Why Was the Base Where It Was, and As It Was?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
City Wall ◽  
The Third ◽  
Open Ground ◽  
Face Saving ◽  
Saving Measure ◽  
The Military ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

In the foregoing, it was argued that the unitary base area seen in the third century, encompassing the entire N part of the city from the W defences almost to the River Gate, resulted from expansion and coalescence of two later-second-century nuclei, one near the Temple of Bêl, the other focused on the Citadel. Subsequently, presumably increasing Roman troop numbers at Dura led to takeover of the far N part of the intramural area, linking up the military holdings. But why did it start as two nuclei? When Roman power became permanently established over Dura c.165, and a decision was made to station Palmyrene symmachiarii there, while the Realpolitik may have been that these were proxy forces holding the city for Rome, the option of sending in troops from a long-standing friend of Dura may have been chosen as a face-saving measure for the Durene elite. The Palmyrenes were likely presented as defending the newly ‘liberated’ city from Arsacid interference. Under such circumstances, a less obtrusive, peripheral location would have been appropriate. The zone around the Temple of Bêl appears at the time to have comprised only partially built-up city blocks offering open ground, with more free space along the city wall to accommodate the Palmyrene force with minimal disruption to civic life. The temple plaza also offered a ready-made military assembly space. It is further possible that the Palmyrenes attested in Arsacid Dura—visiting traders and soldiers, and resident expatriates—already tended to congregate in or use this zone, around the temple which, at least later, would become especially associated with Palmyrene Bêl. With subsequent arrival of regular Roman troops, and the proposed enrolling of the Palmyrene archers as the nucleus of the nascent cohors XX, the NW cantonment was then probably expanded as it was developed into a Roman auxiliary base. With regard to the inner wadi/Citadel zone, it was suggested above that the incoming Romans would have taken over the great inner stronghold by default, as part of the defensive circuit. They also used the flat wadi floor in its shadow as a campus.

The Plateau Zone West of G St

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
Wall Painting ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Third Century ◽  
City Wall ◽  
Base Area ◽  
The Third ◽  
Military Community ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Temple

One of the first structures explored at Dura in 1920, this temple (or perhaps better, sanctuary: Buchmann 2016, 116) was subsequently completely excavated but never fully published. Preliminary accounts were written by the excavators (Cumont 1926, 29–41; PR 2, 11–12, 67–9 (Pillet), PR 4, 16–19 (Pillet); Rostovtzeff 1938, 68–75 and pl. VI) and it has been much discussed since (Downey 1988, 105–10 for overview and references; Dirven 1999, 326–49 for the Palmyrene evidence; Leriche et al. 2011, 28). It remained a temple through the Roman period, apparently no part of it other than, presumably, the upper levels of city wall Tower 1 being used for secular military purposes. However, its continued existence in the farthest corner of the military base, and its attested use for worship by the Roman military community, demand discussion here. Indeed one of the very first military discoveries was the Terentius wall painting on the N wall of the temple’s room A, depicting a Roman military sacrifice by cohors XX Palmyrenorum before a triad of its national deities and the Tychai of Dura and Palmyra (Pl. I; Breasted 1922; Cumont 1923; Breasted 1924, 94–101, pl. XXI). Cumont consequently called the sanctuary the ‘Temple of the Palmyrene Gods’ (Cumont 1926, 29). In recent decades it has been more usually known as the ‘Temple of (i.e. Palmyrene) Bêl’, following Rostovtzeff (1938, 51), although in Parthian times it was probably dedicated to Zeus (Welles 1969, 63; Millar 1998, 482; Kaizer 2002, 122). No evidence indicates Palmyrene worship in the Parthian-era temple (Dirven 1999, 327–8). There is no consensus on the name for the sanctuary, so I follow MFSED’s ‘Temple of Bêl’ (Leriche et al. 2011, 28; also now Kaizer 2016b, 37–41). Described as laying in ‘J3/5’ by the Yale expedition, it actually lies N of these blocks in an area MFSED has labelled J9 (Leriche et al. 2011, 28–30). During the third century when the temple lay within the Roman base area, it did become the focus of Palmyrene cults, likely ‘related to Palmyrene soldiers or people associated with them’ (Dirven 1999, 328).

The Wadi Zone Campus, Citadel, and C3 Bath

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
Roman Period ◽  
Major Area ◽  
Military Base ◽  
Open Ground ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Military Control ◽  
The Military ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple ◽  
And Training

From the junction of H and 8th Sts, which gave access to the twin main axes of the military base zone on the plateau, H St led S to the bulk of the civil town and ultimately to the Palmyrene Gate, the steppe plateau W of the city, and the roads W to Palmyra and NW up the Euphrates to Syria. The fourth side of the crossroads followed a curving course SE, down into the inner wadi, then snaking through the irregularly laid-out old lower town to the now-lost River Gate, portal to the Euphrates and its plain. Of most immediate significance is that the Wadi Ascent Road also linked the plateau military zone with what can now be seen as another major area of military control, in the old Citadel, and on the adjacent wadi floor. The N part of the wadi floor is now known to have accommodated two military-built temples, the larger of which, the A1 ‘Temple of the Roman Archers’, was axial to the long wadi floor, which in the Roman period appears to have comprised one of the largest areas of open ground inside the city walls. This is interpreted as the campus, or military assembly and training ground, extension of which was commemorated in an inscription found in the temple. In 2011, what is virtually certainly a second military temple was found in the wadi close by the first, built against the foundation of the Citadel. This is here referred to as the Military Zeus Temple. Behind the Temple of the Roman Archers was a lane leading from the Wadi Ascent Road to the N gate of the Citadel. It helped define a further de facto enclosure, effectively surrounded by other military-controlled areas and so also presumed to have been in military hands. The Citadel itself, while in Roman times already ruinous on the river side due to cliff falls, still formed part of the defences. Moreover the massive shell of its Hellenistic walls now also appears to have been adapted to yet more military accommodation, some of it two storeys or higher.

The so-called “Magazzini Repubblicani” near the Porta Romana at Ostia

1935 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 77-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick H. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Considerable Importance ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Building Activity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Region Ii ◽  
Eastern Half

The building with which this study is concerned occupies the eastern half of Region ii, 2, just inside the city gate at Ostia. Two specific statements have been made concerning it, that it commenced as magazzini or horrea in the republican era, and that it was converted into baths in the late third century A.D.; these were the suggestions of the excavators, and have never yet been questioned. They are points of considerable importance, because this building would thus be the only example of republican horrea yet discovered in Ostia, and the conversion of horrea into baths or shops, which the theory implies, would be important for the economic history of Ostia, whether the reason for the change was the concentration of horrea elsewhere or merely the decline of the city. The second statement, too, would point to building activity in Ostia at a time when no other big building was being put up. This paper is an attempt to prove that at no time was the building used as horrea, and that the conversion to baths is to be placed not in the third, but in the late first, or very early second century A.D. Five main periods will be distinguished, of which the appended table gives a summary.

The Roman Road-Station at Thenadassa (Ain Wif)

1982 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Mattingly
Keyword(s):  
Initial Phase ◽  
Indigenous Population ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
The Third ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
The Military ◽  
New Evidence

AbstractA reappraisal of the Roman period ruins at Ain Wif has been made following the identification there of traces of defensive walls. These walls are interpreted as being the robbed-out remains of a Roman fortlet and possibly also a tort on the same site. Two phases of military occupation were also evident in modern drain trenches being cut across the site and are attested epigraphically for the military bath-house by the spring. Ceramic evidence from the site suggests that the initial phase lies within the second century, whilst the Severan occupation, known from an inscription to begin early in the third century, represents a second phase. The previous view of the site as an undefended road-station, with a military presence only under the Severan emperors is no longer tenable. Moreover, the new evidence indicates that there was some measure of military organisation in the hinterland of the Emporia prior to the accession of Septimius Severus at the very end of the second century AD. The importance of the site also lies in its large civilian and indigenous population who continued to occupy the site long after the military had departed.

scholarly journals THE ANTIKYTHERA WRECK: A NUMISMATIC APPROACH

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-120
Author(s):  
Daniele Castrizio
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

The paper examines the coins found inside the Antikythera wreck. The wreck of Antikythera was discovered by chance by some sponge fishermen in October 1900, in the northern part of the island of Antikythera. The archaeological excavation of the wreck has allowed the recovery of many finds in marble and bronze, with acquisitions of human skeletons related to the crew of the sunken ship, in addition to the famous “Antikythera mechanism”. Various proposals have been made for the chronology of the shipwreck, as well as the port of departure of the ship, which have been based on literary sources or on the chronology of ceramic finds. As far as coins are concerned, it should be remembered that thirty-six silver coins and some forty bronze coins were recovered in 1976, all corroded and covered by encrustations. The separate study of the two classes of materials, those Aegean and those Sicilian allows to deepen the history of the ship shipwrecked to Antikythera. The treasury of silver coinage is composed of thirty-six silver cistophoric tetradrachms, 32 of which are attributable to the mint of Pergamon and 4 to that of Ephesus. From the chronological point of view, the coins minted in Pergamon have been attributed by scholars to the years from 104/98 B.C. to 76/67 B.C., the date that marks the end of the coinage until 59 B.C. The coins of Ephesus are easier to date because they report the year of issue, even if, in the specimens found, the only legible refers to the year 53, corresponding to our 77/76 B.C., if it is assumed as the beginning of the era of Ephesus its elevation to the capital of the province of Asia in 129 B.C., or 82/81 B.C., if we consider 134/133 B.C., the year of the creation of the Provincia Asiana. As for the three legible bronzes, we note that there are a specimen of Cnidus and two of Ephesus. The coin of the city of Caria was dated by scholars in the second half of the third century B.C. The two bronzes of Ephesus are dated almost unanimously around the middle of the first century B.C., although this fundamental data was never considered for the dating of the shipwreck. The remaining three legible bronzes from Asian mints, two from the Katane mint and one from the Panormos mint, belong to a completely different geographical context, such as Sicily, with its own circulation of coins. The two coins of Katane show a typology with a right-facing head of Dionysus with ivy crown, while on the reverse we find the figures of the Pii Fratres of Katane, Amphinomos and Anapias, with their parents on their shoulders. The specimen of Panormos has on the front the graduated head of Zeus turned to the left, and on the verse the standing figure of a warrior with whole panoply, in the act of offering a libation, with on the left the monogram of the name of the mint. As regards the series of Katane, usually dated to the second century B.C., it should be noted, as, moreover, had already noticed Michael Crawford, that there is an extraordinary similarity between the reverse of these bronzes and that of the issuance of silver denarii in the name of Sextus Pompey, that have on the front the head of the general, facing right, and towards the two brothers from Katane on the sides of a figure of Neptune with an aplustre in his right hand, and the foot resting on the bow of the ship, dated around 40 B.C., during the course of the Bellum siculum. We wonder how it is possible to justify the presence in a wreck of the half of the first century B.C. of two specimens of a very rare series of one hundred and fifty years before, but well known to the engravers of the coins of Sextus Pompey. The only possible answer is that Katane coins have been minted more recently than scholars have established. For the coin series of Panormos, then, it must be kept in mind that there are three different variants of the same type of reverse, for which it is not possible to indicate a relative chronology. In one coin issue, the legend of the ethnic is written in Greek characters all around the warrior; in another coin we have a monogram that can be easily dissolved as an abbreviation of the name of the city of Panormos; in the third, in addition to the same monogram, we find the legend CATO, written in Latin characters. In our opinion, this legend must necessarily refer to the presence in Sicily of Marcus Porcius Cato of Utica, with the charge of propraetor in the year 49 B.C. Drawing the necessary consequences from the in-depth analysis, the data of the Sicilian coins seem to attest to their production towards the middle of the first century B.C., in line with what is obtained from the ceramic material found inside the shipwrecked ship, and from the dating of the coins of Ephesus. The study of numismatic materials and a proposal of more precise dating allows to offer a new chronological data for the sinking of the ship. The presence of rare bronze coins of Sicilian mints suggests that the ship came from a port on the island, most likely from that of Katane.

Expressions of Art in a Roman commercial city: Ostia

1915 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 165-172
Author(s):  
Guido Calza
Keyword(s):  
Double Series ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Ground Floor ◽  
The Third ◽  
Dwelling House ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple

The noteworthy discovery which I have the honour of illustrating for the Journal of Roman Studies is a very recent one, and it was unlooked for because one would not expect to find a rich and beautiful series of small artistic bronzes among the ruins of a great bakehouse. This building consisted of a double series of rooms in which are gathered together the machines for crushing the grain, the machines for kneading the flour (machinae quae farinae subiguntur), and, lastly, two enormous ovens for the making of the bread. This great bakehouse, placed in the heart of the city, near the temple of Vulcan, was destroyed by a fire in the third century, as is proved by certain coins, and it was never re-built. The small bronzes, touched but not destroyed by the fire, were found among the ashes covering the pavement of the ground floor, and since they have nothing in common with the great bakehouse, they come assuredly from the first floor of the building, which was perhaps the dwelling-house of the miller, and it may be supposed from this that they were the religious and artistic furniture of his private chapel.

Recent Excavations at Lepcis Magna

1995 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 101-104
Author(s):  
H. M. Walda
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
African City ◽  
The Third ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Private Citizens ◽  
The City

Lepcis Magna is one of the best examples of an African city during the Roman period. Its importance lies in its location in relation to the Mediterranean and the well-watered hinterland of Tripolitania and its resources. The key factor in the development of the city was its position, sheltered by a promontory, at the mouth of Wadi Lebda. It displays the processes of growth which other Roman town-plans have made familiar: a nuclear chessboard with divergent though mostly rectilinear enlargements. Lepcis became more important than the other two ports of Oea and Sabratha.Wealthy private citizens contributed greatly toward the buildings of the first century. In the second century the Libyan S. Severus became Emperor at a time when a lively and independent culture was growing up in the western part of North Africa. Lepcis attained its greatest architectural glories under S. Severus and his two sons. With the decline of seaborne trade that followed the serious economic crises at the end of the third century, raids by the tribes of the interior became bolder and more ruthless.

The Plateau Zone East of G St

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
City Wall ◽  
Base Area ◽  
Early Approach ◽  
Open Ground ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
The Military ◽  
The City

The N end of the city’s plateau zone E of G St, bounded by the N wadi, the river cliff, and the head of the inner wadi, comprising the remotest corner within the walls, also became part of the Roman military quarter. Here, as across the whole N part of the city, the stratigraphy is shallow, rarely deeper than a metre, with bedrock showing in places. Surface indications and magnetometry suggest that much of the region had been built up in pre-Roman times, although there may have been areas of open ground. The street grid had been substantially laid out here, especially H St which ran to the N city wall, but E of this line it seems partly to break down. In particular, in the nominal areas of projected block positions X1–X8, 10th St actually curved off-grid to the S, probably preserving the line of an early approach road to the N end of the Citadel before the stronghold was separated from the plateau by a great quarry and rebuilt. This far N region was presumably mostly residential before AD 165, except for two known sanctuaries beside H St: the so-called Dolicheneum in X7, and a temple of unknown dedication in X9. Under Roman rule it became dominated by insertion of the massive residence known as the ‘Palace of the dux ripae’, here referred to as the Roman Palace. Closures of both G and I Sts on the N side of 10th St, by the building of Roman structures across them, indicates that the zone N of this line became a military enclosure. This was accessible from the civil town only via an entrance on H St, and from the W part of the base area on the plateau, already enclosed by a boundary along the W side of G St, via a smaller entrance on the diverted line of ‘12th St’ at the N-most point of block E3. Within the re-entrant to the continuous base perimeter created by the G St and 10th St lines, more blocks appear to have been taken over by the military.

Thucydides as Archaeologist

1955 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 266-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
The Third ◽  
Fountain House ◽  
The City ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Made In

In i.1–21 Thucydides gives a brief interpretation of early Greek history. This is important not only for the critical standard of its author, but also because in ten instances he says what his evidence is. Twice his evidence is archaeological. The two passages deserve careful study.Mycenae had been destroyed by the Argives in the 460's and was deserted till the third century B.C. Thanks to modern archaeologists and Pausanias we can form some idea of what was to be seen in the time of Thucydides. Much of the Bronze Age wall, including the Lion Gate, should have been above ground; it was anyhow visible to Pausanias, and before him the Hellenistic fortifiers had made use of it. Some of the tholos tombs were open, to judge by finds made in their excavation and by Pausanias's mention of ‘underground treasuries of Atreus and his sons’. Of the Bronze Age palace and houses nothing was left above ground, so the stratification suggests. But the ruins of the city demolished in the 460's must still have survived, and its sanctuaries may have been intact; it would have been natural enough for the Argives to spare them, and there is some positive evidence that the temple on the summit of Mycenae and the sanctuary near the fountain house outside the Lion Gate were both kept in repair and that the Agamemnoneion over half a mile to the south was still visited.

‘At last Roman, at last restored to the true light of Empire’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrastos Omissi
Keyword(s):  
British Empire ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Military ◽  
Late Roman

This chapter begins by considering what made the late Roman state distinctive from the early Empire, exploring the political developments of the later third century, in particular the military, administrative, and economic reforms undertaken by the tetrarchs. It then explores the presentation of the war between the tetrarchy and the British Empire of Carausius and Allectus (286‒96), taking as its core sources Pan. Lat. X, XI, and VIII. These speeches are unique in the panegyrical corpus, in that two of them (X and XI) were delivered while the usurpation they describe was still under way, the third (VIII) after it was defeated. In this chapter, we see how the British Empire was ‘othered’ as piratical and barbarian, and how conflict with it helped to create the distinctive ideology of the tetrarchy.

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