IVth Century Research Articles

Cremation practices coexisting at the S’Illot des Porros Necropolis during the Second Iron Age in the Balearic Islands (Spain)

The necropolis of S’Illot des Porros , one of the most important prehistoric funerary sites of the Balearic Islands (Spain), was in use from the VIth and Vth century BCE until the Ist century CE. Located in a funerary area which contains two cementeries and one sanctuary, this site is constituted by three funerary chambers named A, B and C, respectively. Investigations on all the human burnt bone remains of the chambers, carried out mainly by the X-ray diffraction and supplemented in some cases by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy pointed to the simultaneous use of inhumation and cremation funerary rites, probably due to existing social differences. In particular, it was argued that the chambers were differentiated, i.e., B was dedicated to inhumations and A to cremations, the cremations found in chamber B very likely being a result of a cleaning-purification of the burial area. Moreover, chamber C, which is the most ancient (IVth century BCE) and with the largest number of inhumed remains, contains the smallest number of remains that were exposed to fire and just in one case it seems possible to attribute a genuine high-temperature cremation.

La ferme gallo-romaine de Las Olivetas à Mudaison (Hérault)

In the plain of Montpellier, preventive excavations realized to the Claou de las Olivetas brought to light, after a punctual activity of Republican period, a small farm fitted out in Ist century AD, deserted in the 2nd and reoccupied in the late IVth century. Buildings, of low extent, testify of an activity of mixed farming associating vineyard and cereal. Several enclosures fitted out in the close environment of the establishment, as well as a pond, also plead in favour of a pastoral activity. The late reoccupation also testifies of a craft activity of boilermaking. Nine graves accompany the settlement of the IVth century and complete the image of this type of underestimated, secondary settlement of a domanial establishment or a seat of a small exploitation.

Jeux et enjeux de l’annonce de l’Empire dans l’Histoire Auguste

Proclaiming the empire : interplay and issues at stake in Historia Augusta. Constituted on a repertory of references found in history, biography and literature, the image of the imperial power is established on a traditional pagan theology, jovian, herculean and solar. Augustus, the founder, is given an important part in that system of signs which contributes to the expression of the ideology of the Roman aristocracy, marginalized at the end of the IVth century.

From Flood Control to Aesthetics

In the IVth century AD in Southern China, and for the first time in human history, the word which took the meaning of ‘landscape’, was shanshui—‘mountains and waters’. Essentially, river engineers who were concerned with flood control and irrigation had used it for centuries without aesthetical connotations, with the sense of ‘mountain waters’. These mountain waters were also the ‘abode of geniuses’ of the wilderness, hostile to humans. How did the mutation happen which transformed this hostile, repelling environment into a beautiful and alluring ‘landscape’? The paper shows that the logic of such processes can be equated with a predication, in which the subject (S) is the Earth, or nature, and the predicate (P) is a world, or culture. This relation can be represented with the following formula: r = S/P, which reads: ‘reality is S taken as P’.

Il sacrificio del Foro Boario e la memoria della minaccia gallico-siracusana contro Roma

In his Historiae (XXII 57, 6) Livy wrote that during the year 216 a.C. two human couples, a Gallic one and a Greek one, were buried alive in the Foro Boario as an extraordinary sacrifice. A prophecy written in the Sybilline books claimed that Rome would be conquered by Greeks and Gauls if this sacrifice was not performed. In Rome this rite was banished in 97 a.C., but the presence of a couple of Greeks and Gauls buried together is difficult to explain. However, this rite can be considered a memory of the dangerous situation Rome had to face in the IVth century. Between 386 and 331 a.C. Rome was really challenged by Greek and Gallic forces because of the aggressive policy of Siracusa. Dionisius I and Dionisius II of Siracusa employed Gallic mercenaries settled in Apulia and Campania amongst their troops in order to fight against Cere and her allies, that is Rome and the Etrurian cities.

Les soldats de la garde impériale à l’époque théodosienne: le témoignage des sources religieuses

After an historical survey of the transformations which affected the Palace Guards during the ivth century, this article confronts the official denominations of the Palatine scholae (scutarii, armaturae, gentiles) with those which were in use by the Fathers (doryphoroi, hypaspistai or aspidèphoroi, hoplitai). The ecclesiastical authors mainly gave importance to the sumptuous character of the guards accoutrements and their parading function which, after the reign of Theodosius Ist, tended to completely supersede their fighting abilities and role.

Da cidade ao deserto: a constituiçao do espaço eremita

In this study we focus on the phenomenon of anakhoresis in the context of Roman domination of Egypt, specifically related to the period of the episcopate of Athanasius in his chair in Alexandria. From that perspective, we analyze the very action of anakhorein carried by the bishop of Alexandria on his dangerously biographical way, in which he was exiled by the emperors and had to escape several times, the last three to the desert. Finally, taking up the notion of anakhorein, the departure to the desert, while monk‟s moving to a isolation from a cultural and coeval, milieu as a concept discursively constructed in the narrative of Vita Antonii, composed by Athanasius in the IVth century AD, resuming and revising Hadot's concepts of 'spiritual exercise' and Michel Foucault‟s 'practice of the self '.

Nouvelles contributions à l'étude des cadrans solaires découverts dans les cités grecques de Dobroudja

Remus Mihai Feraru, New contributions to the study of the sundials discovered in the Greek cities of Dobruja, DHA 34/2, 2008, 65-80. Abstract : Among the artefacts found in the Greek cities of the West coast of the Euxine Sea are a fragment of a sundial from Istros and a whole one from Cumpăna, in the territory of Tomi. The Istros marble fragment was probably part of a hemispheric collecting area sundial ; he was set for the latitude of Istros (44°31'), and has been dated to the end of the IVth century or the beginning of the IInd B. C. The sundial discovered at Cumpăna has a cylindrical collecting area, and lias been set at the latitude of Tomi (44°07'). It has been dated to the IInd century A. C. It is difficult to identify the origin of the marble used for the production of these instruments ; it may come from the Proconnesus' marble quarries which belonged to the city of Cyzicus. Another possible origin could be the quarries of Dokimcion (Asia Minor).

Strabono Geografijos įžangos: mokslinio diskurso tąsa ir originalumas

The so called two prefaces of Strabo’s Geography (books I–II) demonstrably attest that geography as a literary (narrative rather than descriptive) genre has experienced a formative impact of the historiographic tradition. In fact, the two prose genres mentioned have common origin. The very first known histories are also the first known geographies: the works by Hecataeus and Herodotus were without doubt regarded as history, but they are also known as the first extant descriptions of oikoumene. The idea of special book on geography is witnessed for the first time in historiographic tradition, – it belongs to the IVth century historian Ephorus. The role of geography in historical research and the self-importance of geographical studies was first conceptualized by historians such as Ephorus, Polybius or Diodorus. Geography took over from history the main elements of narrative as well as the idea of the prooimion as a methodic programme of the research. The traditional topic of historiographicprooimion is also exploited by Strabo; but his Geography differs from the common historiographic context in its shift to academism and in Strabo’s strive to avoid the “familiarity” of the historiographic discourse. Instead of his, as the author’s, intellectual „biography“, he chooses to present the intellectual “biography” of geography and to define the place of his Geography in it. This attitude has no analogue in historiographic tradition, but without any doubt it originates in the striving of history to discuss its “scientific” nature in the prooimia.

Reivindicación del invierno en una inscripción latina, musiva, de Tarazona de la Mancha (Albacete)

The aim of this paper consists in providing evidences and a new interpretation of an inscribed Roman Mosaic found in Tarazona de la Mancha (Albacete, Spain) and dated in the IVth century A.D. F.-J. de Rueda unpublished PhD, Mosaicos Romanos con Estaciones en Espana, UAB, Bellaterra, 2001, refuses the inclusion of this mosaic between the Roman Four Seasons Mosaics from Hispania. But I propose its inclusion in the catalogue under the light of some not considered texs and some North-African Roman pavements, through a new consideration of the vegetal decoration always identified with the Winter season.

Mosaici della cattedrale di Hama in Siria

The Cathedral Church of Hamah/Epifania was found in 1983 and partially excavated in the following years by the late Mr. Abd Razzaq Zaqzuq, at the time Inspector of the Antiquities of Hamah and untimely dead in a car accident. The general plan and the study are based on the photographic documentation given by the late archaeologist to the writer for publication. The excavation of the eastern sector of the three nave basilica is not yet completed. The ecclesiastical complex, discovered on the south of the new Cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Community, is composed by the church with the narthex, the southern stoa/porch, dated to the year 415 A.D., with an adjoining room, and the baptisterion on the west side (dated to 412 A.D.), all paved with mosaics. The mosaic floor decorated with crosses and interlaced compositions is an important historical link between the Syrian mosaics of the end of the IVth century and the mosaic floor of the church of the Holy Martyrs at Tayibat al-Imam dated to the year 442 A.D. e...

Fana, templa, delubra destrui praecipimus: <i>el final de los templos de la Hispania romana.</i>

There are in the Theosodian Code a series of imperial laws regarding the suppression of pagan sacrifices or idol’s cult (CTh XVI, 10) during the IVth Century. At the same time the imperial laws mantain and recommend that is necessary to preserve the temple buildings as emblematic monuments and useful buildings of the cities. The present article analyses, using all the available sources (literary, archaeological, legislative) the problem of the end of the pagan temples in Hispania. The main clonclusions are that they were not transformed in churches until a very late period (VI-VIIth centuries) neither destroyed or dismantled. Some of the tempels were abandoned in the IVth century, others were reoccupied by houses or other type of constructions, and is only in the Vth century that archaeogical evidence attests a reuse of their materials for other purposes. The Spanish case is compared with other provinces of the Roman Empire in which we can see similar developments and characteristics.

Analysis of pigments and coverings by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and micro Raman spectroscopy (MRS) in the cemetery of Tutugi (Galera, Granada, Spain) and the settlement convento 2 (Montemayor, Córdoba, Spain)

This paper focuses on the identification of the composition of the coverings and pigments of two archaeological sites. The sites researched here lie in Andalusia and show two contexts, which have a highly symbolic and ritual meaning. The first, Convento 2 (Montemayor, Córdoba), dates back to the period of formation of the Iberian Culture (VIIth century b.c.). The second is the cemetery of Tutugi (Galera, Granada), of the mid-Iberian period (IVth century b.c.). The analytical procedure consisted in combined and complementary use of XRD and MRS. This allowed to identify the materials used, namely hematite, goethite, coal, gypsum and calcite. Identification of these materials proves essential for the restoration and musealization of both archaeological sites.

L’Afrique dans l’Antiquité tardive et la période byzantine: l’évolution de l’architecture et de l’art dans leur environnement

This paper was originally meant to be published as an entry “Africa” (Mauretania, Numidia, Proconsularis) in the Reallexikon zur byzantinischen Kunst, in order to complete a dossier including two other entries, one on “Byzacene” written by M. Restle and the other one on “Karthago” by the late J. Christern, but finally remained unpublished. We first intended to add a few entries on Byzantine Africa, one on “Tripolitania”, alongside articles on some of the most relevant archaeological sites in Late Antique Africa, to be inserted at the end of the volume. However “Africa” eventually became a thorough study of its own concerning not only Africa but also “Byzacene” and “Carthago”, in which we updated M. Restle and Christern’s contributions taking into account the major discoveries and studies which have been published since. This study goes far beyond the presence of the Empire of Constantinople on African soil between 533 and 698, in order to encompass the whole christianization period from the IVth century A...

Aggiornamento delle liste episcopali delle diocesi in territorio transgiordanico

In this contribution dedicated to the memory of Mons. Joseph Nasrallah, who always remained attached to his land of origin, we collect for the utility of the students the epigrafic discoveries that permitted us the updating of the episcopal lists of the dioceses of the four provinces during the bizantine period (Arabia Province and the three Palaestinae Provinces), limiting the research to the transjordan territory. We take as a base for this updating the book of R. Devreesse dated from the year 1945, and the historical-archaeological work of our archaeological mission in Jordan. The discoveries regard the Vth to the VIIIth centuries except the inscription of a bishop of Zoara in the valley of Araba dated from the IVth century.

Historiographie chrétienne et romanesque: Le De mortibus persecutorum de Lactance (250–325 ap. J.C.)

AbstractThe DMP written by Lactantius and published after the 'Edict of Milan' (313), is an unclassifiable book. It was regarded as the first Christian historiography in latin but recent study has defended that the first was really the H.E. by Eusebius which was translated in latin at the end of the IVth century. We have analysed the romantic character of Lactantius' narration through emotional, existential features and its narrative movement. We have compared the prologues of the two books and managed to show that the DMP is surely a Christian history, authentic in many aspects, but discredited in favour of the « canonic » historiography by Eusebius which, even if it contains features of fiction too, is closer to the historic presuppositions of today's readers.

Plaque de couvercle d'un sarcophage antique de Saint-Raphaël (Var)

Two white marble fragments stored in the reserved section of the Muséums of Frejus and Saint-Raphaël (Var, France) are part of the same sarcophagus lid frontal flag. These fragments seem closely related to the tomb of a patrician family which mau- soleum could be located in the basement of the actual church of Saint-Raphaël. The iconography relays on roman family and funerary traditions and represents a couple 's effigy. This sarcophagus relief was probably produced in a local or regional workshop which, if remoted from large fabrication centers, remained opened to new items spreaded between areas. The sculptor, of austere and common skills, performed this work during the second quarter or the middle of IVth century.

Provenance and ceramic technology of pot sherds from ancient Andean cultures at the Ambato valley, Argentina

Pottery sherds from the archaeological sites El Altillo (100±70 AC, radiocarbon age) and Piedras Blancas (ca. 600–1000 AC), in the Ambato valley, and two local clay resources were characterized for their mineralogy, chemistry and thermal behavior. Raw materials used were the local red clays with additions of mostly grit from the local off-white clays. Firing ranges of around 600, 700, 700–800 and 900–1000 °C were inferred from the mineralogy and SEM textures; TGA analyses did not help in inferring firing temperatures. No significant changes were observed in the ceramic technology; it does not reflect the socio-political changes that occurred in the IVth century, which are expressed in the iconography. This suggests the continuity of the ceramic tradition, which was based on a good usage of natural resources and a knowledge of their properties over a period of 1000 years.

« Dosithée de Cilicie »

In his Monogenes, Macarius of Magnesia (IVth century C.E.) twice mentions a certain Dositheus of Cilicia, who was the Encratite author of an eight-volume work from which Macarius quotes a sentence. This heretical Dositheus does not seem to be identical with any of his hononyms known from elsewhere, such as Dositheus of Samaria.

Aspects concrets de la vie monétaire en Province

Summary. — Here several scenes are presented from (monetary) provincial life in the IVth century, mainly drawn from the papyrological evidence. Various sectors of economic and financial life are dealt with in turn where the degree of monétisation has been re-estimated by recent research: the agrarian economy, with additional evidence for currency in the rural sphere; the remuneration of the army, with the donativa in precious metals accounting for the increased possession of solidi by military; the fiscal levy, with the progress of taxation in gold beginning in the 330's and increasing in the 360's; artisan and trade activities, which reveal no concern over the transfer of liquid assets despite the weight and volume of the usual currency; the wages of private workers, which were still paid in monetary form. Currency remained the instrument for fixing the value of exchange, and the place held by prices in society consciousness is sufficient proof of the importance of coinage in the Roman economy. Other matters dealt with include the use and significance of the official « counterfeit » coinage; the anachronistically conservative terminology of coins (argyria and solidi, follis and nummus) and accounting values (talents, myriads); and methods of transporting public and private funds. Generally, this largely monetised economy limited currency transfers as much as possible by resorting to bookkeeping entries, which should no longer be produced as evidence for a low-monetised economy. Continuous depreciation of the coinage in no way resulted in its depletion. On the contrary, it halved the minimum level of transactions that could be paid in cash. The use of coinage was indispensable to such a point that it could overcome any obstacle or disadvantage occasioned by inflation. Contemporary historians who deal with Late Antiquity should now turn over the «primitivist» page of the undervaluation of numismatic data and overestimation of the non-monetary forms of exchange.