THE LEAD INGOTS OF CAPO PASSERO: ROMAN GLOBAL MEDITERRANEAN TRADE

Summary.   Epigraphic and isotopic analysis of the lead ingots recovered from a shipwreck off Capo Passero (in Sicily) in mid-2006 suggests that the ingots were produced in Spain, in the Cartagena region. The shipwreck is estimated to have occurred around 38 BC, at the beginning of the Hispanic era. This provides further evidence that the Romans were trading lead throughout the Mediterranean Sea.     

THE ASTRONOMICAL ORIENTATION OF THE URBAN PLAN OF ALEXANDRIA

Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BC. An examination of the topography of the city today allows the identification of the essential elements of the original urban system, and shows that the site was chosen mainly for religious and symbolic reasons. In fact, Alexandria was the prototype of a series of Hellenistic towns designed as ‘king's towns’ that aimed to make explicit the divine power of their founder. We examine the orientation of the orthogonal grid, which was based on a main longitudinal axis, and show that this axis is orientated to the rising sun on the day of Alexander the Great's birth. At the time of foundation, ‘King's Star’ Regulus was also rising along the same direction.     

First evidence of white wine in ancient Egypt from Tutankhamun's tomb

Wine has been considered to be mainly red in ancient Egypt linked with the blood of Osiris, the God of resurrection. No text that refers to white wines from the Dynastic Period (3150–332 BC) exists. The first white wine from ancient Egypt was made near Alexandria during the third century AD. To investigate the presence of white wine in ancient Egypt, dry residue samples from King Tutankhamun's amphorae are studied in this article using the LC/MS/MS method for wine markers. This investigation into the existence of white wines in Tutankhamun's tomb allows us to shed new light on the symbolism of white wine in ancient Egypt.     

Impacts of Alexandria's Heptastadion on coastal hydro-sedimentary dynamics during the Hellenistic period: a numerical modelling approach

After its foundation in 331 BC, Alexandria was linked to the island of Pharos by the Heptastadion. The present study aims at understanding the impact of this building on the local water and sand dynamics. We used numerical models to compute the wind-induced currents and sediment re-suspension, comparatively without and in the presence of the Heptastadion. Results suggest that the Heptastadion was not only a link structure to reach the Pharos island, but a structure liable to reduce the sandy sediment dynamics in the eastern harbour, and then to protect the eastern harbour from infilling by the allochthonous sand drift.
© 2006 The Authors     

Facing two seas: Mediterranean and Atlantic contacts in the north-west of Iberia in the first millennium BC

Summary.  Despite the marginality of the region, the Later Bronze Age and Iron Age communities of the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula were engaged in active relationships with both Atlantic and Mediterranean peoples. Unlike other Atlantic regions, the area maintained direct contacts both with Mediterranean sailors and with the communities of the British Isles and north-western France simultaneously. The social relevance of these interactions and the range of imported goods transported varied throughout the first millennium BC. New evidence shows an intense involvement in Mediterranean trade from the fifth century BC onwards, while Atlantic contacts increased from the late second century BC, to reach a climax under Roman rule (first–second centuries AD).     

Seleucia Pieria: an ancient harbour submitted to two successive uplifts

Historical sources ascribe the foundation of Seleucia (Seleukeia) Pieria to Seleucos I Nikator, shortly before the foundation of Antioch in the late 4th century BC. The Seleucia Pieria site seems however to have been inhabited earlier, perhaps from around 700 BC, possibly by a Greek population under an Assyrian ruler. The city became of considerable military importance during the wars between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids; it was occupied by the Romans in the 1st century BC, but had practically disappeared in the 6th century AD.
Geomorphological surveys in the area have revealed the existence of elevated marine notches and rims bioconstructed by vermetids, oysters and calcareous algae, which occasionally erode or intersect the archaeological sites, showing that two rapid land uplift movements, probably of seismic origin, took place during the late Holocene. The first movement, which occurred about 2500 ± 100 years bp, was the strongest one and caused a local vertical displacement of about 1.7 m, which may have severely affected the earlier Greek settlement. Though several earthquakes are reported to have occurred in the area during the following ten centuries, none of them seem to have been strong enough to cause significant vertical displacements. The second movement occurred around 1400 years bp, probably in May 526 AD, when a great earthquake followed by tsunami waves is known to have caused devastating damage in Antioch and Seleucia. According to geomorphological data supported by several radiocarbon dates, the earthquake was accompanied by a 0.7 to 0 8 m upheaval. This seismotectonic event also caused a rapid silting of the Seleucia Pieria closed harbour basin and entrances, thus preventing its further use.     

Egypt in Rome – an introductory essay II: The Villa Adriana and the beginnings of Egyptology

Abstract

The first part of this review considered the legacy of the Egyptian goddess Isis to European civilisation and discussed obelisks and the significance of the Isaeum Campense in Imperial and later Rome. This concluding part explores the influence on later generations of the Emperor Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, describes the emergence of Egyptology as a serious scholarly discipline, and makes brief mention of the Renaissance gardens of the Villa d'Este.     

PTOLEMAIC CAMEOS OF THE SECOND AND FIRST CENTURIES BC

Cameos were devised some time in the Hellenistic period, and they were used in a decorative manner. In terms of style and subject matter they follow developments in the making of intaglios and other glyptic products as well as coinage. This paper examines two related series of cameos which seem to have been produced in Alexandria of the later Hellenistic period, and under direct Ptolemaic patronage. Their study is held in view of a reappraisal of the Tazza Farnese, and the presentation here of a further argument in support of this Grand Cameo's dating in the first century BC.     

Cavafy's Sensual City: A Question

Abstract

In his perceptive book, Cavafy's Alexandria (Cambridge, Mass., 1976), Edmund Keeley describes how Cavafy's major poetic preoccupation during the years 1911 to 1921 was the delineation of a mythical city called Alexandria and of the Greek, or Hellenic, way oflife it represents. An essential element in this way of life is its erotic style, which is explicitly homosexual; and it is through his poems on erotic themes that Cavafy slowly and deliberately builds his image of Alexandria as the Sensual City. His method of doing this is particular. In depicting other features of his mythical city Cavafy locates his poems in that ancient Hellenistic world of which Alexandria was the centre. Most of his erotic poetry, on the other hand, speaks of episodes and relationships in contemporary Alexandria, the city in which Cavafy actually lived. Indeed, all the poetry which Cavafy wrote that is located in contemporary Alexandria deals with erotic themes to the exclusion of all others. And it is with the help of this poetry that Cavafy builds up his image.     

PROVENANCE DETERMINATION OF LAVA FLAGSTONES FROM THE ROMAN ‘VIA CONSOLARE FLAMINIA’PAVEMENT (CENTRAL ITALY) USING PETROLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS*

Trachyte lava flagstones from the northernmost stretch of the Roman ‘Via Consolare Flaminia’pavement and trachyte lavas from the most exploited quarries in Roman times were compared from a petrological point of view. ‘Via Consolare Flaminia’was the most important route used by the Romans to reach northern Italy and all the northern provinces of the Empire. A provenance for the flagstones as coming from the trachyte quarries of the Euganean Hills (Veneto region, northern Italy) is suggested by the similarity of both the fundamental mineral assemblage and the major trace element geochemistry. The location of the quarries of the Euganean Hills next to the harbours of the northern Adriatic Sea strongly supports the hypothesis that the Romans carried the flagstones by ship towards the coasts of the central Adriatic Sea.     

罗马帝国沿海路向东方的探索

罗马帝国沿海路向东方的探索,在大多数情况下是以红海水道为基地展开的,而帝国的繁荣则是罗马人航行东方的物质基础。公元一世纪,罗马人已注意到了印度与中国的贸易交往;公元二世纪,罗马人的活动范围扩展到孟加拉湾东海岸地区和整个印支半岛,并从海陆两路到达中国,同中国建立起了直接的贸易关系。希腊一罗马世界对中国的知识亦随之大为发展;公元三世纪末以后,随着帝国的衰落,特别是七世纪中叶阿拉伯伊斯兰势力的兴起,罗马人乃至整个欧洲从海路向东方的探索被完全阻断。罗马人沿海路向东方的探索,对古代中西海上丝绸之路的开通发挥了不可磨灭的作用。     

Herophilus of Chalcedon and the Hippocratic tradition in early Alexandrian medicine

Herophilus of Chalcedon (c. 330-250 BC) is famous as one of the leading figures in the development of medicine in Ptolemaic Alexandria around the first half of the third century BC. However, his medical science seems to have intrinsic continuity of thought with Hippocratic medicine. Herophilus followed the medical principle formulated in the Hippocratic treatise "On the Nature of Man," when he made his methodological pronouncement to the effect that primary parts of the human body should be perceptible by the senses. Herophilus rejected cardiocentrism, introduced by his teacher Praxagoras into the medical school of Cos, and returned to Hippocratic encephalocentrism, as represented by the author of the Hippocratic treatise "On the Sacred Disease." Herophilus differentiated between the faculties of the soul and the ones attributed to the nature. In his differentiation between these two faculties, Herophilus probably had in mind the Hippocratic conception of nature as specifically applied to the domain of the human body, as distinct from the soul. Herophilus' commitment to Hippocratic medicine is confirmed by his literary works on some of the Hippocratic texts. It is probable that Herophilus regarded himself as a more faithful successor than his teacher to the tradition of Hippocratic medicine. His anatomical research on the structure and function of the brain, motivated by his loyalty to the Hippocratic tradition, led him to innovative contributions to the development of medicine.     

Timber economy in the Roman Age: charcoal data from the key site of Herculaneum (Naples,Italy)

The city of Herculaneum (Naples, southern Italy), buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Somma-Vesuvius in 79 ad, is a key site for understanding the timber economy during the Roman period. In this paper, the results of charcoal analysis of different building element types are presented. Beams, joists, poles, planks and door and window frames were investigated allowing us a view of which timber the Romans preferred for building in this area. We also fit the taxonomic results into the reconstruction of the ancient Campanian landscape, and finally, we discuss the knowledge that the Romans had about the technological properties of the wood that they used for building and the possible selection criteria that they followed in choosing them. Coniferous timber is the preferred material for building purposes. Abies alba is especially used, this fact confirming its stronger presence in southern Italian woods during the past and suggesting that its decline is mainly due to human overexploitation. The large presence of Cupressus sempervirens, selectively used for the production of poles, confirms that this tree was cultivated in plantations for timber production in the Vesuvius area. Furthermore, it might indicate that cypress could have been present as a natural tree in the local vegetation, suggesting a forest type that nowadays almost completely disappeared from this area and from the entire Italy. The findings of Juglans regia, Pinus pinea and Olea europaea, typical elements of the Mediterranean cultural landscape, show that their use was not limited to fruit production and that Romans also appreciated their timber. Beside these local resources, the presence of Picea abies and Picea/Larix indicates the importation of timber from northerly regions, probably the northern Apennines and the Alps.     

Dating the Ramat Saharonim Late Neolithic desert cult site

The Ramat Saharonim site, located in the central Negev desert, Israel, consists of four shrines in a shallow valley and 30 tumuli, aligned on two cuesta cliffs on the valley's sides. Previous assessments based on site surveys suggested a general chronological span from Late Neolithic period (ca. 5000–5500 BC) through the Early Bronze Age (third millennium BC). Excavations in one shrine and three tumuli revealed a well-constructed double wall at the shrine and seven primary adult burials in the three tumuli. Quartz from sediment samples post-dating the construction of the burials and shrine was dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) using the single aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) protocol, and charcoal and leather samples were dated by ¹⁴C. The OSL results for a burial in one tumulus are 7500 ± 700 to 6000 ± 600 years. In a second tumulus, OSL ages of 2000 ± 200–1800 ± 170 years and a ¹⁴C age on leather of 390–200 BC (2340–2150 cal BP) imply that this burial is Nabatean and that the site was used also in the Hellenistic period. Two ¹⁴C ages on charcoal from the shrine give an age between 5280 and 4710 BC (7230–6660 cal BP). OSL single aliquot ages for sediment from the shrine are highly scattered and far too old (60,000 to 12,000 years). The unlikely old ages are due to insufficient resetting of the OSL signal of some of the quartz grains when sand was blown onto the site. Indeed, single grain measurements for six samples of sediment postdating the shrine show a very large range of grain ages, but with a distinct young population in all samples. Ages calculated from these young populations average 5400 ± 800, in better consistence with the ¹⁴C dates and confirming our supposition that only some of the transported grains were reset at the time of deposition. The combined OSL and ¹⁴C dating shows that the shrines and tumuli are contemporaneous and attributes the complex to the Late Neolithic. This has clear ramifications for our understanding of the period and the rise of desert pastoral societies.     

Oliver O'Donovan,The Ways of Judgment

Abstract

Investigating how Christians best understand their political role on the receiving side of political authority, the essay revisits the older "citizens versus subject" debate and presents exegetical, doctrinal and historical considerations that suggest keep this tension alive instead of seeking to dissolve it on either side. The author argues that the peculiar interweaving of "citizen" and "subject" traditions characterizes the Christian attitude towards political authority from the outset. This is demonstrated by a fresh reading of Romans 13 in which the arguably "conservative" origin of Christian political thought is shown to bear clear, albeit often overlooked, marks of a genuine "citizen" ethics. Extemporising on Luther's commentary on Romans 13, the essay demonstrates how the idea of a Christian as "subject-as-citizen" is rooted in a theological refusal to compartmentalize the human existence into separate spheres of authority As "embodied soul" the Christian responds to political authority in a way that engages the human being in all its faculties, simultaneously free and bound. The essay concludes by suggesting that the crucial shift in the more recent history of political thought can be explained more readily as a shift from this theologically motivated duality towards a monochrome political voluntarism that insisted a citizen's submission to political rule could be conceived as essentially submission to one's own will.     

Law,ethnicity and taxes in Ostrogothic Italy: a case for continuity,adaptation and departure

This article considers the relationship between the social status of Goths and Romans in Italy and the legal and administrative regime of the Ostrogothic state. It is argued that the distinctions made between Goths and Romans by the Ostrogothic state were based primarily upon economic conditions and circumstances of land tenure in Italy, rather than upon ‘ethnicity’. It is furthermore argued that the social and economic conditions that produced the status landscape of late fifth‐ and early sixth‐century Italy were not innovations of the Amal rulers at Ravenna, but rather they represent adaptation to the previous imperial administration ongoing since the early fifth century. In examining this topic, the article touches upon issues of the legal difference between Goths and Romans, the manner of accommodating and administrating soldiers in Italy, and the fiscal resources available to the Ostrogothic court.     

From commodity to money: The rise of silver coinage around the Ancient Mediterranean (sixth–first centuries bce)

The reasons why the Western Mediterranean, especially Carthage and Rome, resisted monetization relative to the Eastern Mediterranean are still unclear. We address this question by combining lead (Pb) and silver (Ag) isotope abundances in silver coinage from the Aegean, Magna Graecia, Carthage and Roman Republic. The clear relationships observed between ¹⁰⁹Ag/¹⁰⁷Ag and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb reflect the mixing of silver ores or silver objects with Pb metal used for cupellation. The combined analysis of Ag and Pb isotopes reveals important information about the technology of smelting. The Greek world extracted Ag and Pb from associated ores, whereas, on the Iberian Peninsula, Carthaginians and Republican‐era Romans applied Phoenician cupellation techniques and added exotic Pb to Pb‐poor Ag ores. Massive Ag recupellation is observed in Rome during the Second Punic War. After defeating the Carthaginians and the Macedonians in the late second century bce , the Romans brought together the efficient, millennium‐old techniques of silver extraction of the Phoenicians, who considered this metal a simple commodity, with the monetization of the economy introduced by the Greeks.     

Materials Characteristics of Roman and Arabic Mortars and Stuccoes from the Patio De Banderas in the Real Alcazar of Seville (Spain)

This study discusses the materials and traditional knowledge used in the manufacture and application of lime mortars and stuccoes by Romans and Arabs in Seville (southern Iberian Peninsula). All of the samples studied contain calcite as a binder, combined with aggregates based on river sand from the filling materials of the Guadalquivir River's depression, located in the vicinity of the Real Alcazar Palace in Seville, Spain, where the artefacts were discovered. The Romans used high‐quality production technology, as evidenced by the careful selection of raw materials as well as by the adequate binder‐to‐aggregate ratio and the elevated homogeneity of the mortars and stuccoes. The suitable distribution of aggregates resulted in higher density values for Roman fragments than for Arabic ones. Results derived from Arabic samples suggest a decline in technology manufacture over time. This work provides useful information, particularly regarding the Roman and Arabic periods in the Iberian Peninsula. The analytical techniques employed in this study were X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray fluorescence (XRF)—using conventional and portable systems, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), petrographic microscopy, differential thermal analysis/thermogravimetry (DTA/TG), particle‐size analysis and mercury intrusion porosimetry.     

Mast-Step Coins among the Romans

The archaeological evidence of more than a dozen ancient shipwrecks indicates that the tradition of placing a coin inside the mast-step of a ship's hold probably originated with the Romans. The mast-step coin phenomenon, which persisted through the Middle Ages and continues in various forms today, has often been characterized according to the modern concept of 'luck'. The custom was, however, not one of an exclusively maritime nature; rather, it was ultimately derived from a long-standing religious tradition that can be traced back to the consecration of the earliest Greek temples.
© 2007 The Author     

From Pre‐Roman Bailo To Roman Baelo: Long‐Term Landscape Dynamics In The Straits Of Gibraltar

The Straits of Gibraltar have been historically an important maritime axis of connection between the Mediterranean and Atlantic areas of the Iberian Peninsula. For this reason, most of the archaeological research has focused on the coastal settlements, but its broader archaeological landscape remains mostly unknown. In this paper, we present recent intensive surveys in which a wide range of sites was detected, dating from the eighth century BC to the fourteenth AD. The ancient landscape is thus reconstructed over a long‐term perspective. Prior to the Roman expansion, the earlier Bailo‐La Silla del Papa was an urban central place that supported a dense network of subordinate settlements. Later on, the central settlement was transported from inland to the coastal town of Baelo Claudia, but the territorial structure remained based on a similar pattern.