The Roman military base at Dura-Europos, Syria : an archaeological visualisation / Simon James.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

James, Simon, 1957- author.

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fortification, Roman.

Excavations (Archaeology).

Dura-Europos (Extinct city)--Civilization.

Dura-Europos (Extinct city).

Syria--Dura-Europos (Extinct city).

Excavations (Archaeology)--Syria--Dura-Europos (Extinct city).

Fortification, Roman--Syria--Dura-Europos (Extinct city).

Civilization.

Physical Description:

xxxiii, 347 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 28 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Dura-Europos, a Parthian-ruled Greco-Syrian city, was captured by Rome c.AD165. It then accommodated a Roman garrison until its destruction by Sasanian siege c.AD256. Excavations of the site between the World Wars made sensational discoveries, and with renewed exploration from 1986 to 2011, Dura remains the best-explored city of the Roman East. 0A critical revelation was a sprawling Roman military base occupying a quarter of the city's interior. This included swathes of civilian housing converted to soldiers' accommodation and several existing sanctuaries, as well as baths, an amphitheatre, headquarters, and more temples added by the garrison. Base and garrison were clearly fundamental factors in the history of Roman Dura, but what impact did they have on the civil population? Original excavators gloomily portrayed Durenes evicted from0their homes and holy places, and subjected to extortion and impoverishment by brutal soldiers, while recent commentators have envisaged military-civilian concordia, with shared prosperity and integration. Detailed examination of the evidence presents a new picture.0Through the use of GPS, satellite, geophysical and archival evidence, this volume shows that the Roman military base and resident community were even bigger than previously understood, with both military and civil communities appearing much more internally complex than has been allowed until now. The result is a fascinating social dynamic which we can partly reconstruct, giving us a nuanced picture of life in a city near the eastern frontier of the Roman world.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

0198743564

9780198743569

OCLC:

1044813224

Publisher Number:

99980298923