Innholdsfortegnelse for AH 50 i Ancient History Magazine

A Roman-era shipwreck, known as the wreck of Ses Fontanelles, discovered off the coast of Mallorca following a storm in 2019, has been found to be loaded with a cargo of highly prized fish sauce dating back some 1700 years, according to a new scientific study. The vessel is believed to have originated from the ancient Roman port of Carthago Nova (Cartagena) on the Iberian Peninsula. It sank under unknown circumstances in the fourth century AD, just over 6 km (4 miles) southeast of Palma, Mallorca's capital. Researchers who dived to the remains discovered 300 sealed storage jars (amphorae) neatly arranged in the hull of the sunken ship. The researchers write, “many of them exhibit[ed] painted inscriptions (tituli picti) formed by a line with the names Ausonius et Alunni, and…

In ancient Rome, the threshold separating the world of the living and the underworld was open three days a year, during which the spirits of the dead were free to roam the earth. The gate was inside a brick construction called mundus ('the world'), an underground pit covered by a vault. Some ancient authors identified the mundus with the trench Romulus dug when he founded Rome. Others linked it to the cult of Ceres, the goddess of wheat and harvest. Known as Mundus Patet ('the world is open'), the ghostly rite is one of the most mysterious and fascinating religious festivals celebrated by the ancient Romans. The Mundus Patet in the ancient sources According to Plutarch, when he founded the city, Romulus, following an Etruscan custom, dug a trench in…

THEME: The age of Augustus THEME The Second Triumvirate grew out of the chaotic eighteen months that followed Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March, 44 BC. In the days that followed Caesar's death, Caesar's champions, the consul Mark Antony and the military commander Marcus Lepidus, reached a compromise with his assassins, Brutus and Cassius, that ratified the legality of Caesar's actions as dictator and prevented the punishment of his assassins. Both groups sacrificed some of their credibility in these negotiations. Such compromises were essential steps in rebuilding trust between political adversaries during the centuries when the Roman Republic functioned well, but unlike the senators who negotiated this agreement, Octavian had neither interest in building trust with his uncle's assassins nor faith that the Republic could reward him if he did.…

THEME: The age of Augustus TRANSFORMING THE CITY OF ROME THEME In AD 14, the 74-year-old Augustus “became ill, and sending for his associates, he told them all his wishes, adding finally: 'I found Rome of clay; I leave it to you of marble'” (Dio, 56.30.3). One of the inspirations for this work was his adoptive father, Julius Caesar, who, “In particular, for the adornment and convenience of the city, also for the protection and extension of the Empire, he formed more projects and more extensive ones every day” (Suetonius, Julius Caesar 44). However, “these enterprises and plans were cut short by his death” (Suetonius, Julius Caesar 44). The ensuing civil wars enabled Octavian, Caesar's son and heir (known as Augustus after 27 BC), to become the preeminent man of Rome…

THEME: The age of Augustus Kush was a powerful kingdom in what is now southern Egypt and Sudan, between the first cataract of the Nile and the joining of the Blue Nile and White Nile. By the third century BC, the political centre of Kush was the city of Meroe, from which it came to be known as the Kingdom of Meroe. Nestled between Egypt and the Horn of Africa, Kush benefited from a wealth of resources. Its robust ironworking industry and exportation of timber, gold, and ivory made it the most powerful kingdom south of Egypt, often coming into conflict with their northern neighbour. However, despite ongoing clashes over the region of Dodecaschoenus, beginning with Ptolemy II's invasion in 275 BC, Kush and Egypt frequently traded with one another.…

SPECIAL THE ROLE OF THE ACHAEMENID KURTAŠ For centuries, Greek and Roman histories have formed the backbone of Achaemenid Persian history as the near-exclusive sources of narrative and political information about the empire. Issues of daily life could be examined through the lens of individual outposts and merchant archives in specific provinces, primarily Babylonia and Egypt, but prior to the early twentieth century, the administrative policies of the Achaemenid state remained elusive. This changed with the discovery of the Persepolis Fortification Archive (P.F.A.) and Persepolis Treasury Archive (P.T.A.) from 1933–1939. Primarily written in Elamite, the indigenous prePersian language of southwestern Iran, they contain records of rations distributed to noble travellers, priests, and the kurtaš, a vague Elamite word best translated as 'workers'. In multilingual texts, such as Darius the Great's Behistun…

Augustus might be one of the most well-known figures from the ancient world. He is certainly a contender for the title of 'most famous Roman emperor'. After all, Augustus, the name given to him by the Senate in 27 BC, became the title of the emperors who ruled the Roman Empire for centuries after. I cannot think of a better historical figure to be the theme of the 50th issue of Ancient History! The title of this issue is 'the age of Augustus'. The concept of the 'age of Augustus' has increasingly come under scrutiny in recent years, as it implies that the many changes in the period were contributions from Augustus himself. Therefore, while keeping the term, we have opted to examine the world Augustus was a part of,…

MORE ONLINE Read more about the researchers' findings: https://bit.ly/45txOvH Researchers examining a skull from the Duckworth Laboratory Collection at the University of Cambridge, have found evidence suggesting that Egyptian physicians may have attempted to treat certain cancers through surgery. The skull, belonging to a man who lived between 2686 and 2345 BC, exhibits multiple lesions believed to represent bone damage from malignant tumours. Recent analysis, employing digital microscopy and micro-computed tomography (CT) scans, has revealed signs of cut marks around the tumours, indicating surgical attempts to remove the growths. Examination of a second skull from the Collection, belonging to an adult woman dated to 664–343 BC, also revealed cancer lesions. While no evidence of surgery was found on this skull, prior medical interventions for head injuries suggest advanced medical capabilities…

A new discovery is challenging traditional notions of ancient human-animal relationships. Researchers unearthed a 1500-year-old burial site in northwestern Argentina, revealing a profound bond between a hunter-gatherer and an unexpected companion: a large, now-extinct, fox species known as Dusicyon avus. At first, the burial at Cañada Seca in northern Patagonia puzzled archaeologists. The skeleton of D. avus was near-complete and it laid beside a human without any signs of consumption. Through advanced analysis of ancient DNA and radiocarbon dating, scientists confirmed the fox's species and age. It was a medium-sized canid with an estimated body mass of 10 to 15 kg. Curiously, it was found outside of its known geographical distribution. The findings contribute to a growing body of evidence suggesting that individual foxes were tamed by humans in various…

When Antony returned to Italy after the Perusian War, he was allies with Sextus Pompey and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, both men who had fought against Caesar, and now fought against the triumvirs. Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey the Great, raided the west coast of Italy from his bases on Sicily and Corsica, while Ahenobarbus, who had followed Cassius and Brutus when they had fled east, raided Italy's east coast. Julia, Antony's mother, may have been instrumental in bringing Sextus Pompey over to her son, as she had fled to the east via Sicily and was accompanied by a delegation from Pompey. Ahenobarbus, meanwhile, had contacted Antony's subordinates in Italy. By siding with these men – arguably the last of the 'Republicans' – and readying to face Caesar's heir, Antony…

It is easy to imagine the ancient city of Rome as a dirty place plagued by disease. For much of the city, despite the many sewers and baths the Romans built, this interpretation is largely correct, with streets most likely filled with rubbish and sewage, particularly around the many insulae (apartment buildings), which had no access to the sewer system from their upper floors. However, in addition to the many new buildings he constructed on the Campus Martius, Agrippa turned the surrounding area into horti, gardens, for relaxing and exercising. Strabo offers an evocative description of these new spaces: The greater number of these may be seen in the Campus Martius, which to the beauties of nature adds those of art. The size of the plain is marvellous, permitting chariot-races…

Kushite queens wielded even more independent power than their Egyptian counterparts. Unlike Egyptian queens, who broadcasted their power through depictions which rendered them as archetypically masculine, Kushite queens were typified by a distinctly feminine iconography. Classical sources claim Kushite women played an active role in warfare, and Meroitic art sometimes depicted armour-clad queens leading armies. During the Meroitic period, some queens were even able to attain sole power over Kush, reigning without a male co-ruler. Although modern historians have only been able to reconstruct a fragmented chronology of Meroitic monarchs based on archaeological evidence, the first known example of such a queen is Shanakdakhete (r. 177–155 BC). This situation became more common during the first century BC and first century AD, when a succession of queens ruled Kush.…

LIVING LIKE AN ANCIENT FACES IN WAX, WOOD, STONE, AND BRONZE Countless statues lined the streets and forums across the ancient world. In the first century AD there were over three thousand statues on the island of Rhodes alone. Many of these statues were of bronze and, bronze being a very useful material, almost none of these have survived. Few as the surviving specimens are, stone sculptures have fared much better than bronze statues. We know from our sources that painters and paintings were highly prized by the Romans, but they have fared even worse. Who and why? Portraiture in the ancient world happened for much the same reasons as we make non-photographic likenesses of people today: commemoration, flattery, or self-aggrandizement. Top Romans -especially emperors – added the use of imagery…

Emperor of Rome: Ruling the ancient Roman world By Mary Beard ISBN: 978-1805220220 Profile Books (2023) - £30.00 www.profilebooks.com Most people will associate ancient Rome with its emperors. This is hardly surprising. The most iconic archaeological sites, especially those in Rome – the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, and so on – are associated with the emperors. The most well-known literary sources are concerned, first and foremost, with the actions of the emperor. Emperor of Rome seeks to explore the many stories about Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Severus Alexander, and read between the lines of these stories – asking who, when, where, and why – to understand why, and by what metric, emperors were considered 'good' or 'bad'. In other words, Beard wants to understand “what it meant to…

My attention was drawn to papyrology when, despite all fuss about the (possibly false) Artemidorus Papyrus (AH 48), researchers still took the Gospel of the Wife of Jesus and the Sappho fragments seriously. The first of these notorious texts has turned out to be a forgery; about Sappho, even the retraction was a comedy. Because of these failures, the pieces I wrote about these papyri (in AH 46 and 49) were inevitably grim. I am disappointed, especially about the release of the Sappho fragments. Scholars who knowingly publish stolen data are willfully breaking academic codes of conduct. Nevertheless, I ended my previous piece optimistically. Whatever the status of the Artemidorus Papyrus, genuine or false, the affair has been some kind of academic refresher course and has reminded classicists and other…

One issue with the royal tombs discovered by Woolley is that the names of the kings and queens interred within are not mentioned in the Sumerian King List, or Chronicle of the One Monarchy. Woolley's excavations found kings named A-Imdugud, Ur-Pabilsag, Meskalamdug, Queen Puabi, and Akalamdug, whose names do not appear on the Sumerian King List. Akalamdug may have been the son of Meskalamdug (and, therefore, possibly the brother of the next king, Mesannepada, the first king recorded on the Sumerian King List, whose tomb is PG 1232 or 1237). The names of these kings and queens are, however, preserved on inscriptions and seals. Meskalamdug's name, which appeared inscribed on a bowl in tomb PG 755, was independently corroborated on a cylinder seal discovered in tomb PG 1054, that of…

THEME: The age of Augustus THEME In the years 18–17 BC, Augustus enacted legislation as part of his goal to emphasize Rome's pietas, a sense of virtue and religious devotion that had allowed for so much of its success as a civilization. Pietas, something every Roman was expected to possess, marked the Stoic farmer, courageous soldier, and dutiful citizen. Yet by the early days of the empire, many young people chose not to marry and contribute children, wealthy citizens avoided public service, and many rested on the laurels of their riches, contrary to the good old-fashioned values that had defined Rome during the Republic, promoted by authors like Cicero and Sallust. To patricians like Cicero, virtue lay in citizens who asked not what Rome could do for them but what they…

THEME: The age of Augustus When Augustus died in AD 14, he left behind two heirs: Livia, his wife of over fifty years, and Tiberius, her son. A decade earlier, Augustus had adopted Tiberius, and now Tiberius would succeed Augustus as princeps, the first man of Rome. Tiberius was to take the name 'Augustus', and, following the terms of Augustus' will, Livia was officially known as 'Julia Augusta'. Livia had reached a level of power and prestige no Roman woman had enjoyed before. In an echo of Augustus' will, the Senate proposed new honors for her. Some suggested that she be granted the title 'Parent of the Nation', others 'Mother of the Nation'. Many senators, according to the historian Tacitus, wanted Tiberius to add 'the son of Julia' to his…

SPECIAL THE HISTORY OF INDO-ROMAN MARITIME TRADE Most recipes in Apicius' cookbook, a fourth-century compendium based on material from the early Roman Empire, call for pepper, the only common ingredient not native to the empire. The elder Pliny reports pepper's usual price around AD 70 as four denarii per Roman pound (Natural History 12.28), less than two days' basic wages for 100 g – not cheap but not unaffordable. The range of consumers can be illustrated from Roman Britain. A tablet from Vindolanda, a fort on the Trajanic Stanegate, dated to around AD 100, records the purchase of an unspecified amount of pepper for a century of auxiliary soldiers (T. Vind. II 184). Four gilded silver spice containers, including the so-called 'empress' pepper pot, dated to ca. AD 400, were found…

BOOK REVIEWS MARK ANTONY, CIVIL WAR, and the Collapse of the ROMAN REPUBLIC W.JEFFREY TATUM A Noble Ruin: Mark Antony, Civil War, and the Collapse of the Roman Republic By W. Jeffrey Tatum ISBN: 978-0197694909 Oxford University Press (2024) - £26.99 www.global.oup.com Mark Antony is possibly one of the most fascinating characters from the ancient world. He was a central figure in the events that precipitated the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of an imperial monarchy and, for a time, was the most powerful man in the Roman Empire. Despite his importance, however, Mark Antony is rarely the subject of his own study when compared to his contemporaries. Instead, Mark Antony most often appears as a supporting character in other people's stories: as the loyal subordinate of…

AUGUSTUS: THE BIOGRAPHY By Jochen Bleicken Translated by Anthea Bell Allen Lane, 2015 ISBN: 978-0241003909 First written in German in 1998, Bleicken's biography of the emperor Augustus remains a key book to read to understand the reign of the first Roman emperor. Bleicken masterfully blends narrative history and historical inquiry, constructing a comprehensive account that explores Augustus' career, from the death of Julius Caesar to Augustus' own death in AD 14. CAESAR'S LEGACY: CIVIL WAR AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE By Josiah Osgood Cambridge University Press, 2006 ISBN: 978-0521671774 Before he became Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, Octavian had to fight through a series of powerful opponents in complex, bloody struggles. In Caesar's Legacy, Osgood retells Octavian's rise to power and how he became the sole ruler…