Roman History

This special issue addresses the possible connections and mutual benefits of examining together two analytic concepts – memory and periphery. These concepts receive much attention in various scholarly discussions, yet they have done so rather independently from each other. The potential applications and utilities of combining memory and periphery and the epistemic insights they provide for various disciplins are presented in the different contributions to this issue.

SCHOLARSHIP ON THE VISUAL CULTURES of ancient and early medieval Eurasia has recently benefited from art history’s renewed interest in questions that transcend political and cultural boundaries.1 Issues of cross-cultural interaction, however, have not enjoyed from art historians working on the ancient and early medieval worlds a level of critical attention commensurate with the number of problems arising from the material. As a result, many of those who work in the arts and cultures of the Mediterranean, Near East, and Asia have found themselves drawn closer together, but without a common vocabulary or debate with which to engage.

The organizing goal of this volume is to highlight these theoretical considerations and provide a forum where art historians of the ancient and medieval worlds can explore these problems of cross-cultural interaction with greater rigor. It does not intend to provide a comprehensive theoretical overview or art historical survey of Eurasian artistic interchange, nor an overarching theory. Rather, it aims to contribute critical perspectives drawn from premodern visual cultures to the wider theoretical conversation. The papers contained herein critically evaluate some of the most important problems encountered in the material: the cross-continental movement and selective appropriation of objects and motifs through trade; the impact of new ways of seeing, being seen, and acting introduced by these objects; the role of art and ritual in negotiations of power among empires; and representations and self-portrayals of ethnicity and gender within and beyond dominant visual cultures.

To order: http://www.asia.si.edu/visitor/arsorientalisVolumeOrder.htm

This paper examines changes and developments in the nature and volume of maritime trade between 200 BC and AD 1000. A database of 1462 Mediterranean shipwrecks shows a rise in numbers of known wrecks from the sixth century BC to a peak in the first century AD, with a sharp drop in the second century, and a further decline in numbers from the fourth to seventh centuries. Significant differences between the wreck dataset and evidence from traded goods on land suggest that one or more factors are distorting the wreck dataset, among which are possibly the increase in the use of barrels as a container during the Roman period, and the relative lack of investigation of the North African coast. While the rise in wreck numbers in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods can be taken as a reflection of an increase in the volume and intensity of maritime trade, the reverse is not straightforwardly true for the Roman and late Roman periods.
Evidence from ship construction and harbour technology however supports the idea that Hellenistic and Roman periods saw the highpoint of Mediterranean maritime trade before the sixteenth century AD. Large ships of several hundred tons, with up to three masts and three decks, are known from these period; but not beforehand, and not afterwards until well into the Middle Ages. One enabling technology for such large ships was the chain pump for the bilge, attested from the late second century BC until the seventh century AD, and then not again until the fifteenth century. These largest ships disappear after the collapse of the western Roman empire, reflecting greater insecurity, more fragmented markets, and a breakdown of institutional incentives for investment in large shipping. The smaller lateen-rigged craft of the early middle ages needed neither a bilge pump nor the large area of sail provided by the square rig.
Harbour technology shows a parallel development. Hellenistic harbour works with enclosing moles enabled the protection of much larger areas of water than had, for example, the Phoenician and Punic cothons or excavated harbour basins; Roman hydraulic concrete further increased the potential for building large artifical harbours with large areas of wharfage and warehousing. Hellenistic and Roman mechanical technology was vital to the smooth functioning of these larger ports—cranes for the rapid loading and unloading of heavy cargoes, and dredging vessels to combat silting and maintain the necessary depth of water.
The driving force behind these changes was an economic expansion made possible by the increasing unification of the Mediterranean in the Hellenistic period and then especially under the authority of Rome, accompanied by institutional developments in laws of contract, maritime loans, sea laws, a single monetary system, and state incentives for investment in shipping. With the breakdown of the Roman empire, many of these institutions also disappeared. The period of the Late Republic and High Empire thus saw the emergence of large merchant shipping, on a scale not seen again until the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, that was made possible by a number of factors: technological, political, and institutional.

The most original and shocking interpretation of Lucretius in the last 40 years.

Thomas Nail argues convincingly and systematically that Lucretius was not an atomist, but a thinker of kinetic flux. In doing so, he completely overthrows the interpretive foundations of modern scientific materialism, whose philosophical origins lie in the atomic reading of Lucretius' immensely influential book De Rerum Natura.

This means that Lucretius was not the revolutionary harbinger of modern science as Greenblatt and others have argued; he was its greatest victim. Nail re-reads De Rerum Natura to offer us a new Lucretius--a Lucretius for today.

The Materiality of Magic is an exciting new book about an aspect of magic that is usually neglected. In the last two decades we have had many books and proceedings of conferences on the concept of magic itself as well as its history, formulas and incantations in antiquity, both in East and West. Much less attention, however, has been paid to the material that was used by the magicians for their conjuring activities. This is the first book of its kind that focuses on the material aspects of magic, such as amulets, drawings, figurines, gems, grimoires, rings, and voodoo dolls. The practice of magic required a specialist expertise that knew how to handle material such as lead, gold, stones, papyrus and terra cotta—material that sometimes was used for specific genres of magic. That is why we present in this well illustrated collection of studies new insights on the materiality of magic in antiquity by studying both the materials used for magic as well as the books in which the expertise was preserved. The main focus of the book is on antiquity, but we complement and contrast our material with examples ranging from the Ancient Near East, via early modern Europe, to the present time.

This article offers a fresh critique of the work of political scientists and historians who have propagated the Eurocentric history of democracy. The paper argues that such work can be dissected and critiqued along several key lines: their reliance on a distinctly patriarchal discourse riddled with prejudices; the assertion that one can understand the history of democracy via the etymology of the word itself; and the deeply Eurocentric
roots of the study of democracy’s past embedded in the canon of Western political thought. The paper concludes by calling on contemporary political scientists and political historians concerned with the history of  democracy to be careful in re-iterating this deeply flawed history of democracy and to instead work towards a history of democracy that retrieves the silenced histories and the forgotten democratic moments that lay behind the roar of Western power.

This volume presents an introduction and nine papers by Roman historians and archaeologists, discussing methods of analysing the organisation and performance of the agrarian sector of the economy of the Mediterranean world under Roman imperial rule in the period c. 100 BC to AD 350. The papers exemplify a range of possible approaches to studying and, within limits, quantifying aspects of agricultural production in the Roman world, and casting light on the structure and performance of that sector of the economy, on the basis of widely different sources of evidence – historical, papyrological and archaeological. The volume aims to move substantially beyond the simple assumption that agriculture was the dominant sector of the ancient economy, and to explore what was special and distinctive about the Roman economy in terms, for example, of state involvement and institutional infrastructure, or the phenomenon of market-oriented surplus production based around the villa system. What is especially new and distinctive about this book is its focus on marshalling a large quantity of evidence, both archaeological and documentary, to address large questions of the structure and performance of the agricultural economy of the Roman world. In particular, it offers a means of analysing investment in agricultural facilities, and tracks variation in patterns across time and across regions within the empire.

Collective identity in the so-called Byzantine Empire is a much-debated issue that has drawn a lot of attention over the years. The current paper attempts a critical assessment of the hitherto main lines of thinking about Byzantine identity, focussing on the period between the seventh and the thirteenth centuries. By proposing an alternative view on source material based on a comprehensive theoretical framework, I argue that a conceptualization of the collective identity of this medieval imperial social order with its constantly fluctuating geopolitical and cultural boundaries needs to be disconnected from essentialist and reifying views on perennial ethnicity as well as from the modern phenomenon of the nation-state.

Ever since Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, barbarian migrations have loomed large in popular perceptions and scholarly discus-sions concerning ‘the Fall of Rome’. In particular, the arrival of Gothic tribes into Roman territory, crossing the Danube in 376, has usually been interpreted as the starting point of the ‘Great Migration Era’, eventually culminating in the end of western Roman emperorship a century later. However, the exact nature, organization, and aims of the Visigoths have been fiercely contested in the renewed surge of literature over the past decade debating the end of the Roman Empire. This piece will look at the different phases of the ‘genesis’ of the Visigoths and their itinerary, from their origins in the Balkans, to their uprising under Alaric, their move to Italy, and their eventual settlement in southwestern Gaul and Spain. We will see that these various episodes cannot be seen as the long trek of an ever-wandering mass of barbarian hordes, but rather the movements of an army constantly changing in composition due to political circumstances. The Visigoths only came into being as a force because of Roman power games, and were only able to forge a kingdom when the Empire became a failed state in its transalpine provinces long after their settlement.

The Roman imperial army recorded the name and origin of each and every soldier in lists. The few surviving scraps of such lists as well as a significant number of inscriptions on stone and bronze (including military diplomas) provide a rich source for determining the ethnic composition of the Roman army. Yet, to which extent did military administrative procedures or individual feelings of ethnic identity determine the way in which soldiers' homes were registered, and how, therefore, can we make historical use of such indications? This contribution comments on recent interpretations of the relevant surviving data and explores its meaning in the wider context of the Roman Empire.

Panoramica storico-archeologica sulle idrovie, le imbarcazioni e la navigazione lungo fiumi e canali padani in età romana, dalla costa adriatica fino alle regioni più interne della Cisalpina.
An archaeological and historical view on the waterways, the boats and the navigation along rivers and canals of Po valley (northern Italy) in Roman Times, from the Adriatic coast up to the more inland regions of the ancient Cisalpina.

En este trabajo se exponen las principales técnicas aplicadas por
los ingenieros romanos en la construcción de sus caminos. Con ello,
se pretende aportar algunos elementos más para la correcta
identificación de las carreteras romanas, auténticas obras de ingeniería
que hoy parecen pasar desapercibidas en favor de otros caminos
más llamativos pero técnicamente más pobres.
Se describirán dichos elementos desde la óptica del técnico constructor
y empleando en lo posible la terminología actual de la ingeniería civil,
mucho más precisa en la descripción que los términos latinos que suelen
utilizar este tipo de trabajos, en algunos casos, de forma incorrecta.
Será una obra descriptiva en la que se expondrán las características
técnico-constructivas de los muchos caminos analizados en buena parte
de Europa occidental.
Se analizarán los aspectos y los elementos técnicos que entran en juego
en el proceso constructivo de las carreteras ejecutadas por los ingenieros
romanos y las diferencias que los separan de los construidos en épocas
posteriores. Dicho análisis irá acompañado de la información gráfica necesaria
para que el lector pueda formarse su propia opinión.
Muchos de los caminos que aquí se expondrán son inéditos y no han
formado parte hasta ahora de ningún trabajo descriptivo de vías romanas,
trabajos que suelen enfocarse más a un interés historiográfico que al técnico
constructivo.
Sin embargo, el interés de los elementos que contienen estos caminos
es lo suficientemente importante como para analizarlos en esta publicación.
Porque con independencia de que en un futuro próximo puedan
formar parte de otras descripciones, relacionadas con las vías a la que pertenecen,
desde el punto de vista de los aspectos constructivos que encierran
son de extraordinario interés y curiosidad para el constructor actual de caminos
y para la ingeniería en general.

More than 20 years after presenting his first interpretation of the mosaic from the House of Aion in a paper entitled “Uwagi na temat mozaiki z Domu Aiona w Nea Paphos (Cypr)” (Meander 9/10, 1987, p. 421-438, in Polish, and translated to English: « The Immortality of the Human Soul and the Dionysiac Mysteries in the 4th Century Allegory [in Connection with the Interpretation of the Mosaic from the “House of Aion” at Paphos in Cyprus]»), where he proposed reading the five mythological panels (1. Leda and Zeus; 2. Dionysus on Mount Nysa; 3. The Dionysian thiasos; 4. Apollo and Marsyas; 5. The Apotheosis of Cassiopeia) as an allegory of the destiny of the human soul and body, starting with conception and ending with the liberation of the soul and its apotheosis, the author now enhances his initial interpretation with numerous reflections concerning the historical context of this work of art, created in the years 320-360.
If, according to the author, the mosaic is a “Hymn” in honour of the pagan gods, Man (his soul) and his place in the (pagan) universe, then at the same time it polemicises with the Christian faith and its God, Jesus Christ.
The author puts forward numerous new solutions relating to the mosaic’s iconography and iconology. Analysis of the mosaic also leads him to propose a solution to the as-yet unanswered question regarding the absence of images of the crucified Christ in Christian art of the 3rd and 4th centuries, up until 420/430, when the first images of Christ on the cross appear.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
1. Research to-date (recap)
2. Description of mosaic (recap)
2.1. Composition of five mythological scenes
2.2. Brief iconographic description of mythological panels
2.3. Outline of individual iconographic elements and their respective roles
2.4. The pagan gods’ air of majesty and dignity as an expression of piety
3. A few words about the pagan reaction
4. An apology of pious human life according to pagan principles and a polemic on the Christian model of Man and his theological idol, Jesus Christ
4.1. Divine intervention in the act of human conception (allusion to/polemic on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary)
4.2. The Epiphany of Dionysus (an allusion to the Epiphany of Christ – Theou Pais)
4.3. The procession and dissemination of Dionysian order (allusion to/polemic on Christ’s entry into Jerusalem)
4.4. The error of Marsyas (polemic on/allusion to the error of Jesus the Messiah): arrest, sentencing for arrogance and lack of piety (asebeia) and condemnation to a martyr’s death
4.5. The anabasis (or anagoge psyches) of a ‘beautiful soul’ (allusion to/polemic on the Ascension of Christ)
5. A few words on the mosaic programme prior to final conclusions
Final conclusions
Key words: mythological mosaic, House of Aion, Nea Paphos, Late Antiquity, Roman art, allegorical narrative, allusive language of mythological pictures, wordplay (Marsyas-Messias), Jesus Christ, anti-Christian polemic, Dionysos, Cassiopeia, Apollon, Nereides, Abstract Personifications, Greek Mythology, ΚΥΠΡΟΣ

This dissertation examines the military and social roles of centurions in the Roman legions during the Republic and Principate.  It combines textual accounts of centurions from such authors as Caesar, Tacitus, and Cassius Dio, as well as epigraphic and archaeological evidence for centurions themselves, including funerary monuments, dedicatory inscriptions, and the physical remains of legionary camps.  I evaluate this evidence, moreover, with reference to contemporary military and critical social theory (which integrates concepts of civil-military relations, performance, and symbolic systems), considering the centurion not only in the context of the Roman legions, but in broader Mediterranean warfare and society.

I argue that centurions were at once the linchpin of the legions’ social and military, hierarchy and the chief representatives of the Roman Emperor’s power at the periphery of the empire. By showing the critical functions of the intermediate members of Rome’s legions, this research challenges scholarship that assumes the supremacy of elite military and political values in shaping Roman attitudes towards warfare and imperialism. I show, moreover, that military authority in the Roman army was often quite fluid, and I identify various contexts in which it was disputed or redefined.

The dissertation is organized into six chapters.  The first chapter describes the centurion’s disciplinary role in the Roman army.  Centurions were responsible for both discipline and punishment in the legions, and by analyzing their reputation for severity, I reassert the significance of corporal punishment in developing Roman military culture.  Chapter Two investigates the centurion’s idealized behaviour in warfare, and how it affected views towards leadership and personal authority in the Roman legions.  The third chapter demonstrates how these seemingly contrasting ideals of severe discipline and outrageous aggressiveness in combat were complementary rather than contradictory practices in Roman attitudes towards warfare, and that this perceived balance was crucial to the development of the legion’s ranks and organization during the Principate.

Chapter Four evaluates legionary centurions’ rank and social status in the legions, including their career paths, military expertise, and training.  Using papyrological and epigraphic evidence in particular, I show how centurions identified themselves as part of a corporate body, distinct from both the rank-and-file and aristocratic leadership.  The fifth chapter explains their intermediate position in the legion’s social hierarchy between soldiers and aristocratic commanders, and how this position was important to integrating new soldiers into the Roman military community.  Finally, Chapter Six assesses the political and administrative roles of centurions in imperial administration, arguing that they were the chief representation of Roman power among local populations at the periphery of Rome’s empire.

In organizing the chapters according to the centurions’ various statuses and functions (e.g., combat, institutional discipline, camp management, diplomacy, regional administration), the dissertation concomitantly traces the social, political, and institutional development of the centurionate from Republic to Principate, including its cultural representations.  I demonstrate that although the centurions’ traditional role on the battlefield increasingly gave way to more bureaucratic duties, they conversely became more emblematic of Roman martial traditions in their vestments, equipment, and cultural image – a military anachronism, and reflective of a broader trend in which the vestiges of an idealized Republican army endured in the professional legions of the later Principate.  This dissertation, therefore explores not only the functions, but the identity and self-image of these officers.

This dissertation contributes to scholarship in two fundamental ways.  Primarily, it is the first study that combines and analyzes such a broad array of textual, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence for centurions, including duties, characterizations, and expectations. In doing so, the dissertation offers the first comprehensive, scholarly study of legionary centurions in the Roman Empire. Second, the dissertation demonstrates that this analysis of Roman intermediate ranks and social positions is crucial to understanding how attitudes towards discipline, violence, masculinity, and personal authority were manifested both within the Roman military community and throughout the Roman Empire.

The article focuses on the author's research on the chronographical background of the Zodiac Mosaic Calendar in Synagogue at Hammath-Tiberias. He researched to find the origin of mosaic decoration, the twelve zodiac sign, the four seasons, and Helios, which was found in synagogues in two parts of Palestine, Galilee and Judah. The chronograph of the mosaic art was extensively debated. The author further studied the history of Palestine Jews in the 4th century. Most of the work was done during the period of Hillel II.
The author concludes that the mosaic from the Stratum IIa synagogue with the Zodiac Calendar was executed in the time of Hillel II, who said to have died around 365 CE. He proposes the new date of the execution of the Zodiac Mosaic from Hammat-Tiberia (Stratum IIa) after the earthquake in 363, that is, in 364 or 365.

Augustus, it is generally held, reshaped the auxilia of the Roman army by replacing the traditional auxiliary forces by newly established, standardised and permanent formations named alae, cohortes, and cohortes equitatae. Together with the legions he then moved these forces to the outer provinces. However, there is no direct evidence for a single measure or coherent reform of Augustus’ to establish a unitary auxiliary system. The pertinent sources rather suggests that his measures consisted of reducing (but not completely replacing) traditional military structures in favour of formations that had been developed during the Late Republic. Thus, both old-style (viz. ‘irregular’ or ‘ad hoc’) contingents, paid and supplied by their tribes and communities from within provincial territory and from beyond, and new-style (viz. ‘regular’ or ‘professional’) auxiliary units that were paid and supplied by Rome and subjected to disciplina Augusta, continued to make up the auxilia of the Roman imperial army, albeit in revised orders of magnitude. The Augustan reorganization of the auxilia necessarily entailed a review and in many cases also adjustments of the existing relations between Rome and its subjects and allies. The present paper argues that in the light of the extant evidence this is most likely to have taken place in the aftermath of the battle of Actium. Service conditions, however, were changed only in 13 B.C.

This Overview is from the book 'Pliny The Younger: His Words & Phrases' (Pliny As The New Testament Paul), by Roman Piso. This work details the way in which the Letters (Epistles) & Panegyricus of Pliny The Younger should be studied (in contrast to how it had been studied in the past and is still being studied currently).

Paul has been regarded as being uncritical of the Roman Empire for a long time, not least because of his apparent call to obey the state in Rom 13:1-7. However, recent scholarship has questioned this assumption by pointing to "hidden criticism" in the letters of the apostle. But how can we decide, in a methodologically sound way, whether such a counter-imperial message lies beneath the surface of the text? On the basis of insights from the philosophy of science, Christoph Heilig suggests several analytical steps for examining this paradigm. He concludes that the hypothesis that we can identify critical "echoes" of the Roman Empire in Paul's letters needs to be modified for it to be maintained. In particular, concern over the danger of overt criticism and subsequent persecution do not sufficiently justify this interpretative hypothesis. Nevertheless, Heilig concludes that the search for a counter-imperial subtext in Paul could turn out to be heuristically fruitful so long as the limitations of the approach are heeded. Hence, a re-evaluation of Pauline passages in light of Paul's engagement with ideas from his Roman environment is encouraged.

This paper seeks to synthesize descriptions of Roman infantry in the literary sources, in particular Polybius 18.30, with visual depictions of Roman soldiers in combat and on parade. Arguing that select visual representations of Roman soldiers confirm Polybius’ statements that Roman heavy infantry fought, at least part of the time, in an open order formation, it also claims that the relative positioning of soldier pairs in many examples of Roman military artwork reveals the tactical mechanism of transition from a defensive close-order to an open order spacing, simply by having every other man (or infantry file) step forward to create a matrix of soldiers arranged in a checkerboard formation.

This dissertation argues that martial virtues and images of the soldier’s life represented an essential aspect of early Byzantine masculine ideology. It contends that in many of the visual and literary sources from the fourth to the seventh centuries CE, conceptualisations of the soldier’s life and the ideal manly life were often the same. By taking this stance, the dissertation challenges the view found in many recent studies on Late Roman masculinity that a Christian ideal of manliness based on extreme ascetic virtues and pacifism had superseded militarism and courage as the dominant component of hegemonic masculine ideology.

This volume presents a collection of studies focussing on population and settlement patterns in the Roman empire in the perspective of the economic development of the Mediterranean world between 100 BC and AD 350. The analyses offered here highlight the issues of regional and temporal variation in Italy, Spain, Britain, Egypt, Crete, and Asia Minor from classical Greece to the early Byzantine period. The chapters fall into two main groups, the first dealing with the evidence for rural settlement, as revealed by archaeological field surveys, and the attendant methodological problems of extrapolating from that evidence a view of population; and the second with city populations and the phenomenon of urbanization. They proceed to consider hierarchies of settlement in the characteristic classical pattern of city plus territory, and the way in which those entities are defined from the highest to the lowest level: the empire as 'city of Rome plus territory', then regional and local hierarchies, and, more precisely, the identity and the nature of the 'instruments' which enables them to function in economic cohesion.

Introduction:
http://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/academic/pdf/13/9780199602353_chapter1.pdf

This volume contains seventeen papers by leading Roman historians and archaeologists, discussing approaches to and methods of analysing the performance of the economy of the Mediterranean world under Roman imperial rule in the period c. 100 BC to AD 350. An introductory chapter defines the constituents and characteristics of economic integration, growth and decline in the Roman economy, and the ways in which quantifiable and proxy data can be used to measure them. This is followed by analyses of approaches in specific economic sectors: demography, urbanisation and settlement patterns, the agrarian economy, patterns of trade and commerce, metal supply and coinage. The volume offers a comprehensive survey of the opportunities for advancing understanding of the economic and technological development of the Mediterranean world under Roman rule by combining old and new evidence from archaeological and documentary sources.

Maria Filomena Barata
Janeiro de 2022

Este trabalho de recolha bibliográfica foi iniciado com o mestrado da signatária, em 1997, dedicado à cidade romana de Miróbriga, Santiago do Cacém, tendo sido parcialmente actualizado até Dezembro de 2022, data em que decidi publicá-lo, pese todas as lacunas que se possam vir a detetar, pois a tarefa é hercúlea.
Perdoar-me-ão os investigadores a incapacidade de não ter conseguido abraçar todos os trabalhos publicados sobre este tema.
Pese tratar-se de um trabalho que, tenho plena consciência, será sempre incompleto, pois está permanentemente desactualizado, fruto da constante investigação, atrevemo-me, ainda assim, a partilhar a informação recolhida, ao longo de anos, tendo em vista a sua consulta fundamentalmente por alunos e cidadãos que se interessem pela temática, pois não se trata de um estudo exaustivo sobre as Cidades Romanas, mas somente um livro de consulta, para quem as deseje conhecer melhor.
Optei pela chamada alfabética das cidades, sabendo que isso cria dificuldades a uma visão da sua distribuição geográfica, mas penso ser útil para quem faz uma procura direccionada e o recurso ao mapa ajudará a colmatar a dificuldade.
Na altura em que decidi dar-lhe corpo, pensava também na criação de uma rede das cidades da Lusitânia, a exemplo de outros Itinerários que tive a felicidade de poder acompanhar directamente, esperando que este trabalho pudesse contribuir para a elaboração de uma memória descritiva e uma caracterização sumária dos núcleos urbanos de origem romana. Infelizmente, apesar de ter existido temporariamente uma esperança que tal ideia se concretizasse, tal não aconteceu ainda.
No entanto, em fase recente já se consolidaram algumas experiências de constituição de redes, a exemplo do projecto Lisboa Romana – Felicitas Iulia Olisipo  - e ainda o das cidades integradas na " Roma Atlantiaca’ . Em boa hora isso acontece.
Continua, no entanto, a sentir-se a falta da disponibilização de um banco de dados de toda a informação existente sobre as cidades e o território, em Época Romana.
Não posso, contudo, deixar de lembrar aqui todos os trabalhos pioneiros e incontornáveis de Jorge de Alarcão, de Vasco Mantas, de Carlos Fabião, e de outros investigadores, em torno da herança e das cidades romanas, inúmeras vezes mencionados neste levantamento bibliográfico. Mas também foram também pilares do conhecimento sobre a urbanidade outros trabalhos de grande envergadura que me acompanharam nos últimos anos, designadamente os mais recentes, como o Lusitânia Romana, Origem de dois Povos, Ciudad y foro en Lusitania Romana (Cidade e foro na Lusitânia Romana), T. Nogales Basarrate (Ed.).  2010. Mérida, ou do publicado em 2022, em torno das Ciudades Romanas de Hispania, também coordenado por Trinidad Nogales Basarrate.
Trata-se, assim, neste caso específico, apenas de uma sumária apresentação das cidades da Lusitânia que se localizam em território actualmente português, continuando a desejar que, no futuro, se consolide uma rede de conhecimento e de partilha pública de tão importantes vestígios do nosso território, bem como de toda a informação disponível a elas associada.
Felizmente, muitíssimo trabalho se tem publicado, nos últimos anos, em torno das cidades. Mas, por se tratar, fundamentalmente, de uma recolha bibliográfica sobre as cidades, contruída para quem procura informação, não desisti, ainda assim, de o editar.
Será feita, em primeiro lugar, uma pequena contextualização sobre o Mundo Urbano e respectiva bibliografia geral e, junto a cada entrada específica, será então listada a bibliografia respectiva.
Gostaria de ter feito uma ficha síntese de cada uma delas, aliás iniciei-a, mas há demasiado tempo que trazia estes levantamentos comigo, tendo-os mesmo disponibilizado online, e não desejaria prolongar mais esta tarefa. Para futuros trabalhos poderei, após a sua publicação, partilhar todos os elementos que constam deste levantamento.
Tentarei, em paralelo, dar informação sobre os Museus ou Centros Interpretativos de proximidade que tenham acervo específico de cada uma das cidades, não esquecendo o Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, que, embora actualmente em fase de remodeção, ao abrigo do PRR, tem representadas nas suas colecções inúmeras cidades romanas, a exemblo de Balsa, Conimbriga, Olisipo, Troia, Myrtilis, Ammaia, entre outras.
A todos os colegas que apoiaram este trabalho - não podendo esquecer a constante Lídia Fernandes, por todos os seus contributos e, particularmente, no que respeita a Olisipo, que, dada a sua grandeza será assinada também com a sua colaboração, bem como Jacinta Bugalhão que me permitiu manter actualizada quanto à bibliografia sobre os trabalhos arqueológicos desenvolvidos em Lisboa, a Guilherme Cardoso, pelo apoio constante ao longo do tempo, a Jorge António, Lígia Rafael, José Carlos Quaresma, José Ruivo, Armando Redentor, Pedro Miguel Salvado e Jorge Oliveira - agradeço a pronta disponibilidade em contribuir com sugestões enriquecedoras.
Aos companheiros dos anos passados em Miróbriga, obrigada pela aprendizagem conjunta.
O meu agradecimento ainda a todos os arqueólogos cujas publicações são também a base de sustentação deste trabalho, pois sem a sua investigação esta síntese não existiria.
Agradeço ainda a Raul Losada e Lígia Rafael a disponibilidade que manifestaram em ceder para este trabalho algumas fotografias da sua autoria.

This paper sets out an ambitious critique of contemporary political scientists, political historians and others concerned with the history of democracy. It argues that overwhelmingly the history of democracy relies on an overtly Eurocentric narrative that emphasizes the keystone moments of Western civilization. According to this narrative, democracy has a clear trajectory that can be traced from ancient experiments with participatory government in Greece and to a lesser extent in Rome, through the development of the British parliament, the American Declaration of Independence and the French Revolution, and then finally onto the triumphant march of the liberal model of democracy across the globe over the last 200 years, particularly under Western tutelage. Histories of democracy that focus exclusively on these events not only privilege Europe and its successful colonies, but also miss the broader human story of the struggle for and achievement of democracy.

This presents us with a distinct challenge. For those whose heritage does not include a direct link to Greek assemblies, the American Congress or the French Revolution, the 'standard history of democracy' provides a distant and exclusive narrative, which limits one's ability to embrace democracy. This paper concludes by noting that, as democracy spreads out across the world today, political scientists not only need to break down the intellectual orthodoxy that democracy has exclusively Western roots, but also to embrace a more global view of democracy as a political practise that has been present at various times and in sometimes unfamiliar ways in the complex histories and rich cultural traditions of most of the people of the earth.

Throughout history, the Druids have always been seen as sorcerers who had a strong bond with nature. Ancestral knowledge holders within Celtic society, directed all religious activity as the highest authority linked to the gods, practiced human sacrifices and festivals organized as Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnasad or Samain, etc.. all aspects of which are discussed in this article.

This paper discusses new, revised, and neglected sources for imperial Rome's economic, diplomatic, and military activities in the Red Sea  basin and on the Indian West coast. It also explores Rome's military and diplomatic investment into the security of crucial trade routes as a means to further long distance trade in order to guarantee high levels of tax income.