Roman Administration Research Articles

XII. YÜZYILDA ORTA DOĞU’DA ERMENİLER VE TÜRKLER ARASINDA LATİNLERE KARŞI İŞBİRLİĞİNE DAİR BİR DEĞERLENDİRME

The Armenians, who were subjected to deportation many times while living under the Eastern Roman administration, were reactive against the Greeks because of their religious and heavy tax obligations. Therefore, XI. Towards the end of the century, they had a hostile attitude towards the Turks who entered the Anatolian lands at the beginning. However, this situation was short lived and they lived in peace under the rule of the Turks. The rapid advance of the Turks in Anatolia and the rapid capture of the Eastern Roman lands and forming their own administration affected both the Greeks and the Catholic Christians, who were shaken by the news brought by the Greeks and those who left their own country to become pilgrims and went to Jerusalem. Because they had been living the threat posed by the existence of the Andalusian Umayyads for a very long time. As a matter of fact, just before the start of the Crusades, Catholic Christians had started the Reconquista movement to put an end to the Muslim Arab presence in Spain with a united army. With the awareness created by this movement, they took the road to take the "holy land" by accepting the cross and to put an end to the persecution of the local Christians by the Muslims. Gregorian Armenians welcomed the incoming Crusaders with joy and, apart from some isolated incidents, made their work easier by directing the Crusaders. Due to the fact that the Franks considered themselves superior to their Eastern Christian "brothers" among the Crusaders, the bilateral good relations they had established over time began to deteriorate. During this period, although many Crusaders from the lower stratum of the Latins married local Christians, especially Gregorian Armenian women, the friction between them did not end due to the difference in sects. Since the Crusader County of Urfa is the geography where the relations between the Crusaders and Gregorian Armenians were the most intense, the marriage relations seen here were also seen among the nobles and gained enough power to have a say in the administration. However, there were also disadvantages of this intense relationship and Armenians were exposed to the ambivalent behavior of the Crusaders here. This situation continued for a while, but since the Catholic Christians began to consider the Gregorian Armenians as their subjects, the oppression of the Armenians caused a terrible disappointment and they sought salvation in their former allies, the Turkish rulers. For this reason, they asked the Turks for help many times and took their side against the Crusaders. The cooperation of the Gregorian Armenians with the Muslim Turks and their struggle to end the Crusader domination in the region show that the establishment of a Christian union even during the Crusades is a dream. The leader of Catholic Christianity, the Pope, tried to have rights over all other Christian communities because he claimed to be universal, but he was not successful in putting this thought into practice due to the ill-treatment of the knights, nobles and people against the native Christians. Although they brought new troops from the West to be permanent in the region, the Crusaders could not turn the power in their favor due to the unhealthy relations they established with the local Christians. The good relations between the Armenians, who were disappointed with the treatment they received behind this failure, with the Turks, and the policies they followed against the Catholic Crusaders were also effective.

La fin de la cité grecque: métamorphoses et disparition d'un modèle politique et institutionnel local en Asie Mineure, de Dèce à Constantin by Anne-Valérie Pont

Reviewed by: La fin de la cité grecque: métamorphoses et disparition d'un modèle politique et institutionnel local en Asie Mineure, de Dèce à Constantin by Anne-Valérie Pont François Gerardin La fin de la cité grecque: métamorphoses et disparition d'un modèle politique et institutionnel local en Asie Mineure, de Dèce à Constantin Anne-valérie Pont Hautes Études du monde gréco-romain 57. Geneva: Droz, 2020. Pp. xiii + 585. ISBN: 978-2-600-05742-4 Who killed the Greek city? The polis, as an ideal form of collective organization and esteemed as an object of historical (chiefly epigraphic) investigation, has kept ancient historians busy for a very long time indeed. The Greek city, as everybody knows, did not die at Chaeronea. In what is arguably the greatest achievement in this field of study over the last decades, Louis Robert and his disciples pinpointed the decadence of civic life, starting with the last quarter of the second century bce and continuing well into the early Roman period—the socalled Hellenistic turn. In this well-researched and powerfully argued book, Anne-Valérie Pont tells the story of a slow, limited, and tardy death. Hence her title and subtitle: "The Demise of the Greek City: Metamorphosis and Disappearance of a Local Political and Institutional Model in Asia Minor, from Decius to Constantine." [End Page 242] After gradual alteration in the early Roman period, the political bodies of Roman Asia Minor suffered minor though serious ailments in the third century ce, before the policies of the Tetrarchs dealt the final blow. On this account, the first quarter of the fourth century ce really is a watershed. What came after was something else. According to Pont, the city became, after Constantine, a mere tool of imperial governance (citéoutil, a term she uses on page 333), not the lively organism it had been. In her Introduction, Pont characterizes this "civic model," invented in the Greek Archaic period, as the peaceful articulation of the "few" and the "many." In these close-knit communities, those in power and the rest of the population shared in the same view of the "common good," the same collective "energy." Pont, against Mark Whittow's hypothesis of the Greek city's "continuous history," postulates a "meantime" (entretemps) in which the demise of this civic model took place. Her book is divided into three parts of two chapters each and follows a chronological as well as thematic order. Part I explores the two shocks of Christian persecutions (chapter 1) and foreign invasions (chapter 2) from roughly 250 to around 275. According to Pont, there was no crisis of the city in this period. Despite internal as well as external challenges, the civic framework obtained but did not remain unshaken. Jews and Christians, she argues, had been participating in civic life, despite recurrent tensions. Those confessing to be "Christian," however, started to manifest "indifference" toward their home city, thinking of themselves primarily as dwellers of the celestial Jerusalem. Cities also resisted invasions because they had kept a vigorous tradition of military training in the gymnasium and broad participation in athletic contests. Yet, throughout the third century, Roman-style entertainment gradually took over, with gladiatorial games and circus races replacing civic competitions. Pont's thorough and comprehensive review of all the available evidence sets a high bar for the analysis of civic responses to both the repression of Christians and foreign invasions. In Part II, with no less acumen in her treatment of Roman law sources, coin evidence, and epigraphic material, Pont singles out the true culprits. She argues that the cosmopolitanism of civic elites (chapter 3) and the new norms imposed by Roman administration (chapter 4) brought about the demise of the civic framework. Chapter 3 builds on the research of Anna Heller and Henri Fernoux, who both advocated a vitalist view of the Greek city in the early Roman period. Evidence from the third century ce—namely, honorific decrees, coin types representing the demos or personifications of the city, and popular elections of city magistrates—betrays continuing popular participation in civic politics, in contrast to the growing disinterest of the...

The “Community Setting” of the Ascension of Isaiah: A New Analysis

Abstract There is a widespread assumption that conflict between different prophetic schools in early Christianity prompted the writing of the Ascension of Isaiah. Challenging this position, I argue that the term “the prophets” is a cipher for pious Christians and that the work warns of the dangers of conflict within the church in the face of potentially hostile attention from the Roman administration.

Набор в войска как средство умиротворения византийских окраин: чаны в императорской армии VI столетия

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of integration of territories inhabited by the Tzani into the Eastern Roman empire in the 6th century. They were a people who lived in the Pontine Mountains during Antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the face of the threat posed by Sasanian Iran, Justinian I (527–565) actively sought to integrate Tzanica into the empire. Methods. There is a need not only to determine the nature of the Byzantine presence in the country of the Tzani. It is also important to study the significance assigned to this region in the military system of Byzantium, since its subdual was necessary for the further activity in Transcaucasia. Analysis. There were no Byzantine governors in Tzanica, the tribal leaders retained their power positions. Fortresses were erected in this region, and its Christianization was also actively carried out. Under Justinian I, Tzani were recruited into the imperial army. They served both in regular units and in detachments of tribal militias that took part in battles for Lazica. Results. The author concludes that Justinian I first of all sought to establish control over the warlike population of Tzanica. Service in the Byzantine army was intended to reorientate the military activity of the Tzani in such direction that was beneficial to the empire itself. Nominally, they were considered as the subjects of the emperor, but the real power in Tzanica was in the hands of local leaders, not the Eastern Roman administration.

A triple isotope approach (Sr-O-C) to assess human mobility dynamics in the Lower Germanic limes borderscape (40–470 CE)

The intention of the Roman administration to develop the Lower Germanic limes region into a military zone must have been a catalyst for (long-distance) human and faunal mobility in the course of the 1st century CE. A triple isotope approach (Sr-O-C) has been used on a total of 21 cremations (bone and pars petrosa) and 21 inhumations (dental elements) from the Dutch Lower Germanic limes borderscape region to study the demographicdynamics between 150 and 500 CE. The dental enamel 87Sr/86Sr range from 0.7086 to 0.7158. The variability in Sr within the cremated remains is more limited: 0.7089 to 0.7103. The δ18OPDB data range from −7.6 ‰ to −4.3 ‰. All but one individual dating to the Early and Middle Roman period exhibit Sr ratios that are consistent with the expected local (0.7088–0.7092) or regional (up to ± 0.7110) 87Sr/86Sr signature. The population dynamics drastically change in the subsequent Late Roman period. Fifty percent (6/12) of the investigated Late Roman population (partially) spent part of their childhood away from the Dutch river system or even the Batavian civitas. The cremated long bone 87Sr/86Sr possibly point towards residential stability during the last few years of life: all data are compatible with the expected regional Sr signature. The δ13CPDB data vary between −16.0 ‰ and −8.7 ‰: the latter was indicative of a diet rich in C4 food, which was not a staple in the Roman diet in the Lower Germanic limes region. Although more research is essential to better understand the population dynamics in the limes borderscape, it is clear that the isotope data reflect the political-military status of the Lower Germanic limes region, especially during the transition to a militarized zone in the later Roman period. Identifying possible regions of provenance is a challenge. Another proxy for provenance, namely the cultural artefacts associated with the excavated people, did not show a specific relationship between cultural background and geographical origin.

African Ecclesiastical Wealth

Recent studies on African churches in Late Antiquity (especially Donatist and Catholic) have argued for their robust wealth, especially after the Donatist church was forced to unify with the Catholics after the Conference of Carthage in 411. This paper employs archaeological, historical, and ecclesiastical scholarship to scrutinize assumptions about African ecclesiastical wealth from a number of different perspectives and probes the merits of how wealth is currently estimated, including tabulation and use of comparanda. Archaeological evidence to support the idea of massive church wealth, including evidence of involvement in manufacturing and basic collaboration or coordinated activity, is too thin to warrant credence. Once current assumptions about African church wealth have been critiqued, the paper turns to the role that the Roman administration played in African church finances. Archaeological and ecclesiastical studies on Africa identify the imperial court as the great financial supporter of the Catholic church, which became rich, it is argued, through the emperor’s gifts and economic favoritism. This paper argues that, to the contrary, repeated threat of confiscation before 411 and, in particular, attempts by imperial personnel to coordinate church mergers in Africa after 411 promoted the dispersal and scattering of resources away from churches and into private hands. Institutional structures of the church and the imperial administration encouraged financial atomization and dispersal, not consolidation and accumulation.

Corrigenda Porolissensia (II). Authentic, or Forgery? Critical Analysis of Some Early Christian Evidence at Porolissum

The author briefly presents some famous forgeries in Roman archeology and epigraphy starting from the Renaissance till to the 21st century. After this introduction he is reanalyzing a Roman shard from Porolissum having incised after burning signs and letters interpreted several times as Early Christian symbols and texts. The author carefully examines the find starting from the unknown conditions of discovery, till to the interpretation of the texts. His conclusion is that the signs and inscriptions are not authentic, but it is a forgery not identified by the archaeologists of the period. In a second part of the study the author is debating other two false interpretations of two Roman buildings at Porolissum. First one was the temple of Palmyrene god Bel which was considered as transformed into a Christian Basilica in the 4th century after the Roman administration left Dacia. The allegation was not supported by any positive evidence and on this ground is rejected by the author of the present article. The second case is the shrine of goddess Nemesis identified based on an inscription under the stone stands of the amphitheater. The idea of a Christian martyrial church proposed cannot be accepted. The author demonstrates why it is impossible to imagine at Porolissum the existence of these Christian churches in the 4th century.

Laura Pfuntner, Urbanism and Empire in Roman Sicily

Roman rule signalled radical changes in the urban systems of the Mediterranean. More complex is the understanding of the restructuring that occurred in the Greek speaking lands, where a dense network of poleis existed already since the Archaic period. In the province of Achaia, although the basic elements of its Classical past were maintained (e.g., a modular urban system with hundreds of self-governing poleis which were sustained mainly by surpluses produced in their territories), in the Roman period this area was characterized by a significantly smaller number of cities and rural sites, in respect to pre-Roman times. Of great importance was the establishment of a few highly-centralized administrative centres of free or colonial status and economically privileged, that now became the focus of Roman administration and wealth. The majority of minor centres had from now on a marginal role, and many of them remained completely outside the new economic system.

All roads lead to Rome: Aspects of public health in ancient Rome.

Modern western civilization can be traced back to the Roman antiquity in terms of policy, legislation, art, and culture. The development of ancient Rome from a kingdom in Latio to a democracy and finally a thriving empire has paved the way for medicine and public health. As a kingdom, Rome has established laws for maternal health and abortion. Later on, as a democracy, Rome payed special attention to sanitation and infections control building aqueducts and public baths. During the imperial period, apart from the aforementioned, Roman administration improved public health measures with regard to pandemics. The correlation of infectious outbreaks with animals, are considered as one of the first noticed of zoonotic diseases in the field of public health. The term public health itself (medici publici) can be traced back to doctors appointed with public health and disease control duties in Ancient Rome.

Пограничная армия поздней Римской империи в середине IV в. (на примере Исаврии и рейнской границы): к вопросу о методах размещения войсковых подразделений

Introduction. During the whole 4th c. the Late Roman frontier military units constantly took part in military campaigns against different enemies of the Empire, hovewer the author of this paper asks the question how precisely frontier military units managed their service, i.e. which functions they exercised and how they interacted to local civilian population of the province where they stood in. The author believes that a set of functions depended foremost on the location landscape. Methods and materials. The author applies the comparison approach, i.e. compares the peculiarities of two regions where the frontier armies stood: Isauria at the southeast of Asia Minor (mountain landscape) and Upper Germany at the Rhine frontier (mainly plain territory). The source accounts are “The Life of St. Conon of Isauria” (hagiography), an important inscription of Julian the Caesar (future Emperor Julian the Apostate) from Upper Germany (epigraphy) and the work of Ammianus Marcellinus “The Deeds” (Res gestae). Analysis. The author compares evidence on the military arrangement of two provinces and considers how their frontier units defended these lands from external and internal enemies, how they interacted to local population and how precisely they located in its forts. Conclusions. As a result the author concludes that the Roman administration could not place a large number of regular military units in Isauria, because this province had not enough fertile plain lands, this region suffered from the lack of food supply. The hard and cruel mountain landscape enforced to make the bands of irregular city militia – in the case of Isaurian assaults citizens formed military detachments, which were temporarily attached to regular units called vexillations. In contrast, at the Rhine frontier, where there were enough fertile flat lands, the Roman administration might place many regular units and, moreover, this region received detachments from expeditionary troops. In other words, the Roman administration had enough food supply to maintain a high number of regular frontier garrisons.

Runes from Lány (Czech Republic) - The oldest inscription among Slavs. A new standard for multidisciplinary analysis of runic bones

When Roman administration and legions gradually withdrew from the outer provinces after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, they created a power void filled by various groups. The dynamic Migration Period that followed is usually considered to have ended when the Germanic Lombards allegedly left Central Europe and were replaced by Slavs. Whether or how Slavic and Germanic tribes interacted, however, is currently disputed. Here we report the first direct archaeological find in support of a contact: a bone fragment dated to ~600 AD incised with Germanic runes but found in Lány, Czechia, a contemporaneous settlement associated with Slavs. We documented and authenticated this artifact using a combined approach of use-wear analysis with SEM microscopy, direct radiocarbon dating, and ancient DNA analysis of the animal bone, thereby setting a new standard for the investigation of runic bones. The find is the first older fuþark inscription found in any non-Germanic context and suggests that the presumed ancestors of modern Slavic speakers encountered writing much earlier than previously thought.

Chwiejna lojalność żołnierzy Justyniana. Przyczyny rebelii w rzymskiej armii w Afryce w latach 536–546 n.e. Słowa

[The wavering loyalty of Emperor Justinian’s soldiers. The causes of the military revolts in Africa (536–545 AD)] Shortly after the liquidation of the Vandal rule in northern Africa and the restoration of the Roman administration, the newly established prefecture was shaken up by a series of military mutinies and rebellions. The revolts in the years 536–545 AD are represented in the contemporary witness accounts (esp. historian Procopius of Caesarea, poet Flavius Cresconius Corippus) as a case of a “civil war” among the Romans in the context of the concurrent conflict with the Berber (“Moor”) tribes. The history of the army mutinies has been depicted in accordance with the literary conventions and the propaganda‑oriented assumptions of the authors, with a striking background picture of the Roman army in a state of continual readiness to rise up in revolt against the emperor’s authority, which is something virtually unknown from any other contemporaneous war theatre, in consideration of a comparable scale. In his analysis of the unfolding events, the Author attempts to address not only the questions of the political intentions of the various rebellion leaders, but also (or even in particular) the motivations which would make the soldiers take part in such precarious undertakings. He points to a number of political, religious, and economic factors which caused the northern African army mutinies to escalate so violently, concluding with a paradoxical observation that in the newly established prefecture, the emperor would have counted on the loyalty of the locally recruited soldiers rather than on the elite troops to whose military skills he owed the re‑conquering of Africa.

Landscape change and vegetation history in the city of Lisbon during Roman times and the Early Medieval Period

Pollen and NPP analysis performed on the sedimentary deposits accumulated in the inter-tidal banks of the Tagus Estuary allow for the reconstruction of vegetation history and landscape changes that occurred in Lisbon from the 1st to the 6th century cal AD. The high chronological resolution of this investigation makes it possible to identify changes in human activities that took place during the Roman period and reveals the extent of land use in the 2nd century cal AD. However, the most considerable landscape transformation of this 600-year period dates back to the late 5th century cal AD, when significant deforestation and increasing human activity, particularly pasturing, spread throughout the territory. This feature bears witness to the outcome of a deep socioeconomic transformation following the disintegration of the Roman administration and sheds light on a poorly known period in this part of Iberia.

Creating Memory in Vandal Period Africa

The Vandals left no origo gentis even though history is an essential factor for the construction of group identity. But the creation of memory in the Vandal kingdom in North Africa can be reconstructed with archaeological sources. For this an attempt by looking for visualisations in the form of images and inscriptions in Vandal Period Africa is made and interpreted against the background of “creating memory”. These observations are based on “official” visualisations. They are a sort of propaganda and because of this are contained within the content of the ideological superstructure. The created memory is addressed to the various groups living under Vandal rule. It is addressed to the former Roman administration, to the inhabitants of Carthage and Christianity as a whole. Only in the private sphere could the tradition of a family genealogy be seen, most probably needed for legitimation – and, if there was a need for this, it points to internal conflicts.

Situri și descoperiri de epocă romană din împrejurimile Potaissei (IV). Date noi și clarificări privind topografia siturilor de pe teritoriul comunei Tureni / Roman Sites and Discoveries Around Potaissa. (IV). New Data and Clarifications Regarding the Topography of the sites from Tureni parish

In 106 A.D. the kingdom of Decebalus was conquered by the roman emperor Trajan and upon its ruins was created the Roman province of Dacia. In about one century and a half the newly created province was so deeply transformed, that when Dacia was abandoned by the Roman administration around 275 A.D., the material culture dominating this area was the Roman one. These transformations are well illustrated by two roman sites located several kilometres northwest of the junction between the Arieș and Mureș Rivers, namely the Roman town of Potaissa and the legionary fortress of Legio V Macedonica. In the area where these two sites are located, only a small indigenous settlement is presumed to have existed prior to the Roman conquest. Nonetheless, at the end of second century A.D., both the town of Potaissa, and the legionary fortress reached their peak, making this area of the heist importance for Roman Dacia. For this reason, these two sites were intensely investigated by the scholars over the last decades. In contrast with these sites, the large majority of the numerous rural settlements which developed around the abovementioned town and fortress were investigated to a much lower degree. In the current stage of research there are lacking essential data about these settlements, as for example: their exact locations, dimensions and archaeological inventories. To improve the current stage of research it is necessary to sum up the information from the literature, to conduct new field surveys in this area, and to create accurate maps with all the sites and discoveries. These are the goals of a project that started a couple of years ago and envisaged all Roman-Era sites around Potaissa. Starting with 2019 the results of this project have been published in a series of studies, the present study, dealing with the Roman age sites from Tureni parish, belonging to this series. The parish of Tureni is located between the Roman urban centres Potaissa and Napoca, along one of the most important roads of Dacia, the one connecting the Danube and the northern limes of the province. Over the decades were identified several Roman sites in this area, in addition to the already mentioned road, in the literature being indicated two possible watchtowers and several rural settlements and villas. These statements are supported by the volume of the discoveries, on the one hand, and by the location of these discoveries along one of the main arteries of the province, on the other hand, although, in the current stage of research, the topography of the Roman-Era finds from Tureni is rather poorly known, as most of the discovery spots are not located with precision in the field. In order to decide the degree to which the statements in the existing literature still stand, over the last years I have performed a series of field surveys aimed at identifying and mapping the spots with discoveries. This initiative has indicated that these spots form eight consistent clusters where the finds consisted of masonry traces, pottery, tools, and even coins and inscriptions, located as follows: three clusters on the territory of Ceanu Mic village, one cluster on the territory of Micești village, one cluster on the territory of Mărtinești village and two clusters on the territory of Tureni village. The Roman road mentioned in this area crosses the territory of both Ceanu Mic and Tureni villages.

Regolamento doganale di Cauno (B10-C1)

The paper focuses on the famous customs-law from Kaunos (SEG XIV, 639). Leaving aside those aspects of the text that have been better studied, such as the relations between a civitas libera and the Roman administration or the taxability of certain categories of goods from the portorium, the study concentrates on a less important point the obligation to declare the imported goods. The focal point of the study is paragraph B10-C1, which is in a very fragmentary state of conservation. The two editions of the inscription are analysed with special attention to the different integrations and interpretations proposed by the editors and by other scholars. The analysis leads to the conclusion that it is possible to make an internal parallel with paragraph C8-D5 of the same inscription and to propose a new integration of the damaged l. B13.

Customs Regulations from Kaunos (B10-C1) An Interpretative Hypothesis

The paper focuses on the famous customs-law from Kaunos (SEG XIV, 639). Leaving aside those aspects of the text that have been better studied, such as the relations between a civitas libera and the Roman administration or the taxability of certain categories of goods from the portorium, the study concentrates on a less important point the obligation to declare the imported goods. The focal point of the study is paragraph B10-C1, which is in a very fragmentary state of conservation. The two editions of the inscription are analysed with special attention to the different integrations and interpretations proposed by the editors and by other scholars. The analysis leads to the conclusion that it is possible to make an internal parallel with paragraph C8-D5 of the same inscription and to propose a new integration of the damaged l. B13.

La organización de la <em>diocesis Egitaniensis</em> y la configuración territorial del interior de Lusitania durante la Alta Edad Media (400-800)

El trabajo presentado se interesa por la reconstrucción espacial del territorio de la ciudad de Egitania (Idanha-a-Velha), una de las ciudades lusitano-romanas, fundada bajo el nombre de Civitas Igaeditanorum, que mantuvo su entidad urbana durante el período altomedieval, convertida, en este tiempo, en sede de la diocesis Egitaniensis. El análisis de su organización territorial, conectada directamente con la continuidad de la ordenación administrativa romana y su influencia en la estructura de los reinos suevo y visigodo, nos permite ahondar en el conocimiento de la configuración espacial del sector interior de la Lusitania durante este período.

A Military Unit of the Celtae (the Celts) and Some Peculiarities of Late Roman Military Titles in the 4th C. AD

Introduction. The Late Roman administration used to practice many ways of interrelations with the Barbarian tribes, but modern scholarship tended and tends to pay main attention to external perspectives of interrelations, i.e. issues of barbaric invasions and methods of their accomodation within the Roman territory. In contrast, modern scholarship pays little attention to internal perspectives of interrelations, and partly, to one of the point of internal interrelations, which is strictly under consideration in this paper. This point is a meaning of official titles, which Roman administration gave to military detachments composed of the German warriors. Basing on evidence about an elite military unit of the Celtae and the name Celtae itself, the author aims to regard peculiarities of Late Roman military nomenclature and to trace how this nomenclature reflected an official political ideology of imperial supremacy, a system of Romans’ views and opinions about the Barbarians. Methods. The author studies these matters by comparing the evidence of Ammianus Marcellinus, Greek dedicatory inscription from the city of Stobi (the province of Macedonia) and some panegyrics (the so-called Latin panegyrics, a speech of Julian the Apostate in honor of the Emperor Constantius II and the “Thanksgiving oration” of a prominent Gallic rhetorician Ausonius for the Emperor Gratianus). The author traces how all these texts are treated and meant a word Celtae/Κελτοί. Analysis. The author proposes and proves an idea that a military unit of the Celtae was composed of the captive Alamanni presumably between the reign of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305) and 351/352. Results. Having based on the evidence enumerated above, the author concluded that the the unit of the captive Alamanni received an official title of Celtae because the Romans used to name the German captives as more ancient people, over which the Roman won decisive and brilliant victories in previous times. This naming practice was one of the persistent peculiarities of the Late Roman military nomenclature and records management working.

Being Roman: Rethinking Ethnic and Social Boundaries in the Roman South-Eastern Alpine World

This paper considers three specific artifact sets and mortuary practices occurring in the Roman south-eastern Alpine world from the first to third centuries ad. These are the ‘Norican-Pannonian’ costume set, the ‘Norican-Pannonian’ barrow phenomenon, and the Latobici ‘House’ urns. These funerary practices and objects have generally been interpreted as expressions of ethnic, social, and gender identities and as spatial boundaries connected with pre-Roman groups in the area. While current interpretations see the presence of Roman material culture as reflecting the Roman conquest, organization, and administration of the provinces—i.e. debates on Romanization that often concentrate on dichotomies between pre-Roman socio-political groups vs. ‘Romans’; civilians vs. soldiers; and elites vs. non-elites—this paper seeks to re-examine earlier explanations by drawing attention to the facets of personal and group identities that may be reflected upon (or negotiated) through these phenomena.