoding Capua’s roof terracotta: A multi-analytical study of the Fondo Patturelli sanctuary and Alveo Marotta furnace (6th century BCE – 1st century BCE)

The main focus of this study was to examine 25 samples of archaeological ceramic materials currently preserved in the Archaeological Museum of the Ancient Capua and Mitreo investigated in the framework of an international project. These samples primarily consist of architectural terracotta from the Fondo Patturelli extra-urban sanctuary, as well as architectural terracotta, pottery and waste material from the nearby Alveo Marotta furnace.To investigate these artifacts, a multi-analytical mineralogical-petrographic approach was performed. Thin section observations revealed that almost all samples exhibit a coarse-grained paste. The fragments were categorized into three petrographic groups based on the type and quantity of temper, which is mostly composed of volcanic grains. They include lithics and juvenile fragments (obsidians and pumices) ascribed to the products of the major Campanian eruptions as detected via FESEM-EDS. Bulk chemical analyses (WD-XRF) show that almost all samples form a homogeneous group made with Ca-rich clayey raw materials, also including three wastes of tiles from the Alveo Marotta. By contrast, other two wastes from Alveo Marotta were produced with Ca-poor clay suggesting the use of a different raw material.From a technological point of view the samples are characterized by a thermal range that varies from 750 to 900 °C, notably different between the earlier and later production periods, with the former fired at lower temperatures.

The chronology of the human colonization of the Canary Islands

The human colonization of the Canary Islands represents the sole known expansion of Berber communities into the Atlantic Ocean and is an example of marine dispersal carried out by an African population. While this island colonization shows similarities to the populating of other islands across the world, several questions still need to be answered before this case can be included in wider debates regarding patterns of initial colonization and human settlement, human-environment interactions, and the emergence of island identities. Specifically, the chronology of the first human settlement of the Canary Islands remains disputed due to differing estimates of the timing of its first colonization. This absence of a consensus has resulted in divergent hypotheses regarding the motivations that led early settlers to migrate to the islands, e.g., ecological or demographic. Distinct motivations would imply differences in the strategies and dynamics of colonization; thus, identifying them is crucial to understanding how these populations developed in such environments. In response, the current study assembles a comprehensive dataset of the most reliable radiocarbon dates, which were used for building Bayesian models of colonization. The findings suggest that i) the Romans most likely discovered the islands around the 1st century BCE; ii) Berber groups from western North Africa first set foot on one of the islands closest to the African mainland sometime between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE; iii) Roman and Berber societies did not live simultaneously in the Canary Islands; and iv) the Berber people rapidly spread throughout the archipelago.

Inscriptions in stone, literacy in question: The confusion between <b> and <v> in inscriptions from Roman Africa

AbstractIn this paper, a quantitative and qualitative analysis is conducted on the <b>/<v> alternations found in the epigraphic texts from three representative subsets of Roman African inscriptions from both urban centres and more peripheral areas (1st century BCE – 7th century CE). The distribution of the confusion has been related to the dating and provenance place of the inscriptions and the level of literacy of those involved in their crafting. The results show a difference in the distribution of <b>/<v> confusions in the three areas examined, with a higher incidence in later inscriptions from Sabratha. Thus, it is discussed whether the different distribution of the <b>/<v> confusions observed in the different regions might be a cue for internal diatopic variation.

AN EVALUATION OF THE COOKING VESSELS UNEARTHED IN THE TOPAKLI HÖYÜK EXCAVATIONS (1967-1974)

Excavations were carried out in Topaklı Höyük by L. Polacco between 1967 and 1974. During these studies, pottery and teapots used in cooking from layer L to layer C were unearthed. Pots recovered from different layers stand out with their common shape features (rims protruding, having a neck, round body, flat bottom, and handle attached between the neck and body). The soot/burn marks observed on the pots support the idea that these pots were used for cooking. Topaklı Höyük pots have different capacities. Small-sized ones may be related to the number of people in the house or used for making sauce, while larger ones may be related to the number of people in the house or the cooked product (such as milk). A teapot used for cooking on the stove was also found in Topaklı Höyük. This vessel, like the pots, has a flared rim, a round body, a flat bottom, a spout, and a single strip handle attached between the rim and the body. The cooking pots found in the Topaklı Höyük settlement had been frequently used in the Kızılırmak Basin. Encountered in all settlements in the region, these pots continued to be used without any change in form over a wide period, from the 7th century BCE to the 1st century BCE. The form called the teapot is a continuation of the form known from the Hittite Imperial Period in the Kızılırmak Basin.

Dark pottery from the early Iron Age in southern Veneto, Italy: The provenance issue under the adoption of specific technological procedures

One of the earliest known settlements of Pre-Roman Padua, Veneto Region (north-eastern Italy) was located in the very centre of the present-day city. The archaeological excavations revealed structures related to craft activities (metallurgical and pottery workshops) and residential areas datable from the late 9th to the 1st century BCE. A large pyrotechnic structure formed by an earthen block densely filled and covered by broken ceramic vessels was found, bringing to light the earliest foundry of the Pre-Roman Padua known to date. Many potsherds found in the site correspond to a regional ceramic class that included coarse and fine wares mainly composed of very dark ceramic bodies. A multi-analytical study based on macroscopic and petrographic descriptions as well as mineralogical, geochemical and microstructural analyses, was carried out in order to state the technological choices adopted for producing these dark vessels and the provenance of the raw materials. A poorly manufacturing was adopted to produce the common pottery, resulting coarse wares uneven textured, while the fine wares were produced by adopting the purification of the base clays and/or the tempering of the clay pastes. Common geo-resources were used, consisting in illitic-chloritic clays rich in quartz and feldspars, the firing regime conditions covered a range of maximum temperatures (normally under 850 °C) and the temper was constituted by silicate (chiefly quartzite, rhyolite and trachyte rock fragments) and/or carbonate (calcite and/or dolomite) inclusions, that were added after having been grounded and/or sieved. The specific mineral and lithic markers of provenance identified in the sherds confirmed the correspondence of this pottery with a local production. However, the specific technological choices that were carried out must be taking into consideration, since the purification removed the larger grains originally present in the base clays and the tempering influenced the chemical composition of the sherds. The different degree of purification of the base clays and the differential tempering procedures that were accomplished point out the adoption of very specific recipes to produce the fine wares, suggesting the correspondence of this local ceramic class with diverse sub-productions and the high level of specialization achieved by the potters in southern Veneto during the Early Iron Age.

Characterization of Culturable Mycobiome of Newly Excavated Ancient Wooden Vessels from the Archeological Site of Viminacium, Serbia.

Two ancient wooden vessels, specifically a monoxyle (1st century BCE to 1st century CE) and shipwreck (15th to 17th century CE), were excavated in a well-preserved state east of the confluence of the old Mlava and the Danube rivers (Serbia). The vessels were found in the ground that used to be river sediment and were temporarily stored within the semi-underground exhibition space of Mammoth Park. As part of the pre-conservation investigations, the primary aim of the research presented was to characterize the culturable mycobiomes of two excavated wooden artifacts so that appropriate conservation procedures for alleviating post-excavation fungal infestation could be formulated. Utilizing culture-based methods, a total of 32 fungi from 15 genera were identified, mainly Ascomycota and to a lesser extent Mucoromycota sensu stricto. Soft-rot Ascomycota of genus Penicillium, followed by Aspergillus and Cephalotrichum species, were the most diverse of the isolated fungi. Out of a total of 38 isolates, screened on 7 biodegradation plate assays, 32 (84.21%) demonstrated at least one degradative property. Penicillium solitum had the highest deterioration potential, with a positive reaction in 5 separate plate assays. The obtained results further broaden the limited knowledge on the peculiarities of post-excavation soft-rot decay of archaeological wood and indicate the biochemical mechanisms at the root of post-excavation fungal deterioration.

Performers and Sites of the Ashwamedha Yagya in Medieval India

India has a very rich cultural history. The Ashwamedh Yagya, an important ritual and experiment from Vedic times, aimed to refine consciousness. Since the Vedic era, many Ashwamedha Yagyas have been performed. In light of scriptural texts and archaeological findings, the present study aimed to retrospectively analyze the performers and sites of the Ashwamedha Yagya in medieval India. The study found that 27 kings from 18 dynasties had performed a total of 81 documented Ashwamedha Yagyas from the 1st century BCE to the 18th century CE. Although the study tried to comprehensively identify all instances of Ashwamedha performed in medieval India, there may be more awaiting further study. The study observed that these findings were based on archaeological evidence, including copper plate inscriptions, stone inscriptions, brick and pillar inscriptions, yagya kunds, and coins. Ashwamedha sites were present throughout present-day India. An interdisciplinary approach combining archaeological, inscriptional, scriptural, and sociological findings, along with expertise from ritualistic scholars, could unveil new research directions on the rich history of Ashwamedha Yagya in Indian culture.

Geomagnetic Field Intensity During the First Millennium BCE From Royal Judean Storage Jars: Constraining the Duration of the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly

AbstractThe rich and extensively studied archaeological record of the Near East provides an opportunity to develop a comprehensive archaeomagnetic dataset for exploring the behavior of the geomagnetic field with high precision. The Levantine archaeomagnetic curve (LAC) project is an ongoing effort to develop a continuous high‐resolution geomagnetic intensity curve for the Levant and Mesopotamia. The first version of the LAC covered the period between 3000 and 550 BCE. Here, we report archaeointensity data from 169 samples compiled into 32 groups dating between the 7th and the 1st centuries BCE aiming at extending the LAC up to the end of the first millennium BCE. Twenty‐two groups are assembled from storage jar handles bearing different types of royal seal impressions, which were used in Judah as part of a taxation administrative system. These groups are combined with 10 other groups of pottery assemblages, three of which are from Hellenistic destruction layers dated using radiocarbon and coins. The new curve shows that the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly (LIAA) spanned 550 years (1100 ‐ 550 BCE) and that the rate of decline during the last spike around 600 BCE could have reached ∼0.6 μT/year. During the 6th century, the virtual axial dipole moment (VADM) dropped from 160 ZAm2 to 125 ZAm2 after which field intensity only slightly increased to 135 ZAm2, until another considerable decline to ∼90 ZAm2 during the 3rd to the 1st centuries BCE. We highlight the archaeomagnetic implication of the new curve in inferring the relative chronological relationship between different stamp types.

Hellenistic and early Roman levels at Idalion: a change of identity?

Substantial parts of the Idalion city-kingdom site from the first millennium BCE were excavated under the direction of Dr Pamela Gaber from 1987 to 2017. These excavations revealed physical changes in the layout of parts of the ancient city that allow us to identify the cultural change that occurred in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The American expedition began excavations on the terrace of the eastern acropolis in a sacred grove that later became known as the “Adonis Temenos”, revealing late Hellenistic and early Roman structures just below the topsoil. These structures were oriented more or less N‑S / E‑W. When further excavation reached the underlying Hellenistic, Classical and Archaic levels, it revealed a different orientation. The earlier structures were oriented N‑W / S‑E. Excavations in the Lower City South “City Sanctuary” from 1998 to 2017 revealed a much more marked change in structural orientation. The question of when the transition took place became clear during the 2017 season of excavations in the “City Sanctuary,” Lower City South, revealing continuous occupation from Hellenistic to Roman levels, but a striking shift in orientation towards N‑S / E‑W structures in the 1st century BCE.

Хүннү ба Канцзюй: Мартагдсан түүхийг тодруулахад (Тамирын Улаан хошууны 28-р булшны ваарнаас сэдэвлэх нь)

This article is dedicated to an examination of a ceramic vessel featuring a distinctive design and structure. This vessel was unearthed within the Hunnic (Xiongnu) period burial site at Tamiriin Ulaan Khoshuu (Tomb No. 28), situated in the Tamir River Valley of Central Mongolia. Through careful analysis, it has been identified as a mustahara - a container designed for the storage of liquids. This vessel is strongly associated with the archaeological culture of the Kanju people of Central Asia. A fragile ceramic item of this nature is not a typical commodity in Silk Road trade, suggesting that it may have held personal significance to the individual. The period of closest interaction between the Xiongnu and Kangju cultures occurred during the latter half of the 1st century BCE, during the turmoil of in Xiongnu Empire caused with the War of Five chanyus. Consequently, it is plausible to surmise that the warrior interred in the Tamiriin Ulaan Khoshuu had personally journeyed to Kangju territory during the 1st century BCE.

From Hai Yao, Yang Yao to Xi Yao: Sinification of Material Medical from the West

In ancient China, Daoist philosophers developed the concepts of qi (energy), Wu Xing (five elements), and yin (feminine, dark, negative) and yang (masculine, bright, positive) opposite forces between 200 and 600 BCE. Based on these philosophies, Zhen Jiu (acupuncture), Ben Cao (materia medica), and the practice of Qi Gong (energy optimization movements) evolved as the three interrelated therapeutic regimens of Chinese medicine (Note 1). Since the time of Zhang Qian, who discovered China’s western regions in the 1st century BCE, Hai Yao (the exotic elements of materia medica from the maritime Silk Road countries), had been transmitted from the ancient land and maritime routes of the Silk Road to China in the past two millennia (Note 2). Since the late 17th century, the English East India Company, later called the British East India Company, introduced Yang Yao (opium) to the Manchu Qing Empire to balance a growing trade deficit for tea export from China to the British Empire. After the First Opium War ended in 1842, enterprising expatriate chemists and druggists in the treaty ports imported Xi Yao (modern medicines from the Western world) for sale to the merchant navy and the local market. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, both Hai Yao and Xi Yao have become a fully integrated part of modern China’s armamentarium for the Chinese medicine and Western hospitals and retail pharmacy sectors. This paper articulates the journey of adoption of exotic elements of materia medica from the ancient land and sea routes of the Silk Road, including the western regions and the rest of the world in the past two millennia. Opium traders, ship surgeons, medical and pharmaceutical missionaries, enterprising traders, and policymakers together transformed Ben Cao into Xi Yao during the late Manchu Qing dynasty and the early Nationalist Era.

Jews in Republican Rome: The literary sources

There is considerable literary evidence that gives us some insight into the Jewish culture in the city of Rome from different perspectives after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Yet, there are few primary accounts of Jews in the city of Rome during the 1st century BCE. In this article it is argued that there was already a significant Jewish population in Rome during the middle of the 1st century BCE and it already had a noted influence on daily life in the capital city. In the wake of the Roman Republic’s imperialistic successes, the city saw an influx of foreign peoples and cultures, including Jews, and they were mentioned in the literature of the time. The little that was written about Jews during this time pertain to those aspects of their culture and religion that appeared peculiar to the Romans, especially in the so-called higher genres of philosophical treatises or history. Yet, we also have texts describing everyday live in Republican Rome – lyric and elegiac poetry. These, too, feature references to Jewish culture. Although Roman poetry is never explicitly interested in Jews or Jewish people, it did paint a picture of Rome at street-level, so to speak, through the eyes of a literate citizen and this picture sometimes included Jews. In this article this type of evidence available to us will be reconsidered to fill in the gap in our historical knowledge.Contribution: This article presents an interpretation of Jews and Jewish practices mentioned during the 1st century BCE in Roman poetry. The poetry of Tibullus, Horace and Ovid, written from a Roman perspective, have been contextualised in their literary traditions and informed by the established philosophical opinions of the time from Cicero, Varro and Lucretius. The result is a useful discussion of how extensive and how reliable these sources are for the understanding of Jewish culture in Rome during the 1st century BCE.

Sex identification of a Late Iron Age sword and mirror cist burial from Hillside Farm, Bryher, Isles of Scilly, England

A burial dating to the 1st century BCE was found in 1999 in the Isles of Scilly, south-west England. As well as being the most richly furnished burial in the region, it has grave goods considered to have oppositional gender associations: martial items (sword, shield) plus a bronze mirror. The inability to determine sex from the poorly surviving skeletal remains, using morphological or the available genomic methods at the time of its discovery, has been recognised as a key difficulty in the interpretation of this significant burial for Iron Age studies. Here, we apply high throughput DNA sequencing and analysis of dental enamel peptides to the highly degraded human remains in efforts to determine sex. The former effectively showed that no useable aDNA survived in the remains; the latter identified the sex as female with ca. 96% probability. This demonstrates the value of dental enamel peptide analysis for establishing the sex of ancient remains in circumstances where survival of skeletal remains is marginal and when diagenesis has effectively eliminated aDNA. Understanding symbolism in ancient burial rites, and hence making inferences concerning the social identities of the deceased is very difficult. These difficulties are not resolvable by biomolecular analyses. However, the sex identified from the proteomic work adds to the reconstruction of the biological identity of the interred individual, and helps to provide a firmer basis upon which debates concerning her social identity can be conducted. We discuss the funerary treatment of the interred individual in terms of her possible social persona, especially the meaning of the martial items for her potential role in Iron Age warfare.

"Soft Power" in the Roman Empire? A Reassessment of Cicero's "Vis Benevolentiae" Through Contemporary Political Science

The aim of this paper is to show that the concepts of soft power in contemporary political science are very similar to those expressed by the Roman politician and orator Cicero in the late 1st century BCE. I will then show how these concepts can be used to analyse ancient international relations and contemporary politics. This paper will be divided into two sections: the first will show the modern definition of soft power; the second will explain Cicero's concepts and analyse a case study in ancient Greece in the 2nd century BCE concerning Roman foreign relations. It is my essential contention in this paper that no history of Roman imperialism — a momentous period in Mediterranean history spanning over a millennium, which changed fundamentally the course of European, North African and Near-Eastern history — can be complete without discussion of ‘soft power’, an important concept too often (wrongly) ignored in the study of Roman history in general.

The Vittoria Alata from Brescia: a combined neutron techniques and SEM-EDS approach to the study of the alloy of a bronze Roman statue

The “Vittoria Alata” (Winged Victory) from Brescia, dated around the 1st Century BCE, is one of the most well-known Roman bronzes discovered in Italy. The statue has recently undergone a restoration coordinated by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure di Firenze (OPD) that offered a unique opportunity for a thorough investigation on its manufacturing methods and previous non-documented repair/restauration interventions. In this paper, we present the results of the study of the metal alloy, obtained by neutron techniques and Scanning Electron Microscope analysis (SEM-EDS), on 24 samples of mm-size from various parts of the statue and on a cm-size feather fragment, believed to have detached from the right wing. Time of Flight Neutron Diffraction (ToF-ND) and Neutron Imaging (NI) measurements were performed at the ISIS neutron and muon source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK; SEM-EDS analysis were carried out at the OPD Scientific Laboratory, Florence, IT. The representativeness of ToF-ND on millimetric samples was confirmed by comparing the results obtained on several large, irradiated areas (few cm2) of an entire bronze frame fragment from the same excavation context with the ones on a millimetric sample taken from the same frame. This investigation led to the characterization of the alloys used for the different parts of the statue and to identify meaningful details on the manufacturing method.

A fast‐integrated x‐ray emission spectrometer dedicated to the investigation of Pt presence in gold Celtic coins (3rd–1st century BCE)

AbstractWith this study, we present the development of a transportable x‐ray emission spectrometer (XES) that was realized in a net time of 20 h, in order to verify the presence of Platinum (Pt) in gold Celtic coins belonging to 3rd–1st century BCE. Prior to the XES study, measurements using Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM‐EDS) revealed that the coins were made of highly concentrated gold (Au) alloy with trace amounts of bismuth (Bi) and, in one case, osmium (Os) and iridium (Ir). Os and Ir together with Pt and other components belong to the Platinum Group Elements (PGE). They form inclusions in ancient gold alloys and their presence is significant in provenance studies since they indicate the use of alluvial gold. Detection of platinum trace elements in a golden matrix is not possible using energy dispersive x‐ray emission techniques (SEM‐EDS, ED‐XRF, or PIXE) because of the limited energy resolution of the Si detectors. A way to overcome this problem is by using a high‐resolution wavelength dispersive x‐ray emission technique. For this purpose, we built a crystal spectrometer in Von‐Hamos geometry. In the framework of this study three samples/coins have been measured, and the presence of Pt was verified in one of them. The limitations of our spectrometer are critically evaluated and ways to optimize the performance of the spectrometer are discussed.

Between Kingdom and Koinon: Neapolis/Neoklaudiopolis and the Pontic Cities by Søren Lund Sørensen

Reviewed by: Between Kingdom and Koinon: Neapolis/Neoklaudiopolis and the Pontic Cities by Søren Lund Sørensen Eliza Gettel Between Kingdom and Koinon: Neapolis/Neoklaudiopolis and the Pontic Cities. By Søren Lund Sørensen. Stuttgart, GR: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2016. Pp. 1-224. Paperback, €48. ISBN: 978-3-515-11312-0. Although this book appeared in 2016, it has received little attention from review bodies. As the rich volume deserves more attention, I volunteer my thoughts on it here. Sørensen’s book, which started as a dissertation, grapples with limited but tantalizing evidence from Roman imperial Pontos. This region’s early interactions with the Roman state involved such figures as Mithridates, Pompey and Pythodoris, but its later integration into the Roman Empire has garnered less attention in English-language scholarship. This volume thus explores the process by which the region developed Hellenistic-style poleis, which were then incorporated into a Roman province (1st century BCE – early 3rd century CE). Neapolis/Neoklaudiopolis is the primary case study. The book consists of six chapters plus a short introduction and conclusion. The first chapter focuses on an inscribed imperial oath and the following five largely concentrate on institutions of various scales (e.g., koinon, polis, province). In short, Sørensen seeks to answer how a region with a famous history of antagonism towards Rome reached the point that its inhabitants celebrated the cult of Roman emperors, held Roman citizenship and did not rebel against Roman authority (13–15). The volume traces transitions of areas from kingdom to province to client kingdom back to province (107–108). As the title suggests, a major part of this story is the koinon, glossed as “league” but left largely untranslated (which makes sense given the imperfections of the common translation “provincial council”). Sørensen considers the koinon as a primary instrument of the concomitant Hellenization and provincialization of Pontos. He follows the argument of Marek that the region hosted multiple koina (versus the “unitary” theory of Deininger). In other parts of the empire, a former ruling class often held onto power during the transition to Roman power. However, based on onomastic study, Sørensen proposes that the Hellenized bouleutic class holding Roman citizenship that established itself through the new civic and federal institutions of Pontos was a foreign one, as in nearby Bithynia (176–177). [End Page 474] The questions and concerns of the book will look familiar to those used to reading about “Romanization.” Here, however, the stress is fittingly on Hellenization and institutions, given the role granted to the koinon. The book also consistently employs the term “provincialization” to describe the ultimate outcome of this process. This choice of language makes sense given trends in Roman imperial studies to treat the creation of a province as a process—and a non-linear one at that—rather than an event. The koinon-ization (please forgive the clunky neologism) of the region serves as an intermediary step on the way to provincialization. The implications of this intermediary step could use more teasing out, especially given that the book recognizes that a province and koinon are not the same thing. Indeed, I suspect that the koinon was more real than the province for local groups. The process of forming more locally oriented koina thus had different valences than forming a Roman administrative province, even if Rome imposed the koinon. The “commonness” expressed in the term koinon (and recognized by Sorenson briefly, 172) seems especially fitting for Roman stakes in the coherence of this region. Indeed, Roman stakes in the koinon-ization of Pontos arguably set the region apart from other parts of the empire where koina existed. Understandably, as its expressed intent, the volume is very focused on the Pontic region. Yet, its conclusions raise intriguing comparisons with other regions. In Pontos, Sørensen sees a close connection between the koinon and Roman power, and he consistently defines the primary purpose of the koinon as the organization of provincial-level imperial cult (e.g., 11, 13, 54, 57). It is worth noting that recent scholarship has expanded the purposes of koina across the eastern Mediterranean. Notably, Babett Edelmann-Singer’s Koina...

Maues Coins: Exploring the Significance of Animals Symbolism and Analysis

The main objective of the current study is to identify and investigate the significance of animals' representation on Maues coins and to assess and analyse the political history of Maues in the Gandhara region. Maues was one of the most notable rulers of the Indo-Scythian dynasty, who ruled over Gandhara and the surrounding regions during the 1st century BCE. This research is based on a qualitative research approach, which involves the analysis and interpretation of secondary sources. The data was derived from scholarly articles, books, and online resources on the Indo-Scythian dynasty. Maues coins are a fascinating aspect of ancient numismatics, and they feature various animals, including elephants, lions, bulls, and horses. The animal motifs on Indo-Scythian coins provide a charming glimpse into the culture and symbolism of this ancient period.