bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Sarmatae, Bremetennacvm Veteranorvm and the Regio Bremetennacensis
Authors: Richmond I. A.
Published: May 2006

The Roman fort at Ribchester is one of the important strategic centres of Northern Britain (fig. 1), where a Roman road from south to north crossed the river Ribble, while another went eastwards to the legionary fortress at York through the Aire Gap and yet a third ran north-westwards to the Fylde. The Ribble, still tidal as far as Ribchester, may well have been navigable in Roman times as far as the lower crossing by a north-south road at Walton-le-Dale, though nowadays even small ships do not come further up river than Penwortham, three miles away. High fells, in Bowland and Croasdale, lie to north and north-east of the fort, which is itself situated in a deep valley. But the general formation of the neighbouring terrain is in wide sweeps of rolling plateau, suited to cavalry movements. In this respect the position has much in common with Stanwix, Corbridge, Binchester, or Lancaster, where Roman cavalry garrisons lay.

Ribchester does in fact appear to have been garrisoned by cavalry throughout the Roman occupation, and the name of the unit stationed there during the latter half of the period is well attested.
The Date and Value of the Verona List
Authors: Jones A. H. M.
Published: May 2006

Since Bury's magistral article in this Journal over thirty years ago (XIII, 1923, 127 ff.) no scholar has attempted a comprehensive study of the date and value of the Laterculus Veronensis. Various historians have in passing expressed a preference for this date or that. Ernst Stein argued for 293–305 in Rheinisches Museum LXXVII (1925), 367, but in his Geschichte des spätrömischen Reiches 1, 102, preferred 304–306. E. Schwartz in a rathe fuller treatment (Abh. Bayer. Akad., phil.-hist. Kl., 1937, 79–82) argued for a much later date, between 325 and 337 for the eastern dioceses, and under Valentinian I for the western dioceses. Others have more modestly confined themselves to certain areas. H. Nesselhauf has maintained a relatively early date (305–306) for Gaul (Abh. Preuss. Akad., phil.-hist. Kl., 1938, 8 ff.), while W. Seston has argued for a date after 306 for Africa (Dioclétien et la Tétrarchie, I, 327–8). It may be timely to reassess the problem, particularly as some new evidence has recently emerged.
Epigraphical Notes on Julius Caesar
Authors: Raubitschek A. E.
Published: May 2006

A number of inscribed pedestals which once carried statues of Julius Caesar have been found in Greece, on the Greek islands, and in Asia Minor. Two of these, one from the Agora Excavations (F), the other from Samos (Q), are published here for the first time. It may seem worth while to present and to examine these inscriptions as a group, since they indicate the position which Caesar occupied, at least in the Greek East, during the two years following his victory at Pharsalus.
The Intelligibility of Roman Imperial Coin Types
Authors: Sutherland C. H. V.
Published: May 2006

If any ancient historian—either Greek or Roman—made any systematic comment on the principles observed in the choice of coin types in the classical world his account has not come down to us. Aristotle, indeed, in his Politics, made a theoretical reference to coin types when he wrote ὁ γὰρ χαρακτὴρ ἐτέθη τοῦ ποσοῦ σημεῖον. This reference, though it is of characteristic Aristotelian brevity, in reality goes beyond the theory and implies the almost invariable principles of choice everywhere. For, as scholars have often noted and now generally agree, when Aristotle defined the addition of a type to a coin as a means of indicating its value, he was saying not that the type showed how great the value of the coin is, but that its very presence gives an assurance that the proper value of the coin—whatever that value might be—can be safely assumed. As G. F. Hill pointed out, and as will be seen later, ‘the importance of this apparently subtle distinction lies in its bearing on the significance of types.’
Constantius Chlorus' Invasion of Britain
Authors: Eichholz D. E.
Published: May 2006

Several versions of Constantius Chlorus' invasion and recovery of Britain in A.D. 296 have appeared in recent decades. These accounts agree in some respects, but differ widely in others, and the whole episode seems to need further study.

The literary evidence for the campaign is mostly contained in the contemporary panegyric addressed to Constantius by an unknown author and ascribed to Eumenius (Panegyrici Latini, ed. Baehrens, Incert. Pan. VIII, 11–19). To this may be added Incert. Pan. VI, 5; Aurelius Victor, De Caes. 39, 42; Eutropius 9, 22; and Orosius 7, 25.
The Roman and Byzantine Limes in Cyrenaica
Authors: Goodchild R. G.
Published: May 2006

Although Cyrenaica ranked, under the earlier Empire, as a senatorial province, it was too exposed to barbarian attack to be left undefended; and there is ample evidence that it had its own garrison—probably a small one—from the first century A.D. onwards. This garrison was evidently inadequate to prevent the outbreak of the Jewish Revolt of A.D. 115, and may consequently have been strengthened; but it was the crisis of the mid-third century that showed all too clearly the insecurity of the isolated Cyrenaican plateau. The Marmaric tribes invaded the province, and Cyrene itself seems to have been overwhelmed. The Diocletianic reforms resulted in the creation of a new ‘middle-eastern’ command under the Dux Aegypti Thebaidos utrarumque Libyarum, but the loss of the chapter of the Notitia Dignitatum enumerating the units stationed in the two Libyas makes it difficult to reconstruct the military organization of these provinces at the end of the fourth century. The works of Synesius help to fill the lacuna and at the same time provide a vivid picture of life in an invaded area.
A Late Roman Portrait Head
Authors: Miescher Rosemarie
Published: May 2006

The Greek and Roman Department of the British Museum has acquired a Roman portrait head in alabaster of unknown provenience, 16·5 cm. in height (pll. XVII, XVIII, 1). The eyebrows and chin are chipped and the nose is missing. The colour varies from ivory to light brown, and the softness of the alabaster has permitted very delicate surface modelling. The head is that of an old man with short hair, which lies in concentric circles around the head, and a laurel wreath tied in a knot at the back. The worn face shows a pronounced asymetry which emphasizes its individuality. Under the broad rectangular forehead the eyes are deep set and underlined by dark shadows. The Adam's apple protrudes and is emphasized by the slack skin of the throat.
An Orpheus Mosaic at Ptolemais in Cyrenaica
Authors: Harrison R. M.
Published: May 2006

Of several scenes of the Orpheus myth which had been depicted by earlier artists, only one found its way into the repertory of Roman mosaicists; Orpheus sitting in the wilderness, holding the wild animals spellbound to the music of his lyre. H. Stern has recently compiled a catalogue of forty-seven of these mosaics, and to this number must now be added at least eight more, namely at Edessa, Tarsus, Trento, Trier, Thysdrus, Lepcis Magna, Ptolemais (the subject of this paper), and Tobruk (see below, p. 17), making a grand total of fifty-five, of which forty-five are in the Western Provinces; Roman Britain alone accounts for nine.
Ignorance and Search in the Villa of the Mysteries
Authors: Lehmann Karl
Published: May 2006

During the fifty years that have elapsed since the great cycle of Dionysiac paintings was unearthed in the villa named after them at Pompeii, the search for their understanding has made reassuring progress. This search will never lead us out of ultimate ignorance about the deepest meaning which such visual imagery had within the context of an ancient mystery religion and we may resign ourselves to awareness of our own limitations in this respect. The best we can hope for is that we may learn to understand the surface meaning of images, whose full significance was only made clear to the initiated, to the degree to which, in antiquity, an uninitiated person could understand them. The last two published extensive discussions of this cycle of murals show clearly, however, that we are still far from having achieved even that degree of understanding. The impasse that has been reached can be overcome only by introducing new evidence and it is my hope that some progress can be made by doing so in the following pages.
Violence in Roman Politics
Authors: Sherwin-White A. N.
Published: May 2006

To speak of Roman politics in the late Republic without touching on violence would hardly be possible. But my real theme is concerned with methods of interpreting Roman history. We have seen in the last hundred years some three general attitudes or schools of thought about the study of the later Republic. It all begins with Mommsen, of course. First there were those who, following Mommsen, tended to explain Roman history in terms of the nineteenth century. The conflict of Optimates and Populares tended to be assimilated to the forms of conflict in parliamentary countries; parties, programmes, even democrats and conservatives were brought in. Then came a swing away. The stress was laid more and more on the generals and their ambitions. The terminology of parliamentary democracy was discarded as unsuitable, and the history of the late Republic was seen as an inevitable procession of great Imperatores, each foreshadowing the next. Even the Scipios were involved, then Marius, Sulla and so forth. Much less stress was laid on the popular movement. Apart from the Gracchi the tribunes were treated as tools of the Imperators and nothing more. The politics of the generation before the Social War were explained in terms of the Ciceronian age. One might cite the great chapters of the Cambridge Ancient History, and Meyer's Caesars Monarchie as characteristic.
The Hippolytus Sarcophagus from Trinquetaille
Authors: Ward Perkins J. B.
Published: May 2006

One of the finest Attic sarcophagi of its class, and certainly one of the most striking pieces to have reached the western provinces, is the well-known Hippolytus sarcophagus which was found in 1891 at Trinquetaille, across the river from Aries, and which is now one of the chief ornaments of the Musée Romain in that city (pl. 1). There is no need to describe it in detail, since it has been fully published, with good photogravure reproductions of all four sides, by Robert, and again in more summary form, by Espérandieu. It will be enough in the present context to note that it is a typical example of what Rodenwaldt, in his penetrating discussion of the evolution of the Attic kline-sarcophagus, has shown to be an advanced and presumably, therefore, relatively late variant within that series. The lid, with a single male figure reclining on an embroidered mattress upon a couch with animal-headed mounts, has altered very little from the prototype; but on the body all that remains of the Caryatid figures that once supported the couch at the four angles is the pair of vestigial pedestals at either end of the recessed moulding along the base of the rear face. The mouldings, too, a delicately carved acanthus scroll along the upper border, an elaborately lobed leaf-and-tongue motif along the re-entrant surface behind the line of the heads, and a panel of conventional bay-wreath ornament along the lower border, all of these, with their very shallow relief and fluid surfaces, represent an altogether more advanced stage of development than the boldly cut, purposeful architectural mouldings of earlier practice. In these later Attic sarcophagi the emphasis has shifted decisively from the architectural framework of the design to the figures themselves, which now form a virtually uninterrupted frieze round the four sides of the body.
Two Early Patterns of Manumission
Authors: Daube David
Published: May 2006

The following remarks are intended to call attention to a profound difference between manumission censu and some other ancient modes of manumission; a difference emerging if, in examining the several modes, we pay regard to form and original setting rather than to the general role they came to acquire in fully historical times.

Modern scholars appear to seek for a uniform pattern of early manumission (I). In point of fact, whereas the fundamental idea underlying some other modes was release of a slave by his master, though this release was controlled or ratified by the public authority (II), that underlying manumission censu was incorporation of a man by the State, though, as a rule, the incorporation was made only with the master's consent (III).
Air Reconnaissance in Britain, 1955–7
Authors: Joseph J. K. St.
Published: May 2006

This paper brings up to date accounts of discoveries by air reconnaissance in the field of Romano-British studies already published in this Journal (JRS XLI, XLIII, and XLV). In the last few years nearly every major Roman site in Britain has been repeatedly reconnoitred from the air in a yearly course of flights especially planned for the purpose of research. The body of information thus obtained shows that even air survey conducted over several successive years does not exhaust the possibilities of acquiring new knowledge at places already known, while discovery of sites hitherto unrecognized continues apace. The incidence of the discoveries, however, proves to vary. Scrutiny of military sites in the area of Hadrian's Wall and its hinterland, which yielded so much information in the decade 1945–55, has in the last three years added comparatively little to the record.
The Antonine Wall, 1934–1959
Authors: Steer K. A.
Published: May 2006

The publication in 1934 of the second edition of Sir George Macdonald's Roman Wall in Scotland marked the end of an era in the study of the Antonine Wall. The interest in systematic exploration aroused by the Glasgow Archaeological Society's investigations of 1890–3 gained momentum during the years that followed; and by 1934 the structural nature of the Wall had been determined and its course for the most part accurately mapped, while excavation, often on an elaborate scale, had been carried out in the majority of the known forts along its line. With much of this activity Macdonald was personally associated, and his masterly synthesis of the results will always be an indispensable reference-work for those who labour in the same field.
Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus
Authors: Russell D. A.
Published: May 2006

I am concerned in this paper with Plutarch's treatment of the story of Coriolanus, not with the historical truth of the legend or with its development before Plutarch's time. I start from the hypothesis that the Life is, in its essentials, a transposition into biographical form of the historical narrative in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, Books V to VIII. This has long been the common view. It was held and defended by Hermann Peter, Mommsen, and Eduard Schwartz. A careful reading of the two texts side by side tempts me to call it certain, so exact and frequent are the echoes. It is at any rate probable enough to justify an attempt to follow out its consequences by treating the differences between Dionysius and Plutarch, in default of other evidence, as Plutarch's constructions, to be explained in terms of his literary purposes and methods. This is what I shall do in the main part of this paper. I preface the details, however, by a few more general considerations.
An Interim Report on the Origins of Rome
Authors: Momigliano Arnaldo
Published: May 2006

With three volumes of E. Gjerstad's Early Rome still outstanding we are exactly in the middle of the new phase of the research on the origins of Rome. Other works due to appear very soon (perhaps they will already have appeared by the time these pages are published) include A. Alföldi's T. S. Jerome Lectures on Early Rome and the Latins, R. Werner's Der Beginn der römischen Republik and a new volume by H. Müller-Karpe, the author of Vom Anfang Roms (Heidelberg, 1959). Furthermore, historians and archaeologists most actively engaged in this field of research, such as M. Pallottino, R. Bloch, R. Peroni and P. Romanelli, have still much to contribute. In these circumstances any attempt to draw conclusions is clearly premature. But Gjerstad, Alföldi and Bloch have already presented their theories in outline with the explicit or implicit purpose of having them discussed before they are given their final shape. The present paper, which represents two of the three J. H. Gray lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge in March, 1963, is intended as a contribution to this preliminary discussion.
Hadrian and Cyrene
Authors: Fraser P. M.
Published: May 2006

The inscription here published was first seen by Mr. Applebaum in 1945, when he was in charge of Antiquities in the newly-acquired territory of Cyrenaica. It was at that time standing by the Museum at Cyrene, and its provenience is unknown.
Deification and Julian
Authors: Nock Arthur Darby
Published: May 2006

Towards the close of the Epitaphios of Libanius on Julian we read:–

I have mentioned representations (of Julian); many cities have set him beside the images of the gods and honour him as they do the gods. Already a blessing has been besought of him in prayer, and it was not in vain. To such an extent has he literally ascended to the gods and received a share of their power from them themselves.

The statement that Julian was made synnaos theos, or something of the sort, has many precedents. On the other hand, the assertion that he had hearkened to prayer calls for special consideration.
Entry to the Senate in the Early Empire
Authors: McAlindon D.
Published: May 2006

It is commonly assumed that the vigintivirate and the military tribunate, held in that order, were necessary preliminaries, except in the case of adlection, to a senatorial career in the ‘cursus honorum’ established by Augustus. There is, however, reason to believe that certain variations occurred, of sufficient number to warrant consideration as a class, and as evidence for social distinctions among the candidates. The significance of the vigintivirate in determining the future career of senators has already been brought to notice by Professor Eric Birley. The ever-increasing powers of the emperors in the creation and advancement of senators were of great importance in the political and social transformation of that body in the first century of the Empire. This paper is concerned with careers of the Julio-Claudian period, the most relevant from this point of view. The use of later inscriptions, however, as illustrations, could not be excluded.
The Boscoreale Figure-Paintings
Authors: Robertson Martin
Published: May 2006

The interpretation of the figure-scenes from the big hall of the villa of Publius Fannius Synistor, near Boscoreale, built and decorated probably soon after the middle of the first century B.C., has been much discussed during the half-century since their discovery. No theory yet put forward, however, has met with general acceptance; and indeed there is no general agreement on the question whether the characters are taken from Greek religious mythology, Hellenistic history, or Roman daily life. The theory here advanced is in many points conjectural, but it does, I think, take one step forward on solid ground. If that step be accepted, it becomes virtually certain that the subject is historical.

The surviving figures and groups have been wrenched from their decorative setting, which has been largely destroyed; but it was described and partly drawn by Barnabei, and its character and place in the decoration of the villa as a whole have been admirably interpreted by Beyen.
Diocletian's Reform of the Coinage: a Chronological Note
Authors: Sutherland C. H. V.
Published: May 2006

Diocletian's reform of the coinage included the following elements :—

(1) The raising of the weight of gold coins from a norm of about 70–72 to the Roman pound to one of 60 to the Roman pound.

(2) The abandonment of the silver-washed coin now known as the antoninianus and its replacement by a silver coin of the weight of Nero's reduced denarius, i.e. at a rate of 96 to the Roman pound.

(3) The introduction of the so-called follis—a copper coin of about 10 gm. in weight and struck at all ‘reformed’ mints with something very near uniformity of types. The follis was accompanied by fractional denominations.

The date of (1) is discernible (even if it cannot be fixed with absolute precision) by weighings of dated gold coins from a.d. 284, when Diocletian succeeded to power. ‘There was a change in basic standards not later than a.d. 286. One hundred and twenty-seven coins from the mints at Rome, Cyzicus, Lyons, and Antioch dated in the years 284 to 286 show an average weight of 71 grains, indicating a basis of 70 or 72 to the pound. Twenty seven coins from the mint at Cyzicus dated in a.d. 286, twenty-three from the mint at Rome dated a.d. 286–7, and at least ten each from the mints at Siscia and Antioch dated in a.d. 286–9 all show average weights of 82 or 83 grains, indicating a basis of 60 to the pound. No later group containing five or more coins varies more than 5 per cent from this average, except one dated a.d. 296–9 from the mint at Treves.’ The same phenomenon had previously been observed by K. Pink, who associated the change of standard with Maximian Herculius' elevation to the rank of Augustus on 1st April, a.d. 286.
The Date of the Lex Repetundarum and its Consequences
Authors: Sherwin-White A. N.
Published: May 2006

In two articles published in thisJournalin 1969 and 1970, Dr. Mattingly has made a new and systematic assault on the identification of the Lex Repetundarum of the Tabula Bembina with any law of the Gracchan period, and has argued at length for its possible identity with both the recovery law of Servilius Glaucia and the law of the Tabula Tarentina. The question is of importance not only for the politics of the Gracchan period, but for the whole history of the development of the only means which the Roman Republic created for the redress of wrongs which provincials suffered at the hands of Roman officers and governors, while the history of the extension of the Roman citizenship is also involved. The Lex Repetundarum (as the law of the Tabula Bembina will be called henceforth) reveals great political ingenuity in its elaborate devices of procedure, intended to eliminate the undue influence of interested parties and to secure the conviction of the guilty and the effective compensation of the injured. Whether the mind so revealed is that of Gaius Gracchus or a later politician is a matter of some moment.
Polybius, Rome, and the East
Authors: Derow P. S.
Published: May 2006

Sixteen years ago, in an article entitled ‘Polybius and Rome's eastern policy,’ F. W. Walbank raised and examined aspects of what seemed to be an absolutely central flaw in the fabric of Polybius’ account of Roman expansion in the Greek world. The situation that he saw both then and a decade later in his Sather Lectures on Polybius may be put briefly, and I hope fairly, as follows. Polybius believed that Rome's eastern expansion came as the conscious execution by Rome of a consciously adopted plan. Such a view, however, is altogether at odds with the interpretation worked out by Maurice Holleaux on the basis of Polybius’ own narrative (and its survivals in Livy). This state of affairs could come about because of a fundamental contradiction between Polybius' general statements and his own detailed narrative.
Rome and India: Aspects of Universal History during the Principate
Authors: Schmitthenner Walter
Published: May 2006

There are two approaches to universal history: a structural one and one which may be called ‘real’ or ‘practical’. The former compares and draws general conclusions; it is theoretical history. The second is concerned with causality, relating dispersed occurrences, where possible, by determining their interdependence and establishing priorities in time. There can be no doubt, however, that an understanding of the whole of the history of mankind, from its earliest beginnings to the recognizable process of total acculturation in our present world, is the ultimate, if unattainable, goal towards which all its efforts are directed. Certain aspects of this ‘real’ or ‘practical’ universal history are the subject of this paper. The Ancient Historian can advance several arguments to justify his special claim to a universalist point of view. Three observations will be selected and briefly considered anew.
Elegiacs by Gallus from Qaṣr Ibrîm
Authors: Anderson R. D. , Parsons P. J. , Nisbet R. G. M.
Published: May 2006

The hilltop fortress town of Qaṣr Ibrîm is situated in Egyptian Nubia, some 150 miles south of Aswan. Transformed into an island by the rising waters of Lake Nasser, it has been excavated under the aegis of the Egypt Exploration Society since 1963. Until 1976 work was under the direction of Professor J. M. Plumley (University of Cambridge); the 1978 season was led by Professor W. Y. Adams of the University of Kentucky (site director) and R. D. Anderson, honorary secretary of the E.E.S. (administrative director and epigraphist). A site that attracted Egyptian interest at least as early as the New Kingdom and formed part of the district under the special protection of Horus of Mi'am, Qasr Ibrîm was for much of its history a military stronghold, administrative centre, and place of religious pilgrimage. Occupation can be traced for some 3,500 years till the expulsion in 1811 of the ‘Bosnian’ mercenaries stationed at Ibrîm soon after 1517 by the Ottoman Selim I. Ideal conditions of preservation, only now threatened by the lake, have combined with this long history to provide an astonishing wealth of documents from a wide variety of periods.
The Lex Repetundarum and the Political Ideas of Gaius Gracchus
Authors: Sherwin-White A. N.
Published: May 2006

It may be taken as proven, so far as anything is ever finally proved in ancient history that the Roman law contained in the fragmented bronze tablet once owned by Cardinal Bembo is the lex repetundarum, or recovery law, of Gaius Gracchus, or of a political associate who shared the same ideas about the so-called ‘extortion court’, despite the doubts of Professor Mattingly, who, reviving the thesis of Carcopino and earlier scholars, sought to identify it with the later law of Servilius Glaucia. This law, which may be conveniently called the Lex Sempronia; is probably the only law of Gaius Gracchus that was concerned with jurors. It is both a lex repetundarum and a lex iudiciaria, because at this time there was no other regular political jury court except the court of recovery. The Lex Sempronia which succeeds the Lex Calpurnia of 149 (and its adjunct the obscure Lex Iunia), replace the senatorial jurors of the previous system by jurors who are not drawn from the senatorial class. But it does many other things, and it is an absolute treasure-house of information about the political and social ideas of its author. Historians have not effectively used it information for the general interpretation of the political thinking of Gaius Gracchus because they suffer from a fixed idea.
Marius' Villas: the Testimony of the Slave and the Knave
Authors: Badian E.
Published: May 2006

Plutarch tells us that the great C. Marius possessed a Campanian villa, which in 88 B.C. could be regarded as more luxuriously appointed than befitted an old soldier; though more than a century later, Seneca, in moralistic mood, could describe it as positively Spartan compared with those of his own day. The villa (we are specifically and credibly informed) was sited in the territory of Misenum; but for rhetorical purposes both Plutarch and Seneca connect it with Baiae—a name that had more powerful associations of luxury and that, even geographically, was not far out.
Syria under Vespasian
Authors: Bowersock G. W.
Published: May 2006

The history of Syria and Transjordan during the period immediately after the close of the Jewish War is obscure. Yet scattered hints in the sources together with the random evidence of epigraphy and numismatics imply policies and developments of some moment. These may be presumed to have a bearing upon the annexation of Arabia by Trajan. The present investigation emphasizes the land which lies to the east of the great depression which runs from north to south along the River Orontes, the Lebanese Beqa‘, and the River Jordan. When the literary texts are brought into conjunction with the evidence on and from the ground, some progress can be made.

Josephus has left us a detailed account of the Jewish War of Vespasian. This emperor's knowledge of the Near East was superior to that of all his predecessors on the throne of the Caesars. Apart from Augustus' and Tiberius' visit in 20 B.C. none had ever seen the Levant. Policy was made at a distance and administered when necessary by persons specially empowered, an Agrippa or a Germanicus.
The Chronology of Fronto
Authors: Champlin Edward
Published: May 2006

A reconsideration of the chronological data for Fronto's extant works is desirable on several counts, not least in providing a firmer base for the investigation of Antonine history. Various systems have been devised, but there is great room for improvement even in the little that is known. It is now almost forty years since the last full attempt, and much knowledge has accrued, notably from the Ostian fasti. Also, unfortunately, a ‘date’ has too often been engendered by simple horror vacui. More serious are the many misinterpretations, often quite small but some of wider significance, which have become lodged in print and then used by others as a firm base for other researches. Conflicting views on matters of some import, notably the year of Fronto's death (the main estimates vary by a decade), require examination. Most misleading of all, some investigators have wreaked Procrustean violence on the corpus by discerning and ruthlessly applying an alleged underlying editorial principle. On that account, an agnostic method of considering each piece on its own merit will be used here, letting that editorial principle emerge if it will. The evidence, where available, for each work will be set down in the manuscript order, preceded by a discussion of the date of Fronto's demise and followed by some remarks on the original edition of the corpus and a section tabulating the results.
Some Inscriptions from the Cappadocian Limes
Authors: Mitford T. B.
Published: May 2006

Since the hurried journey of Hogarth and Yorke in 1894, the Euphrates limes has remained virtually unexplored, and uncertainty has continued to surround its geography and organization.

The basic structure, established under Vespasian and consolidated by Hadrian, and many of the details of its course, can now be located on the ground. Three legionary fortresses—at Satala (Plate IV, 1), Melitene and Samosata, with legionary vexillations (replaced under Diocletian by a new legion) at a fourth at Trapezus—blocked the major strategic routes from the east, and are already well known. They were linked by an eight metre military road, whose remains I have managed to trace on foot, almost without a break, for a hundred miles north of Melitene, along the right bank of the Euphrates: barely a fifth of the total distance from the Black Sea to the southern foothills of the Kurdish Taurus. A series of auxiliary forts seems to have stood on, or at points east of, the road at intervals of a day's march. Most of the sites hitherto proposed—by armchair inspection of inaccurate maps—should be dismissed, but genuine sites have proved elusive. Only at Dascusa has excavation been possible, to reveal fourth-century work, rather than the original fort. But an important inscription in re-use attests military activity under Titus or Domitian: along with the Pompeius Collega milestone, it provides confirmation of scattered literary and numismatic evidence for Vespasian's hand in the building of the frontier.
M. Aurelius Atho Marcellus
Authors: Davies R. W.
Published: May 2006

One of the smallest of the papyri in the files of cohors XX Palmyrenorum stationed at Dura-Europos in Syria Coele appears to be one of the most interesting. It is P. Dura 81, which is dated, on similarity of style to another document, to c. A.D. 251:

On the fourth line J. F. Gilliam the editor comments: ‘Following -athon it appears that o was first written and then corrected to i. Possibly these letters are part of a name, perhaps the nomen of Marcellus. Mathoni would be possible, though surprising.’

However, the reading is almost certainly correct as it stands. A Marcus Aurelius Atho Marcellus is attested by two inscriptions as being procurator Mauretaniae Caesariensis at some time between A.D. 246 and 249. I suggest that he is the same person as the man mentioned at Dura for four reasons: Atho is the only example of this nomen to be found in PIR2; the combination with Marcellus; they are both procurators of high rank; they are contemporary.
Adultery Trials and the Survival of the Quaestiones in the Severan Age
Authors: Garnsey Peter
Published: May 2006

In the late Republic and early Empire special courts were established by statute, largely by Sulla and Augustus, to deal with the following crimes: treason, adultery, murder, parricide, embezzlement, forgery of wills, public and private violence, corrupt practices in elections, extortion, injury, and interference with the corn-supply. It is commonly thought that at least some of these quaestiones were still active in the Severan period. In a recent article Kunkel granted that the courts for treason, extortion, embezzlement and ambitus (which included bribery at elections) probably lasted for only a short time under the Principate. But he considered that the quaestio or iudicium publicum was nevertheless a living institution in the time of the classical lawyers, and, in particular, that the evidence was good for the continued operation of the quaestio de adulteriis. The case for the existence of the quaestio de adulteriis may well be stronger than the case for the existence of other quaestiones; but it is still weak. In the following pages the thesis will be put forward that all the quaestiones were defunct in the Severan age.
The Division of Britain
Authors: Mann J. C. , Jarrett M. G.
Published: May 2006

Mr. Graham's article on the division of Britain in the early third century usefully collects much of the relevant evidence. He concludes that Herodian is wrong in claiming that Britain was divided in A.D. 197, and suggests that no division took place until the reign of Caracalla. But he fails to take into account the possibility that a division was indeed made in 197, on different lines from those which applied later.

The one piece of new evidence produced to help in refuting Herodian is an Ephesian inscription which mentions embassies to the emperors Severus and Caracalla in Upper Germany and Britain. The grounds are that, in the wording of the inscription, Germany is qualified as τὴν ἄνω, while Britain is not qualified. But Germania without qualification would be too vague to be allowed to stand; it could even lead to confusion with free Germany. Britannia, on the other hand, is clearly merely a geographical description.
The Development of Agriculture in the ‘Ager Cosanus’ during the Roman Republic: Problems of Evidence and Interpretation
Authors: Rathbone D. W.
Published: May 2006

It is a well-established view that in the century following the Hannibalic War the Italian countryside saw the expropriation of its free peasantry and the introduction of slave-staffed villas. This assumption of fact underlies much modern historical research. As one recent study put it: ‘When we compare Roman with American slavery, the growth of slavery in Roman Italy seems surprising. In the eighteenth century, slavery was used as a means of recruiting labour to cultivate newly discovered lands for which there was no adequate local labour force…. In Roman Italy…slaves were recruited to cultivate land which was already being cultivated by citizen peasants. We have to explain not only the import of slaves but the extrusion of citizens'. The usual answer has been that land was the largest single available investment for the wealth which the upper classes had derived from imperialism and was also the most socially acceptable investment. But despite postulation of a largely economic motive, the approach taken by historians has been mainly social and political. The explanation, however, and the type of approach involved owe much of their plausibility and hence popularity to what is also their greatest weakness, namely somewhat circular argumentation. The evidence on which the phenomenon and its explanation have been constructed is above all that of the literary sources, and the context in which this information is given is almost invariably political—the obvious and major instance is the Gracchan reforms. It should hardly surprise us, then, that this view of Republican agrarian history provides a neat socio-economic explanation for the political upheavals of the later Republic for which we again take our main evidence from the very same sources. Such validation is only apparent. Perhaps it speaks for the internal consistency of these literary sources; certainly it illustrates our pathetic imprisonment within the ‘facts’ and ‘interpretations’—one could say tout court the bias—of these sources. There is little to be gained from further introspective critique of this type of evidence.
Pottery Manufacture in Roman Egypt: A New Papyrus
Authors: Cockle Helen
Published: May 2006

Our knowledge of the pottery industry in ancient Egypt has so far been derived from sculptured reliefs showing potters at work, from a few excavations of kilns and from chemical analyses of pottery wares. Documentary evidence has now come to light in the form of three pottery leases from Oxyrhynchus, all dated to the middle of the third century a.d.

They are so closely related in subject-matter, terminology, date and the names of the contracting parties that I publish in full only the earliest and most complete (which I shall refer to as A); but I include references to the more significant details of the other two (B and C). Their importance lies in the fact that they reveal a remarkably large scale industry, and also much concerning the techniques and terminology of the pottery industry, especially the names of the clays used and the sizes of the jars.
Rome, Asia and Aphrodisias in the Third Century
Authors: Roueché Charlotte
Published: May 2006

In 1913 J. B. Bury wrote of Diocletian's administrative reforms: ‘It is becoming clear that (Diocletian) was not the initiator, but was only extending and systematizing changes which had already been begun’; and subsequent research in many areas has tended to support this contention. Bury was particularly concerned with the subdivision of the provinces; yet that particular reform has continued to be ascribed almost wholly to Diocletian, on the authority of Lactantius' famous phrase,provinciae quoque in frusta concisae, and in the absence of firm evidence to the contrary. It is the purpose of this article to present new material from Aphrodisias in Caria which seems to indicate that a new imperial province of Phrygia and Caria, whose creation has hitherto been ascribed to Diocletian or his successors, had been separated from proconsular Asia before A.D. 259. If this is so, it may well prove fruitful to re-examine material from other parts of the empire, in order to determine whether similar developments, at such a date, can be identified elsewhere.
The Roman Mines at Riotinto
Authors: Jones G. D. B.
Published: May 2006

Although the name of Riotinto has become synonymous with mining throughout the world and the site was very clearly exploited in antiquity, the Roman mines have received relatively little archaeological attention at the analytical level. The reasons for this situation are complex, not least perhaps the impression amongst archaeologists that there now remains little or nothing from antiquity capable of examination. The two major expansions of large-scale open-cast mining by the old Riotinto Company have led to a general impression that modern mining has removed all worthwhile archaeological evidence. Furthermore, in the last century a massive study by Rua Figueroa appeared at the time to offer a comprehensive survey of all that was known of ancient and more recent exploitation.
Antonius Saturninus
Authors: Syme Ronald
Published: May 2006

Milestones, they are more numerous than needed. They may tell very little, often merely certifying stages and intervals on roads already known, traced and trodden: or, less instructive, the names and titles of an emperor.

There are happy exceptions. From time to time the miliaria, by registering an imperial legate, contribute usefully to the study of the governing class. A new discovery can offer a sudden and welcome illumination. For example, the milestone set up on a strategic road in Palestine in the second half of the year 69: the road from Caesarea by Caparcotna to Scythopolis. At the head stands the name of the pretender, styled ‘Imp. Caesar Vespasianus Augustus’, and this stone was erected by M. Ulpius Traianus, the legate commanding the legion X Fretensis.

The document is variously instructive, not least for the career of that legate. In the narrative of Josephus, Traianus was last heard of in the early summer of 68 when, after the subjugation of Peraea, he brought his army corps to join Vespasian at Jericho. The next fact is his consulate in 70, revealed by a small fragment of the Fasti Ostienses. He followed as suffectus the great Licinius Mucianus (the second consulship of that person). The honour was deserved. Like another legionary legate, Aurelius Fulvus, who commanded III Gallica in Moesia, Ulpius Traianus (the inference is easy and painless) had a hand in the intrigue that led to the proclamation of Vespasian. Both were legates of some seniority. Fulvus is attested in 64, under Domitius Corbulo in Armenia (ILS 232).
Syrie Romaine, de Pompée à Dioclétien
Authors: Rey-Coquais J.-P.
Published: May 2006

Sur la Syrie romaine, nos informations sont aujourd'hui vastes, lacunaires et dispersées. Fouilles et explorations ont considérablement enrichi la documentation disponible. Archéologie, épigraphie, numismatique ont donné lieu à des publications nombreuses. Les textes littéraires antiques ont été réinterprétés. Des études d'ensemble ou de détail, au premier rang desquelles prennent place celles d'Henri Seyrig, ont renouvelé notre connaissance des faits et des événements.

Quelques pages ne peuvent être ni une synthèse ni un catalogue; un choix s'impose. Certains points, assurés depuis longtemps, permettent d'être bref; d'autres, récemment acquis ou encore en discussion, appellent de plus longs développements.

A regret, nous laisserons de côté les multiples aspects de la civilisation, ou plus exactement des rencontres de civilisations, dont l'étude rend passionnante l'histoire de la Syrie dans l'antiquité. Nous tentons seulement de fournir pour cette étude en quelque sorte un cadre et une toile de fond indispensables, en montrant comment il a fallu plus de trois siècles pour que la Syrie fût solidement intégrée à un empire romain unifié. De l'emprise romaine, nous nous attacherons à préciser les étapes d'abord, de la conquête de Pompée à la reconquête d'Aurélien, les instruments ensuite, gouverneurs, armée, organisation des finances et de la monnaie. Cette perspective explique que nous nous arrêtions chronologiquement au règne de Dioclétien, malgré le grand intérêt que présente en Syrie le IVesiècle de notre ère.
Legislation against the Christians
Authors: Barnes T. D.
Published: May 2006

The modern bibliography on the subject of the juridical basis of the persecutions of the Christians in the Roman Empire before 250 is vast, contentious—and in large part worthless. For no-one has yet attempted to gather together in a small compass and to scrutinize without preconceptions all the primary evidence for specific actions or legal enactments of the Senate or of emperors before Decius which directly concerned the Christians, or which were directly rendered necessary by them. Ulpian collected the imperial rescripts relating to the punishment of Christians in the seventh book of hisDe Officio Proconsulis. This chapter has left no discernible trace in theDigestcommissioned by the Christian emperor Justinian. The evidence which remains, therefore, is scattered and often difficult to evaluate. What follows is an attempt to present clearly the primary evidence for the legal basis of the condemnation of Christians before 250 without the accretions of later hagiography or of modern interpretations.
Gratian's repudiation of the Pontifical Robe
Authors: Cameron Alan
Published: May 2006

The reign of Gratian marked a turning-point in the conflict between Christianity and Paganism in the Roman Empire. One of the more spectacular manifestations of this change of emphasis which culminated in the anti-pagan legislation of Theodosius was Gratian's ostentatious repudiation of the title of pontifex maximus, held by every Emperor from Augustus down to Gratian's own father, Valentinian. The Christian Emperors had tolerated it hitherto as a purely formal element of their titulature. But Gratian refused the pontifical robe, ἀθέμιτον εἶναι Χριστιανῷ τὸ σχῆμα νομίσας.

Zosimus, our only authority for the event, dates it to the beginning of Gratian's reign. If he means 367, when Gratian was created co-Augustus by Valentinian, then he is certainly wrong, for pontifex maximus is attested among Gratian's titles in an inscription of the year 370 (CIL VI, 1175). And even if his accession proper in 375 is meant, when Valentinian died, this is still wrong, for Ausonius addressed him as pontifex in his Gratiarum Actio of January 379.
Le Cens Senatorial sous la Republique et sous Auguste
Authors: Nicolet C.
Published: May 2006

La plupart des historiens modernes considèrent qu'il n'existait pas à Rome, sous la République, de qualification censitaire légalement obligatoire pour l'accès aux magistratures, et, par conséquent, pour l'entrée dans le Sénat. La grande lutte de la plèbe pour l'obtention de ce qu'on pourrait appeler leius honorum, dont la tradition retrace les étapes (avec une chronologie sans doute exacte), ne porte pas en effet sur des questions censitaires, mais se situe, ce qui est tout différent, au niveau de l'appartenance au patriciat. Une fois les plebéiens légalement qualifiés pour l'accès aux magistratures ‘patriciennes’, plus rien ne serait venu limiter (sauf les difficultés pratiques bien entendu) le droit de tout citoyen, même le plus humble, à être candidat aux plus hautes charges.