Overview

The construction of urban defences was one of the hallmarks of the late Roman and late-antique periods (300–600 AD) throughout the western and eastern empire. City walls were the most significant construction projects of their time and they redefined the urban landscape. Their appearance and monumental scale, as well as the cost of labour and material, are easily comparable to projects from the High Empire; however, urban circuits provided late-antique towns with a new means of self-representation. While their final appearance and construction techniques varied greatly, the cost involved and the dramatic impact that such projects had on the urban topography of late-antique cities mark city walls as one of the most important urban initiatives of the period. To-date, research on city walls in the two halves of the empire has highlighted chronological and regional variations, enabling scholars to rethink how and why urban circuits were built and functioned in Late Antiquity. Although these developments have made a significant contribution to the understanding of late-antique city walls, studies are often concerned with one single monument/small group of monuments or a particular region, and the issues raised do not usually lead to a broader perspective, creating an artificial divide between east and west. It is this broader understanding that this book seeks to provide. The volume and its contributions arise from a conference held at the British School at Rome and the Swedish Institute of Classical Studies in Rome on June 20-21, 2018. It includes articles from world-leading experts in late-antique history and archaeology and is based around important themes that emerged at the conference, such as construction, spolia-use, late-antique architecture, culture and urbanism, empire-wide changes in Late Antiquity, and the perception of this practice by local inhabitants.

Full Product Details

Author:   Emanuele Intagliata ,  Christopher Courault ,  Simon J. Barker
Publisher:   Oxbow Books
Imprint:   Oxbow Books
ISBN:  

9781789253641

ISBN 10:   1789253640
Pages:   200
Publication Date:   01 April 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface Emanuele E. Intagliata, Simon J. Barker, and Christopher Courault   1. Approaching late-antique city walls through an Empire-wide perspective Emanuele E. Intagliata, Christopher Courault and Simon J. Barker   Section A. Regional trends.   2. Late Roman city walls in Hispania. A reappraisal Carmen Fernández-Ochoa and Angel Morillo 3. The City Walls of Lusitania revisited: a current perspective Adriaan De Man 4. Late Roman city walls in Gaul: urban monuments or state installations? Simon Esmonde Cleary 5. The late Roman city walls in southern Gaul Marc Heijmans   Section B. City walls in old and new capitals.   6. Power and Glory: ceremonial gates in Constantinople and the Balkans: prototypes and legacy James Crow 7. An exceptional city wall? Re-thinking the fortifications of Nicaea in an empire-wide context Ayşe Dalyancı-Berns 8. Defending a New Capital: Ravenna, Classe, and the Revival of the Construction Industry in Late Antiquity J. Riley Snyder   Section C. Case studies: West and East.   9. Dismantling, re-carving and re-using: some observations about the late antique city wall of Agedincum Pierre-Antoine Lamy and Mathieu Ribolet 10. A statement on the late antique city walls of Córdoba Christopher Courault 11. The Wall Circuit of Segni in Late Antiquity: Urban and Topographic Issues Francesco Maria Cifarelli and Federica Colaiacomo 12. The revivification of earthen outworks in the late Eastern Empire: the case study of Resafa/Syria Catharine Hof 13. The fortifications of Zenobia reinterpreted Sylvie Blétry   Section D. The afterlife of city walls.   14. Disuse, re-use, and misuse of the early Byzantine fortress at Isthmia Jon Frey 15. Popes, senators, barons, and popes again: the Aurelian Wall from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries Hendrik Dey

Reviews

This book stands at the beginning of a new line of empire-wide research into late antique city walls. * Antiquity * It provides up-to-date case studies and a look beyond single sites. […] Readers will find much across this very well-illustrated volume to delight and please them. * Current World Archaeology *

It provides up-to-date case studies and a look beyond single sites. [...] Readers will find much across this very well-illustrated volume to delight and please them. * Current World Archaeology *

Author Information

Emanuele E. Intagliata is Assistant Professor in the Archaeology of Urban Networks and Exchange at Aarhus University (UrbNet). He has published extensively on the history and archaeology of central Syria, and is currently working on city defences in the Near East and Asia Minor, with specific focus on Palmyra, eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus. Christopher Courault is a research associate at the University of Geneva and member of the Archaeological Research Group Antiguas Ciudades de Andalucía, University of Cordoba. His Ph.D. focused on the city wall of Cordoba and its evolution from the Republican Roman period to early Islamic times. Simon J. Barker is postdoctoral fellow at the Norwegian Institute in Rome. He has published extensively on recycling and re-use in the Roman Empire, as well as the role of marble as a decorative material in the villas and houses of the Vesuvian area. His current research focuses on recycling and re-use in Late Antiquity, particularly with reference to spolia-use in an empire-wide perspective.

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