Innholdsfortegnelse for AH 40 i Ancient History Magazine

Constructed on the orders of the emperor Hadrian in AD 122, as of writing this in 2022, Hadrian’s Wall has remained a part of the English landscape for 1900 years. Across the centuries, through political collapse, plagues, wars, and fundamental industrial change, the wall has stood the test of time. It is one of the most famous and iconic structures in Britain, if not the world. During my university days, I was fortunate enough to visit it on my first trip to the UK and it blew my mind. Now, years later, I’m doing an entire feature on this spectacular piece of Roman engineering. It was kismet, I suppose. In this issue, we’re taking you ‘behind the wall’ as we celebrate this marvel of Roman construction. We’ll look at why…

The Philistines, well-known as enemies of the Israelites in biblical texts, appear in the southern coastal plain (‘Philistia’) of the southern Levant (modern Israel/Palestine) during the early twelfth century BC. They are first mentioned as one of the groups of Sea Peoples described in the reliefs on the walls of the temple at Medinet Habu from the early twelfth century BC, in which land and sea battles between the Egyptian army under Rameses III and these Sea Peoples are depicted. It is assumed that from this time onward, the Philistine culture appeared in southwestern Israel/Palestine. New interpretations of Philistine origins While in the past the appearance of the Philistine culture was seen as a rather monolithic migration of peoples of Aegean origin (e.g. Dothan 1982; Yasur-Landau 2010), more and more…

To get to the Tower of the Winds, one had to walk through the agora and exit through a gateway situated between the Stoa of Attalos and the Library of Pantainos. Then, travelling eastward along a broad, marble-paved street lined with porticoes, you would, after some 150m, pass through a Doric propylon into a roughly square, large, open courtyard, surrounded by colonnades and temples; this was the Roman agora. Due to the increased pressure for commercial space in Athens, this area – financed by Caesar and the Emperor Augustus – was completed during the first century BC. An Athenian meteorological station Vitruvius identifies its creator as “Andronicus of Cyrrhus who … built the marble octagonal tower in Athens” (On Architecture, 1.6.4). He was a noted astronomer, and is believed to…

The Wall in Britain may have been designed, in whole or in part, by Hadrian himself. Architecture was certainly a passion of Hadrian’s. “He built public buildings in all places and without number,” writes his Roman biographer (Historia Augusta, “Hadrian”, 19.9). It was planned to be an elegant yet sophisticated system comprising a ditch, wall, forts, milecastles, and watchtowers. All three legions in the province – II Augusta at Isca (Caerleon), VI Victrix at Eboracum (York), and XX Valeria Victrix at Deva (Chester) – provided the engineering skills and manpower. As the project rolled out under new governor Aulus Platorius Nepos, changes were made to the original design. When finished, around AD 128, auxiliary units garrisoned it. Hadrian never returned to inspect his wall when completed.…

THEME: Hadrian’s Wall The Wall’s construction methods were relatively simple; the most complex part was likely logistics, which can only be inferred. Supplying sufficient quantities of necessary materials – stone, mortar, timber, turf, and metals for construction; food, fuel, and water for builders and pack animals – across the width of Britain without robust transport infrastructure was an immense challenge. A huge amount of wood was required for scaffolding, cranes, limeburning, and buildings, and it probably severely deforested the local environment. Indeed, provisioning the straight timber required for the scaffolding alone could have been a logistical bottleneck in the overall project. Before construction began, the line had to be surveyed by the ten mensores (surveyors) of each legion, using the groma to set out alignments and measuring intervals for positioning…

Much of the magic mentioned here was meant to control others, usually in a negative way, or to protect the owner. Some magic was designed for control of a different kind, designed to engender affection. Such ‘love spells’ have been found throughout the Mediterranean, including one papyrus discovered at Thebes in Egypt known as PGM IV. This papyrus instructed the commissioner to perform a number of performative acts in order to gain the affection of its intended victim. What makes PGM IV significant is that the text, as Wilburn notes, is nearly identical to the script found on the Amathusian tablets. This, of course, strongly suggests that the spell may have been modified and adapted from Cypriot sources. Cyprus was, after all, the birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.…

Before Rome challenged the Carthaginian possession of Sicily and Sardinia, Carthage had for centuries been the master of the western Mediterranean. Twenty-three years of war completely upended that. Rome defeated the Carthaginians, ejected them from Sicily, and forced Carthage to pay indemnities worth 3200 Eu-boian talents over a period of ten years. Then, as Carthage was embroiled in a war with its own former mercenaries, Rome took Sardinia as well and extorted another indemnity worth 1200 Euboian talents. As the historian Polybius puts it: it is impossible to discover any reasonable pretext or cause … the Carthaginians, contrary to all justice, and merely because the occasion permitted it, were forced to evacuate Sardinia … – Polybius 3.28.1–2, trans. C. Habicht For Carthage, the loss of these islands meant the loss…

HADRIAN’S WALL: CREATING DIVISION By Matthew SymondsBloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2021ISBN: 978-1350105348 Hadrian’s Wall: Creating Division examines the impact and importance of the wall during its three centuries of active use. Symonds shows evidence that Hadrian’s Wall was in fact a harder border than previously assumed and details what life was like for soldiers living there. The book also touches on notions of Scottish and English identity and how the wall has inspired countless writers and poets for nearly two millennia. HADRIAN’S WALL: A LIFE By Richard HingleyOxford University Press, 2015ISBN: 978-0198707028 After the retreat of the Roman frontier in the fifth century AD, Hadrian’s Wall didn’t suddenly cease to exist. So what happened to it? What was life like ‘after the wall’? In Hadrian’s Wall: A Life, Hingley looks at…

The panoply of a ‘Sea Peoples’ warrior is illustrated on this bronze ‘ingot god’ figurine from Enkomi in Cyprus as well as on Sardinian or Shardanu ‘bronzetti’ warrior figurines. It includes a horned helmet, a round shield, and a spear held aloft. As the ingot was a later addition to the Cypriot figurine, Sardinian influence seems likely. Similarly depicted warriors, some with horned helmets and others with ‘feathered’ helmets, appear on the famous Warrior Krater from Mycenae and in reliefs of the Temple of Ramses II at Medinet Habu. The aristocratic boar’s tusk helmet of the earlier Mycenaean era disappears at this time, although they are mentioned in Homer, suggesting that cultural memories of such items were handed down in stories or that they were discovered through the act of…

THEME: Hadrian’s Wall When Hadrian (b. 24 January AD 76) became supreme commander of the army and leader of the Roman Commonwealth at the age of 41, he had already spent over a third of his life in active service. Hadrian began his career as a military tribune, working closely with the legates of three different legions. As legatus himself of Legio I Minervia, he took part on the front line in the Second Dacian War (AD 105–106). As governor of Pannonia Inferior, he was responsible for ensuring the integrity of the border along the Danube and for security within his province. He was close to the strategic and tactical decisions being made during Trajan’s Parthian War (AD 114-117), and became governor of Syria with command of its large garrison.…

THEME: Hadrian’s Wall Initially, the plan called for a wide stone or turf curtain wall, linking over 160 turrets and 81 small posts known as milecastles, with a ditch to the north. Before this vision could be realized, however, there was a radical change of plan. A series of full-blown forts, in total capable of holding over 9000 men, were built along or just behind the Wall line, while an enigmatic earthwork known as the Vallum was added to the rear of the Wall curtain – that is within supposedly friendly territory – providing another barrier, roughly 36 m wide. Once complete, Hadrian’s Wall stretched for 80 Roman miles (117 km), from Wallsend in the east, to just beyond Bowness-on-Solway in the west. This distance appears modest when judged against…

THEME: Hadrian’s Wall In 1973, archaeologists excavating at the fort of Vindolanda just south of Hadrian’s Wall made an astonishing discovery – a cache of Roman documents, written in ink on wood-leaf, which had been discarded in antiquity. More have since been recovered in ongoing excavations at the site, and to date more than 850 have been deciphered and published. The documents, now known as the Vindolanda Tablets, ranged from military reports to personal letters. They were written in Roman cursive – seen so rarely that initial attempts to read the Tablets found them indecipherable, until specialists were able to transliterate the texts. Most of the surviving texts were written between AD 92–103, before Hadrian’s Wall was built, but they almost certainly document a military way of life that changed…

In addition to the four inscribed cups, there were 1400 coins, 400 kg of rough bronze (aes rude), and 34 vessels (3 gold, 25 silver, and 6 bronze), including eight others with inscriptions, a variety of other metal objects, and two marble busts: one of Apollo, the other of Asclepius. The deposit was probably made in the fourth century AD, the date of the latest coins. The four cylindrical inscribed cups are, however, the most intriguing of the finds. Roman milestones The shape of the Vicarello cups and their design recalls that of Roman milestones, several of which recorded place names, and sometimes distances, on a route between locations. Some surviving milestones only record the name of an emperor without any location or distances. Many of the surviving milestones, such…

Pepper was first imported into the Roman world from India in the first century AD, although when Egypt became part of the Roman Republic in 30 BC, the use and trade of this spice quickly became very popular. By taking over important trade ports, the Roman Empire started to play a role in world trade, which was quite lively in the Middle East, parts of East Africa, and southern Asia. The ancient author Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) mentions pepper no less than 50 times in his extensive work Natural History. He writes about the pepper trade: To think that the only pleasant quality of pepper is its pungency and that we go all the way to India to get it … both pepper and ginger grow wild in their…

Plato was a Greek philosopher who lived from 427 to 348 BC, spending most of his life in Athens. A student of Socrates, Plato founded the Academy in 387 BC. In a beautiful olive grove on the outskirts of Athens, intellectuals could gather to discuss philosophy, give lectures, and carry out their research. At the Academy, Plato wrote many of his philosophical works, penning 30 or 40 philosophical dialogues over the course of his life. Most of these feature Socrates as a main character. The Republic The Republic, written around 375 BC, is one of Plato’s longer works. It takes the form of a conversation between Socrates and others, mostly taking place in a private house and continuing late into the night. Although Plato knew Socrates, the dialogue isn’t a…

LIFE ON THE FRONTIERS (Jo Ball) • Bowman, Alan K. Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier: Vindolanda and its People. New York: Routledge, 1994. • Collins, Rob. Living on the Edge of Empire: The Objects and People of Hadrian’s Wall. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books, 2020. • Southern, Patricia. Hadrian’s Wall: Everyday Life on a Roman Frontier. Stroud: Amberley Publishing, 2016. • Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents and the Academic Computing Development Team, Oxford University. “Vindolanda Tablets online.” Accessed 26 June 2022. http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/. ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER (Murray Dahm) • Dahm, Murray K. “Campgate Bronzes and Roman Fire Signalling.” CLASSICVM 30 (2004): 17–25. • Dahm, Murray K. “Roman Frontier Signalling and the Order of the fuþark.” The Journal of Indo-European Studies 39 (2011): 1–12. • Delbrück, Hans.…

The showcases in the Egyptian department of the Dutch State Museum of Antiquities in Leiden are dimly lit. After all, light might damage the precious ancient papyri on display. You have to know what you’re looking for, but it’s there: the Leiden Amun papyrus. One of the most famous texts of the ancient world. There are questions about its origin. Usually, that means that we must doubt the authenticity of this papyrus. One cannot be too sceptical about antiquities from unknown excavations, because it is extremely easy to fake an authentic-looking papyrus (see issue 37 of Ancient History magazine). Only papyri with a well-documented provenance are worthy of study. Not even Champollion However, in this particular case, we don’t have to worry. This text has been known since 1828, when…

At the start of Hadrian’s reign, Britannia was restless, and “the Britons could not be kept under Roman sway” (Historia Augusta, “Hadrian,” 5.2). The Brigantes of northern Britain may have instigated a rebellion. The Roman response is revealed on surviving inscriptions, which refer to an expeditio Britannica, a British military campaign or taskforce. One (CIL X, 5829 = ILS 2726) states that Titus Pontius Sabinus was “overseer (praepositus) of three milliary [3,000 men of] detachments (vexillationes) from Legiones VII Gemina in Hispania, VIII Augusta in Germania Superior, and XXII Primigenia in Germania Superior, on the British Taskforce”. Another (CIL XI, 5632 = ILS 2735) reports that Marcus Maenius Agrippa was “chosen by the late Emperor Hadrian and sent on the British Taskforce”. An inscription from Vindolanda in Northern England, dated…

THEME: Hadrian’s Wall The towers along Hadrian’s Wall definitely had communication systems. This was not simply despatching a runner along the wall or a rider behind it, but a way of signalling a message to the next tower along the wall until it could be received by a milecastle or fort, or even sent back, away from the wall, to sites such as Vindolanda or Corbridge. No signal would have to carry far, however. The forts were placed approximately twelve kilometres (7.5 miles) apart, with milecastles spaced out in between, and a tower or turret every 500 metres. Unfortunately, no remains of signalling beacons have survived (or been identified) on Hadrian’s Wall. Exactly what the system was and how it operated are matters of debate. Several signalling systems are described…

Over 1600 Greek curse tablets have been catalogued, with 200 of these having been unearthed in Amathus alone – a sizable amount for such a small city on the fringes of the Hellenistic world. According to Pliny the Elder, however, Cyprus was known for its magic. In fact, the discovery of the Amathusian tablets suggests not only the practice of magic, but, amazingly, the existence of a profes sional class of magicians who were regularly solicited for their services. The Amathusian corpus would suggest that locals were not only familiar with magic, but that it empowered them to exercise control and agency in the Greco-Roman world – not through acts of violence, but through supernatural means. Magic and melting pots For centuries, Cyprus had existed not as a unified singular…

In the kitchens of the Roman elite, it was customary to use pepper in sweet recipes. I promise you an exciting flavour combination in this Roman dessert. Ingredients » 400 ml whole milk » 4 tbsp honey » 4 eggs » Black or long pepper Preparation Put milk and honey in a bowl and whisk until the honey is dissolved. Add the eggs and beat until smooth. Grease four ramekins or cups and divide the milk mixture between them. Put the ramekins in an oven dish and fill it with water to come halfway up the ramekins. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve them sprinkled with a lot of pepper.…

Much depends upon which Romans we are talking about. It is important to remember that ‘Roman’ was a legal definition of civic status more than it was a cultural description. Jewish Romans ate differently from Gallic Romans, who in turn ate differently from Latins. We should not imagine that the average Roman spent his evenings in the triclinium any more than a modern westerner dines out in a top restaurant every night. Perhaps a few members of a favoured elite may do so, but the average citizen is more likely to be eating pizza in front of the television. Modest diners When Romans dined alone, they usually dined modestly, however, a Roman’s dinner choices greatly depended upon their wealth. Even if not entertaining, a wealthy Roman would have access to…