Capua

2020 ◽  
pp. 112-145
Author(s):  
Yelena Baraz
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Second Punic War ◽  
Silius Italicus ◽  
The City

This chapter considers how the pride script functions when the quality is attributed to a place. It investigates Roman attitudes to the city of Capua, which remained the proud place par excellence in Roman discourse from its star turn as a defector in the Second Punic War to late antiquity. The chapter begins with the distillation of the stereotypical picture of Capua in a poem of the fourth-century author Ausonius. Reading Capuan pride in Cicero, Livy, Silius Italicus, and Ausonius, the author shows how Roman ideas about pride interact with stereotypes about climate and ethnic character, as well as imperialist ideology, to create a remarkably durable portrait of a proud city that far outlasts its immediate historical motivation.

„Die schönste griechische Stadt“. Syrakus bei Cicero und Silius Italicus

Millennium ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-53
Author(s):  
Christoph Schwameis
Keyword(s):  
Second Punic War ◽  
Silius Italicus ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City ◽  
Fourth Book

AbstractBoth in the fourth book of Cicero’s De signis (Verr. 2,4) and in the fourteenth book of Silius Italicus’ Punica, there are descriptions of the city of Syracuse at important points of the texts. In this paper, both descriptions are combined and for the first time thoroughly related. I discuss form and content of the accounts, show their functions in their oratorical and epic contexts and consider their similarities. The most important facets, where the descriptions coincide in, seem to be their link to Marcellus’ conquest in the Second Punic War, the resulting precarious beauty of the city and the specifically Roman perspective on which these ekphraseis are based.

Representing the Battle of Zama to Create an Iconic Event

Antichthon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 55-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Billot
Keyword(s):  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Special Treatment ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Imperial Rome ◽  
Second Punic War ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Silius Italicus ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

AbstractThis article compares the use of certain literary, structural and historical features by Polybius, Livy and Silius Italicus in their representations of the battle of Zama in 202 BC between the Romans and Carthaginians. It is argued that through their application of these features they present the battle as an iconic event and position it as a grand finale to the Second Punic War. The comparisons highlight some of the literary constructs in Polybius’Historiesand illustrate how some later authors adapt and possibly respond to Polybius’ presentation.Similarities in presentation to emphasise the importance of the battle do not necessarily mean that the authors convey the same message over the long term effects of its outcome. For example, where Polybius’ special treatment of the battle of Zama, Hannibal and Scipio reflects his belief in the pivotal role the Roman victory played in changing the balance of power across the ancient Mediterranean world (15.9.2, 10.2), Silius Italicus’ special treatment may also be read as presenting the outcome of the battle in terms of causing a shift in power balance, in this case within the city of Rome, and leading to the development of the principate and the one-man rule of imperial Rome (17.653-4, 3.261-4).

The Transformation of Cities in Late Antiquity within the Provinces of Macedonia and Epirus

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-P. SODINI
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
General Situation ◽  
Local Production ◽  
The Third ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
The City

The provinces of Epirus and Macedonia, although divided into distinct regions by their mountains, were important for the Roman Empire, particularly because they were crossed by the via Egnatia which snaked its way eastwards, serving as the vital link between Rome and Constantinople at a time when insecurity was increasing along the Danubian frontier. From the middle of the third century, cities in this part of the Empire were under threat and their fortifications were reinforced in the fifth (Thessalonika) and sixth centuries (Byllis under Justininian). There was prosperity in the fourth century and beginning of the fifth. During the fifth century, the houses of Philippi were partly transformed into workshops. The sixth century was difficult and the second half was especially bleak. However, contacts between east and west were still maintained, along with local production. From 540–550, however, barbarian invasions and plague worsened the general situation. Graves appeared inside the city walls. Archaeology (Slav pottery and fibulae) and texts (Miracula Sancti Demetrii) all demonstrate how hard times were from the 580s to the 630s.

The end of the ancient Olympics and other contests: why the agonistic circuit collapsed in late antiquity

2015 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 147-164
Author(s):  
Sofie Remijsen
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Stable Form ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
The City ◽  
First Offers

Abstract:In the second and third centuries AD, many of the cities in the eastern Mediterranean could boast about having their own athletic games. In the fourth century, however, these games quickly declined. In recent years, the traditional explanations for the end of athletic games, most prominently the supposed ban by Theodosius, have been proven unfounded. This paper proposes an alternative explanation: institutional and financial changes hindered the successful organization of athletic contests by the cities in the fourth and fifth centuries. In order to show the effect of these changes, this paper first offers a detailed analysis of how athletic contests were founded and funded in the early imperial period. It then examines how and to what extent these procedures and funds were affected by changes in late antiquity. The decline was not caused by a general financial crisis - in fact the estates (partially) funding the games remained a stable form of financing. Instead the shift of power to a centralized bureaucracy limited the cities in their administration of the games: they could no longer independently meet deficits in the agonistic budget from the city treasury and had to rely increasingly on elite sponsors, whose ambitions focused mainly on the provincial capitals and who gradually lost their interest in athletics.

A Note on Architectural Sculpture in Central Lycia.

1972 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 187-197
Author(s):  
R. M. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Critical Periods ◽  
Formative Stage ◽  
Basic Work ◽  
Architectural Sculpture ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Basin ◽  
The Many ◽  
The City

One of the many critical periods of Anatolian archaeology is that of Late Antiquity, when the long-established nexus of Graeco-Roman cities in the Eastern Mediterranean basin gave way to an order which looked increasingly to Constantinople. The refoundation of Byzantium on an imperial scale had occurred in the fourth century, but some two hundred years were to pass before the city was to achieve a metropolitan status which was unequivocal. The factors which determined its character and success have been, and still are, much disputed; but there can be no doubt that amongst them the part played by Anatolia in this formative stage of the Byzantine world was considerable. And yet this period in Anatolia—the transition from the Classical to the Medieval—has attracted comparatively little attention amongst archaeologists, and basic work (survey, excavation and analysis) remains undone. A start has been made, but this must be followed up in earnest if the surface evidence, so vulnerable to modern agricultural and economic development, is to be recovered.

The Transition to Late Antiquity on the Lower Danube: the City, a Fort and the Countryside

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. POULTER
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Roman Villa ◽  
A Site ◽  
The City ◽  
Insight Into

After excavations carried out on the site of Nicopolis ad Istrum in Bulgaria, the results were used to reconstruct the city's physical and economic character from its foundation under Trajan down to the end of the sixth century. The incentive for the subsequent programme, ‘The Transition to Late Antiquity’, was the discovery that the city was replaced by a very different Nicopolis, both in layout and economy, during the fifth century. A site-specific survey method was developed to explore the countryside. The survey discovered that the Roman villa economy collapsed late in the fourth century. The excavations on the site of the late Roman fort at Dichin provided an unexpected but invaluable insight into the regional economy and military situation on the lower Danube in the fifth and sixth centuries. The results of both these two research projects are summarized and an explanation proposed as to how and why there was such a radical break between the Roman Empire and its early Byzantine successor on the lower Danube.

scholarly journals Roman Senators and Absent Emperors in Late Antiquity

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Humphries
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Set Up ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

It is often assumed that the political fortunes of the city of Rome and of its élite, the Senate, decline in late antiquity. Such decline is attributed to emperors residing in other centers closer to the frontiers and to the inflation of senatorial status in the fourth century. This article argues, however, that the senators of Rome continued to see themselves as important participants in imperial high politics throughout the period. Such ambitions were ably demonstrated by Q. Aurelius Symmachus, whose role as senatorial ambassador to the imperial court was predicated on the basis that the Senate in Rome was still an important political institution. Similar ambitions motivated Roman senators to give active support to rival sides in political usurpations in the fourth century; this activity was advertised, moreover, by an impressive series of dedications set up in the Forum Romanum in close proximity to the Senate House itself. The climax of these aspirations came in the unstable circumstances of the fifth century when, for the first time in over a hundred years, Roman senators seated themselves on the imperial throne. Far from being a moribund political anachronism, then, the Senate in Rome continued to act as a major partner in the running of the Empire throughout the last centuries of Roman rule in the West.

Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Machado
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Elite ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

This book analyses the physical, social, and cultural history of Rome in late antiquity. Between AD 270 and 535, the former capital of the Roman empire experienced a series of dramatic transformations in its size, appearance, political standing, and identity, as emperors moved to other cities and the Christian church slowly became its dominating institution. Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome provides a new picture of these developments, focusing on the extraordinary role played by members of the traditional elite, the senatorial aristocracy, in the redefinition of the city, its institutions, and spaces. During this period, Roman senators and their families became increasingly involved in the management of the city and its population, in building works, and in the performance of secular and religious ceremonies and rituals. As this study shows, for approximately three hundred years the houses of the Roman elite competed with imperial palaces and churches in shaping the political map and the social life of the city. Making use of modern theories of urban space, the book considers a vast array of archaeological, literary, and epigraphic documents to show how the former centre of the Mediterranean world was progressively redefined and controlled by its own elite.

The Fate of Small Towns, Hilltop Settlements, and Elite Residences in Merovingian-Period Gaul

2020 ◽  
pp. 610-640
Author(s):  
Luc Bourgeois
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Power Networks ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Many

The study of places of power in the Merovingian realm has long been focused on cities, monasteries, and royal palaces. Recent archaeological research has led to the emergence of other categories. Four of them are addressed in this chapter. These include the capitals of fallen cities, which continue to mark the landscape in one way or another. Similarly, the fate of small Roman towns during the early Middle Ages shows that most of them continued to host a variety of secular and ecclesiastical powers. In addition, from the fourth century onward, large hilltop fortified settlements multiplied anew. They complemented earlier networks of authority, whether elite residences, artisan communities, or real towns. Finally, from the seventh century onward, the great aristocratic villas of late antiquity were transformed into settlements organized around one or more courtyards and supplemented by funerary and religious structures. The evolution of political spaces and lifestyles explains both the ruptures in power networks that occurred during the Merovingian epoch and the many continuities that can be seen in the four kinds of places studied in this chapter that were marked by these developments.

Sicily

2019 ◽  
pp. 536-552
Author(s):  
Salvatore de Vincenzo
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Advanced Degree ◽  
Characteristic Type ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The City

Thucydides reports that the Phoenicians were present throughout Sicily and traded with the Sicels. A tangible Phoenician presence in Sicily, as expressed by pottery, is attested only at the end of the eighth century bce. The earliest hypothetical Phoenician settlements of Solunt and Panormus are still almost unknown. This earliest phase is associated in particular with the city of Motya, where pottery and a few other finds testify to it. The Punic phase of the island is much clearer, with almost all indications coming from Motya and Selinus, which were not built over in Roman times. The Pfeilertempel, as emerged from Motya, could be regarded as the prototype for the Phoenician temple in Sicily. In turn, it is possible to recognize a characteristic type of temple of Punic Sicily, as particularly shown at Selinus, These shrines, as well as other elements of the Punic settlements like the houses, the fortifications, or the necropoleis, in particular from the fourth century bce onwards, are evidence of an advanced degree of Hellenization, framed within a Mediterranean koine.

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