New Cities in Late Antiquity: Documents and Archaeology

Description

The beginning of Late Antiquity was marked by the foundation of Constantinople, the largest city ever founded by the Romans. Yet this was also the dawn of an era of hardships which undermined the ability, and perhaps need, of the Roman Empire to found new cities in its provinces. Active urbanisation after the late third century AD may appear paradoxical or unexpected to those who associate Late Antiquity with urban recession. Yet new cities continued to be founded, asserting the urban character of the late Roman state and society, which knew no better way of ruling and defending their lands than through cities. Foundations, re-foundations, relocations, or expansions of cities are particularly important events in urban history, encapsulating with clarity the realities, needs, and ideals of urbanism in each historical period. What was necessary for a settlement in order to be called a city? What were the functions a city was expected to perform? For the late antique period, answers to these questions tend to be sought for in the transformations of pre-existing Greco-Roman urban environments. This volume offers a different perspective on the debate, exploring the application of late antique urban ideals ‘on virgin ground’. Based on recent archaeological fieldwork and synthetic studies, twenty papers outline the state of research and discuss the motives and products of city-building from the late third to the seventh centuries AD. acknowledgements Efthymios Rizos, Introduction John Bintliff, Aspects of Settlement Change in Late Antiquity from Regional Survey Evidence Efthymios Rizos, New cities and new urban ideals, AD 250-350 Orsolya Heinrich-Tamáska, Castellum – Castrum – Civitas ? L’évolution fonctionnelle des nouveaux établissements de l’antiquité tardive en Pannonie et en Mésie Seconde: étude comparative Martine Assénat et Antoine Pérez, La topographie antique d’Amida (IIIe siècle après J.-C. – VIe siècle après J.-C.) d’après les sources littéraires Emanuele E. Intagliata, Palmyra and its Ramparts during the Tetrarchy Efthymios Rizos and Mustafa Hamdi Sayar, Urban Dynamics in the Bosphorus Region during Late Antiquity James Crow, New Cities of Late Antiquity: Theodosiopolis in Armenia Martin Gussone und Dorothée Sack, Resafa / Syrien. Städtebauliche Entwicklung zwischen Kultort und Herrschaftssitz Sylvie Blétry, L’urbanisme et l’habitat de la ville de Zénobia-Halabiya : résultats de la mission franco-syrienne (2006–10) Elİf Keser-Kayaalp and Nİhat Erdoğan, Recent Research on Dara/Anastasiopolis Albrecht Berger, Mokisos – eine kappadokische Fluchtsiedlung des sechsten Jahrhunderts Marlia Mundell Mango, Androna and the Late Antique Cities of Oriens Carolyn S. Snively, Golemo Gradište at Konjuh: A New City or a Relocated One? Vujadin Ivanišević, Main Patterns of Urbanism in Caričin Grad (Justiniana Prima) Javier Martínez Jiménez, Water Supply in the Visigothic Urban Foundations of Eio (El Tolmo de Minateda) and Reccopolis Günder Varİnlİoğlu, ‘Built Like a City’: Boğsak Island (Isauria) in Late Antiquity Georgios Deligiannakis and Vassileios Karabatsos, Palatia of Saria, a Late Antique ‘Nēsopolis’ of Provincia Insularum: A Topographical Survey David Hill, Håkon Roland and Knut Ødegård, Kastro Apalirou, Naxos, a Seventh-Century Urban Foundation Jean-Michel Spieser, Villes neuves dans l’Antiquité Tardive. Conclusion