At empire's edge : exploring Rome's Egyptian frontier / Robert B. Jackson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jackson, Robert B., 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Romans--Egypt.

Romans.

Egypt--Antiquities, Roman.

Egypt.

Egypt--Boundaries.

Egypt--History--30 B.C.-640 A.D.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource (xxv, 350 p.) ) ill., maps.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

When Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire in 30 B.C. after the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra, its vast and mysterious frontier lands had an important impact on the commerce, politics, and culture of the empire. This engrossing book-part history and part gazetteer-focuses on Rome's Egyptian frontier, describing the ancient fortresses, temples, settlements, quarries, and aqueducts scattered throughout the region and conveying a vivid sense of what life was like for its inhabitants. Robert B. Jackson has journeyed, by jeep and on foot, to virtually every known Roman site in the area, from Siwa Oasis, forty-five kilometers from the modern Libyan border, to the Sudan. Drawing on both archaeological and historical information, he discusses these sites, explaining how Rome extracted exotic stone and precious metals from the mountains of the Eastern Desert, channeled the wealth of India and East Africa through the desert via ports on the Red Sea, constructed and manned fortresses in the distant oases of the Western Desert, and facilitated the expansion of agricultural communities in the desert that eventually experienced the earliest large-scale conversions to Christianity in Egypt. Elegantly written and illustrated with many handsome photographs, the book will be a treasured resource for archaeologists, classicists, and travelers to the region.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

I. The Hills of Smoke, Gebel Dokhan

II. Mons Claudianus

III. The Quarry Roads to the Nile

IV. Ports on the Red Sea Coast

V. Desert Trade Routes

VI. The Gateway to Africa: Aswan, Elephantine, and Philae

VII. Roman Nubia

Overview of the Western Desert

VIII. The Great Oasis

IX. The Small Oasis

X. Siwa Oasis

ABBREVIATIONS

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-335) and index.

ISBN:

9786611730321

9781281730329

1281730327

9780300129519

0300129513

OCLC:

1024021695