The Roman Citadel in Pontic Olbia

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-67
Author(s):  
Alla V. Buiskikh ◽  
Maria V. Novichenkova
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Roman Military

Abstract This article treats the southern part of Pontic Olbia, where in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD internal fortifications were erected. The arrangement of the buildings there has been investigated and the lay-out of the structures excavated over the last forty years has been analysed. Individual finds have been examined and also the extent to which they correspond to the main elements in the material culture of Roman military camps within the European limes, particularly those within the Danubian provinces closest to Olbia. The conclusion has been drawn to the effect that the southern part of Olbia in the 2nd century AD and the first half of the 3rd was indeed a citadel, which housed a contingent of auxiliary troops and which could with every justification be compared to an auxiliary fort.

Developing a New Perspective on Dura’s Military Base

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Chemical Weapon ◽  
Military Base ◽  
Military Equipment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Military Archaeology

This research project arose, as many do, from an intersection of personal research interests and fieldwork opportunity. At its inception, I had already been working on material from Dura for twenty years, principally writing my PhD on the remarkable finds of (mostly Roman) arms and military equipment from the site, resulting in Final Report 7. I originally came to Dura as a Roman military archaeology specialist, but was acutely aware of my limited grounding in the specifics of the archaeology and history of the region. However, it is also clear that study of so huge and complex a data set as that from Dura must be a team effort involving many specialists from a wide array of disciplines and backgrounds, all of whom may bring outside perspectives potentially illuminating to the whole. My collaboration with MFSED began with an invitation from Pierre Leriche to examine some newly found items of military equipment. Spending time at Dura permitted an extended examination of the city, the Sasanian siege works, and Roman countermeasures (resulting in a publication on the Tower 19 complex, and indications of use of a ‘chemical weapon’ in the fighting: James 2011b), and especially of the military base where the soldiers whose equipment I had studied through artefacts and iconography had mostly lived. As previously mentioned, the base was not a primary research objective of MFSED. However, a project on the fixed infrastructure of the garrison would form a logical follow-on to my study of its martial material culture in FR 7. Contributing to MFSED’s general aims of recording and publishing the city’s remains, and to wider Dura scholarship, it also offered the chance to publish arguably the most important revealed but incompletely studied Roman military site in the empire. Further, this intra-urban military base constituted an ideal opportunity to pursue my own wider research interest, in how the Roman military interacted with civilian populations. At an early stage in my research career, I had come to believe that the Roman military could only be understood in context, of Roman society as a whole, and of the peoples it fought, conquered, and settled amongst.

scholarly journals Christians at Nineveh in Late Antiquity

Iraq ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 285-294
Author(s):  
St J. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
First Century ◽  
General Sequence ◽  
Roman Provinces ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Military Control ◽  
The Military

The mound of Kuyunjik contains the longest known archaeological sequence of occupation in Mesopotamia, spanning all periods from the sixth millennium BC until at least the thirteenth century AD. The prehistoric periods have been comprehensively studied by Gut (1995, 2002) and the general sequence of excavation, occupation and principal architectural finds reviewed by Reade (2000), yet despite a few exceptions (Curtis 1976, 1995; Reade 1998, 1999, 2001; Simpson 1996), the pottery and other finds from the Seleucid period onwards have thus far attracted surprisingly little study. For these periods though, the material culture is characterised by a strong mixture of Classical and Oriental traditions; thus, first-century AD graves contained gold face-coverings and the remains of diadems, both hinting at the eastern extension of practices more commonly found in the eastern Roman provinces, but Western lamps, glassware, ceramics and even a Roman military badge also occur at the site. Some of these betray direct political and military control, whereas others reflect a mixture of imports and local imitations; an appreciation of this rich cultural mix is important for the clearer understanding of Nineveh in Late Antiquity.Nineveh almost certainly held a Roman garrison at the extreme eastern limit of its empire but following the humiliation of the apostate Julian's Mesopotamian campaign of 363, it must have been ceded as part of the handover of five trans-Tigridian Roman provinces containing Nisibis, Singara, Castra Maurorum and fifteen unnamed forts to Shapur II (309–379). Thereafter the material culture from Nineveh finally acquires an Iranian character and, until its capture in 637/38 or 641/42 by an Arab army generally believed to have been commanded by ‘Utba bin Farqad, it flourished as a Sasanian town, bridgehead and fortress on the east bank of the Tigris (cf. Robinson 2000, 36–7). The datable finds of this period include four hoards of silver and bronze coins (Simpson 1996, 95–6); several personal seals, bullae and elaborate cutlery of Sasanian type (Simpson 1996, 97–8; 2003, 362–3, Fig. 3); a range of plain, mould-blown and cut glass (Simpson 2005); and four helmets, the latter hinting at the military component of the settlement referred to in the Arab sources (Simpson forthcoming, b).

scholarly journals Museum Representations of Roman Britain and Roman London: A Post-colonial Perspective

Britannia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 209-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn Polm
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Roman Archaeology ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Roman Imperialism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Roman Military

ABSTRACTThis paper offers a post-colonial analysis of past and present representations of the archaeological remains of Roman Britain and Roman London in the British Museum and Museum of London respectively. Since post-colonial criticism of Romano-British archaeology is highly relevant to such an analysis, a brief description is provided at the outset. Thereafter follows a series of six case studies — three for each museum. The first four focus on the history of the Romano-British collections at both museums and sometimes draw on post-colonial insights to explain the development of these collections and the ways in which they were exhibited. The last two case studies investigate how British post-colonial criticism of Roman archaeology has (or has not) impacted on the current displays of the Romano-British collections at both museums. Finally, some recommendations will be offered based on the outcomes of these two case studies. Recurring themes are the representation of: the Roman military; Roman imperialism; the (material) culture of Roman Britain and Roman London.

Women in Roman Military Bases: Gendered Brooches from the Augustan Military Base and Flavio-Trajanic Fortress at Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Britannia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Vincent Van der Veen
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Military Base ◽  
Recovery Processes ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Significant Patterns ◽  
Senior Officers

ABSTRACT Roman military bases were once regarded as strictly male domains with the only women living there being the senior officers’ wives. This view was challenged by studies that used material culture to identify women in Roman forts and interpret the roles they played. The best of this work considers both the multiple identities expressed through objects and the complexities of depositional and recovery processes. The article presented here fits into this recent development, as it investigates the presence of women in the Augustan military base and the Flavio-Trajanic fortress on the Hunerberg in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, by examining the spatial distribution of brooches (fibulae) associated with women. The distribution of female brooches is compared to that of military (male) brooches in order to highlight and interpret any significant patterns. While numbers are small, the quality of the contextual information allows for the examination of depositional and recovery practices. The paper also raises wider questions about the possibility of ‘gendering’ brooches.

Book Reviews

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-122
Author(s):  
Book Reviews
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Mexican Immigrants ◽  
Silicon Valley ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Street Vendors ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
Transit Migration

Janitors, Street Vendors, and Activists: The Lives of Mexican Immigrants in Silicon Valley by Christian Zlolniski Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California Press, 2006 ISBN 0520246438, 249 pp.The Archaeology of Xenitia: Greek Immigration and Material Culture Ed. by Kostis Kourelis Athens: Gennadius Library, 2008 ISBN 978-960-86960-6-8, 104 pp.  Transit Migration: The Missing Link between Emigration and Settlement by Aspasia Papadopoulou-Kourkoula New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008 ISBN 0-230-55533-0, 177 pp.How Professors Think: Inside The Curious World of Academic Judgment, 1st Edition by Michele Lamont Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009 ISBN: 978-0674032668, 336 pp.

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