Dura-Europos, a Parthian-ruled Greco-Syrian city, was captured by Rome
c.AD165. It then accommodated a Roman garrison until its destruction
by Sasanian siege c.AD256. Excavations of the site between the World
Wars made sensational discoveries, and with renewed exploration from
1986 to 2011, Dura remains the best-explored city of the Roman East. A
critical revelation was a sprawling Roman military base occupying a
quarter of the city's interior. This included swathes of civilian
housing converted to soldiers' accommodation and several existing
sanctuaries, as well as baths, an amphitheatre, headquarters, and more
temples added by the garrison. Base and garrison were clearly
fundamental factors in the history of Roman Dura, but what impact did
they have on the civil population? Original excavators gloomily
portrayed Durenes evicted from their homes and holy places, and
subjected to extortion and impoverishment by brutal soldiers, while
recent commentators have envisaged military-civilian concordia, with
shared prosperity and integration. Detailed examination of the
evidence presents a new picture. Through the use of GPS, satellite,
geophysical and archival evidence, this volume shows that the Roman
military base and resident community were even bigger than previously
understood, with both military and civil communities appearing much
more internally complex than has been allowed until now. The result is
a fascinating social dynamic which we can partly reconstruct, giving
us a nuanced picture of life in a city near the eastern frontier of
the Roman world.
Les mer
An Archaeological Visualization
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780192571779
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Academic UK
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter