This book describes and analyses the development of the Roman West from Gibraltar to the Rhine, using primarily the extensive body of published archaeological evidence rather than the textual ...evidence underlying most other studies. It situates this development within a longer-term process of change, proposing the later second century rather than the 'third-century crisis' as the major turning-point, although the latter had longer-term consequences owing to the rise in importance of military identities. Elsewhere, more 'traditional' forms of settlement and display were sustained, to which was added the vocabulary of Christianity. The longer-term rhythms are also central to assessing the evidence for such aspects as rural settlement and patterns of economic interaction. The collapse of Roman imperial authority emphasised trends such as militarisation and regionalisation along with economic and cultural disintegration. Indicators of 'barbarian/Germanic' presence are reassessed within such contexts and the traditional interpretations questioned and alternatives proposed.
A well-illustrated synthesis of what we know about the development of cities in the Western Roman provinces. Focuses on numerous examples for which there are archaeological remains, some, like ...Pompeii, well known and others less familiar, such as Bavay in France. Suitable for students and specialists.
The city is widely regarded as the most characteristic expression of the social, cultural and economic formations of the Roman Empire. This was especially true in the Latin-speaking West, where ...urbanism was much less deeply ingrained than in the Greek-speaking East but where networks of cities grew up during the centuries following conquest and occupation. This up-to-date and well-illustrated synthesis provides students and specialists with an overview of the development of the city in Italy, Gaul, Britain, Germany, Spain and North Africa, whether their interests lie in ancient history, Roman archaeology or the wider history of urbanism. It accounts not only for the city's geographical and temporal spread and its associated monuments (such as amphitheatres and baths), but also for its importance to the rulers of the Empire as well as the provincials and locals.
The 3rd and 4th did not mark a period of abandonment or discontinuity for temples of the fanum type in Roman Britain, rather it was a period of continued use with sites being created and some ...existing sites substantially expanded or modified. This is particularly true of the region either side of the Bristol Channel in south-western Britain, but holds good for other regions also. The temples and the ancillary buildings at a number of these sites are considered, along with the evidence for the deposition of classes of material: coins; bracelets; curse-tablets/defixiones; animal bones. It is argued that the real 'end of the gods' supervened not in the 3rd or the 4th c. but rather in the 5th as part of the complex of changes consequent upon the ending of Roman rule in the island, and that Romano-British temple sites did not influence either 'Anglo-Saxon' pagan ritual sites or the location of Christian churches of the Augustinian mission from A.D. 597. En Britannia, les IIIe et IVe s. ne marquent pas une période d'abandon ou d'interruption du fonctionnement des temples de type fanum, car c'est plutôt une période d'utilisation continue avec des sanctuaires qui sont créés ou d'autres déjà existants qui se sont développés ou ont été transformés. C'est particulièrement le cas pour la région située de part et d'autre du « canal de Bristol » au sud-ouest de la Bretagne, mais ceci est aussi valable pour d'autres régions. Les temples et bâtiments annexes de certains sites sont évoqués dans cet article, et le dépôt de diverses catégories de mobilier (monnaies, bracelets, tablettes de défixion, os animaux) y a été mis en évidence. L'auteur estime que « la fin des dieux » n'a pas eu lieu aux IIIe et IVe s. mais plutôt au Ve s., et qu'elle fait partie des changements complexes survenus dans l'île après la chute du pouvoir romain. Les sanctuaires romano-celtiques n'ont pas non plus influencé les sites « anglo-saxons » observant des rituels païens, ni l'emplacement des églises chrétiennes implantées lors de la mission d'Augustin de Canterbury en 597 apr. J.-C.
Aux confins septentrionaux de l’Empire romain se trouve, selon Virgile (L'Enéide VIII, 727), la terre des extremi hominum Morini, « les hommes qui habitent l’extrémité du monde connu ». Si cette ...formule a connu une prospérité certaine, l’archéologie donne aujourd’hui à ce territoire un tout autre visage, celui d’une terre de rencontre et d’échanges, au carrefour des voies terrestres et maritimes qui relient la Bretagne romaine (Grande-Bretagne actuelle) au continent. Ainsi la ville antique de Boulogne est le carrefour de la circulation des marchandises et des hommes entre les deux rives du détroit, lieu privilégié pour appréhender les échanges entre le continent, l’espace méditerranéen, l’espace rhénan et la province de Britannia. Les contributions rassemblées dans ce volume dressent un état des lieux des connaissances sur le rôle du port antique de Boulogne-sur-Mer et de ses liens avec son arrière-pays.
