The Ovoid Amphorae In The Central And Western Mediterranean

Based on the proceedings of a workshop held at Seville University in 2015, this book looks at several series of amphorae created in the Late Republican Roman period, sharing a generally ovoid shape in their bodies – a group of material which, until now, has rarely been studied.

Presents the results of the RACIIC International Congress (Roman Amphora Contents International Interactive Conference, Cádiz, 2015), dedicated to the distinguished Spanish amphorologist Miguel Beltrán Lloris. This volume aims to reflect on the current state of knowledge about the palaeocontents of Roman amphorae.

This book examines a large group of amphorae from the quarter of St. Theodore in Pula, Croatia, used for drainage and levelling as part of the construction of the terrace of the Roman temple complex and adjacent public thermae. Investigations in 2005-2007 uncovered 2119 amphorae, of which 1754 were extracted and thoroughly documented.

To date, Rome’s intervention to the West from the mid-second century BC has not really been looked at with any sense of overview. Instead, there has been an unconnected series of micro-regional studies looking at particular areas, from the river Ebro in Spain round to Italy on the land front, and from the Balearic Islands to Corsica, Sardinia and even Sicily as regards the seaborne aspect. In contrast, the aim of this volume is to push the historical and archaeological debates about Rome’s expansion beyond these traditional geographical boundaries and the discipline-based previous research. The entire north-western Mediterranean is treated as a micro-region and is addressed using various interdisciplinary approaches. The result is to provide an innovative and comprehensive overview of the north-western Mediterranean in a period of historical crossroads, aided particularly by focusing on the connectivity and integration within this region as two interrelated issues. While Republican Rome enforced itself as an expansive power towards the West, all sorts of polities, military operations and individuals also played a significant role in creating interconnectivity and integration of the north-western Mediterranean into a new hybrid reality. In order to uncover such processes of hybridisation, contributors to this volume were encouraged to focus on the historical, archaeological and numismatic material from several areas within the region, and to incorporate aspects of interdisciplinary methodologies in order to address the region’s military, political, social and economic interconnections with Italy, Rome and each other within the overall period.

The occupation of the territories on both sides of the Rhine was an enormous logistical challenge for the Roman military administration. This book provides an in-depth study of the amphorae from Neuss, providing further understanding of the local area and the logistics of the Roman army and its supply from very distant areas.

The amphorae from Kops Plateau represent a singular example of Roman military supply in northern Europe at a very early date. Their analysis sheds light on trading routes in the Atlantic regions, and from Gaul to Germany.

This book considers mobility in Antiquity in its broadest sense from a multidisciplinary perspective. Although mobility is always present in studies of exchange and cultural diffusion, here it is discussed as a key feature of societies, inherent to their functioning and where cultural, social and economic processes meet.