The spatial turn has brought forward new analytical imperatives about the importance of space in the relationship between physical and social networks of meaning. This volume explores this in relation to approaches and methodologies in the study of urban space in Roman Italy. As a consequence of these new imperatives, sociological studies on ancient Roman cities are flourishing, demonstrating a new set of approaches that have developed separately from "traditional" historical and topographical analyses. Rethinking the Roman City represents a convergence of these different approaches to propose a new interpretive model, looking at the Roman city and one of its key elements: the forum. After an introductory discussion of methodological issues, internationally-know specialists consider three key sites of the Roman world – Rome, Ostia and Pompeii. Chapters focus on physical space and/or the use of those spaces to inter-relate these different approaches. The focus then moves to the Forum Romanum, considering the possible analytical trajectories available (historical, topographical, literary, comparative and sociological), and the diversity of possible perspectives within each of these, moving towards an innovative understanding of the role of the forum within the Roman city. This volume will be of great value to scholars of ancient cities across the Roman world, well as historians of urban society and development throughout the ancient world.

This book offers a new perspective on the evolution of cities across the Roman Empire in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

Rethinking Ostia presents an archaeological and spatial approach to Roman urbanism, focused on Rome's port city. Following a scaled approach, the book examines different aspects of Ostia's urban landscape, applying Space Syntax's methods for spatial analysis to the urban neighbourhood of one city block - Insula IV ii, selected buildings (Ostia's guild seats), and the entire street system. All through the book a 'Space First' policy has been followed, combining archaeological research with today's insights into urban planning. The heart of this scalar approach is the complete re-working of the archaeological evidence and its interpretative potential for the city block, Insula IV ii. This neighbourhood enjoys an excellent location and boasts a striking variety of buildings including the well-known Terme del Faro, the Caseggiato dell'Ercole, and the Caupona del Pavone, but till now has not been studied in its entirety and within its own social and spatial context. Through a careful reconstruction of the Insula's development over the first three centuries AD, the work fills a lacuna - but more importantly it reveals the way everyday life was structured in the city, and how this evolved over time in response to internal and external influences on the lives of its inhabitants

In this book, Adam Rogers examines the late Roman phases of towns in Britain. Critically analysing the archaeological notion of decline, he focuses on public buildings, which played an important role, administrative and symbolic, within urban complexes. Arguing against the interpretation that many of these monumental civic buildings were in decline or abandoned in the later Roman period, he demonstrates that they remained purposeful spaces and important centres of urban life. Through a detailed assessment of the archaeology of late Roman towns, this book argues that the archaeological framework of decline does not permit an adequate and comprehensive understanding of the towns during this period. Moving beyond the idea of decline, this book emphasises a longer-term perspective for understanding the importance of towns in the later Roman period.

Traditional representations of Constantinople during the period from the First Council of Constantinople (381) to the Council of Chalcedon (451) portray a see that was undergoing exponential growth in episcopal authority and increasing in its confidence to assert supremacy over the churches of the east as well as to challenge Rome's authority in the west. Central to this assessment are two canons - canon 3 of 381 and canon 28 of 451 - which have for centuries been read as confirmation of Constantinople's ecclesiastical ambition and evidence for its growth in status. However, through close consideration of the political, episcopal, theological, and demographic characteristics unique to early Constantinople, this book argues that the city's later significance as the centre of eastern Christianity and foil to Rome has served to conceal deep institutional weaknesses that severely inhibited Constantinople's early ecclesiastical development. By unpicking teleological approaches to Constantinople's early history and deconstructing narratives synonymous with the city's later Byzantine legacy, this book offers an alternative reading of this crucial seventy-year period. It demonstrates that early Constantinople's bishops not only lacked the institutional stability to lay claim to geo-ecclesiastical leadership but that canon 3 and canon 28, rather than being indicative of Constantinople's rising episcopal strength, were in fact attempts to address deeply destructive internal weaknesses that had plagued the city's early episcopal and political institutions.

Explores the vital links between social order and cosmology by examining the concept of foedus in Roman religion and literature.

What is the study of Roman history all about? What are its aims? What is its place within the discipline of Classics? These and many other questions are asked by Jerry Toner who has seen many changes in the field of Roman history since he first emerged from Cambridge as a budding Roman historian. This short book looks at the transformations that have taken place in research methodology and in the nature of the discipline in recent times. One for the undergraduate.