Innholdsfortegnelse for AH 38 i Ancient History Magazine

GETTING AWAY WITH IT IN ANCIENT ROME One only has to search on YouTube for a brief time to find someone with a large following espousing some miracle cure or obscure religious philosophy. In ancient Rome, a world where superstition and fear of the gods reigned, a killing could be made by those savvy enough to exploit a person’s need to know. A notorious example of this is Alexander, the so-called false prophet, who appears on the scene in the second century AD. Our evidence of this character comes almost solely from the famous satirist, Lucian of Samosata, who claims to have met him, and who was very nearly killed on his account. This Alexander was responsible for the creation of the shady, yet influential, cult of Glycon (revolving around…

SPREADING ROMAN CIVILIZATION THROUGH COLONIZATION The first Roman settlements outside the City of Seven Hills were founded in the eighth century BC to defend territory in east Latium from attacks by mountain-based tribes. They mostly failed, yet the people of Rome persisted. When they annexed Antium on the coast in 467 BC, the Romans re-established the town as a colonia. Over the next 600 years, this special kind of ‘new town’ would prove to be a successful way to build – and hold on to – a global empire. The colonia was an extension of the political and legal system of Rome itself. The emperor Hadrian (r. AD 117-138) noted: [coloniae] do not come from the outside to the state, nor rely on their own roots; but they have, as…

What makes a group of people suddenly decide to leave their homeland and venture to a new world and uncertain future? War, pestilence, poverty, climate change, and better opportunities are all things that first come to mind, and likely, some of these factors were as true thousands of years ago as they are for people today. However, the word ‘colonization’ now has an inherently negative connotation. When we think of colonization in a modern context, we think about vast and powerful empires coming into inhabited lands, taking resources, spreading disease, and suppressing and replacing longstanding religious and cultural practices with their own, often through violent means. How true was this of the earliest forms of colonization in the ancient world? And what did the term ‘colony’ mean to the ancients?…

UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS This piece will discuss some of the categories of migration and colonization in the Bronze Age and the evidence we have for it. In doing so, it will interrogate some of the modern narratives of these activities. It will conclude with a more detailed discussion of evidence for migration at the end of the Bronze Age, ca. twelfth century BC, when many of the Mediterranean city-states collapsed. It is tempting to view migration as colonization. This view is frequently informed more by modern narratives drawn from a combination of our colonialist, exploration-centred, commercial, and nationalist past, and the tales found in books such as the Homeric myths and the Bible. These texts give us accounts of two great journeys: the Odysseus model of making an extended journey…

FOUNDATIONS, MOTIVES, CONSEQUENCES This was an urban network of impressive proportions, especially by pre-modern standards, though many of these poleis were rather small (5000 inhabitants or less). All of these cities were self-contained political entities, even if a number of them were for a time part of cooperative or even hegemonial leagues (the most famous example of the latter being the Delian League led by Athens during much of the fifth century BC). One of the great questions of ancient Greek history, therefore, is how this vast urban network came about. An important part of the answer to that question is provided by the phenomenon called ancient Greek colonization, that is, the spread of Greek settlements across the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, the high point of which occurred roughly…

THE UNUSUAL CASE OF NAUCRATIS According to Herodotus the first Greeks to visit Egypt were pirates who were blown off course. This is belied by archaeological evidence of trading contacts stretching back to the Mycenaean period. No permanent settlement or presence was established so early, however. Nonetheless, Herodotus tells us (2.152.3–5) that the pharaoh Psammeticus (Wahibre Psamtik I, r. 664-610 BC, hereafter Psamtik) had an oracle from Buto telling him of “men of bronze coming from the sea”. These men would return him to power – as he was then in exile in Syria. These details correspond to the flight of Psamtik when the Kushites invaded the Delta in ca.665 BC, expelling Psamtik and killing his father Necho I. With Assyrian assistance, Psamtik returned to Egypt in 664 and took…

Soon after becoming emperor in AD 117, Hadrian decided to rebuild Jerusalem. The city had been a ruin since the end of the First Jewish War (AD 66-73). The old street pattern was replaced by a grid bisected by colonnaded streets radiating out diagonally from the Damascus Gate. Two fora were planned. A temple dedicated to the Capitoline Triad was likely intended for the Temple Mount where the Second Temple had stood until AD 70. The ceremony to mark the pomerium took place: it was commemorated on a coin of the period. Aquila oversaw the urban redevelopment project. Enraged, local Jews rallied behind Shim’on Ben Kosiba who led a revolt to take back Jerusalem from the Romans. The ensuing Bar Kokhba War (AD 132-136) ended in a catastrophic defeat for…

THE MEANING BEHIND ROMAN CAMEO IMAGERY Originating initially as engraved shells, eggs, and soft stones, cameos rose to prominence under the Hellenistic monarchies of the East (after the adoption of semi-precious stones). They reached the zenith of their popularity in the early Roman Principate, particularly in the reigns of the Julio-Claudian emperors, but they mostly faded in popularity thereafter until the medieval and Renaissance periods. It is believed that both their striking aesthetic and, later, their durability created a desire for every great Roman to want his or her portrait to be impressed on a cameo. The most famous Roman examples, such as the Blacas Cameo, the Gemma Augustea, and the Great Cameo of France, are exquisite examples of the elaborate craftsmanship that many of the less popular cameos also…

NEW FOOD CULTURE ON THE ROMAN BORDER The Roman army settled in various fortresses along the limes, which ran right through the Netherlands. In the army camps, camp villages, and cities that emerged, cultures, eating habits, and ingredients were exchanged. New ingredients were introduced on a large scale. South of the limes, a society emerged in which people were no longer self-sufficient. Partying soldiers The officers in the camps along the limes knew how to throw a party. In Alphen aan den Rijn, archaeological finds from a latrine show a wide variety of ingredients and seasonings: fish, shellfish, grains, nuts, and all kinds of herbs and spices – such as caraway, anise and fennel – are just a sample of what went through the stomachs of the army officers. In…

ANIMALS IN NEO-ASSYRIAN STATE IDEOLOGY AND PROPAGANDA Due to their role in human society, prominence in mythological contexts, and the populace’s familiarity with them, animals have always played key roles in crafting state propaganda. Metaphors for kingship and societal hierarchy relied upon the animal world, and few rulers in history have mastered the art of appropriating the power of animals quite as effectively as the kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. At the height of its power (883-612 BC), the expansionist Neo-Assyrian Empire extended its control over a vast, culturally diverse area. Ruling over such a multicultural empire meant the king needed to reinforce his legitimacy and project an outward image of absolute confidence, military might, and divinely bestowed power to his subjects. ‘The Lion King’ The image of a lion…

THE ROYAL ARTISANS OF DEIR EL-MEDINA The archaeological evidence seems to suggest that the village was founded by Tuthmose I (ca.1504-1492 BC), third king of the Eighteenth Dynasty, since it is his royal cartouche that was discovered stamped into mud bricks used in the construction of the earliest houses. That said, the real mastermind behind the creation of a specialist corps of skilled and trusty workers may well have been his father, Amenhotep I (ca.1525-1504 BC). Deified by the villagers, he commanded a particularly pivotal role in the Deir el-Medina pantheon. So ubiquitous was his influence on religious life there that he was celebrated as the workers’ patron and their most recognizable deity. Such idolization may well have been linked with Amenhotep’ decision to break with tradition and physically separate…

TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO GREEK HAD GONE BEFORE! The term ‘colony’ is not always appropriate, as it implies a formal, state-sponsored programme resulting in a settlement dependent on the mother city; the Greek term apoikia (‘home away from home’) is more neutral and can describe both such ‘true’ colonies and also those that grew from private initiatives. We shouldn’t imagine Greek apoikoi (settlers) arriving in an untouched wilderness. In many cases, the earliest Greeks that we can see archeologically arrived at existing non-Greek settlements, or at least in already-inhabited territories. Negotiation was necessary, and there are accounts of treaties and of local kings inviting Greeks to settle in their lands. The traditions on the founding of Massalia (modern Marseilles) in the early sixth century BC claim that the leader…

NAME, MEANING, ORIGINS Within these two extremes lies the story of a region, in present day Southern Italy and Sicily, that has played a large part in the cultural history of Western Europe. The origin of the name and the time of its emergence are a matter of discussion among historians. The history of this migration is the subject of a debate that has been particularly intense over the last twenty years. It is difficult to believe that the movement originated at the time of the Trojan War – an era during which Greeks frequented Southern Italy and Sicily only for commercial exchanges. The stable settlements are instead the product of a vast relocation movement of Greeks who founded cities starting from 750 BC, a movement that the Greeks call…

The site of Naucratis was discovered by the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie in 1884, and digs continued into the twentieth century. Finds have confirmed Greek pottery and alphabetic inscriptions, including some of the oldest surviving in the Ionic alphabet. Such finds have, however, been unable to disentangle the complicated chronology of the site. Nor have they been able to entirely reconcile with the account in Herodotus. The pottery finds at Naucratis are generally dated to the mid to late seventh century BC, but Herodotus dates the establishment of Naucratis to 570 BC at the earliest, at the beginning of Amasis’ reign. There is no specific timing for Amasis moving the Greeks to Memphis and then to Naucratis other than during his reign (570–526); early does not seem to fit the narrative…

THE BIRTH OF A NEW SOCIAL ORDER Sitting at the top of Roman society as aristocrats, equites were still beneath the senators who inhabited the pinnacle of the social pyramid. It was a man’s wealth that qualified him for higher society, but it was ultimately up to the discretion of the censors to enrol him in the equestrian rank. The number of equites had long been set at either 1,200 or 1,800 (the sources are unclear), meaning that one could be both rich and noble enough to qualify as an equestrian yet still not be enrolled. Ever since the times of the kings these men had been given the responsibility of forming the core of the army’s cavalry, and because of this they were provided a publicly funded war horse…

Of course, no recipes have been handed down to us from the Roman period in the Netherlands. But with the vast amount of information about ingredients from that era, and a bit of help from the Apicius cookbook, I present to you this lovely dish that could have been eaten at the northern border of the Roman empire. A Unesco World Heritage treat! Ingredients » 10 stalks of Swiss chard » 2 leeks » 1 bunch of coriander » 1.5 tsp cumin » 3 tbsp raisins » 1 tbsp flour » 2 tbsp mustard » 3 tbsp olive oil » 1 tbsp white wine vinegar » 1 tbsp honey » black pepper Remove the leaves from the chard stalks and wash them well. Clean the leeks and chop them as…

THE GREEKS OVERSEAS: THEIR EARLY COLONIES AND TRADE By John BoardmanThames and Hudson, 1980ISBN: 978-0500281093 A masterly summary of the spread of Greek civilization across the Mediterranean world in the pre-classical era. This book details one of the most important periods of European history, describing how the Greeks planted trading posts and colonies north, south, east, and west, to reap whatever harvest of materials and expertise the ‘barbarian’ could offer. GREEK COLONIZATION IN LOCAL CONTEXTS: CASE STUDIES IN COLONIAL INTERACTIONS Edited by Jason Lucas, Carrie AnnMurray, and Sara OwenOxbow Books, 2019ISBN: 978-1789251326 The authors in this edited volume take a fresh look at Greek colonies around Europe and the Black Sea. The emphasis is on cultural interaction, transformation, and the repercussions and local reactions to colonization in social, religious, and…