Roman Territory Research Articles

On the Origins of the Gothic Leader Alaric: Between Claudian and Zosimus

Alaric has often been seen as the leader of the Visigothic people, from 395 to his death in 410. Before his rebellion against the Roman Empire in 395, he served in the Roman military, participating in the campaign against Eugenius and Arbogast in 394. His early career is mentioned in the work of the historian Zosimus. But his background is shrouded in mystery. In the middle of the 6th century, Jordanes wrote about his noble origin and the Visigothic dynasty of Balthi. This has led some historians to look for Alaric’s origins among the chieftains and nobility of the Gothic tribe of the Thervingi. Among contemporary authors, only the verses of the poet Claudian mention Alaric’s birth. This article explores the possibilities of Alaric’s origin and the internal policies of the Goths living in Roman territory. Most likely, the person of Alaric was more closely associated with the Roman army than is usually thought.

THE BATTLE OF CHAERONEA: 86 BCE

In 86 BCE Proconsul Lucius Cornelius Sulla’s (138-78 BCE) looked over the potential battlefield at the broad plain near Chaeronea. He heard horses neigh, and men rumble as they set up camp. Sulla knew the upcoming engagement of his 30,000 legionnaires against the 120,000-man army of Mithridates VI (135-78 BCE) (Appian 12.3.17, 12.6.41) of Pontus would be bloody, brutal, and deadly. General Archelaus commanded the Pontic forces. Sulla may have reflected on the cascade of events which placed him in this dire situation.In 107 BCE. Consul Gaius Marius (157-86 BCE) initiated policies designed to enhance the efficacy of the Roman army. One of these reforms placed the responsibility to supply and manage an army under the authority of the commanding general, rather than the Consul and Senate. This change allowed charismatic, ambitious generals to divert the primary loyalty of soldiers to themselves rather than the State. Sulla used this change in loyalty to march on Rome in 88 BCE and 82 BCE. (Plutarch 2.3.1)In 89 BCE Mithridates embarked on a policy of military expansionism. He invaded Bithynia and Cappadocia, even though Roman officials warned him to respect Bithynia’s sovereignty. The Roman Senate declared war on Pontus, appointed Sulla to prosecute the war, and the First Mithridatic War began (89-84 BCE). (Appian 12.4.22, 12.5.30) Mithridates’ army overran Roman provinces in Asia Minor. Cassius Dio reported: “All the Asiatic, at the bidding of Mithridates massacred the Romans.” (Dio 31.101) Mithridates then invaded the Roman province of Greece. The seizure of Roman territory and murder of Roman citizens was a grievous affront to the honor of Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and People of Rome). Mithridates must have known from the history of Carthage what fate awaited him and Pontus if his military adventurism failed. Either he must destroy the Roman Republic, or it would destroy Pontus and humiliate, then kill him. Control over the region of the Eastern Mediterranean was at stake. Civil War diverted Sulla’s attention, but he finally advanced against Pontic armies in Greece in 87 BCE. He quickly drove two Mithridatic armies into the fortifications of Athens and the Piraeus. Then he successfully moved against these two fortifications. Archelaus escaped by sea to Boeotia. Sulla followed him with his army to Chaeronea, in central Greece. He had Legates Sulpicious Galba, Licinious Murena, and Lucius Hortensius under his command (Plutarch 15.17).

Roman–barbarian relations in the light of the collection Panegyrici Latini (289-389 AD)

The article discusses the issue of Roman-barbarian relations in the light of the collection Panegyrici Latini (3rd-4th century). Through the analysis of these texts, the article shows various aspects of these relationships. The extreme attitude of the Romans is the pursuit of the destruction of barbarian peoples or at least their subordination to Rome. However, numerous texts show different forms of integration of the two peoples, resulting from the deportations of barbarians to Roman territories for the personnel needs of the Empire (coloni and recruits). The article also discusses the role of the limes, which gradually becomes a meeting place rather than a border and expands the area of contact and integration.

INVENTION OF “ROMAN”, IMAGINATION OF “BARBARIAN”: THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE IMPERIAL IDENTITY OF ROME IN THE LATER TEXTS OF OVID

Purpose. The author in the presented article considers the late texts of Ovid, presented by Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto. The purpose of the article is to analyze how the texts reflect the processes of formation of the imperial political culture and identity.
 Research novelty. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the late texts of Ovid not as literary, but as political narratives that inspired the transformation of Roman identity, contributing to the actualization of the concepts of Self and Otherness.
 Materials and methods. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles of interdisciplinarity proposed in the framework of studies of nationalism, intellectual and cultural history, transplanted into the contexts of the literary history of Rome in the 1st century AD.
 Results. The article analyzes 1) Ovid’s attempts to form an ideal and positive image of power, 2) Ovid’s contribution to the development of Roman ideas about barbarians, 3) peculiarities of Ovid’s geographical perception of the formation of Roman territory as an imperial heterogeneous space. The contribution of the later texts of Ovid, represented by Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto and written in exile, to the formation of political imperial culture and identity is shown. The results of the study suggest that 1) Ovid was one of the first Roman authors who textualized the transformations of political power, contributing to the genesis of the cult of imperial power as an element of political culture; 2) in the formation and imagination of the images of the barbarians, Ovid continued the earlier tendencies of hierarchization and idealization of the inhabitants of the peripheral provinces: 3) the later texts of Ovid, written in exile, became a contribution to the development of the cultural geography of the emerging Roman Empire, based on the glorification and positive idealization of Italy through the prism of its opposition to the provinces.

GEOGRAPHY AND THE REFORM OF THE COMITIA CENTVRIATA

AbstractThis article examines the reform of the comitia centuriata in the mid to late third century b.c.e. This involved demoting in voting order the six most prestigious cavalry centuries, distributing the centuries of the first class two per tribe, and assigning one tribe's iuniores to vote first as the centuria praerogatiua. The article argues that this gave more equitable representation to rich citizens from more distant parts of Roman territory, but still preserved the essential military character of the assembly by ensuring that the serving men voted first in any election for consuls and praetors.

“재정복” 개념으로 본 유럽과 이슬람 세계

The purpose of this article is to examine Europe and the Islamic world through the concept of “reconquest”. Europe may represent the Christian world, and MENA may represent the Islamic world, and this article will focus on the relationship between Christianity-based France and Islam-based Algeria.
 The concept of “reconquest” that I use is not limited to the “territorial recovery” movement that took place in the medieval Iberian Peninsula from the 8th to the 15th centuries. This concept takes into account the harsh measures of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, the forced conversion of conquered people through non-grant citizenship in modern Algeria, and the realization of assimilation as a result.
 As France “reconquered” Algeria, the ruins of Timgad and the example of Saint Augustine show that Algeria was a former Roman territory. In other words, as Algeria had been a Roman region in the past, it was argued that it should have fully accepted the rule of France, which was a descendant of Rome, a civilized and Christianized country.
 The possibility that modern France could be “colonized” by a majority of Muslims residing there is the argument of the Reconquête!, or Reconquest party, founded by Eric Zemmour. This far-right party argues that Muslims should either be assimilated into French society or “exiled” to prevent the country from being conquered by Muslims.
 In the 19th century, France conquered Algeria. However, nowadays many feel that France was “conquered” by Muslim immigrants, including Algerians. A growing number of people are arguing that this trend is not just between France and Algeria, but between Europe and the Islamic world.

Hadrian in Germany and the Construction of the Limes Palisade in a.d. 120

AbstractGermania Inferior and Germania Superior, along the Rhine, and neighbouring Raetia were provinces inherited by Hadrian which lacked major external threats and had the potential to become flourishing parts of the Roman Empire. Relying on his personal knowledge of the regional situation he strengthened civilian self-government by gradually reducing the role of the military. Apart from the legions, all other units were stationed in a small defined cordon at the edge of Roman territory. Together with the now well-dated building of the palisade as a continuous running barrier, Hadrian's initiatives might be seen as an imperial gift to the provincials.

Вірменія та Месопотамія в римській східній політиці та ідеології доби Антонінів: проблеми термінології латиномовної традиції

The article is devoted to the analysis of the terminology used by the Latin Roman tradition of the 2nd century CE. The texts associated with coin legends represented the policy of the Roman Empire in the East, in particular in the context of the eastern campaign of Marcus Ulpius Trajan, which ended with the short-term transformation of the territory of Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into Roman provinces. Not only large texts by Roman authors such as Tacitus, but also small inscriptions on coins were used to characterize the transformation of the territories of Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into Roman territories. The author offers an original approach to the interpretation of some of the legends found on the issues of Roman coins of the Trajan era and which were associated with attempts to incorporate Armenia and Northern Mesopotamia into the Roman Empire. The formula “IN POTESTATEM P R REDACTAE” finds certain analogies in the texts of the Late Roman Republican era and the time of the Early Empire, which were connected, in particular, with the transformation of Ptolemaic Egypt into a Roman province. In the 2nd century CE the formula was already used to represent the accession of Armenia and Mesopotamia to Rome.The author, unlike A. Kefelian, who proposed to connect the relevant terminology with legal analogies and property rights in the texts of Roman lawyers, offers his own interpretation. The used terms, in his opinion, were connected with the concept of “deditio in potestatem”, which had close ties with the foreign policy aspect of Roman activity, in particular in the East. Coin legends and inscriptions combine two main trends – we can see an appeal both to the victories of the Romans in the East and to the creation of new provinces in the context of the activity of the ruler, in particular through the category of delegated “power of the Roman people” along with “surrender” and “transfer” of certain territories and states under the “power of the people”, the symbolic and actual expression of which in the 1st–2nd centuries CE was connected with the Emperor. The corresponding study of terminological problems is one of the components of the study of the East image in the Western tradition, in particular in the Classical period.

Arab Contributions to Introducing the Roman Territories During the Byzantine and the Seljuk Periods

This article aims to show to which extent the Arab and Muslim historians and geographers are aware of and familiar with the Byzantine empire’s territories (Roman territories), and their information about its administrative and military divisions in the first eight Hijri centuries (8-14 AD), which is the period in which the Roman territories were under Byzantine rule, and later by Seljuk who dominated these territories after the Battle of Manzikert in 463 AH / 1071 AD, and before its submission to Ottoman rule. The study also explores the main routes used by Arabs and Muslims in their military campaigns to invade the Roman territories, and the routes used by Christian pilgrims in the area between the Levant and Constantinople (Istanbul). The study is based on the old traditional Arabic Sources until the eighth century AH / fourteenth century AD, and it shows how Arab historians and geographers dealt with the names of Byzantine places and the Arabization of these names.

The Winter Solstice as a Roman Cultural Fingerprint from the Mythical Origins of Rome to Augustus

ABSTRACT The winter solstice shaped Rome and its landscape from the ancestral cult of Saturnus as primordial god of the Roman territory before the city’s founding to its use by Augustus as one of the signs of his multiple celestial and solar connections. The important feasts around this date are well known and, in this paper, we propose to demonstrate how some significant public monuments, possibly from the origins of Rome and certainly from during Augustus’s reign, are oriented towards the winter solstice sunrise or sunset. To demonstrate the importance and truly cultural sense of these observations we show how the solstitial orientation is dominant in the cities founded or significantly rebuilt under Augustus. The winter solstice appears then as a powerful and stable cultural marker that traverses the history of the city of Rome, links Augustus with the origins of the city as a kind of new founder – as was already known through other evidence – and connects any provincial cities with Rome to show the depth of their commitment to her as a part of a common world view.

Food Policy Processes in the City of Rome: A Perspective on Policy Integration and Governance Innovation

In the food policy arena, the topic of governance and how to create a governance system that would deal with cross-cutting issues, including new ways of perceiving the public sphere, the policymaking, and the involvement of the population, has become an important field of study. The research presented in this article focuses on the case study of Rome, comparing different paths that various groups of actors have taken toward the definition of urban food policy processes: the Agrifood Plan, Food Policy for Rome, and Community Gardens Movement. The aim of the research is to understand the state of the art about different paths toward food strategies and policies that are currently active in the Roman territory while investigating the relationship between policy integration and governance innovation structures. Indeed, this paper dives into the governance structure of the three food policy processes, the actors and sectors involved, and the goals and instruments selected to achieve a more sustainable food system for the city. In this context, their characteristics are analyzed according to an innovative conceptual framework, which, by crossing two recognized theoretical systems, on policy integration and governance innovation frameworks, allows to identify the capacity of policy integration and governance innovation. The analysis shows that every process performs a different form of governance, implemented according to the actor and backgrounds that compose the process itself. The study demonstrates that governance innovation and policy integration are strongly linked and that the conception and application of policy integration changes according to the governance vision that a process has.

Drawing Imperial Lines: Sovereignty and Tacitus’ Germanicus

This essay focuses on Germanicus’ performance of sovereign power in Tacitus’ Annales 1-2. That power is seen in the differentiation of citizen from non-citizen and Roman territory from non-Roman territory. Roman violence in Germany contrasts with Germanicus in the East. There he recognised a shared history and community. Sovereign power required a recognition of the sovereign by the citizen and of the citizen by the sovereign. An individual’s membership and a territory’s place within the Roman Empire depended not on innate characteristics but political negotiation. Ancient political geographies gave primacy to the political rather than the territorial in determining citizenship.

The Praetorian Guard, Rome’s Intelligence Service

AbstractRome was a kingdom, then a republic, and culminated in a militaristic empire. For this, the city of Mars invented, perfected and organized efficient institutions to carry out its plans, which extended it from the Italic Peninsula throughout the world on which Rome had a say. One of the most efficient institutions, the essence of the Roman executive power, was not thePrinceps, but thePraetorian Guard, a military and police institution, at the same time political, economic, but especially with the powers of a secret service, being one of the forerunners of European secret services, surpassing all that had existed until its functioning, not being matched to this day in terms of efficiency and impact in the life of a civilization. When founding the Principate, the Praetorian Guard was the one which transformed the imperial dream of Rome into a historical reality. The “wings of the Roman eagle” that spread over the world conquered by the Romans were Praetorian, if we consider that this institution was coordinated byordo equester, the tagma of Rome’s career officers, its headquarters, but also the government of Rome, the praetorian prefect also fulfilling the function which today we would call prime minister, the second man in the hierarchy of the Roman state, of course after theprinceps(the first of the citizens).Although as a military structure, the Praetorian Guard appeared with the professional Roman army, it reached its peak with the Principate, initially having a guard function for the Roman military commander, it became in time the most effective secret service of classical Antiquity. This success was due to the fact that the Romans were inspired by the Spartans (especially the Ephorian magistrates), but also by the Persians (from the administrative organization of the satrapies, the 10,000 immortals, and especially the royal postal service of Persia), the Roman creation being the most complete, therefore the etymology of the word “information” is Latin.From a military perspective, the Praetorian Guard was organized at all levels of a global society, such as Rome, covering informatively, politically, militarily, economically, but also diplomatically all Roman interests in the world controlled by Rome, being a true intelligence service. It was the first informative outpost in non-Roman territories, which had to be transformed into Roman territories, as was the case of Dacia.

Old recipes, new strategies: Paleoenvironment, georesources, building materials, and trade networks in Roman Tuscany (Italy)

AbstractThe Grosseto plain has undergone extensive morphological changes. The shoreline progression has been taking place during the last millennium and has deeply affected settlement, infrastructural, and socioeconomic dynamics. Consequently, this study aims to (a) localize the raw materials exploited during the Roman period for building materials production, (b) reconstruct the production technology, and (c) provide a meaningful reconstruction of the commercial dynamics between local “municipal” productions and “urban” imports. The chemical, mineralogical, and petrographic investigations performed on 34 stamped bricks from the Roman territories of Vetulonia, Rusellae, Heba (Aia Nova), and Saturnia supported the following major achievements: (a) Most of the Rusellan producers used the continental deposits outcropping along the Ombrone River while a few of them exploited the coastal or marine deposits. Aia Nova and Saturnia producers used the Zanclean marine deposits. (b) Brick‐making technology involved very little or no preparation of the paste and firing temperatures ranging between ~650°C and 900°C. Calcite temper was found in Rusellan bricks while decantation was hypothesized for Saturnia bricks only. (c) Commercial dynamics changed abruptly after the the mid 1st century AD when local productions, run by local aristocracies, started declining in favor of urban imports, until being completely supplanted during the Trajan age.

The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper

Reviewed by: The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper Benjamin Reilly The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. By kyle harper. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017. 417 pp. In The Fate of Rome, Harper applies new evidence to an old question: why did the Roman Empire fall? His answer is unequivocal but nuanced. In general terms, the empire collapsed due to a gradually souring climate as the Roman Climate Optimum (RCO) (to 150 a.d.) gave way to a transitional period of "favourable but fluttering" weather (p. 170) and then a Late Antique Ice Age after 450. More specifically, Rome fell because these climate changes helped to trigger both famines and horrific disease epidemics, including smallpox, haemorrhagic fevers, and Yersinia pestis, better known as the bubonic plague. While not discounting foreign invasion via the Eurasian Steppe as a factor in Rome's fall, Harper suggests that these invasions only succeeded because disease had left Rome dangerously drained of both manpower and revenue. As far as the fall of Rome was concerned, Harper quips, "Germs [were] far deadlier than Germans" (p. 18). While Harper puts the climate at center stage when discussing the fall of Rome, he avoids reductive determinism, arguing that Roman society exhibited considerable resilience against climatic and epidemic shocks. The end of the RCO and the outbreak of smallpox did not mean the end of the Empire, though it dented its regional dominance. The empire also managed to weather the crisis of the third century, triggered by an increasingly erratic climate and a significant rise in regional droughts. However, it did not survive unscathed: the third century saw the militarization of the Roman state as well as the gradual ascendency of Christianity over old Roman paganism, in part due to the utility of the pseudo-familial ties fostered by Christian brotherhood in this time of crisis. The empire was altered, but endured. However, Rome's resilience had limits. In the west, Rome finally succumbed to climate change and its accompanying famines and epidemics in the late fourth and early fifth centuries. Depopulation rendered Italy and the west vulnerable to foreign invasions, which were themselves the fruit of climate change, an unprecedented multidecadal drought to the Asian Steppe. Indeed, Harper presents the Huns as "armed climate refugees on horseback" (p. 192), impelled into Roman territory by the desiccation of the Asian steppe from 350 to 370 a.d. The eastern Roman Empire survived and even enjoyed a brief renaissance of prosperity and power in the fifth century. However, the East would eventually collapse as well, undone by what Harper calls "one of the worst environmental catastrophes in recorded history" [End Page 450] (p. 21)—the dual hammer blows of bubonic plague and the Late Antique Ice Age. Harper argues that the fall of Egypt and the Levant to the invading Arabs marks the true end of the Roman Empire, and that the millenarian doomsday intensity of the Islamic faith was itself a symptom of the era's extreme climate crisis. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and for the most part Harper's evidence meets this standard. As a trained classicist, Harper makes masterful use of Greek and Roman literature and epigraphy. To this, Harper adds a thorough survey of more recent paleoclimatological, genetic, and archaeological evidence relevant to the topic, ranging from tree ring analysis to DNA extracted from skeletal remains to computer models of the antique climate. All of this data is tied together with beautiful prose. Harper's writing style combines the straightforward text expected from an academic with the descriptive flourishes of a novelist, making The Fate of Rome an engaging read. This is not to say that the book is without problems. In particular, Harper's discussion of malaria's role in later Roman history could have been better fleshed out. As Harper points out, there are at least 210 extant theories on the fall of Rome, and one of the theories he should have given some discussion to is the classicist W.H.S. Jones' malaria hypothesis, as further developed by Robert Sallares and other authors, since it closely overlaps his...

Publikani prema Justinijanovim Digestama - institucionalizovana korupcija i njeno pravno sankcionisanje

Rapid expansion of ancient Roman territory was apparently not followed by a sufficiently quick growth of public administration. Consequently, a part of public authorities was entrusted to private individuals. This process appeared to be mutually beneficial. Public authority achieved the implementation of its jurisdiction, tax collection being of particular importance, while publicans, private individuals, acquired vast profits. Their profits were often a consequence of their abuse of the public authorities entrusted to them. The profit growth was followed by a growth of publicans' power and influence within the society, and consequently, the possibility of holders of public authorities to bring them to justice by exercising their powers was limited. Nevertheless, the aspect of legal limitations of publicans in which the authorities were partially successful, refers to the circumstances in which the public interest was harmed. Private individuals, however, were largely left at the mercy of the illegal actions of the publicans. The texts of Justinian's Digest, thus originating form the classical period, in which these matters are considered, were analysed in this paper.

Valerius Maximus on 'Undeserved Triumphs' (2.8.5)

Valerius Maximus on 'Undeserved Triumphs' (2.8.5)* David Wardle In the middle of his discussion on the right to hold a triumph, Valerius Maximus sets out a ius that forbade the decree of a triumph in cases where the empire had not been extended, but territory had merely been regained (2.8.5). Below is the text as it appears in the edition of Briscoe:1 Quin etiam ius de quo loquor sic custoditum est ut P. Scipioni ob reciperatas Hispanias M. Marcello ob captas Syracusas triumphus non decerneretur, quod ad eas res gerendas sine ullo erant missi magistratu. probentur nunc cuiuslibet gloriae cupidi, qui ex desertis montibus myoparonumque piraticis rostris laudis inopes laureae ramulos festinabunda manu decerpserunt: Carthaginis imperio abrupta Hispania et Siciliae caput abscisum triumphales iungere currus nequiuerunt. et quibus uiris? Scipioni et Marcello, quorum ipsa nomina instar aeterni sunt triumphi. sed clarissimos solidae ueraeque uirtutis auctores umeris suis salutem patriae gestantes, etsi coronatos intueri senatus cupiebat, ueriori tamen reseruandos laureae putauit. Indeed the regulation of which I speak was so well enforced that no triumph was decreed for P. Scipio for the recovery of the Spanish provinces or for M. Marcellus for the capture of Syracuse because they had been sent to carry out these operations without any magistracies. Now let approval be given to those who are eager for glory of any kind, those who have plucked with hasty hand sprigs of laurel that are destitute of praise from uninhabited mountains and the prows of pirate pinnaces: Spain torn away and the capital of Sicily amputated from Carthage's empire did not suffice to yoke triumphal chariots. And for what men? For Scipio and Marcellus, whose names them [End Page 231] -selves are like an everlasting triumph. But, although the Senate was eager to see them crowned, it thought that the most illustrious embodiments of substantial and true virtue, bearing the safety of their country on their shoulders, should nonetheless be reserved for a truer laurel.2 Valerius' thought moves from praise of the Senate for upholding the line that triumphs should not be given except where territory had been added to the Roman empire (2.8.4)3 to two examples of the Senate's adherence to another principle. Briefly stated, triumphs were not awarded to Scipio and Marcellus because they held no magistracy. Next he evinces apparent approval, signalled by probentur nunc, for granting triumphs that, while they do in some sense result from adding to Roman territory, nonetheless arise from achievements the merit of which Valerius may plausibly be demonstrated to have doubted. He then returns to the refusals of triumphs to Scipio and Marcellus again to laud the Senate for its adherence to principle. It is immediately apparent that the argument is interrupted by probentur … decerpserunt. This note focuses on the sentence that interrupts the argument. Only Ballesteros Pastor and Dart and Vervaet have paid any attention to it, and have proposed that Valerius alludes to L. Licinius Murena or Pompey respectively.4 Both suggestions require that Valerius is drawing a contrast between exempla from the third century BC and those from a more recent period.5 [End Page 232] From the absence of any clues to suggest that Valerius has Murena or Pompey in mind I will argue that these interpretations are improbable. First, L. Licinius Murena, father of the homonymous consul of 62 BC, appears nowhere among Valerius' exemplars, nor is there any inclusion of any material relating to the so-called 'Second Mithradatic War'.6 As for Pompey, who is a significant figure in Valerius' work, nothing in the chapter De iure triumphandi has suggested that Pompey is anywhere in view – only the tribunician Lex Maria et Porcia mentioned in the first exemplum has been drawn from Pompey's lifetime and, as far as I know, has never been interpreted as a measure aimed at Pompey.7 Pompey was not beyond criticism by Valerius, even though under both Augustus and Tiberius the treatment of Pompey's memory was generally positive:8 for example, although Pompey could be criticised for ignoring divine warnings of his impending defeat at Pharsalus (1.6.12), for displaying ingratitude in ordering the death...

Tommaso M. Lucchelli. “Osservazioni Sull’interscambio Monetario Romano-Partico”

For the first time, a serious attempt to analyse the monetary exchange between Roman and Parthian territories is undertaken. The author collects the evidence concerning Arsacid coins found in the Roman territory both in the Eastern and in the Western provinces. Apart from a couple of hoards found in the province of Syria, most of the findings concern isolated coins. Also in the regions closer to Parthia, the overall quantity of Parthian coins found in the Roman territory is extremely scarce c...

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.

Pre-Roman improvements to agricultural production: Evidence from livestock husbandry in late prehistoric Italy.

Domestication of wild cattle, sheep, and pigs began a process of body size diminution. In most of Western Europe this process continued across prehistory and was not reversed until the Roman period. However, in Italy, an increase in livestock body size occurred during the Iron Age, earlier than the Western provinces. In order to better understand the nature and timing of this early increase in animal size, this paper presents a detailed regional study of taxonomic abundance and biometric data from zooarchaeological assemblages recovered from the Po and Venetian–Friulian Plains in northern Italy. Our results demonstrate a high level of regionality in the choice of species exploited, with husbandry systems focused on different domesticates, as well as regional differences in animal size. However, despite significant variation in species frequencies, settlement structure, and epigraphic tradition, all areas with sufficient data demonstrate similar significant changes in livestock body size. Cattle and sheep increased incrementally in size prior to the Roman conquest in all regions considered; surprisingly, pigs continued to decrease in size throughout later prehistory. The incremental pace and pan-regional character of the size change in cattle and sheep suggests an internally motivated phenomenon rather than herd replacement with a new larger population, as might follow colonisation or conquest. The divergence in size trends for bovids and suids suggests a noteworthy change in cattle and sheep herding practices during the Iron Age or final centuries of the Bronze Age, in contrast with greater continuity in pig management. Our analysis provides a thorough zooarchaeological synthesis for northern Italy and, for the first time, demonstrates that both cattle and sheep increased in size outside of Roman territory well before the conquest of this area. This study offers a basis for future chemical analyses (DNA, isotopes), which will further investigate the cause(s) of livestock size changes in northern Italy.