Roman Legions Research Articles

THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE MYTHOLOGICAL PROGRAMME OF THE MITHRAIC SANCTUARY IN HAWARTE (SYRIA)

Hawarte is a small village located north of Apamea, one of the most spectacular cities of Roman Syria. In the area of that small village, unexpectedly a large Mithraic sanctuary located in a cave was brought into the light. The shrine was richly decorated with paintings covering almost the whole available space. Those discovered paintings represented a very rare Mithraic programme, which shows some variants of the Mithraic doctrine. Moreover, some architectonic elements discovered during the excavations gave a chance to correlate the time of the cultic ceremonies and rituals with the exact days of the calendar. Those unique elements recorded during the field works were a reflection of the broad-scale distribution of the Mithraic religion. In that field, doubtlessly an important role played Roman legions distributed almost in every corner of the Roman Empire. Those soldiers, who were dislocated in various places, and various locations effectively transferred a new doctrine. One of the variants of that doctrine or reflection of regional Mithraic tradition was discovered in Hawarte.

An individual with Sarmatian-related ancestry in Roman Britain

In the second century CE the Roman Empire had increasing contact with Sarmatians, nomadic Iranian speakers occupying an area stretching from the Pontic-Caspian steppe to the Carpathian mountains, both in the Caucasus and in the Danubian borders of the empire.1,2,3 In 175 CE, following their defeat in the Marcomannic Wars, emperor Marcus Aurelius drafted Sarmatian cavalry into Roman legions and deployed 5,500 Sarmatian soldiers to Britain, as recorded by contemporary historian Cassius Dio.4,5 Little is known about where the Sarmatian cavalry were stationed, and no individuals connected with this historically attested event have been identified to date, leaving its impact on Britain largely unknown. Here we document Caucasus- and Sarmatian-related ancestry in the whole genome of a Roman-period individual (126-228 calibrated [cal.] CE)-an outlier without traceable ancestry related to local populations in Britain-recovered from a farmstead site in present-day Cambridgeshire, UK. Stable isotopes support a life history of mobility during childhood. Although several scenarios are possible, the historical deployment of Sarmatians to Britain provides a parsimonious explanation for this individual's extraordinary life history. Regardless of the factors behind his migrations, these results highlight how long-range mobility facilitated by the Roman Empire impacted provincial locations outside of urban centers.

Римські бронзові черпаки у варварів Північного Причорномор’я

The paper examines all known finds of Roman bronze casseroles from the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials in the territories of Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. The items were classified according to relevant typological schemes, the dating of the finds was substantiated and a cross-cultural comparative analysis was carried out. Bronze casseroles, which were part of the equipment of a Roman legionary, are probably the most numerous type of Roman metal vessels found in the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials. The typology and chronology of Roman bronze casseroles is well developed, and they are a reliable chronological marker. Roman bronze casseroles from the Sarmatian and Late Scythian burials of modern Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania have been studied in several works, but a comparative analysis of these vessels among the Sarmatians and Late Scythians of the Northern Pontic region has not yet been conducted and is one of the tasks of this work. Ten bronze casseroles have been discovered in the Sarmatian graves in modern Ukraine, Moldova and Romania and seven ones in the Late Scythian burials in the Crimea. The Sarmatian assemblages with Roman casseroles of Eggers types 137—144 in the Northern Pontic region are dated from the second half of the 1st to the mid-2nd centuries AD. It should be noted that the majority of similar vessels from Asian Sarmatia were also found in the graves dated mainly to the second half of the 1st — the first third of the 2nd centuries AD. There is a version that such casseroles got to the Sarmatians after the Bosporus-Roman war of 45—49 AD. A somewhat different picture is observed among the Late Scythians. All assemblages with Roman casseroles are dated since the mid-1st century AD (Ust-Alma, grave no. 720, Eggers type 133) until the last quarter of the same century (the rest of the assemblages of Ust-Alma and Belbek IV burial grounds). Sarmatian graves with casseroles have been accompanied by various and often expensive grave goods. The burials of the Late Scythian necropoli with bronze vessels also belonged to the wealthy members of the community. The assortment of Sarmatian and Late Scythian imported casseroles is somewhat different — the Sarmatians had no early casseroles of Eggers types 133—136, and the Late Scythians had no Gödåker type casseroles (Eggers type 144). There are no casseroles in the Late Scythian burials of the Lower Dnipro region, all finds are concentrated in the Crimea.

Grain Mills from the Late Roman Legionary Camp in Palmyra

The Late Antique grain mills from the Roman army camp in Palmyra (Syria) are the first archaeologically documented examples of Roman geared mills in the Levant. Their discovery in the 1980s by the Polish Expedition excavating the Camp of Diocletian provided a body of data that has proved to be of significance for students of both military architecture in Late Antiquity and ancient milling technology. This paper presents the evidence for an advanced type of geared mill and discusses its implications in reference to the existing theoretical reconstruction of the Vitruvian mill.

Urban Developments in Late Antique and Medieval Rome: Revisiting the Narrative of Renewal ed. by Gregor Kalas and Ann van Dijk

Reviewed by: Urban Developments in Late Antique and Medieval Rome: Revisiting the Narrative of Renewal ed. by Gregor Kalas and Ann van Dijk Douglas Boin Urban Developments in Late Antique and Medieval Rome: Revisiting the Narrative of Renewal. Edited by Gregor Kalas and Ann van Dijk. (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. 2021. Pp. 342. €128,00. ISBN: 9789462989085.) In this model volume of collaborative scholarship, editors Gregor Kalas and Ann van Dijk have assembled an all-star list of scholars to address, in nine master-class case studies, one gradually emerging central question. As imperial Rome’s circle of influence diminished and other global centers of culture and commerce emerged in Asia and the Islamic worlds, with the Italian peninsula growing ever more insular by the minute, how did life in the city of Rome change over the third through twelfth centuries? Under the editors’ orchestration and jointly-authored introduction, the seemingly parochial theme reveals surprising insights into the legacy of Rome’s capacity for “creativity” (p. 26) in art, poetry, architecture, music, ritual and even financial matters, underscoring the city’s legacy of pursuing “productive responses to evolving circumstances” (p. 7). Rome as a symbol of apocalyptic disaster, this is not. Claims of liveliness across any city or community over a long stretch of nearly a thousand years, of course, can easily drain any analysis of historical specificity. The search for stability during a time of change becomes a sentiment just bland enough to keep all problematic or extenuating circumstances out of the scholar’s focus. Too sagacious to settle for trite and tired frameworks, however, editors Kalas and van Dijk have pushed their contributors toward precision, and what emerges here quite sharply is how important the seventh century was, in particular, in marking the gateway toward many of the new social and cultural realities that distinguished the classical city from the medieval one. The century that saw the last meeting of the Roman Senate (p. 28) would witness, as in Erik Thunø’s essay, the indisputable establishment of the popes as “martyr-saint impresarios” in church building, while Dennis Trout’s study of church inspirations under Pope Honorius, whose under-appreciated artistry is rendered by Trout in original verse translations, reveal a papal city “renewed and embarking on a novel course” (p. 162). In a city “deeply committed to curating its past for present purposes,” the seventh century, Trout writes in epigrammatic fashion marked “yet another renaissance” (p. 150). Where the contributors excel—Kristina Sessa on war, finance, and the clergy; Dale Kinney on the nuanced collaboration between lay and ecclesiastical stakeholders in illuminated manuscript production and architectural renovation; Luisa Nardini’s fascinating account of manuscript changes in musical notation, charting the “permeability” of Roman chant, replete with Frankish, Gallican, and Beneventan [End Page 173] influences—is to bring a radical or unorthodox way of seeing old material which asks scholars to consider it anew, to see even this later Rome still shaped by factors beyond its walls, and to study complex processes outside the traditional boundary divisions of time. Jacob Latham’s nod to the Jewish contexts for the study of early Christianity in his essay on public rituals, as well as William North’s discussion of Hebrew Scripture in the eleventh century, shows a welcome sensitivity to religious inclusion in an otherwise excellent volume that misses an opportunity to engage directly with the history and archaeology of Rome’s Jewish community on the eve of the Middle Ages. When the Roman Empire withdrew from its control of Dacia in the third century—a stunning retreat—foreigners threatened the empire’s borders, exposing what would become a lingering issue of who possessed citizenship and whether these rights and judicial protections might be acquired by outsiders. Kalas’s own study of the monuments of the fifth-century city reminds us that Romans frequently lived in a “denial of conflict” (p. 103). In his analysis of the medieval guidebook, the Mirabilia, John Osborne goes a step further. In Rome always lay a “wonderful blend of possible fact and utter fantasy” (p. 209). Douglas Boin Saint Louis University Copyright © 2023 The Catholic University of America Press ...

Zeugma’daki Poseidon Evi Emblemasından Skyros’taki Akhilleus: Caracalla ve Görüntülerin Gücü

This iconographic and iconological analysis has shown the existence of a long tradition about this subject, that is Achilles on Skyros in the emblema from the House of Poseidon at Zeugma. This tradition dates back to the 1st century AD and it concerns the Roman mosaic and painting. The model of Achilles on Skyros travelled from the West to the East, especially from Italy (Rome and Pompeii) towards the eastern part of the Roman Empire. This model arrived in Zeugma on the Euphrates at the beginning of the third century AD, under Caracalla (211-217 CE). The rich owner (dominus) and client of the Poseidon Villa was to be a high officer of Caracalla belonging to Legio IV Scythica or Parthica. In fact Zeugma became the settlement of this Roman legion and the outpost against the Parthians, above all during the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211 CE) and under his successor Caracalla. The dominus of the Poseidon Villa made the imperial propaganda his own by choosing the subject of Achilles on Skyros, which was very favourite by Caracalla on the ideological level, as the subject of Alexander the Great (Cfr. Cassius Dio, Herodian, Scriptores Historiae Augustae). The myth of Achilles on Skyros is very ancient (Cfr. Cypria, Pindar, Sophocles, Euripides) and privileged by Roman (Domus Aurea) and Pompeian painting and mosaic dating back to the emperor Nero, ardent admirer both Achilles and Alexander the Great, as Caracalla.

The Roman Legacy on European Chestnut and Walnut Arboriculture

ABSTRACT The political and administrative unification process under the Roman Empire resulted not only in a progressive linguistic, religious, and cultural homogenisation of the concerned population, but also in the need of trade and exchanges for satisfying new dietary habits and markets. In this paper, we use palaeoecological pollen and macroremain records extracted from Neotoma online database and from scientific literature to analyse the contribution of the Romans in the distribution and cultivation history of Castanea sativa and Juglans regia, two tree species, which are usually considered highly connected with Romanisation. Our results highlight a substantial difference in the impact of the Romans on the history of the two species between the territories of the Western and Eastern Empire, where the Roman influence is much less evident. In the western territories, Juglans regia experienced a significant pre-Roman increase and spread, which was only partially intensified under Roman domination. Castanea sativa, on the contrary, benefited from a significant boost following the Roman conquest, especially in the mountain areas south of the Alps and in France. After the fall of the Roman Empire this led to the traditional medieval chestnut civilisation in which the chestnut tree became a main source of livelihood.

IVL Impressions and Their Implications for the Production of Ceramic Building Materials in Aelia Capitolina

This article presents a group of ceramic building materials (bricks and pipes) from the city of Aelia Capitolina. This group bears rare impressions consisting of three Latin letters: IVL. The IVL group is studied typologically and petrographically, suggesting that a private workshop operated in Aelia Capitolina no later than the 3rd century CE. Petrographically, the IVL group is different from the well-known ceramic building materials bearing impressions of the Xth Roman legion Fretensis, manufactured in the kilnworks near the Jerusalem International Convention Center (Binyanei HaʾUma). This suggests that the IVL group was not produced in the legionary workshop. The current study is an additional facet contributing to the discussion on the various modes of production of ceramic building materials in Jerusalem during the Late Roman period. Further examined is the relation between military, municipal and private ceramic production, possibly as a mirror of the municipal development and processes that Jerusalem underwent during the period under discussion, and the role of the City of David within these processes.

A Set of Roman Belt Fittings. A Beneficiarius Legati Legionis III Cyrenaicae?

In this paper we present bronze objects from the third century CE, including military belt fittings and a plate that adorned a box or coffin. The provenance of the objects is unknown. The importance of publishing them stems from the rare mention of the name of a Roman legion, the juxtaposition of facts relevant to their dating with the geographical context, and the paucity of similar known exemplars. Having analyzed the data, we can cautiously suggest that the objects come from a tomb in northern Transjordan or southern Syria that belonged to a soldier – perhaps a <em>beneficiarius </em>– in the Legio III Cyrenaica stationed in the province of Arabia during the Late Roman period.

The register of the artist

ABSTRACT Central to art was once its relationship to the imaginative interior of the artist. The legacy of romanticism and the sublime has been systematically eroded throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Although for some not entirely lost. Contemporary discourses around the posthuman have played their part in the erasure of the artist, through the breakdown of the centrality of our bodily self in the world, and correspondingly, our imaginative interior as previously conceived has been jettisoned. Through the rise of the anthropocene, attention is now paid to the more or other-than-human, and even for those who take the person as part of this schema, the body is no longer closed, its interior bracketed off from the world, but part of a wider nexus, where fundamentally for the posthuman, the body-mind of the artist is not necessarily the originating source for creativity. This paper seeks to consider the material embodiments of these developments through exploring the working practice of artist Katie Paterson. Multidisciplinary and cross-medium, her work is concerned with immensity and particularity; her material is the stuff of the world, through which she tells the story of nature’s elusive phenomena. The artist is quelled and transformed in Paterson’s work through a re-articulation of the structures and processes normally hidden from us. In this way the register of the artist shifts and the subjective self is dispersed and reconstructed through alternative frames of reference, most notably geological time and the space of the cosmos. Heir to the romantic sublime, her work offers a reappraisal of the place of artistic subjectivity in the era of the posthuman. In so doing her work reveals the potential for a new posthuman sublime.

Les théoi épiphaneis à Thasos. Deux nouvelles occurrences épigraphiques

This contribution makes known two Thasian dedications to “manifest gods” (theoi epiphaneis), dated to the 2nd century AD. One is dedicated by a veteran of a Roman legion to Theagenes, the famous Thasian athlete of the 5th century BC, who was honoured as a god until the imperial period. The other is an offering made by a Thasian woman to Zeus Souideptos, a deity whose eponymous sanctuary was located on the western edge of the province of Thrace. Both documents illustrate the connections established between Thasos and Thrace in the field of cults.

VALÉRIAN Dominique, Ports et réseaux d’échanges dans le Maghreb médiéval

This is the first major scholarly work on the subject of Mediterranean ports and exchange networks in the medieval Maghrib. In it, Dominique Valerian seeks to situate Maghrib-specific developments in relation to historiographic debates that range from the legacy of Rome and the Islamic conquests to the Commercial Revolution and the emergence of the modern world. By virtue of its range, focus, and the rich bibliography on which it stands, this book is now the main reference work on the subject...

Particularities of the Cultural Tourism in Zalău in the Context of the European Heritage: The Roman Festival Zalău Porolissum

"Particularities of the Cultural Tourism in Zalău in the Context of the European Heritage: the Roman Festival Zalău Porolissum. Covering an area of 3,850 square kms, the county of Sălaj lies in the north-western part of Romania, as a passage between the Western and Eastern Carpathians. The main settlement of Sălaj is the city of Zalău, lying at the heart of the county, along Zalău valley, near the Northern Meseş Mountains. Evidence of the Dacian culture and civilization can be found all over the county. The stronghold was well known in antiquity as Dacidava, a central place for the gatherings of Dacian tribes living in the region, known today as Sălaj. Here 14 treasures of Dacian silver coins and jewels were found, which may explain the fact that Sălaj was one of the towns that laid on the ancient road of salt whereon salt used to be traded from Transylvania to Central Europe. Another important Dacian settlement would be Moigrad (Porolissum), on the heights of Măgura Moigradului, mentioned by Ptolemeu in his „Geographia”. After the Roman conquest and the colonization of Dacia as a Roman province, Roman experts in military strategy transfomed the Meseş Mountains into the north-eastern border of the Roman Empire. This „limes” separated the territories of the Roman province Dacia from the unoccupied area which belonged to the free Dacians. The military structure of Porolissum, the capital of the province „Dacia Porolissensis”, acquired the rank of „municipium”, by an order of the Emperor Septimius Severus. Ruins of the Porolissum town, together with Roman fortifications near the passage Poarta Meseşului stretch to an area of about 200 hectares. In Porolissum, archaeological discoveries brought to light two large stone-built Roman „castrum”, one amphitheatre, several temples, civilian constructions and Roman roads. Within the study there were both open-response questionnaires, when the subject was free to answer as he saw fit, and closed-response questionnaires, in which the subject had several possible answers from which he could choose the response considered convenient. The Roman Festival Zalău Porolissum recovers a part of the shared historical past within a geographical space where the European community now functions. Through impeccable organization and administration, this part made possibile the development of the greatest empire in ancient times. Through The Roman Festival Zalău Porolissum, the Zalău City Hall proposes to its inhabitants and tourists a vast event with an educative-cultural dimension. We believe that this sort of manifestation may counteract the promotion tendencies of the underground culture. We wish for The Roman Festival Zalău Porolissum to pleasantly provide to the public history moments, traditions, culture and specific costumes. The Roman Festival Zalău Porolissum is an event of our identity that reconfirms our values and space in Europe. At the European Union’s construction a few fundamental facts contributed: shared geography and history, the Greek culture, the Christianity and the Roman legacy. The Roman culture and civilization are marks of the European identity, which define the present European citizen’s consciousness. Keywords: The Roman Festival Zalău Porolissum, Cultural tourism, Global values, European Heritage."

Ancient Epigraphic Inscriptions as a Source for Research of the Oldest Past of Bosnia and Herzegovina

: Epigraphic inscriptions hundreds of which have been found in the territory&#x0D; of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are an authentic testimony of the people of the time about the&#x0D; political, cultural and social life of provinces Dalmatia, and the two Pannonia provinces&#x0D; (Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior). Although a systematic research is lacking, the&#x0D; number of newly-found epigraphic monuments has significantly increased in Bosnia and&#x0D; Herzegovina and to that number four more will be added. Two monuments were found&#x0D; in the wider Trebinje area, while the other two are from the Crkvine near Makljenovac&#x0D; (Doboj) locality. Votive altar for Jupiter, Best and Greatest, from the soldier of Cohors prima&#x0D; Delmatarum milliaria is the first material evidence for which it can be certainly asserted&#x0D; that it is linked to the presence of the cohort in the area of Doboj. The cohort whose name&#x0D; is mentioned on the epigraphic monument from Doboj was probably made in the 80s CE,&#x0D; after the Roman legions retreated from the area of the province Dalmatia. It is considered&#x0D; that the cohort was stationed throughout the whole principate in its “birth” province&#x0D; Dalmatia and that it is, conditionally speaking, one of the autochthonous cohorts. The&#x0D; confirmation that the Cohors prima Delmatarum milliaria equitata was stationed in the&#x0D; castrum in Makljenovac is a good indicator that Romans accounted for the inter-provincial&#x0D; borders, not only for he limes.

The Silent Revolution: The Roman Army between Polybius and Marius

Traditionally, Polybius’ description of the Roman army in Book VI of his Histories is considered the de facto image of the mid-Republican Roman legions until the major changes introduced by the reforms attributed to Gaius Marius. However, there are several elements highlighting the fact that Polybius’ description actually depicts a rather outdated military system, making it hard to accept it as an up-to-date portrait of the army by the mid-second century. By examining hints within the sources, this paper aims to proper examine the major variations that interested the Roman military system from the mid-third to the late second centuries and to highlight their overall impact.

AZƏRBAYCANIN MƏDƏNİ İNKİŞAF DÖVRLƏRİ

The musical history of Azerbaijan is a part of understanding of the ancient past of Azerbaijan. The universally recognized development peculiarities of Azerbaijan are the result of the specific musical culture of the Azerbaijani people. Difficulties of studying the ancient music culture of Azerbaijan are directly related to the absence of leading sources and indirect references. Oral traditional folklore, folk song creativity, fiction and archaeological monuments are the main sources of the study of the past of Azerbaijani culture. It is important to preserve the authenticity of classical music and folk songs of Azerbaijan, starting with the ancient ancestors of the Azerbaijani people: thousands of years before our era had a different historical effect on the Medians, the Caspians, the Albanians and other tribes. The extensive trade routes passing through Azerbaijan, the Silk Road, the invasion of various tribes as Huns- Suvars (in the VII century BC), Romans (at the beginning of our era), Khazars (VI - VII centuries), Cumanses (IX - XI centuries), Seljuk Turks (X-XI centuries), Mongols (XIII century), Persians, Arabs and had their specific impact on Azerbaijani folk music and culture. The broad and sophisticated international trade junction of the Middle East countries certainly came to Azerbaijan. Latin and Greek inscription about Domitian’s, XII Roman legion being on the shores of the Caspian Sea, were discovered on Gobustan rocks at the end of the first century The great Norwegian researcher and traveler, Tur Heyerdal in his scientific findings made a special place for Gobustan boat descriptions and considered similarity with the Sumerian culture. He also stated that, the civilization of Arabian Sea had contacted with Gobustan[5]. The Khazars are one of the oldest and most widely spread ethnic groups in the Eastern and Central Transcaucasia. According to ancient and old Oriental sources, during the existence of the Achaemenid rule (6th-4th centuries BC), they established ethno-cultural relations with their close neighbors, as well as with peoples who were relatively far from them. Key words: music history, archeological monuments, classical music, ancient tribes, folklore

Monstrous Imaginaries. The Legacy of Romanticism in comics. Maaheen Ahmed. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi, 2020, 235 p.

Monstrous Imaginaries. The Legacy of Romanticism in comics. Maaheen Ahmed. Jackson, University Press of Mississippi, 2020, 235 p.

Triple Roman domination in graphs

The Roman domination in graphs is well-studied in graph theory. The topic is related to a defensive strategy problem in which the Roman legions are settled in some secure cities of the Roman Empire. The deployment of the legions around the Empire is designed in such a way that a sudden attack to any undefended city could be quelled by a legion from a strong neighbour. There is an additional condition: no legion can move if doing so leaves its base city defenceless. In this manuscript we start the study of a variant of Roman domination in graphs: the triple Roman domination. We consider that any city of the Roman Empire must be able to be defended by at least three legions. These legions should be either in the attacked city or in one of its neighbours. We determine various bounds on the triple Roman domination number for general graphs, and we give exact values for some graph families. Moreover, complexity results are also obtained.

Insurgency in Germany: the slaughter of Varus in the Teutoburger Wald

ABSTRACT The uprising led by Arminius in 9 CE, otherwise known as the clades Variana, resulted in the destruction of three crack Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest and changed Roman foreign policy beyond the Rhine. The event demonstrates the maximum res Arminult an insurgency can accomplish with few resources. Even in an age of limited communications, without explosives or modern weapons, an insurgent group could still have a dramatic effect on a world power. Now that archaeologists have excavated the actual battle site, we are in a position to see how Arminius executed one of the most successful insurgencies in the ancient world.

Tiberius’un Germanya Stratejisi

Tiberius, whose character and retreat to the island of Capri during his reign’s last decade, tarnished his reputation and caused controversy, actually had a realist and sound Germania strategy. Instead of extending the Roman borders, he chose to protect the Roman frontiers as the new conquests were both costly and dangerous beyond the Rhine. Therefore, he removed his cousin and possible successor Germanicus, who pursued an expansionist and adventurous policy. Although some authors, such as Cassius Dio and Tacitus condemn him relieving his popular and charismatic cousin Germanicus from the command of Germania legions, Tiberius’ this move was justifiable because Germanicus was risking the Roman legions and money for military expeditions, which would boost his popularity rather than the Roman Empire’s security. Tiberius’ considerations in Germania were, on the other hand, upholding the peace and security.