scholarly journals A Roman Military Prison at Lambaesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-102
Author(s):  
Mark Letteney ◽  
Matthew D. C. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
North African ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Roman Military

This article identifies a military prison (carcer castrensis) in the Roman legionary fortress at Lambaesis (Tazoult, Algeria) and contextualizes the space among North African carceral practices evidenced in epigraphic, papyrological, and literary sources of the first through fourth centuries CE. The identification is made on the basis of architectural comparanda and previously unnoticed inscriptional evidence which demonstrate that the space under the Sanctuary of the Standards in the principia was both built as a prison and used that way in antiquity. The broader discussion highlights the ubiquity of carceral spaces and practices in the ancient and late ancient Mediterranean, and elucidates some of the underlying practices and ideologies of ancient incarceration.

The Consulship of 367bcand the Evolution of Roman Military Authority

Antichthon ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 124-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Roman Society ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Military Command ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Early Republican ◽  
Static Nature

AbstractA tension exists within the literary sources for early Rome, between the supposedly static nature of military authority, embodied by the grant ofimperiumwhich was allegedly shared both by archaicregesand republican magistrates, and the evidence for change within Rome’s military hierarchy, with the early republican army being commanded by a succession of different magistrates including the archaicpraetores, the so-called ‘consular tribunes,’ and the finally the consuls and praetors of the mid-fourth centuryBC. The differences between the magistracies and the motivations driving the evolution of the system have caused confusion for both ancient and modern writers alike, with the usual debate being focused on the number of officials involved under each system and Rome’s expanding military and bureaucratic needs. The present study will argue that, far more than just varying in number, when viewed against the wider backdrop of Roman society during the period, the sources hint that the archaicpraetoresand consular tribunes might have exercised slightly different types of military authority – possibly distinguished by the designationsimperiumandpotestas– which were unified under the office of the consulship of 367BC.1The changes in Rome’s military hierarchy during the fifth and fourth centuriesBCmay therefore not only indicate an expansion of Rome’s military command, as is usually argued, but also an evolution of military authority within Rome associated with the movement of power from thecomitia curiatato thecomitia centuriata.

Ribāṭs in Mecca during the medieval period: a descriptive study based on literary sources

1998 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard T. Mortel
Keyword(s):  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
North African ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
African Coast ◽  
Initial Appearance

The Islamic institution of the ribāṭ appears to have made its initial appearance along the North African coast, in what is today Tunisia, during the second/eighth century. In the first phase of its development, the ribāṭ was essentially a fortress located at a sensitive point along the Islamic frontier, garrisoned by pious individuals who envisaged their vocation as participation in the jihād, the defence of the lands of Islam against external foes.

Apollodoros' Mother: The Wives of Enfranchised Aliens in Athens

1991 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Carey
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Tentative Conclusion ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
The Status ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

The banker Pasion, father of the notorious fourth-century litigant and politician Apollodoros, some of whose speeches have survived under the name of Demosthenes, was originally a slave; freed by his owners, he made a substantial fortune from banking and subsequently received Athenian citizenship for his generous gifts to the city. At [Dem.] 59.2 we are given a paraphrase of the decree which enfranchised him: 'Aθηναον εἶναι Πασωνα κα κγνους τοὺς κενου ‘[the Athenian people voted] that Pasion and his descendants should be Athenian’. In common with inscriptions recording grants of citizenship, and unlike Roman military diplomata, the decree appears to have ignored Pasion's wife Archippe. The silence of the decrees of enfranchisement is echoed in the literary sources, with the result that we have no explicit testimony to the legal status of the wife of an alien who was granted Athenian citizenship. M. J. Osborne assumes that the status of the wife was in no way affected by the grant; she remained an alien. D. Whitehead has argued that in such cases the wife's status was indeterminate; in the event of the death of her first husband she might find herself married either to an Athenian citizen or to an alien, whereupon her status would be defined according to that of her husband. This article will argue that Archippe's status was unaffected by Pasion's receipt of citizenship, that is, that she remained a metic. I shall then proceed to consider the question of the implications of the difference in status of Pasion and Archippe subsequent to his enfranchisement for the legal basis of the relationship between them, and finally draw a tentative conclusion about the date of Pasion's receipt of citizenship.

Hellenistic and Roman Military Epitaphs on Stone and on Papyrus

2019 ◽  
pp. 154-175
Author(s):  
Silvia Barbantani
Keyword(s):  
Local Elite ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Literary Quality

Chapter 10 studies Hellenistic and Roman military epitaphs and addresses a number of interconnected issues: the unpopularity of epitaphs for individual soldiers in the Greek Anthology (only a dozen of such epigrams are present, leaving side fictitious pieces for literary or historical figures); the near absence of inscribed epitaphs in literary sources, despite the fact that they are often of good literary quality; and the question of their authorship: there is no evidence that any epigrammatist known from the Greek Anthology also acted as a professional writer of military epitaphs, as Simonides did. Epitaphs for common soldiers were usually commissioned to professional poets, most of whom now remain anonymous; in some cases the deceased, especially when he presents himself as a veteran belonging to the local elite, may have had his say on the contents and form of his future epitaph.

Harbours and Settlements in Cyrenaica

1978 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 43-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Little
Keyword(s):  
Easy Access ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
North African ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Artificial Development ◽  
Root Word ◽  
Maritime Communication ◽  
Communication Lines ◽  
Major Consideration

One of the over-riding factors ensuring the ease of Greek and Hellenistic civilisations' expansion throughout the Mediterranean basin, and the geographical factor which lent a cohesive potential to the Roman world was the Mediterranean Sea itself. During the 7th century B.C. it was the sea which provided outward access for the Greek colonial migration, and then later ensured communication between colony and mother city. The great weight which Greek colonists attached to securing an easy access to their maritime communication lines was a major consideration in determining the siting of the colonial cities. The increasing size of ships during the 5th–3rd centuries B. C. coupled with the vastly increased volume of maritime trade which characterised the Hellenistic period were major stimuli to the artificial development of those natural harbours on which the colonial cities were based.Any study of classical harbours in Cyrenaica must begin with an examination of the literary sources of which two are particularly relevant. They are; the Stadiasmus Maris Magni (1), and Herodotus' account of the original Greek colonisation of Cyrenaica from the island of Thera (2). The Stadiasmus is a document to which at present no precise date can be assigned, but in its final form it is probably not later than the end of the 2nd century A. D., and it would seem to be a palimpsest. The Stadiasmus lists the harbours along the entire North African Coast from Alexandria to Tunis, and, being written by seamen for the guidance of seamen it is the equivalent of the modern Admiralty Pilot. The list of harbours which it provides indicates that there was a very strictly graded hierarchy of natural harbour types, for no less than six different nouns are used to describe harbour entities according to their geographical qualities. In the Cyrenaican section of the Stadiasmus nine harbours are listed which can be divided into three distinct groups according to the words used to describe them. The three groups are headed by the terms Euphormos, Hormos and Panormos in ascending order of merit, and each denotes a very specific type of natural harbour. The root word, Hormos, meaning a tore or collar, is used in a maritime context from the earliest literary times, and is so used by Homer. The various prefixes which are attached to the word, Euph and Pan, denote natural harbour types which either excel or in some way fail to match the norm, the Hormos. In its sense of ‘collar’ the word conveys a notion of the configuration of the ideal harbour, i.e. a land-locked bay to provide shelter for shipping with access to the sea.

Skeletochronology and mark–recapture assessments of growth in the North African agamid lizard (Agama impalearis)

1999 ◽  
Vol 249 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-461
Author(s):  
El Hassan El Mouden ◽  
Mohammed Znari ◽  
Richard P. Brown
Keyword(s):  
North African ◽  
Mark Recapture ◽  
Agamid Lizard ◽  
The North

Coming-of-Age Cinema in New Zealand

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair Fox
Keyword(s):  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Art Cinema ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
French New Wave ◽  
Significant Phenomenon ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New Zealanders

This book investigates the coming-of-age genre as a significant phenomenon in New Zealand’s national cinema, tracing its development from the 1970s to the present day. A preliminary chapter identifies the characteristics of the coming-of-age film as a genre, tracing its evolution and the influence of the French New Wave and European Art Cinema, and speculating on the role of the genre in the output of national cinemas. Through case studies of fifteen significant films, including The God Boy, Sleeping Dogs, The Scarecrow, Vigil, Mauri, An Angel at My Table, Heavenly Creatures, Once Were Warriors, Rain, Whale Rider, In My Father’s Den, 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous, Boy, Mahana, and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, subsequent chapters examine thematic preoccupations of filmmakers such as the impact of repressive belief systems and social codes, the experience of cultural dislocation, the expression of a Māori perspective through an indigenous “Fourth Cinema,” bicultural relationships, and issues of sexual identity, arguing that these films provide a unique insight into the cultural formation of New Zealanders. Given that the majority of films are adaptations of literary sources, the book also explores the dialogue each film conducts with the nation’s literature, showing how the time frame of each film is updated in a way that allows these films to be considered as a register of important cultural shifts that have occurred as New Zealanders have sought to discover their emerging national identity.

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