A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity

by Douglas Boin

  Figure 8.2 The Roman Forum was the commercial and political heart of the city. By the late first century BCE, politicians had begun expanding it with their own projects, under their own names. Many emperors would follow suit. This reconstruction shows these “imperial fora” of Rome, the emperors’ grand additions to the city center. From top left to bottom right (roughly northwest to southeast) are: the Forum of Trajan, the Forum of Augustus, the Forum of the Emperor Nerva, and the Forum of Peace. By the fourth century CE, the Forum of Trajan was one of the most popular areas for displaying statues of Late Antique politicians. By contrast, parts of the nearby Forum of Peace had been dismantled and razed. Residents in fourth‐ and fifth‐century Rome lived their life like this, one building at a time, constantly readjusting their expectations about the city. Plan, with annotations by the author, after the digital reconstruction by Inkling.

  Figure 8.3 Ancient Romans prided themselves on their city’s famed seven hills, although they often disagreed about which hills counted; the reason for their disagreement is that there are, in reality, fourteen hills in or near the city of Rome. This plan shows one of the most central and most storied: the Aventine Hill. Romans believed that Romulus’ lesser known brother, Remus, had been its first settler. Remus was largely forgotten, but over time, his hill grew into an important part of Rome’s identity. By the early fifth century CE, as this plan shows, the Aventine was the site of impressive baths, a local Mithraeum, and early Christian churches. Even portions of the old Republican‐era city wall continued to be visible in the Late Antique neighborhood. Author’s plan modified from Filippo Coarelli, Roma (Bari: Editori Laterza, 2008), p. 449.

  Figure 8.4 This illustration shows St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in two forms. Below is what archaeologists and architects call a “top‐plan.” It shows a bird’s‐eye view of the burial street, or necropolis, underneath St. Peter’s. The necropolis was in use from the first century to the early fourth century CE. The second view, above, is a longitudinal elevation drawing of the seventeenth‐century church; it shows a view of the site from the perspective of someone standing at ground level. In this drawing, the lowest ground level corresponds to the levels of the first century CE; followed by the fourth century CE; and then the Baroque church. By studying the elevation, archaeologists can better visualize how Constantine’s church of “Old St. Peter’s” demolished the ancient necropolis and how the later construction of “New St. Peter’s” replaced Constantine’s. The burial area marked on the plan by the letter “P” dates to the late second century CE. Plan of the necropolis and longitudinal section of the “Sacre Grotte Vaticane” and Basilica di San Pietro by K. Gaertner. Used with the kind permission of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano.

  Figure 8.5 The city of Constantinople in the late fourth century and early fifth century CE. Often claimed to be the site where Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire, Constantinople was, in reality, a second capital. The site itself had first been settled by Greeks, then expanded by Romans in the second and third centuries CE. All throughout this long history, it had been known as Byzantium. In 330 CE Constantine celebrated the momentous change in the life of the city; in line with popular displays of imperial power, he chose to re‐found it and rename it after himself. With a new forum, a new palace, a race track, and – most importantly – its own Senate, citizens of the empire began to imagine Constantine’s city as a “Second Rome.” Only when the Roman world fractured, in 476 CE, did Constantine’s city emerge as the empire’s sole capital. Plan by Wiley’s illustrators.

  Figure 8.6 Like other Roman emperors before him, Constantine (ruled jointly 312–324 CE; 324–337 as sole Augustus) used his money and stature to put his unique stamp on city life. One way he did so, at Constantinople, was to create his own forum. An expensive porphyry column stood at its center. Little remains of this Forum of Constantine, which is now part of the Çemberlitaş neighborhood of Istanbul, except portions of this damaged column. This digital reconstruction, based on textual reports of what it looked like, shows the Emperor Constantine making reference to the sun god Helios, or Apollo. The sun god had been a figure popularly embraced by Hellenistic rulers, centuries earlier, in the age of Alexander the Great. These rulers had used it to allude to their own divinity. Roman rulers, including Constantine and his successors, would embrace that same tradition.

  Figure 8.7 This example of African Red Slip Ware shows a criminal tied up for torture and death in the jaws of the beasts of the amphitheater. Found in Sicily, it has been dated to the second half of the fourth century CE. This peculiarly grizzly punishment, known as “damnatio ad bestias,” often appears in stories about Christian “martyrs,” those followers of Jesus who – either during periods of documented legal discrimination or in other circumstances – found themselves facing public execution. This dish would likely have been passed around the room at an expensive or at least moderately wealthy dinner party. Now in the Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany (inventory number 68/28).

  Chapter 09 Figure 9.1 Jews had been living outside the Jewish homeland well before the Jewish diaspora – since at least the Hellenistic period – and the city of Sardis in Asia Minor was one site that had a long‐established Jewish community. This image shows a view of the synagogue at Sardis, which served local Jews during the fourth through sixth centuries CE. Urban context is crucial for understanding the life of Jews at Sardis in the Roman Empire. From this angle, you can see across the synagogue hall towards the lawn of a Roman bath complex and gymnasium. In antiquity, a wall would have separated these two spaces, but this photograph illustrates a key social‐historical detail. The Jewish community at Sardis had received permission to use and renovate a room in the city’s bath complex to create a worship space for their own community. The circumstances that led to this architectural project suggest that, for the members of this one minority faith living in Roman‐era Sardis, civic engagement and social integration were important values.

  Figure 9.2 The floor of a synagogue at Hammat Tiberias, near the Sea of Galilee (modern Israel), was laid with bright, lively mosaics. This photograph shows the design. At the top of the photograph are two menarot (singular, menorah) on either side of a building, a structure which is intended to symbolize the lost Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Beneath this panel is a scene of the sun god Helios – or possibly the Roman emperor – commanding a four‐horse chariot. In a circle are the twelve signs of the zodiac, each labeled in Hebrew, while in the corners are personifications of the four seasons. It’s easy to look at this image today and study it as one would a photograph, although it is worth remembering that, in antiquity, visitors would have walked across the face of this picture. As a whole, the mosaic shows us that Jewish communities in the fourth‐ through sixth‐century Roman Empire both maintained and developed their own traditions, in part, by relying on a ritual calendar that was distinct from their non‐Jewish neighbors.

  Chapter 10 Figure 10.1 Texts on papyrus are not only important as documents. They are important as objects, and where a scrap of papyrus was found can often give us fascinating information that might otherwise not be contained in the text itself. This map shows the distribution of papyrus records related to the Mauri units of the Roman army in Egypt, c.339–539 CE. As the data reveal, these soldiers were stationed far from the traditionally cosmopolitan cities of the Mediterranean coastline, suggesting that residents and villagers all throughout Late Antique Egypt knew the presence of Rome in their daily lives. By combining a detailed analysis of the documents with geospatial tools, historians can draw a more complex picture of Roman society and culture in Egypt, one that might not be immediately apparent when looking at just one or two scraps of evidence, especially outside Egypt’s more well‐known cities, like Alexandria. Open‐access mapping tools like the Ancient World Mapping Center, UNC‐Chapel Hill, make this task easier. Author’s map based on data from the Ancient World Mapping Center, UNC‐Chapel Hill.

  Figure 10.2 Founded in the
third century BCE, Ostia was Rome’s harbor town, its connection to the Mediterranean, and a cosmopolitan city. Even as Rome built new shipping and warehouse infrastructure north of the city, at the site that would become Portus, Ostia remained a diverse town where the Late Antique elite lived alongside bakers, merchants, and other guilds of workmen and day‐laborers. Residents of Ostia knew how to enjoy themselves, too. The city was filled with taverns, many of which have been dated to the third century CE. These two rare artifacts also offer a glimpse at daily life. They are clay molds used for baking bread. Each is stamped with a design celebrating racing culture. The left shows a horseman and a four‐horse chariot, or quadriga (Ostia inventory number 3645). The right depicts a victorious racer on a chariot drawn by ten horses (Ostia inventory number 3530).

  Figure 10.3 During the early empire, the southern Iberian peninsula had been a mining region, where metals like gold, copper, and tin were extracted by slave labor. By the second century, Spanish olive oil had become a popular commodity offloaded at Rome’s wharves. During the “Rule of Four,” the provinces of the Iberian peninsula were reorganized into the diocese of Hispania. Mérida (ancient Emerita), in modern Spain, in the province of Lusitania, was one of its important cities. This expensive mosaic floor comes from a villa at Mérida and is a sign of the high‐level wealth that had been generated throughout the Iberian peninsula by Late Antiquity. It depicts a racer named Marcianus and his star horse, whose Latin name is also given: “Inluminator.” The palm leaf in the center and a Latin version of the word “Nikē” – the Greek word for “Victory” – imply that these two athletes were local heroes whose accomplishments were worthy of being set in stone. Second half of the fourth century CE. Now in the Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, Mérida (inventory number CE26389).

  Figure 10.4 When the Emperor Aurelian paid for the construction of Rome’s new walls at the end of the third century CE, some neighborhoods which had once been outside the city’s boundaries were suddenly located within it. The Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, was one such region. In 13 BCE, Cornelius Balbus, whose father had been born on the Iberian peninsula, had dedicated a theater here to honor the rise of Augustus. This plan of the lower Campus Martius shows the urban area around Balbus’ theater in Late Antiquity. During the empire, citizens received their state‐sponsored grain distribution at the nearby Porticus Minucia; it fell out of use in the late third century CE and, by the fifth century, had become a Christian guesthouse (called a xenodochium) and a church. Plan by D. Manacorda, Crypta Balbi, Archeologia e Storia di un Paesaggio Urbano (Milan: Electa, 2001), p. 44. Used with the permission of D. Manacorda, with author’s modifications.

  Chapter 11 Figure 11.1 One of the most important harbors of the Roman East, the streets and houses of Ephesos provided the backdrop for uproarious comedies, such as those written by the Roman playwright Plautus. They had also been the stage for serious personal dramas. Paul, a Hellenistic Jew, had passed through here during his first‐century CE travels. Ephesos itself has been extraordinarily well excavated, with much material dating to Late Antiquity. These six houses were built into a terrace on the south side of one of the main city streets. Called by excavators the “Slope Houses” because of where they were built, they reveal, among other things, how modern notions of “public” and “private” living don’t map onto ancient households. In Slope House 2.4 (on plan, at the middle right) several tools and ceramic shipping containers were found on the ground floor; some were even stored upstairs. The courtyard, meanwhile, which would appear to be one of the most utilitarian spaces in a house, was known to have been used for elegant summer dining. At the end of the third century CE, an earthquake damaged this entire block.

  Figure 11.2 Although far removed from the grandiose cityscape of Rome, the cities of the Roman provinces were places of architectural innovation and experimentation. Gerasa (Jerash, modern Jordan) illustrates that point nicely. This photograph is a view, seen facing north, of Jerash’s marketplace, a distinctive oval forum. The idea of having a circular city center, although not popular in the wider Roman empire at the time, would, nevertheless, be adapted to cities like Ostia and Constantinople by the fourth century CE. Jerash itself would remain a place where local citizens used architecture to advertise their own status and ambitions. In the early sixth century CE, a wealthy couple donated money for a local church to be dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian. The names of the husband and wife were set into tiles on the church floor so that worshippers would know it was the laity – not the priests – who had provided such an expensive gift for the community.

  Chapter 12 Figure 12.1 For avid readers, codices, or books, were much more than carefully sewn‐together pages of text. They were treasure chests, potentially filled with all sorts of captivating illustrations drawn from the subject matter – the poetry of Virgil, for example, or a famous scene from scripture. Sometimes, they could even include a portrait of the person who had commissioned such a laborious commodity. This portrait of Anicia Juliana appears in the opening pages of an early sixth‐century CE codex. The codex itself is a medical text, authored by first‐century CE writer Dioscurides. Anicia Juliana’s portrait was included here likely because she had paid to have the codex copied. The privileged daughter of a Roman emperor (462–527/528 CE), she was one of the most high‐profile patrons of the residents of Constantinople. Juliana is shown seated between the personifications of Generosity and Wisdom. From the so‐called “Vienna Dioscurides,” Nationalbibliothek, cod. med. gr.1., fol. 6v. Bildarchiv der Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

  Figure 12.2 After Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, leaders of his movement took the title amir al‐mu’minin, or “Commander of the Believers.” Over the next two decades, these commanders led armies into neighboring Roman and Persian territory, eventually conquering and seizing lands from Spain to Pakistan. By the middle of the seventh century (c.661 CE), as deep, long‐lasting disagreements were beginning to arise within the community over who would be the true successor to Muhammad’s vision, one dynasty emerged as a powerful political voice: the Umayyads. ‘Abd al‐Malik was the second Umayyad ruler and the first of Muhammad’s successors to take the title khalifa, or “caliph.” He built the Dome of the Rock, seen here, a shrine – not a mosque – begun in 688 CE, finished in 691 CE. The mosaic on the interior features elegant Arabic calligraphy and promotes the oneness of God. Broadly addressed to the “People of the Book,” it also shows an awareness of Christian concepts of the Holy Trinity. Under the Umayyads, the Believers’ were beginning to articulate a vision of Islam which had more fixed boundaries than their movement may have originally had.

  Chapter 13 Figure 13.1 At Ptghni, Armenia, stands a lonely shell of a building that used to be a Christian church. All that remains of it are a set of sturdy walls, remarkably preserved almost roof‐high. Stacked from local reddish‐black stone, they are punctuated by a series of windows, which once looked in to the single‐aisle nave. This photograph shows the south wall of the church at Ptghni, built in the late sixth or early seventh century CE. It is a detail of the stonework on the lintel, the frame around the doors. whose iconography reveals a mixture of local customs and artistic styles found broadly throughout the Late Antique world. At left, we see a man on horseback hunting with his bow, a popular pastime among local elites in sixth‐century CE Armenia. To the right are framed portraits of saints, similar to portraits of other holy men and women in churches in western and eastern Mediterranean cities. The ancient kingdom of Armenia was a perennially contested territory in political and military struggles between Rome and Persia.

  Figure 13.2 In Constantinople, north of the palace and the popular hippodrome, Emperor Justinian would commission a magnificent urban church, Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”). Replacing an earlier church of the same name which had recently succumbed to fire, this new Hagia Sophia would be designed and built by two ambitious engineers and architects, both from Asia Minor: Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. The buildin
g seen here is largely their vision, from 532 and 537 CE, with slight modification. After Turks seized control of Constantinople in 1453, four minarets were added to the corners – in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries – for the Muslim call to prayer, transforming Hagia Sophia into a mosque. The building stayed a mosque until the twentieth century when, in 1935, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the modern state of Turkey, decided that this important treasure from Justinian’s time should become a symbol of Turkey’s secular ideals. The mosque was turned into a museum, which it remains today.

  Figure 13.3 The Gupta Empire ruled northern India from the early fourth century through mid‐sixth century CE. This portrait of the Buddha (“Enlightened One”) was carved during the Gupta period, c.430–435 CE. It comes from the city of Mathura, about 90 miles southeast of the modern Indian capital, Delhi. Larger than life size, it was made from sandstone and is one of several representations of the Buddha from South Asia and the Indian continent that date to Late Antiquity. Some of these were truly monumental, such as those produced in the adjacent Ghandara kingdom. Many pilgrims and tourists intrigued by the story of the Buddha came to these cities and left records of their journey. During the Gupta period, in particular, one Chinese writer, Faxian, turned his experiences into a book, A History of the Buddhistic Kingdoms. It was published in the early fifth century CE. From Uttar Pradesh, Mathura. Carved from pink granite. Measurements: 50 x 30 x 38 cm (c.19.6 in. tall x 11.8 in. wide x 15 in. deep). Now in the collection of the Musée Guimet (Musée national des arts asiatiques), Paris (Inventory number MA 5029).