Later Roman Empire Research Articles

Naming religious groups in the late Roman empire

What are scientifically valid and interpretatively meaningful names for adherents of religious cults or traditions in the Mediterranean world of late antiquity? This question lies behind the articles in this issue of Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses, which consider the meaning and validity of five names used in studies of religion in the late Roman empire: "pagans," "Jews," "Christians," "Gnostics" and "Manichaeans." This paper, an introductory essay to the issue, proposes that, when answering this question, one adopt Benson Saler's prototype approach to the categorization of religious groups. It argues, further, that a prototype approach must include etic categories of analysis and that it requires specific and detailed studies of similarities and differences within and between groups.

Medieval Italy: an encyclopedia

First published in 2004, Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia provides an introduction to the many and diverse facets of Italian civilization from the late Roman empire to the end of the fourteenth century. It presents in two volumes articles on a wide range of topics including history, literature, art, music, urban development, commerce and economics, social and political institutions, religion and hagiography, philosophy and science. This illustrated, A-Z reference is a cross-disciplinary resource and will be of key interest not only to students and scholars of history but also to those studying a range of subjects, as well as the general reader.

Dionysios Ch. Stathakopoulos, Famine and pestilence in the late Roman and early Byzantine Empire. A systematic survey of subsistence crises and epidemics

Abstract Die überarbeitete Wiener Dissertation erhebt den Anspruch, einen grundsätzlichen Fortschritt in der Forschung darzustellen. Stathakopoulos (S.) geht es darum, die Bedeutung von Versorgungskrisen und epidemischen Krankheiten im spätantik-frühbyzantinischen Reich während eines Zeitraumes von 284 bis 750 herauszuarbeiten. Sein Buch soll dabei einen gesunden Mittelweg zwischen allzu großer Vernachlässigung dieser Faktoren und unkritischer Sensationshistorie beschreiten – der Verf. lehnt in diesem Fall insbesondere die übertriebenen und nur wenig fundierten Thesen von D. Keys mit Recht ab (2). Es handele sich, so S. über seine Arbeit, um die erste Behandlung der Spätantike unter dem Blickwinkel von Hungerkrisen und Epidemien; seine Untersuchung basiere „on an exhaustive catalogue recording all such phenomena from 284 to 750. It is meant to offer a complementary view of this period beyond the turmoil of political and military history, and comments on themes such as continuity and change of social and economic structures and mentalities“ (2). Damit versucht S. zentrale Fragen anzugehen und in aktuellen Diskussionen Stellung zu beziehen. Der Autor hat neben den literarischen Quellen auch das epigraphische und papyrologische Material herangezogen (vgl. 10f.) und weist mehrfach darauf hin, wichtige Anregungen aus der Annales-Schule erhalten zu haben (etwa 4, 12). Ebenso selbstbewußt wird das Ziel der Untersuchung dargelegt: „We can, however, expect that certain patterns concerning the causes, effects and reaction within the phenomenon, or combinations of the above that are common in many cases will emerge – in short, that a typology of crises will be revealed“ (13f.).

The Origins of the Manorial Economy: New Insights from Late Antiquity

Scholarly understanding of the origins of the bipartite manorial economy of the early middle ages has long been vitiated by our relative ignorance of the agrarian relations of production that characterised the late Roman period. In recent years, however, our understanding of the agrarian economy of the late Roman empire has advanced considerably. On the basis of the legal, papyrological, and archaeological evidence, it would appear that from the fourth century onwards, highly commercialised bipartite estates, owned by members of an emergent aristocracy of service became a common feature of life in the Roman world. These estates are at their most visible in the evidence from the eastern provinces of the empire, but they can be identified in the west as well. Indeed, it is argued that such estates can be traced in the west from the fifth century through to the eighth. In terms of economic structure, therefore, the bipartite estates of the early middle ages would appear to have been a late Roman survival. In post-Roman conditions, however, and especially as a result of demonetization and deurbanization, these estates took on an increasingly autarkic aspect. Production for consumption and use supplanted production for exchange.

Tages against Jesus : Etruscan religion in the late Roman Empire

Tages against Jesus : Etruscan religion in the late Roman Empire

Transformation in Meaning: Amber and Glass Beads Across the Roman Frontier

This paper considers artefactuality and cultural interaction with reference to dress accessories (in particular beads) which can be shown to be of Germanic influence, but which are found in late Roman contexts. The variant meanings of such Germanic-inspired objects found in burial contexts within the late Roman empire are explored in relation to concepts of value and consumption, with the conclusion that connections between the cultural style of objects and the cultural identity of the consumer should not be simply assumed.

Iambic Ideas: Essays on a Poetic Tradition from Archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire

Machine generated contents note: 1 Early Greek Iambic Poetry: The Importance of Narrative -- Ewen Bowie -- 2 What Is That Man Doing in Sappho, fr. 31 V.? -- Antonio Aloni -- 3 Iambic Motifs in Alcaeus' Lyrics -- Angela M. Andrisano -- 4 Iambic Patterns in Aristophanic Comedy -- Giuseppe Zanetto -- 5 Callimachus Iamb 4: From Performance to Writing -- Lowell Edmunds -- 6 Iambic Presences in Ennius' Saturae -- Alessandro Russo -- 7 Catullian Iambics, Catullian Iambi -- Stephen J. Heyworth -- 8 Horace and Iambos: The Poet as Literary Historian -- Alessandro Barchiesi -- 9 Some Generic Problems in Horace's Epodes: Or, On (Not) Being -- Archilochus -- Stephen J. Harrison -- 10 Epode 14: Horace's Carmen Inconditum? -- Lindsay C. Watson -- vii -- 11 Ego Polivi Versibus Senariis: Phaedrus and Iambic Poetry -- Alberto Cavarzere -- 12 Late Antique Iambics and Iambik Idea -- Gianfranco Agosti -- Index Locorum -- About the Contributors.

Human Migration and the Conceptualization of Pre-Modern World Politics

The debate regarding historical continuity and transformation of international systems within International Relations (IR) theory has turned to conceptualizing world politics in terms of civilizations, particularly with respect to analysis of the pre-modern era. The political consequences of human migration have been overlooked in this debate. Migration shaped the demographic, social, and political dynamics within pre-modern civilizations and migration was a major medium of interaction between civilizations and their external environments, including other civilizations. This argument is elaborated in case studies of ancient Greece and Rome. Migration played a critical role in the development, relative power, and interaction of Greek city-states as well as the transformation of Athens into a polyethnic empire. Migration was central to the rise and decline of the Roman Empire, as particularly highlighted in the development of Roman citizenship, its role in the political incorporation of non-Romans, and the bearing of this process on the relationship between the Roman Empire and its environment. Refugee crises, human smuggling, and the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by terrorists who resided in the United States on student, business, and tourist visas have recently thrown a spotlight on the role of international migration in contemporary world politics. This would not, however, be the first time that human migration has influenced the course of world politics.

Transparency versus Privacy: Reflections on OECD Concepts of Unfair Tax Competition

High‐taxing European treasuries face grave problems as they try to finance redistributive welfare states having low birth rates and declining labour tax bases in an age of globalising investment. Their problem is not much different to the problem faced by the Roman Emperors (though Constantine humanely disclaimed the previous use of the scourge and the rack and contented himself with incarceration of insolvent taxpayers). In those days wealth was buried as gold in the grounds of the villa; in our day it may be buried in overseas parent or subsidiary companies. The reality remains that capital and business income can be made less visible to the tax collector than landed property. The solution of the late Roman Empire was to visit corporal punishment on the taxpayer. The solution now being urged by the OECD in Paris is that small or developing countries with offshore financial centres be pressed into service as subsidiary tax enforcers to boost OECD coffers. The OECD approach is multifarious, involving the criminalisation of tax avoidance and the elimination of various forms of tax competition from these centres in all geographically mobile service industries, including financial, but also distribution services, shipping, service industries and company headquartering. The OECD initiative is already drafting similar action on competition in e‐commerce, with manufacturing industry having been flagged in the 1998 OECD report.

Apologetyka Teodoreta z Cyru wobec filozofii Platona

The considerations allow us to say that ancient literature (even in philosophical sphere) was important for the Church writers not only by its rhetorical function, but also by the historical one to give a full and complete view of ancient culture as well as various myths and superstitions accepted by well educated pagan groups of the late Roman Empire. The discussed questions should be more particularly analyzed using Greek-language editions and modem historical literature. The works of Theodoret can also answer other questions raised by historians.

Barbarisation, acculturation et “démocratisation de la culture” dans l’Antiquité tardive

Barbarians in the Late Roman Empire (4th century) may be seen as ‘creative minorities’. Inside an Empire whose “Roman” character is strongly affirmed, native populations are not often designated as barbari; in the same way, this term is not frequently used for those soldiers in the Roman armies who were born beyond the frontier. Even if there is always a Roman point of view in favour of the assimilation of the barbarians, the fear of “barbarization” coexists all the same, and the conviction that the opposition between the Empire and the barbaricum is something threatening. Barbarian presence in the Empire is revealed in different ways: relations with their native society, the concept of “cross-border society”, and frequency of roman-barbarian marriages. Political and social integration of the barbarians and their cultural assimilation, though closely related, are two different problems. As regards these matters, the classical tradition passed on a mix of rejection and acceptance; Christians provided a no more united response.

L’armée romaine tardive dans quelques travaux récents. 2e partie : Stratégies et techniques militaires

This is the second part of the survey article initiated in the previous number considering several publications – both books and articles – which have appeared in the last five or six years, on the subject of the late Roman and early Byzantine army, this time dealing with strategies and military technics. A third part, to be published in the next issue, will be concerned by ethnic, economical and sociopolitical aspects. The defence of the late Roman Empire is still a matter of controversy. The theories of Edward Luttwak’s Grand strategy actually prevail among many scholars (Martin Nicasie, James Howard- Johnston) despite the criticisms levelled by Benjamin Isaac. How “barbarization” occurs is the subject of a more widespread reassessment : while Martin Nicasie and Hugh Elton minimize its effects, Bernard Barchrach and Iaroslav Lebedynsky rather extend its consequences in the Early medieval West.

Investigation of contemporary gilded forgeries of ancient coins.

Four contemporary forgeries of ancient gold coins were investigated regarding techniques used for gilding, and the composition of the gold cover and the base metal core. The forged coins are a Daric of the Persian Empire, a Gold Stater in the name of Alexander, and two Solidi of the late Roman Empire. A combination of modern analytical methods such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Electron Probe Micro Analysis (EPMA), X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF), and SecondaryIon Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) was used. The results demonstrate that the coins represent the main three technologies of gilding used in antiquity. The core of the Daric is a silver Siglos, plated by leaf gilding. The Gold Stater was forged by foil gilding using a silver core. The Roman Solidi have a core of either silver or copper and were plated by fire gilding. On account of our results it is possible to compare the forgers' profits made by use of the different technologies of forging.

A Roman shipwreck of c . AD 200 at Plemmirio, Sicily: evidence for north African amphora production during the Severan period

A Roman shipwreck at Plemmirio, near Syracuse in south-east Sicily, held a cargo of cylindrical amphoras from Africa Proconsularis (modern Tunisia). The pottery indicates a wreck date at the time of the emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), and suggests that the other main ports of call were in central Tyrrhenian Italy.This paper focuses on the evidence for amphora production during the period of the Severan dynasty (AD 193-235), when north Africa began to replace south Spain as the main source of long-distance olive oil import to Rome. The two cargo amphora forms, Africana 1 and Africana 2A, were probably respectively for olive oil and fish produce, the latter reflecting a major export industry which developed alongside oil production. Kiln survey shows that these forms were produced in urban and peri-urban manufactories at several east Tunisian port sites, and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, here applied for the first time successfully to a wreck assemblage, indicates that the Plemmirio amphoras were from the area of Sullechtum. The limited morphological variability in the assemblage reflects highly organized production. Wreck evidence greatly improves our understanding of amphora production, not only between the Spanish and the African phases but also in the evolving patterns of African export through the third century AD and beyond which can be related to wider political and economic developments in the middle and late Roman Empire.

A Roman shipwreck of c . AD 200 at Plemmirio, Sicily: evidence for north African amphora production during the Severan period

A Roman shipwreck at Plemmirio, near Syracuse in south-east Sicily, held a cargo of cylindrical amphoras from Africa Proconsularis (modern Tunisia). The pottery indicates a wreck date at the time of the emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), and suggests that the other main ports of call were in central Tyrrhenian Italy.This paper focuses on the evidence for amphora production during the period of the Severan dynasty (AD 193-235), when north Africa began to replace south Spain as the main source of long-distance olive oil import to Rome. The two cargo amphora forms, Africana 1 and Africana 2A, were probably respectively for olive oil and fish produce, the latter reflecting a major export industry which developed alongside oil production. Kiln survey shows that these forms were produced in urban and peri-urban manufactories at several east Tunisian port sites, and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, here applied for the first time successfully to a wreck assemblage, indicates that the Plemmirio amphoras were from the area of Sullechtum. The limited morphological variability in the assemblage reflects highly organized production. Wreck evidence greatly improves our understanding of amphora production, not only between the Spanish and the African phases but also in the evolving patterns of African export through the third century AD and beyond which can be related to wider political and economic developments in the middle and late Roman Empire.

Barrington atlas of the Greek and Roman world

In 102 full-color maps spread over 175 pages, the Barrington Atlas re-creates the entire world of the Greeks and Romans from the British Isles to the Indian subcontinent and deep into North Africa. It spans the territory of more than 75 modern countries. Its large format (13 1/4 x 18 in. or 33.7 x 46.4 cm) has been custom-designed by the leading cartographic supplier, MapQuest.com, Inc., and is unrivaled for range, clarity, and detail. Over 70 experts, aided by an equal number of consultants, have worked from satellite-generated aeronautical charts to return the modern landscape to its ancient appearance, and to mark ancient names and features in accordance with the most up-to-date historical scholarship and archaeological discoveries. Chronologically, the Barrington Atlas spans archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire, and no more than two standard scales (1:500,000 and 1:1,000,000) are used to represent most regions. Since the 1870s, all attempts to map the classical world comprehensively have failed. The Barrington Atlas has finally achieved that elusive and challenging goal. It began in 1988 at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, under the direction of the distinguished ancient historian Richard Talbert, and has been developed with approximately $4.5 million in funding support. The resulting Barrington Atlas is a reference work of permanent value. It has an exceptionally broad appeal to everyone worldwide with an interest in the ancient Greeks and Romans, the lands they penetrated, and the peoples and cultures they encountered in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. Scholars and libraries should find it essential. It is also for students, travelers, lovers of fine cartography, and anyone eager to retrace Alexander's eastward marches, cross the Alps with Hannibal, traverse the Eastern Mediterranean with St. Paul, or ponder the roads, aqueducts, and defense works of the Roman Empire. For the new millennium the Barrington Atlas brings the ancient past back to life in an unforgettably vivid and inspiring way. Map-by-Map Directory A Map-by-Map Directory to the Barrington Atlas is available online (http://press.princeton.edu/B_ATLAS/B_ATLAS.PDF) and in a separate two-volume print edition of close to 1,500 pages. The Directory is designed to provide information about every place or feature in the Barrington Atlas. The section for each map comprises: * a concise text drawing attention to special difficulties in mapping a region, such as extensive landscape change since antiquity, or uneven modern exploration. * a listing of every name and feature on the map, with basic data about the period of occupation, the modern equivalents of ancient placenames, the modern country within which they are located, and brief references to relevant ancient testimony or modern studies. * a bibliography of works cited. The Map-by-Map Directory is an essential accompaniment to the Barrington Atlas. As a uniquely rich, comprehensive, up-to-date distillation of evidence and scholarship, it has no match elsewhere and opens the way to an immense variety of further research initiatives

A Roman shipwreck of c . AD 200 at Plemmirio, Sicily: Evidence for north African amphora production during the Severan period

A Roman shipwreck at Plemmirio, near Syracuse in south-east Sicily, held a cargo of cylindrical amphoras from Africa Proconsularis (modern Tunisia). The pottery indicates a wreck date at the time of the emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193-211), and suggests that the other main ports of call were in central Tyrrhenian Italy.This paper focuses on the evidence for amphora production during the period of the Severan dynasty (AD 193-235), when north Africa began to replace south Spain as the main source of long-distance olive oil import to Rome. The two cargo amphora forms, Africana 1 and Africana 2A, were probably respectively for olive oil and fish produce, the latter reflecting a major export industry which developed alongside oil production. Kiln survey shows that these forms were produced in urban and peri-urban manufactories at several east Tunisian port sites, and Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, here applied for the first time successfully to a wreck assemblage, indicates that the Plemmirio amphoras were from the area of Sullechtum. The limited morphological variability in the assemblage reflects highly organized production. Wreck evidence greatly improves our understanding of amphora production, not only between the Spanish and the African phases but also in the evolving patterns of African export through the third century AD and beyond which can be related to wider political and economic developments in the middle and late Roman Empire.

The Elite Status of Bishops in Late Antiquity in Ecclesiastical, Spiritual, and Social Contexts

The Christianization of the Roman empire was greatly accelerated by Constantine’s support of the new religion. This resulted in an exponential growth of the Church in the course of the fourth and fifth centuries. As ever more people sought baptism, existing congregations grew in size, new communities were founded, and new churches were built, the need for clergymen to minister to their needs increased accordingly. The episcopate not only grew in numbers on an unprecedented scale, but bishops also acquired great public visibility as representatives of the Christian religion and as spokesmen for their communities. The bishops joined the old aristocrats, the civic officeholders, and the nouveaux riches in assuming a prominent position in society and a role of public leadership. Within the Church, they had occupied an exclusive leadership role for at least two centuries. This article explores the elite status of bishops in the late Roman empire, with a special emphasis on the era after Constantine. “Status,” in general, indicates a relative position in a hierarchical system of whatever kind, and mention of the “elite” specifies a position at or near the top of the hierarchical system in question. Discussing the “elite status” of bishops thus requires a closer definition of the contexts in which they held an elevated position and the criteria by which they were perceived to do so. The elite

Approaching Byzantium: Identity, Predicament and Afterlife

The attempts to interpret Russian and Southeast European history in light of a Byzantine background tend to focus on traditions of political culture, and to claim that patterns characteristic of the late Roman Empire have had a formative impact on later developments. But the effects attributed to political culture presuppose a civilizational framework, and arguments on that level must come to grips with evidence of historical discontinuity, during the Byzantine millennium as well as in later centuries and on the periphery of the Byzantium cultural world. The path to a historically grounded civilizational analysis is, however, obstructed by persisting images of Byzantium as a stagnant culture, immobilized by a complete fusion of secular and sacred authority. The article discusses and criticizes some of the most influential versions of this view.

L’origine de la scène de la nativité dans l’art paléochrétien (d’après les sarcophages d’Occident). Catalogue et interprétation

The article deals with the first representations of Nativity – the Birth of Christ – in Early Christian art. The analysis, consisting of a detailed catalogue of collected examples, covers the period of the 4th century and, as far as it makes use of the existing and published material, is limited to Roman sarcophagi of this period. The fact that the sarcophagi can claim exclusiveness in this respect, highlights some of the issues important for the development of Early Christian art, such as the importance of the city of Rome and the influence of its workshops during the Late Roman empire. The research has led the author to raise once again the often debated issue on parallel development of Christian iconography in painting (catacomb frescoes) and sculpture (sarcophagi reliefs) of the period. It shows namely that no existing examples of the Nativity scene are to be found in the painting of the Roman catacombs and that the rare recorded examples can be conclusively dated to much later periods than the bulk of examples on the sarcophagi. The content of the Nativity scene during this period, starting with the simple presentation of the manger surrounded by shepherds and the two animals, as found on the earliest examples (second quarter of the 4th century), is gradually growing to include other motives taken from the Gospels or apocryphal sources. At the same time, Roman iconographical “formulas” are not to be found in the Eastern provinces where influence from Constantinople is increasingly present. The answer to these differences partly lies in the rapid organisation of the liturgical calendar in Rome (where we officially encounter, for the first time, the feast of the Nativity on December 24 around 330) and its influence on the development of Christian iconography during this period. The research however upholds the importance of “technical” considerations when analysing the origin and use of some of the Biblical motives on the sarcophagi, especially the ones usually destined for the lid area. It is an interesting fact that the entire study should be able to focus on one particular century (4th), one particular production (sarcophagi) and one particular geographical area (the city of Rome). [Author]