bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Marcus Lepidus, Capax Imperii
Authors: Syme Ronald
Published: May 2006

The theme ‘capax imperii', immortalized by Tacitus’ verdict on the Emperor Galba, runs through his writings, and imparts a unity to the record of conspiracies and civil wars. It emerges quickly in the Annals. Augustus, so an anecdote alleges, discussed the matter when his end was near, and made play with the names of three men. M. Lepidus, he said, had the capacity but no desire; Asinius Gallus was eager but not good enough; Arruntius, however, was not unworthy and might make a bid. Moreover, according to; Tacitus, some versions named Cn. Piso instead of Arruntius. There it might rest, a happy invention, or at least an unverifiable report, did not the story raise a problem of historical identity. Who was the Lepidus whom the dying Princeps rated so highly, Marcus or Manius ? The Codex Mediceus has ‘M. Lepidum’: all modern editors alter the praenomen and read ‘M'. Lepidum’.

This passage is only the beginning of the trouble. Two Aemilii Lepidi of consular standing recur in the Annals and annoy the conscientious reader. They are not at all easy to keep apart, despite the operations of scholars since Justus Lipsius. Those operations have been considerable. Following Lipsius' lead, Borghesi and Nipperdey evolved a doctrine about the two Lepidi which won rapid and general acceptance, with hardly a murmur of dissent anywhere, and it now stands canonical both in editions of Tacitus and in the works of reference. It involved an alteration of the manuscript reading, easy and trivial to all appearance—the substitution of the abbreviated praenomen M'. for M. That change was made, not only in the passage in Book I about the ‘capaces imperii’, but in seven other, places, no less. In consequence Marcus Lepidus dwindles miserably and is all but blotted out, whereas Manius is augmented and exalted. The time has come to challenge the legitimacy of the procedure, and to look at the results.
Aspects of the Christianization of the Roman Aristocracy
Authors: Brown P. R. L.
Published: May 2006

Perhaps the most significant feature of the end of paganism in Rome is that we do know about it; in the words of one of the earliest students of this death of a religion, Beugnot, ‘L'histoire n'a daigné qu'assister aux funérailles du paganisme.’ That this is so is due largely to the central position occupied in the religious history of the late fourth and early fifth centuries, by the senatorial aristocracy of Rome.
Two Poems of Catullus
Authors: Fraenkel Eduard
Published: May 2006

The poem begins with a passionate cry. ‘To my aid, little poems, every one, all of you from everywhere, every single one of you, all!’ When Catullus says adeste, hendecasyllabi, he is not of course summoning representatives of one metrical genre only. Since by far the greater part of those short poems which now make up the first section of his book (I–LX) has as its metre the hendecasyllable (phalaeceus), he can readily use this name for his short poems in general without excluding an occasional iambic or choliambic piece. Catullus has to summon his poems undique, for they are scattered over a wide area, which proves, if proof were needed, that, like other poets in antiquity, he was in the habit of sending first, before publication, individual poems to individual addressees.
Factio: Some Observations
Authors: Seager Robin
Published: May 2006

When the word ‘party’ became obscene in the context of the history of the Roman republic, it was frequently replaced by ‘faction’—or factio, to give an air of authenticity. It is the purpose of this paper to examine the occurrences of factio in writers of the republic and early principate in order to discover to what extent the usage of modern historians is justified by the sources. It will not be denied that there are numerous occasions when factio functions as a collective, with the meaning ‘group, clique, faction’. But originally factio had a verbal force, sometimes active—‘way of doing things’—sometimes potential—‘capacity to do things or get things done’. This verbal force is retained in many instances, including some where the rendering ‘faction’, i.e. ‘group’, has become standard. The precise shade of meaning may vary, but three principal connotations can be discerned: influence, concerted action, and intrigue.
Roman Gold-Mining in North-West Spain, II: Workings on the Rio Duerna
Authors: Jones R. F. J. , Bird D. G.
Published: May 2006

Recent studies of Roman gold-mining, in Britain at Dolaucothi, and in Spain at las Médulas, Montefurado and Puerto del Palo, have shown that many valuable results can be obtained at such sites by a careful programme of field-work. The present article is the result of field-work in the region of the Rio Duerna in 1970. It was also possible to undertake a special in-depth survey of one of the mines, the working known as los Castellones. This mine was chosen as one of the most important and interesting in the valley.

Previously attention has centred on the hard-rock mines of the south of Spain and Portugal, and there are few sources referring to the gold-mines of the north in any but very general terms. O. Davies has compiled a list of most of them and thus rendered a valuable service, in spite of some errors. Strangely he does not give the most comprehensive source as his reference for the mines of the Duerna area (which he calls ‘Quintanilla’ on his map IIIa), although he makes use of it elsewhere.
Policing Rome
Authors: Nippel Wilfried
Published: May 2006

One fundamental question is already implied in the use of the word ‘policing’. A glance at the scholarly literature shows that ‘policing’ is used in the context of Roman history with respect to the aediles and the tresviri capitales, or as an equivalent of magisterial coercitio; or it is applied to the vigiles, the cohortes urbanae or the cohortes praetoriae of the Principate as well as to the respective praefecti; and, of course, to the various controlling bodies and agents of the Later Roman Empire. This is at least partly due to the fact that the fundamental nineteenth-century works reflect a usage of ‘policing’ which oscillates between the description of a function, i.e. securing public order, on the one hand and the designation of a specialized agency to fulfil this function on the other hand. This is due to the fact that the establishment of a specialized law-enforcement apparatus only took place during the (eighteenth and) nineteenth century. The institutionalization of a professional police force represents a fundamental change in societal as well as individual attitudes towards and demand for public order. It may easily be overlooked that the indisputable gain in security and public order had to be paid for with a considerable loss of flexibility in the interaction between rulers and ruled (which was now mediated by a bureaucratic organization), and with an intensification of control and discipline in the everyday life of most members and strata of society.
Cicero,Ad FamiliaresXIII, 26 and 28: Evidence forRevocatioorReiectio Romae/Romam?
Authors: Cotton Hannah M.
Published: May 2006

The two letters of recommendation,Ad FamiliaresXIII, 26 and 28, were addressed in 46 B.C. to Ser. Sulpicius Rufus, the foremost jurist of the day, and at the time the governor of Achaea. They were written on behalf of Cicero's former quaestor, L. Mescinius Rufus, in anticipation of legal difficulties in the succession of the latter to the inheritance left to him in Achaea by his cousin(?) M. Mindius.

Cicero's request, ‘ ut … eos (i.e. Mescinius' opponents) … Romam reieceris ’, backed, as he informed his correspondent, by a letter (litterae quasi commendaticiae) from the consul in Rome (Fam. XIII, 26, 3) has received the most contradictory and mutually exclusive interpretations. Whereas some see in it a perfect example of an appeal launched before trial, others firmly deny this, or reject the very existence of this form of appeal. In its stead a little-used right of Roman citizens in the provinces to request a remittal of their case to Rome is invoked. The alleged appeal or right is variously designatedrevocatio Romae, revocatio Romam, reiectio Romaeor most recently,reiectio Romam.
Calpurnius Siculus and the Claudian Civil War
Authors: Wiseman T. P.
Published: May 2006

In the first Eclogue of Calpurnius Siculus, Corydon and Ornytus seek to escape from the heat of the sun in a grove sacred to Faunus. There, on a beech tree, they find a long prophecy (lines 33–88), freshly carved by the god himself. After an introductory announcement of joyful news, the inscription proceeds as follows:

Aurea secura cum pace renascitur aetas

et redit ad terras tandem squalore situque

alma Themis posito iuvenemque beata sequuntur

saecula, maternis causam qui vicit Iulis.

dum populos deus ipse reget, dabit impia victas

post tergum Bellona manus spoliataque telis

in sua vesanos torquebit viscera morsus

et, modo quae toto civilia distulit orbe,

secum bella geret: nullos iam Roma Philippos

deflebit, nullos ducet captiva triumphos;

omnia Tartareo subigentur carcere bella

immergentque caput tenebris lucemque timebunt.
From Ausonius' Schooldays? A Schoolbook and its Relatives
Authors: Dionisotti A. C.
Published: May 2006

Some time ago, pursuing humanistic Greek dictionaries, I was leafing through the volume of plates from Vienna MSS published by Josef Bick in 1930, when my eye was caught by a plate from a Latin–Greek dictionary, arranged not alphabetically but by topics. Bick and the catalogue informed me that there was a subscription at the end, written in beginner's Greek and then crossed out (Plate I): ‘And so ends, with God's help, the dictionary of Cicero, written out by me, Conrad Celtes, Poet, in the monastery of Sponheim, in the year of Our Lord 1495 on the seventh day of October, while Johannes Trithemius was Abbot. Praise be to God in heaven most glorious.’ On the first page of the volume, Celtes had written a table of contents:Continetur in hoc libello: I Grammatica greca brevissima, contracta ex diver sis autoribus per C.C. 2 Colloquia et conversaciones grece, quas vulgo apud Latinos Latinum ideoma dicunt (?), cum vocabulario per C.C. inventas. 3 Vocabularium rerum admirandum grecum, nuper a Conrado Celte in Hercinia silva apud druidas inventum. On the same page, Celtes had written instructions to a well-known publisher:Aldus meusis to add a short preface addressed to all the youngsters of Europe who want to learn Greek, and is assured that it will be a fine and very useful little book. Various additions are needed in the Grammar; but Aldus needs no telling, let him emend it all as necessary; and have accents added, for in Celtes' exemplar, and in all Greek books in France and Germany, there were none.
The Tabula of Banasa and the Constitutio Antoniniana
Authors: Sherwin-White A. N.
Published: May 2006

At long last the text of the Tabula of Banasa, of which so tantalising a glimpse was given to historians by the brief strip-tease of CRAI 1961, has been revealed in full view. In their new publication Professors W. Seston and M. Euzennat have confined their elucidations largely to the clarification of the tribal setting of the beneficiaries, and to the technicalities of the drafting of imperial documents revealed by this text. They have not added to their brief but valuable comments on the contribution of the Tabula to the interpretation of the Constitutio Antoniniana known from the famous P. Giessen 40. Meanwhile other documents have accrued that are relevant, notably the colloquia texts of the Baquates, of which the French scholars make some use, and the long letter of Marcus Aurelius to the Athenians about matters of civic status, which appeared too late for their study. Hence a deeper cultivation of the excessively exhausted soil of P. Giessen 40, enriched by new material, may yet yield a crop.
Philippus Arabs and Egypt
Authors: Parsons P. J.
Published: May 2006

Philippus Arabs ruled the Roman world for five years, A.D. 244 to 249. It is an obscure reign, even for the period: the Augustan History offers no life of Philip, the other literary sources are scanty and dubious. The political historian might turn, like Gibbon, to general criteria—‘the knowledge of human nature, and of the sure operation of its fierce and unrestrained passions’. For economics and administration nothing will serve but more evidence. It seems worthwhile, therefore, to assemble the papyrus documents which reflect Philip's régime in Egypt; and to ask whether any coherent picture emerges from them.

This enterprise has its own dangers. The documents from Egypt represent chance finds, on a few sites, in the remoter half of the country. They are oppressively numerous, yet negligible in comparison with the bulk now lost. They allow vivid glimpses of administration at work, but for the most part at the lower levels and in individual cases. Chance survival, local particularism and official incompetence play a large part.
Hastiferi
Authors: Fishwick Duncan
Published: May 2006

A century and a quarter of controversy is a dubious distinction for any historical problem. When opinion has been so divided as on the hastiferi and when direct evidence, though double what it was, is still restricted to a few inscriptions, it would be wise for any new appraisal to set itself a limited goal. This paper aims to reconsider the office of the hastiferi in the light of the important discoveries within the sanctuary of Magna Mater at Ostia. The most I hope to achieve is to block out the main lines of a possible solution. Finality is out of the question.
Cohors I Cilicum at Sacidava and Scythia Minor
Authors: Scorpan C.
Published: May 2006

Sacidava (Musait) lies on the right bank of the Danube in the Dobruja and a brick with the retrograde stamp I CIL, discovered in 1972, has already been reported. During the excavations of 1979 further epigraphic evidence of the presence of cohors I Cilicum at Sacidava was found, and it seems worth presenting this with a minimum of comment at this stage.
The Ownership of Roman Land: Tiberius Gracchus and the Italians
Authors: Richardson J. S.
Published: May 2006

The agrarian law of Tiberius Gracchus is on any reckoning a significant piece of legislation in the history of the later Roman republic, and it is a measure of our ignorance of that critical period that it should still be possible to ask who he intended its beneficiaries to be without any immediate prospect of a clear answer. This is of especial concern because the problem affects not only the interpretation of Gracchus himself, and the evaluation of the sources for the period, but also our estimate of the whole complex of attitudes and actions which make up the turbulent half-century which followed his death in 133 B.C.

In so far as there is any agreement among modern scholars, opinion has favoured the view that Roman citizens alone were intended to profit from the law. I wish to suggest here firstly that the connection between land distribution and citizenship is more intimate and more complex than has sometimes been realised, and also that an inclusion of non-Romans among the beneficiaries of Gracchus' law may explain certain puzzling features in the historical tradition about the law itself and its aftermath.
The Sexual Status of Vestal Virgins
Authors: Beard Mary
Published: May 2006

The Vestal Virgins have often been the subject of close scrutiny by classical scholars. Indeed many articles have been devoted to a careful analysis of individual, apparently trivial, aspects of their legal rights, their privileges, their cult obligations and even their dress. In the same tradition I intend in this paper to consider just one element of their priestly position: their sexual status and its relationship to their sacred status. It is however an element which will be seen to have wider implications for their cult as a whole and for ancient religion in general.
Calpurnius Siculus and the Munus Neronis
Authors: Townend G. B.
Published: May 2006

In a recent number of this Journal, Edward Champlin called in question the dating of the Eclogues of Calpurnius Siculus, traditionally placed in the early years of Nero's reign. The purpose of this paper is to argue that the Neronian date fits the references in the poems much better than does Champlin's date in the reign of Severus Alexander, and that there is no valid reason for doubting it.

Some of the purely negative arguments may be dealt with briefly. When in 4.87 Calpurnius uses the phrase ‘facundo comitatus Apolline Caesar’, there is no need to take this as referring to the divine comes who becomes part of imperial propaganda in the third century (C., p. 96). Already in Nat. Deor. 2. 165–6 Cicero mentions Homer's attachment of various gods to great men as ‘discriminum et periculorum comites’; and in Rep. 2.44, ‘Fortuna comitata est’ Tarquin. For more specific activities, Propertius (4. 3. 16) makes Arethusa regret that she married ‘non comitante deo’; and this is brought into the realm of poetical composition in Prop. 3. 2. 13 and Ovid, Tr. 4. 1. 20, where the gods act as comites to the writers. This is precisely the context of Calpurnius' words, where Apollo's facundia is set beside the kingliness of Jupiter, as in Ecl. Eins. 1. 29–33, and provides poetic inspiration, just as Apollo does, ibid. 38, amplified in the following lines (39–42) with reference to Nero's poem on the Sack of Troy, and again in Apocol. 4, where there is a suggestion of Nero's identification with the god (‘ille mihi similis voltu similisque decore, nec cantu nec voce minor’). Nero was to exploit this idea much more as the reign proceeded, but Apollo's patronage of the poet-emperor was too firmly established at the beginning of the reign for any doubts to be raised.
Latin Calligraphy at Hawara: P. Hawara 24
Authors: Dow Sterling
Published: May 2006

Text I (Vergil). Found by Petrie at Hawara eighty years ago, P(apyrus) Hawara 24 is now in the collection at University College, London. It has writing on both sides. On one side is a line of Latin verse repeated over and over; on the other side is other Latin, also repeated over and over. The first editor, A. H. Sayce, whose publication was merely two lines in a check-list, recognized, however, that the line on one side is Vergil, Aeneid 2, 601:

Text I Non tibi Tyndaridis facies [invisa Lacaenae]

The last two words are torn away and are wholly missing, but all of the rest is plain. Certainly both sides were written for practice. Scholars commonly felt that exercises of this sort have little interest, and so the papyrus had received only a few mentions (bibliography with complete references infra).
Paul of Samosata, Zenobia and Aurelian: the Church, Local Culture and Political Allegiance in Third-Century Syria
Authors: Millar Fergus
Published: May 2006

What we call the ‘Eastern frontier’ of the Roman Empire was a thing of shadows, which reflected the diplomatic convenience of a given moment, and dictated the positioning of some soldiers and customs officials, but hardly affected the attitudes or the movements of the people on either side. Nothing more than the raids of desert nomads, for instance, hindered the endless movement of persons and ideas between Judaea and the Babylonian Jewish community. Similarly, as Lucian testifies, offerings came to the temple of Atargatis at Hierapolis-Bambyce from a wide area of the Near and Middle East, including Babylonia. The actual movement to and fro of individuals was reflected, as we have recently been reminded, in a close interrelation of artistic and architectural styles. Moreover, whatever qualifications have to be made in regard to specific places, it is incontestable that Semitic languages, primarily Aramaic in its various dialects, remained in active use, in a varying relationship to Greek, from the Tigris through the Fertile Crescent to the Phoenician coast. This region remained, we must now realize, a cultural unity, substantially unaffected by the empires of Rome or of Parthia or Sassanid Persia.
A Major Crux in Tacitus: Histories II, 40
Authors: Wellesley Kenneth
Published: May 2006

It was too optimistic, or too modest, of Giovanni Forni to declare, in a recent study of matters connected with Bedriacum and the two battles of Cremona in A.D. 69: ‘Dopo che acuti ingegni di studiosi illustri hanno raccolto a manelle il grano nel campo della tradizione relativa alle due battaglie di Bedriaco, non resta che la spigolatura di sviste e di osservazioni sfuggite.’ In fact the labourers have been few, and their harvest meagre. Others have undoubtedly been deterred by the all too obvious tares in Tacitus' Histories. Of these the ugliest patch is that presented by, and associated with, the passage quoted. Upon the textual crux hinges our understanding of a number of inter-related problems to which no satisfying answers have as yet been found, and an attempt is now made to deal with these seriatim. Indeed, so much depends on the single word †Aduae† that Syme was fully justified in describing it as ‘the most notorious crux in the whole of Tacitus”. Unless we know the goal of the Othonian advance, we cannot reconstruct or evaluate the strategy that selected it; nor can we judge the meaning of Otho's great renunciation or the validity of Tacitus' praise of it. The various hypotheses of Mommsen, Henderson and Hardy have evoked serious objection, and Syme concluded his Tacitus, Appendix 30 (‘The Strategy of Otho’) with the declaration, ‘The puzzle remains.’ Ten years later Heubner comes to the same despairing conclusion.
A Report on Arabia Provincia
Authors: Bowersock G. W.
Published: May 2006

With the increasing sophistication of excavation and exploration our knowledge of the provinces of Rome has grown stunningly in recent years. It will, one may hope, continue to grow; but the prospect of further advances ought not to be a deterrent to periodic reassessment and synthesis. Specialization, inevitable and productive, nevertheless runs the risk of a loss of perspective. The study of the Roman provinces involves widely divergent skills, and this is especially true for regions at the fringes of the empire. The pages which follow constitute a gathering together of new material on the history of Roman Arabia. Incorporated in this report are various observations and discoveries of my own,—some the result of a profitable visit to the Middle East in January of 1970. In writing I have had particularly in mind the needs of Roman historians, including myself: this paper represents a preliminary stage in the preparation of a history of the province of Arabia. Obviously there can be no continuous narrative history here or a balanced consideration of all aspects of the province. New evidence and important problems (old or new) are at issue.
A Deed of Foundation from the Territory of Ephesos
Authors: Jones C. P.
Published: May 2006

The ‘foundation’ in the juridical sense, ‘the establishing of an institution, together with an endowment or provision for its perpetual maintenance’, is a conspicuous phenomenon of the Hellenistic and imperial periods. Though ancient foundations vary widely in form, purpose, and organization, two kinds predominate. One, of which the fullest examples are Hellenistic, is funerary. The founder forms an association, or endows one already formed, for the cultivation of his and his family's memory by means of ceremonies conducted at the family tomb. The organization is essentially private, and those responsible for the conduct of the foundation are the members of the constituent association. An elaborate and perfectly preserved example is that of Epicteta of Thera, dated about 200 B.C. The other notable form is characteristic of the civic revival of the principate. Here the founder establishes an endowment of which the direct or indirect beneficiary is the city, or some subdivision of the citizenry such as the boule or gerousia. This foundation is essentially public, and the responsibility for administering it rests with the city officials. This type is illustrated by one of the longest of all known foundation-deeds, the dossier relative to the foundation of C. Vibius Salutaris dated to A.D. 104. As well as other kinds of foundation, such as those endowing libraries, salaries for schoolmasters, the maintenance of freeborn boys and girls (the alimenta), there are also hybrids between the two principal types already described. Thus T. Flavius Praxias of Acmoneia provides both for a college of six of his freedmen, presumably intended as a funerary association similar to Epicteta's, and for the boule and archontes of Acmoneia to see to the overall management of the foundation, including the protection of the freedmen.
Image and Authority in the Coinage of Augustus
Authors: Wallace-Hadrill Andrew
Published: May 2006

Epictetus speaks: Just as it is not open to the banker or the greengrocer to reject the value of Caesar's coin, but he is obliged, whether he likes it or not, when you offer it, to hand it over for what he has for sale in exchange for it, so it is with the soul. The good on its appearance instantly attracts to itself, the bad repels. The soul will never reject the worth of something with the manifest appearance of goodness, no more than one would reject Caesar's coin.
Constantine's Porphyry Column: The Earliest Literary Allusion
Authors: Fowden Garth
Published: May 2006

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to what I believe to be the earliest surviving allusion to Constantine's porphyry column in Constantinople. Although the proposition that the Life of Elagabalus in the Historia Augusta alludes to the porphyry column is incapable of strict proof, it has, at the very least, considerable heuristic value. By focusing our attention on, for example, the column's Theban origin or the fact that it is not a monolith, it enables us to propose a narrative of the progress of Constantine's project which does much to illuminate the monument's significance. The passage under consideration also provokes a new look at the old debate about the origin of the statue on top of the column — had it or had it not once been an image of Apollo? This idea or suspicion has played an important role in all discussions of Constantine's ‘ambiguity’ in religious matters.
Landholding in the Hermopolite Nome in the Fourth Century A.D.
Authors: Bowman Alan K.
Published: May 2006

There is no need to emphasize the fundamental importance of landholding patterns for the understanding of the ancient economy. The present article attempts to make a contribution to this aspect of the history of Egypt in the fourth century. But the importance of the major issue is not, of course, peculiar to Egypt. The notion of the growth of large estates in the later empire is a familiar one, and the fourth century A.D. is generally thought to be an important period for their development. But Roman historians conditioned to be wary of an unqualified application of the model of great slave-workedlatifundiato Italy in the second century B.C. might now also think it appropriate to ask exactly how far our evidence for the fourth century will take us.
The Size of the Roman Population: Beloch and the Meaning of the Augustan Census Figures
Authors: lo Cascio Elio
Published: May 2006

The importance of Beloch'sBevölkerung der griechisch-römischen Weltand its influence on subsequent research in ancient demography can hardly be overstated. This book represents the key-stone of all modern investigation on size, structure, and, to a certain extent, dynamics of ancient populations. It was the first overall scientific treatment of the subject and it is still unparalleled in its scope. An attempt at its critical evaluation is not just an historiographical exercise: we must come to terms with Beloch'sBevölkerung, because its detailed treatment of most of the topics concerning the population of the ancient world is at the root of all modern debates and controversies.
Launching into History: Aquatic Displays in the Early Empire
Authors: Coleman K. M.
Published: May 2006

Dio devotes almost an entire chapter to the aquatic displays forming part of Titus' one hundred days of spectacles to celebrate the inauguration in A.D. 80 of the Flavian Amphitheatre (which he calls θέατϱον [ϰυνηγετιϰόν]). He is not without limitations as an historian; but when his testimony contains details which are difficult to explain, it is not to be dismissed out of hand.
Commodus the God-Emperor and the Army
Authors: Speidel M. P.
Published: May 2006

In A.D. 192, the last year of his reign, Commodus threw restraint to the winds and had the senate declare him a god. He assumed such titles as Conqueror of the World, Roman Hercules, and All-Surpasser and named the twelve months of the year after himself. Founding Rome anew, he gave it the name Colonia Commodiana and ordered the legions likewise to be called Commodianae. Before the year was out, on 31 December, he was murdered, his memory cursed.
Cassiodorus and the Rise of the Amals: Genealogy and the Goths under Hun Domination
Authors: Heather Peter
Published: May 2006

From the mid-third century, Gothic tribes inhabited lands north of the river Danube; they were destined, however, to play a major role in the destruction of the Roman Empire and the creation of the medieval world order. In the last quarter of the fourth century, in the face of Hun attacks, some Goths (those commonly known as Visigoths) fled into the Roman Empire, winning a famous victory at Hadrianople in 378 and sacking Rome in 410. They later moved further west to found a kingdom in southern Gaul and Spain. Of equal historical importance are those Goths (usually known as Ostrogoths) who remained north of the Danube under Hun domination fromc. 375 toc. 450. They too then entered the Empire, and, under Theoderic the Great, established a kingdom in Italy which is known to us through Boethius, Cassiodorus, and Ennodius. Much less well known, however, is the formative stage of their history when the Ostrogoths endured Hun domination, and it is on our sources for this period that this study will concentrate.
Simulacra Gentium: the Ethne from the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias
Authors: Smith R. R. R.
Published: May 2006

Series of provinces and peoples were something new in Roman art. They were a distinctively Roman way of representing their empire visually, and reflect a distinctively Roman and imperial mode of thought. Such images are most familiar to us in sculpture from the reliefs that decorated the temple of Hadrian in Rome, and on coins from the ‘province’ series of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. We know, however, from various written sources that extensive groups of personified peoples were made at Rome under Augustus. Recently, the discovery of such a series in relief at Aphrodisias, there called ethne (peoples), allows us for the first time to see what an early imperial group of this kind looked like. The new reliefs were part of the elaborate decoration of a temple complex, probably called a Sebasteion, dedicated to Aphrodite Prometor and the Julio-Claudian emperors. I have already published in this journal the reliefs with imperial scenes, which portray the Roman emperor from a Greek perspective. This article publishes the ethne reliefs which, it will be argued, set out to reproduce or adapt in a much more direct manner an Augustan monument in Rome. The use of an Augustan-style ‘province’ series in Asia Minor is a telling illustration both of some of the mechanisms in the transmission of imperial art and of a Greek city's identification with the Roman government's view of its empire.
The Meaning of the Terms Limes and Limitanei
Authors: Isaac Benjamin
Published: May 2006

It is a commonplace of modern scholarship that the Roman Imperial Army in the frontier areas was organized in limes-systems: fortifications linked by roads along a fixed boundary, marked in many, but not all, parts of the empire by a river or an artificial obstacle: indeed, the term limes is often used as though it were self-explanatory. The term is certainly used in ancient sources; thus while the literature may furnish only fragmentary information on the army and its activities along the border, it does at least apparently provide us with a name to which to link the material remains. Over the past four decades conferences on Roman frontier studies have regularly been held, often under the title ‘Limes Congress’.
Vegetation differentiation and secondary succession on a limestone hill in southern Poland
Authors: Dzwonko Zbigniew , Loster Stefania
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The vegetation of the SkoHzanka Reserve, situated on a limestone hill near Krakow, was examined over a 30 year period, using the Braun‐Blanquet method. With the help of a numerical classification eight types of grassland communities were distinguished, belonging to the classes Sedo‐Scleranthetea, Nardo‐Callunetea and Festuco‐Brometea, and 11 types of woodland communities, both remnants of ancient woodlands from the classes Querco‐Fagetea and Vaccinio‐Piceetea and more recent woods. In the case of grasslands the results of detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) indicated that the largest variation was associated with the soil type. Woods on sandy soils are very different from those on calcareous soils, and the younger recent woods are very different from the ancient woodlands. An analysis of historical cartographic material and aerial photographs shows that in the last few decades the area of recent woods has increased considerably at the expense of grasslands. Changes in species diversity in the woods during secondary succession and their successional convergence were examined and discussed. It was found that young and mature woods on sandy soils are more similar to each other than young and mature woods on calcareous soils. These differences are mainly related to the fact that many woodland herb species growing in rich, broadleaved ancient woods are unable to colonize recent woods since they have a limited colonization capacity.
Vegetation succession and biological turnover on coal‐mining spoils
Authors: Titlyanova A. A. , Mironycheva‐Tokareva N. P.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. This paper describes secondary revegetation and biological turnover development on coal‐mining spoils. Qualitative and quantitative changes in species composition, rate of succession, formation of plant bio‐mass structure and net primary production are described for revegetation stages with an undisturbed meadow system as a reference.

The development of biological turnover in grasslands has four stages. The first stage is characterized by the growth of weedy species, high above‐ground standing crop and production and low below‐ground production. The second stage includes the establishment of perennial grasses, a decrease in the above‐ground plant biomass and production, an increase of the below‐ground living and dead root mass, formation of the plant material structure (distribution of plant material among the compartments of the ecosystem) close to steady‐state pattern, the approach to the balance between net primary production and organic matter decomposition. During the third stage a mature species composition is formed and below‐ground production increases up to the steady‐state level. At the fourth stage the humus storage reaches its steady‐state value.
A rapid survey method for the estimation of density and cover in desert plant communities
Authors: McAuliffe Joseph R.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The Log‐series survey method allows rapid estimates of density and cover and is applicable for studies of perennial vegetation in arid environments. An optical rangefinder is used to determine boundaries of large circular plots. Numbers of individuals of each species within a plot are assessed; this information is used to assign species to logarithmic density classes equivalent to the logarithm base 2 of actual abundances. Each species is then assigned to a logarithmic canopy cover class, equivalent to the logarithmbase 2 of average cover per individual. Log total cover per species per plot is obtained by the addition of logarithmic density and cover classes. Percent cover per species is rapidly computed by taking the antilog of the difference between log total cover per species and log total plot area.
Compositional gradients in the forest vegetation of Finland
Authors: Tonteri Tiina , Mikkola Kari , Lahti Tapani
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Compositional gradients of forest vegetation in Finland were determined using detrended correspondence analysis, and ecologically interpreted with regression analysis. The data were collected in association with the 8th National Forest Inventory, and they comprised 1514 samples and 472 species, covering the whole forested land area of Finland.

In the ordination space the first, very stable axis (DCA1) was much stronger than the following three, more unstable axes (DCA2 ‐ 4). Site fertility (reflected by the forest site type series) and latitude had strongest covariation with the ordination space, followed by a number of variables primarily related to forest age or tree stand volume. Fertility variables were most closely parallel with DCA1, latitudinal ones with DCA1 and DCA2, and successional variables with DCA3.

The results indicate that compositional overlap of sites classified into different Caj ander site types is considerable.
Leaf nutrients in relation to stature and life form in tropical rain forest
Authors: Bigelow Seth W.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. To document the relationship between a plant's position in the canopy and its leaf nutrient content, leaf nitrogen and phosphorus were determined for 30 species growing in mature evergreen lowland rain forest at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Species that grow either in the understory, midstory, or the canopy were selected. Species were further separated into three life forms: self‐supporting monocots, self‐supporting dicots, and climbers. Mass‐based nutrient concentrations were expected to decrease with stature, as has been reported in studies of other forests. In fact, mass‐based nitrogen and phosphorus did not vary significantly among the three adult‐stature classes, although area‐based values differed greatly: canopy plants averaged 60 % more nitrogen and 90 % more phosphorus per unit leaf area than understory plants.

Differences in leaf characteristics were evident among the three life forms. Most notably, area‐based phosphorus and leaf specific mass were lowest in climbers, intermediate in self‐supporting dicots, and highest in self‐supporting monocots. These results support the characterization of climbers as investing in inexpensive structures, perhaps in order to gain competitive advantage in light capture by allocating resources to maximize elongation rates.
Effects of variation in individual growth on plant species coexistence
Authors: Hara Toshihiko
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Both size structure and variability (spatial heterogeneity, disturbance, stochasticity, variation in species attributes, etc.) are regarded as regulatory mechanisms of species coexistence. However, none of the models so far proposed consider both size structure and variability simultaneously. A size‐structured variation model for plant‐community dynamics is proposed, which is based on the diffusion model for growth dynamics of plant populations. This model has four functions: (1) mean growth rate of individuals of size x at time t, G(t, x) (species‐specific mean traits, e.g. competitive ability); (2) variance in growth rate of individuals of size x at time t, D(t, x) (stochastic factors due to genetic variation, environmental heterogeneity, spatial variation of individuals, etc.); (3) mortality rate of individuals of size x at time t, M(t, x); and (4) recruitment rate at time t, R(t), as a boundary condition. The interference function for individuals of size x at time t, C(t, x), is introduced, which expresses the degree of interactions between individuals and hence averaged effects of local neighbourhood competition; the G(t, x), D(t, x), M(t, x) and R(t) functions are given in terms of C(t, x). These four functions describe the growth dynamics of individuals of each species in the plant community. Effects of the G(t, x), D(t, x), M(t, x) and R(t) functions on species coexistence in plant communities were evaluated by simulation and the relative importance of the D(t, x) function as well as size structure was shown for species coexistence especially in plant communities where competition among species is non‐transitive or niche limitation does not work.
Some remarks on disturbance and its relations to diversity and stability
Authors: van der Maarel Eddy
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The concept of disturbance is related to the concepts of stability and diversity. Some definitions of disturbance are reviewed and three dimensions of disturbance are recommended to be included in any treatment of disturbance: spatial extent, time involved, and magnitude. The distinction between patch disturbance and community disturbance is emphasised and it is recommended that the study of regeneration after disturbance be studied through patch dynamics. The small‐scale turnover of species is discussed and the concept of species turnaround time introduced by means of the carousel model. As an answer to a possible multiple choice question on the relation between the three concepts, ‘Disturbance for Stability’ and ‘Disturbance for Diversity’ are suggested.
Tree species dynamics and disturbance in three Swedish boreal forest stands during the last two thousand years
Authors: Bradshaw Richard H. W.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Data from three forest stands for the past 2000 yr show how the shade‐intolerant species Pinus sylvestris and Betula pubescens maintain significant populations in the Swedish boreal landscape. Age structure data from a northern stand close to the range limits of Picea abies and Pinus complement a local pollen diagram, and reveal cyclic population fluctuations which can be related to periods of climatic stress and fire. Pollen data from two southern stands show that high fire frequencies in the past prevented the expansion of Picea populations. Reduction of the fire frequency during the last 200 yr has favoured Picea. A long time perspective reveals the population dynamics of long‐lived species and indicates the controlling factors. Such knowledge permits assessment of the current status and likely future of forest stands.
Population age structure of Pinus banksiana at the southern edge of the Canadian boreal forest
Authors: Gauthier Sylvie , Gagnon Julie , Bergeron Yves
Published: May 2006

Abstract. To assess the effects of site type, forest initiation periods and fire regimes on the dynamics of Pinus banksiana (Jack pine), the age structure of 69 populations of the species was analyzed. Two landscapes with different fire regimes were selected in the southern part of the Canadian boreal forest in Québec: the ‘mainland landscape’ is characterized by a fire regime of large lethal fires, the ‘island landscape’ is affected by a complex fire regime including lethal and non‐lethal fires. Age structure was compared between forest initiation periods and site types (mesic mainland, xeric mainland and xeric island) using the Shannon regularity index. An even‐aged population structure was found within the first 100 yr following a lethal fire, while after that period the population structure becomes more uneven‐aged. Under mesic conditions, populations tend to have an even‐aged structure, under xeric conditions an uneven‐aged structure. Natural openings present in xeric sites allow for recruitment in the absence of fire. This permits the self‐maintenance of Pinus banksiana. Xeric island populations show more uneven‐aged structures than xeric mainland populations. The occurrence of non‐lethal fires on the islands creates uneven‐aged structures. Further, the results suggest that the selection pressure of the island fire regime, favouring non‐serotinous and mixed P. banksiana individuals, is one of the factors responsible for a higher recruitment in the absence of fire on islands than on the mainland.
The bryophyte diaspore bank and its role after small‐scale disturbance in a boreal forest
Authors: Jonsson Bengt Gunnar
Published: May 2006

Abstract. The composition of the bryophyte diaspore bank in an old‐growth Picea abies forest was studied before and after experimental disturbance of forest‐floor patches. 40 species, both hepatics and mosses, emerged from spores, and probably also from gemmae and moss fragments, in greenhouse cultivations of soil samples. The three most abundant taxa were Pohlia nutans, Sphagnum spp. and Polytrichum commune/longisetum. Initially, the number of species from the diaspore bank in mineral soil, 9.9 species/sample, was higher than that in humus, 6.6. Four years after the disturbance took place, the reverse was found. Several species that are typical colonisers of disturbed soil were very common in the diaspore bank. By contrast, some of the most abundant forest floor species appeared to be absent. The diaspore bank of bryophytes appears to play a role similar to that of the seed bank in vascular plants: (1) it allows species to survive unfavourable periods (temporal dispersal); (2) it facilitates rapid colonisation after disturbance; (3) it influences the post‐disturbance species composition and diversity. The results emphasise that the understanding of vegetation succession patterns is, to a large extent, dependent on quantitative data on the relative importance of spatial and temporal dispersal.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Holsinger Kent E.
Published: May 2006

Book reviewed in this issue.

Jain, S. K. & Botsford, L. W. (eds.) 1992. Applied Population Biology. ix + 295 pp. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. ISBN 0–7923–1425–5. Price: USD 125.‐.
A new method for measuring tree height in tropical rain forest
Authors: Korning Jørgen , Thomsen Karsten
Published: May 2006

Abstract. A new method is described for measuring tree height in tropical forest with a dense undergrowth, the so‐called angles‐measure method, which is related to the height‐matching method formerly used by British foresters.
Assembly and response rules: two goals for predictive community ecology
Authors: Keddy Paul A.
Published: May 2006

Abstract. Assembly rules provide one possible unifying framework for community ecology. Given a species pool, and measured traits for each species, the objective is to specify which traits (and therefore which subset of species) will occur in a particular environment. Because the problem primarily involves traits and environments, answers should be generalizable to systems with very different taxonomic composition. In this context, the environment functions like a filter (or sieve) removing all species lacking specified combinations of traits. In this way, assembly rules are a community level analogue of natural selection. Response rules follow a similar process except that they transform a vector of species abundances to a new vector using the same information. Examples already exist from a range of habitats, scales, and kinds of organisms.
BOOK REVIEWS
Authors: Simberloff Daniel
Published: May 2006

Book reviewed in this issue.

Nimis, P. L. & Crovello, T. J. (eds.) 1991. Quantitative Approaches to Phytogeography. (T:VS 24). vii+280 pp. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. ISBN 0–7923–0795‐X. Price USD 169.‐.