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IMC 2015: Sessions

Session 1120: Transformation and Renewal in Post-Roman and Early Medieval Societies, II: The Roman and Post-Roman Western Mediterranean

Wednesday 8 July 2015, 11.15-12.45

Organisers:Guido M. Berndt, Lehrstuhl für Alte Geschichte, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Laury Sarti, Geschichte der Spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin
Roland Steinacher, Lehrstuhl für Alte Geschichte, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Moderator/Chair:Thomas Brown, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
Paper 1120-aArchaeological Visions of Roman and Post-Roman Lambaesis
(Language: English)
Bonnie Effros, Center for the Humanities & the Public Sphere, University of Florida, Gainesville
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Epigraphy, Medievalism and Antiquarianism, Military History
Paper 1120-bThe Western Roman Senate in Ostrogothic Times: The Interlinking of Roman Tradition and Ostrogothic Rule
(Language: English)
Christine Radtki, Seminar für Alte Geschichte, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen / Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, Heidelberg
Index terms: Administration, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought
Paper 1120-cThe Provinces of Ostrogothic Italy
(Language: English)
Jonathan Arnold, Department of History, University of Tulsa
Index terms: Administration, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought
Abstract

This series of five sessions aims at discussing the current state of research on reform and renewal in the transforming Roman West in the Early Middle Ages. The post-Roman world emerged from ancient structures but at the same time it was based on new political, social and economic factors and features. These new and old elements – both Roman and non-Roman – were continuously renewed and reformed during the subsequent centuries, while Rome remained an important constitutive force to the post-Roman societies under barbarian leadership, as those emerging in Italy, Spain, Gaul, Britain and Africa. The aim of these sessions is to present and discuss current pieces of research by focussing on key aspects and questions related to this gradual change.

Paper -a:
Following the conquest of Constantine in October 1837, French officers and civilian archaeologists in the Algerian colony observed a wealth of Roman antiquities and Latin inscriptions. One of the places that attracted the most consistent attention was Lambaesis (Tazzoult), the site of several camps of the Third Augustan Legion. In the 1840s and 1850s, a variety of figures traveled to Lambaesis, including Colonel Jean-Luc Carbuccia, commander of the Foreign Legion in the subdivision of Batna and an enthusiastic archaeologist, and the epigrapher Leon Renier, who published thousands of inscriptions at Lambaesis shortly before French authorities built a penitentiary atop the ancient ruins. In this paper I will discuss the legacy of colonial archaeology at Lambaesis and how it has shaped our knowledge of Roman and post-Roman Lambaesis.

Paper -b:
This paper examines the survival of the Western Roman Senate as an institution during the Ostrogothic period of Italy’s history. The Ostrogothic reign can be characterised as a time of high senatorial influence with regard to social status, economic power and political participation, overshadowed by an rivalry within the senatorial order, which is evident in many challenging political situations that could afflict the rule of the Amal kings. This paper therefore tries to analyse the main reasons for the senatorial behaviour manifest during the Ostrogothic reign and outline the relationship between the new Gothic leaders of the Italian prefecture and its old elite.

Paper -c:
The Ostrogothic kingdom is synonymous with Italy. However, at its greatest extent it had conquered or annexed a number of former Roman territories located in Western Illyricum and the Prefecture of the Gauls. Not since the mid 5th century had a realm of such magnitude existed in the West, and both the Ostrogothic administration and its Italian subjects, this paper will demonstrate, celebrated these achievements as a bona fide imperial restoration.