Roman Britain, 1910–1960

1960 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 173-191
Author(s):  
I. A. Richmond
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Private Enterprise ◽  
Important Work ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
General Picture ◽  
Substantial Body ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
The Military

In 1910, when the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies was founded, the study of Roman Britain was already firmly set upon its path. Earlier brilliant treatments by F. Haverfield, in Traill's Social England, in the Victoria County History and in his own Romanization of Roman Britain, had set a general picture which was an attractive and cogent synthesis of the evidence provided by literature and archaeology. There already existed, thanks to a long tradition of private enterprise and to enlightened action of such bodies as the Society of Antiquaries of London, a substantial body of archaeological material, extending not merely to objects, but to buildings and their plans. Thus, by 1911, John Ward could publish a volume on Romano-British Buildings and Earthworks which, for its day, curried a volume of detailed information quite unsurpassed in any other province of the Empire. Here the antiquities of the military area and of the countryside were illustrated with particular vividness. But highly important work had already been done in the urban areas. The excavation of the Romano-British cantonal capital of Silchester, organized by the Society of Antiquaries of London, had already been estimated by Haverfield to have made it ‘better known, perhaps, than any provincial town of the Roman Empire’. Excavations of the same type, directed to the wholesale uncovering of foundations over wide areas, were also in progress at Caerwent and were revealing the striking differences which might obtain between communities in different areas of the province.

scholarly journals Embodied Identities in Roman Britain: A Bioarchaeological Approach

Britannia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 177-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Gowland
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Human Skeletal Remains ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
The Social ◽  
Diversity Of Life ◽  
The Military ◽  
Integrated Study

ABSTRACTHuman skeletal remains from Roman Britain are abundant and provide a rich repository of social as well as biological information concerning health, migration, diet and body/society interactions. At present, skeletal remains tend to be marginalised in studies of Roman trade, the military, economy, urbanisation and the like, yet they have huge potential to contribute to current debates. This article aims to highlight the potential of bioarchaeological analysis for understanding aspects of social identity in Roman Britain through the use of a more integrated, theoretical approach towards embodied interactions. It encourages future collaborative scholarship between bioarchaeologists, archaeologists and historians. The social determinants of health and identity will vary greatly between regions and the only way of establishing the diversity of life across the Roman Empire is through the instigation of a more comprehensive, large-scale, integrated study of funerary and skeletal assemblages.

‘A colony so fertile’

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Hingley
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Roman Empire ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Public Buildings ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
The Public ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Published Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Military

In A Specimen of a History of Oxfordshire, the Reverend Thomas Warton reflected on the significance of the Roman pavement at Stonesfield (Oxfordshire) and explored the two main themes which structure chapters three and four: he writes of Roman settlers who migrated with their families to Britain but suggests that wealthy and well-connected Britons might have built villas like the example uncovered at Stonesfield. From the late seventeenth century to the beginning of the twentieth, the debate about the nature of society in Roman Britain drew upon these contrasting images to explain the character of the Roman occupation of southern Britain. Certain writings of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries had developed the idea of the passing on of civility from the Romans to the British, which could be used as a source of patriotic reflection. There was less confidence in this idea during the eighteenth century, when influential works on the Walls and the northern stations promoted a primarily military interpretation of Roman sites in the south. In the introduction to his volume of 1793, Roy presented a thoughtful assessment of contemporary understanding of Roman Britain and emphasized its military nature. Following earlier examples, he divided the monuments of the Roman empire into two types: the public buildings—the temples, amphitheatres, and baths well known to British gentlemen from their visits to Italy—and the military sites. Roy emphasized that, with regard to military remains of Britain ‘perhaps no quarter of their vast empire, not even Italy itself, furnishes so great a variety; and many of them exceedingly perfect’. By contrast, in reflecting on public buildings, he states that ‘Britain affords very few vestiges of any consequence’. Indeed, it is true that, by the late eighteenth century, there was very little published evidence for public buildings to compare with the extensive evidence for the military sites of southern Scotland and northern England. Roy argued, ‘neither is it probable that the Romans ever executed many of those costly edifices in this island’. At the time Roy was writing (c.1773), little excavated evidence had been found for public buildings or ornate architecture anywhere in Britain.

Wątek składania ofiar w dekoracji budowli sakralnych Dura Europos

Vox Patrum ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 393-402
Author(s):  
Ilona Skupińska-Løvset
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Dominant Form ◽  
Xxth Century ◽  
Desert Sand ◽  
Military Camp ◽  
The Military

Dura Europos, or as proposed today Europos Dura, was a fortified settlement on the border between the Roman Empire and the East. The archeological dis­coveries reflected the character of the settlement – the fortified agglomeration grouped at the military camp. After its fall Europos Dura was covered by desert sand only to be discovered in the XXth century. Archaeological research has dis­closed documentation of its multicultural character. This paper points to the fact of coexistence of various religions in late antiquity Europos Dura. Paintings and sculptures discovered in situ indicate that scene of offering was a favorite subject in the sacral art of Europos Dura, independent of religion. The ceremony of in­cense burning constitutes the dominant form of offering regarding visualizations of this important ceremony.

WESTERN EUROPEAN AND BYZANTINE SOURCES OF THE MIDDLE AGES ABOUT THE RELATIONS BETWEEN WESTERN AND EASTERN CHRISTIANS AND THE CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE BY THE CRUSADERS IN 1204

2021 ◽  
pp. 60-73
Author(s):  
Dmitriy M. Abramov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Western European ◽  
The Military ◽  
Detailed Picture ◽  
The Middle Ages

Historical sources and evidence of the eyewitnesses of the 4th crusade in many respects reflect the complexity and sharpness of the contradictions between the Western and Eastern Christendom at the turn of the 12th – 13th centuries. The evidence and narrations proceed from the most direct participants in the military events, broke out on the shore of the Bosporus in 1203–1204. The authors of those materials belonged to the two opposing camps, and therefore the analysis of those sources represents a sufficiently complete and detailed picture of the occurred tragedy. A thorough analysis of the sources makes it possible to at least partially see and comprehend the causes of the military confrontation between the Western and Eastern Christians, who represented – just a while ago, in the first half of the 11th century – the united Ecumenical Church. The sources vividly reflect the mood that prevailed in the crusaders’ encampment in April, 1204, hesitation and doubt of the bulk of the Cross Warriors who were not sure of the rightness of their actions in the preparation for the assault of Constantinople. Many of them understood that they would have to raise the sword against their fellow believers – the Christians of the East. But the most tragic outcome of the 1202–1204 Crusade was the crushing defeat of Constantinople by the Cross Warriors. For the Romans (Byzantines) that became the reason for the disintegration of the Roman Empire. For all Eastern Christians it indicated the demise of the capital of the Orthodox Christendom.

scholarly journals The Seat of the Roman Governor at Carnuntum (Pannonia Superior)

Heritage ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 3009-3031
Author(s):  
Christian Gugl ◽  
Mario Wallner ◽  
Alois Hinterleitner ◽  
Wolfgang Neubauer
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Topographic Analysis ◽  
Archaeological Prospection ◽  
Military Camp ◽  
Roman Province ◽  
The Military

The Roman site of Carnuntum was once a flourishing center on the frontiers of the Roman Empire. In its heyday as the capital of the province of Pannonia superior, Carnuntum probably covered an area of almost 9 km². The whole site was divided into a military settlement (castra and canabae legionis) and a civil town (municipium/colonia). Through a large-scale archaeological prospection project, this huge area could be investigated and analyzed in great detail using a wide variety of nondestructive prospection methods. One of the main discoveries of the project was observed in the military settlement, where it was possible to identify a previously unknown military camp, interpreted as the garrison of the governor’s guard, the castra singularium. Through the topographic analysis of the immediate surroundings, the Roman fort was determined to be embedded in a large administrative complex related to the governor’s seat in Carnuntum. This article presents these new discoveries and shows what an important part they formed in the administration of the Roman province of Upper Pannonia.

ՈՒՇԱԳՐԱՎ ԹԱՂՈՒՄ ԲՈՎԵՐ ԴԱՄԲԱՐԱՆԱԴԱՇՏՈՒՄ

2021 ◽  
pp. 255-263
Author(s):  
Ani Saratikyan
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
The West ◽  
General Picture ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Ethnographic Narratives

Bover cemetery is located in the middle of the villages of Shnogh and Teghut of the Lori region of the Republic of Armenia, to the west of the central part of Bover church, at an average altitude of 930 m above sea level. According to the results of excavations in 2012, it turned out that the tomb No. 45 is a cultburial tomb. A dog was buried in that partially damaged tomb (beginning of the 1st millennium BC). The contemporary archaeological material both from Armenia and the surrounding regions shows that such burials were typical of the mentioned period. The archaeological materials, are certainly linked to ethnographic narratives, which make it possible to draw up a general picture of this phenomenon.

Roman Military Units in Olbia

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. M. ZUBAR
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
First Century ◽  
Military Aid ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
The Military ◽  
Military Units ◽  
The City

Around the middle of the first century, Olbia was under siege from the Getae. It was either destroyed or abandoned shortly before its destruction. It was only inhabited at the turn of the first century AD. It is assumed that Roman interest over Olbia only started after the middle of the first century. This chapter discusses the existence of Roman military units in Olbia during the years AD 106–111. These military units were believed to be present in Olbia to protect the city from barbarian intrusion. This assumption is established by the existence of inscribed grave-monuments and epitaphs belonging to Athenocles, and the Bosporans: indications of the attempts of the Rome to maintain its political strength and to defend the city from barbarians. Accordingly, after the collapse of the Olbian-Samartian alliance, the Roman Empire provided occasional military aid to Olbian during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Other evidences that provide proof of the dependence of Olbia to the military aid given by the Roman military units are the presence of a Roman legionary garrison in Olbia including Thracian dedicatory reliefs.

The age of ‘Agricolamania’: early modern uses and abuses of Tacitus’ Agricola

2020 ◽  
pp. 131-148
Author(s):  
Alan Montgomery
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
The Political ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Historical Information ◽  
Literary Source ◽  
The North ◽  
The Military

The Agricola of Tacitus is the most extensive surviving ancient literary source on Roman Britain, and much of it deals with the Roman general Agricola’s conquest of Caledonia. Apparently providing evidence of the military prowess and civilising intentions of Rome whilst also describing a brave Caledonian hero named Calgacus, the text could be interpreted differently according to the political and patriotic affiliations of its early modern readers. As chapter seven will reveal, the Agricola would become something of an obsession amongst Scotland’s antiquarians, providing historical information on Roman exploits in the north but also lacking key geographical and historical details, encouraging conjecture which sometimes tipped into pure fantasy. As a result, a phenomenon christened ‘Agricolamania’ had already been noted by the end of the eighteenth century.

Zooming In Rome, the Middle Euphrates, and Dura

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Its Region ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Spheres Of Influence ◽  
The Military

Dura-Europos was a product and ultimately a victim of the interaction of Mediterranean- and Iranian-centred imperial powers in the Middle East which began with Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Achaemenid Persian empire in the later fourth century BC. Its nucleus was established as part of the military infrastructure and communications network of the Seleucid successor-state. It was expanding into a Greekstyle polis during the second century BC, as Seleucid control was being eroded from the east by expanding Arsacid Parthian power, and threatened from the west by the emergent imperial Roman republic. From the early first century BC, the Roman and Parthian empires formally established the Upper Euphrates as the boundary between their spheres of influence, and the last remnants of the Seleucid regime in Syria were soon eliminated. Crassus’ attempt to conquer Parthia ended in disaster at Carrhae in 53 BC, halting Roman ambitions to imitate Alexander for generations. The nominal boundary on the Upper Euphrates remained, although the political situation in the Middle East remained fluid. Rome long controlled the Levant largely indirectly, through client rulers of small states, only slowly establishing directly ruled provinces with Roman governors, a process mostly following establishment of the imperial regime around the turn of the millennia. However, some client states like Nabataea still existed in AD 100 (for overviews see Millar 1993; Ball 2000; Butcher 2003; Sartre 2005). The Middle Euphrates, in what is now eastern Syria, lay outside Roman control, although it is unclear to what extent Dura and its region—part of Mesopotamia, and Parapotamia on the west bank of the river—were effectively under Arsacid control before the later first century AD. For some decades, Armenia may have been the dominant regional power (Edwell 2013, 192–5; Kaizer 2017, 70). As the Roman empire increasingly crystallized into clearly defined, directly ruled provinces, the contrast with the very different Arsacid system became starker. The ‘Parthian empire’, the core of which comprised Iran and Mesopotamia with a western royal capital at Ctesiphon on the Tigris, was a much looser entity (Hauser 2012).

Roman Military Culture

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay Allason-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Military Culture ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The People ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
The Military

A significant proportion of the people who lived in Roman Britain were linked to the military either as soldiers, dependants or suppliers. Did the objects these people used in their daily lives identify them as being from a military milieu? How did the Roman soldiers’ armour and weapons differ from those of the Britons? This chapter investigates the assemblages of artefacts found on military sites, discusses how they got there and what they tell us about war and peace in Roman Britain.

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