Region | Italy > Lazio | American Journal of Archaeology

Villa Estates and Malaria Risk in Roman Central Italy

website — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Malaria has persisted in Italy since the Roman Imperial period, perhaps since as early as the second century BCE. Yet little is known regarding Romans’ everyday interactions with this historically oppressive mosquito-borne disease, knowledge of which is crucial for understanding the broader significance of malaria in Roman history. This is in part due to the limitations of current approaches for studying ancient malaria, which focus primarily on diagnosing specific incidences of infection. Drawing on landscape epidemiology and contemporary malariology, this article shifts focus toward a more holistic understanding of the multifaceted determinants of malaria and its transmission in antiquity, with particular emphasis on Roman villa estates in central Italy. It is argued that, despite the presence of malaria and the naturally high risk of transmission throughout much of the region, villa estates very likely reduced local risk of malaria transmission by utilizing a suite of agricultural practices that reduced local mosquito densities and separated susceptible hosts and malaria’s mosquito vectors. In addition to improving our understanding of the specific entanglement between Roman villa estate agriculture and malaria in central Italy, this article demonstrates the benefit of an interdisciplinary approach and the interpretive utility of archaeological evidence for ancient disease studies more broadly.

The post Villa Estates and Malaria Risk in Roman Central Italy appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Defying Death: A New Interpretation of the Tomb of the Bulls, Tarquinia

website — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The wall decoration of the Tomb of the Bulls (540–520 BCE) at Tarquinia is a well-cited example of Early Archaic Etruscan tomb painting, incorporating imagery from Orientalizing iconography and combining it with a new emphasis on figural representation emanating from the East Greek world. Most previous scholarship has suggested that the tomb’s paintings cannot be read coherently and that they stand alone in the broader, more intelligible, tradition of Etruscan wall painting. This paper offers a fresh reading of the tomb’s imagery through tracing the possible prototypes that the artist and patron used for formulating the iconography. Central to this reading is a consideration of the architecture of the tomb and the design of the imagery in relation to the architecture. New interpretations are proposed for the Achilles and Troilos scene and for the two representations of sexual activity on the rear wall of the tomb’s antechamber. The paintings pertain to broader concerns relating to fertility and fecundity, which were critical issues in an aristocratic society. When the tomb is interpreted considering the influences underpinning its creation, namely vase painting and architectural iconography, it is possible to determine a coherent and rational message.

The post Defying Death: A New Interpretation of the Tomb of the Bulls, Tarquinia appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

The Docimium Marbles of the Sculptures of the Grotto of Tiberius at Sperlonga

aja — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 13:40:44 +0000

Seventeen marble samples drawn from the Scylla, Polyphemos, and Pasquino Groups, the Theft of the Palladium statue group, and the Ganymede statue discovered at Sperlonga in 1957 were investigated scientifically and proved to be all Docimium marble from the quarries of İscehisar near Afyon. New quarry data now available for the lithos lartios of Rhodes and for the white marble of the island of Kos and the quarries of Göktepe near Aphrodisias allow us to rule out old hypotheses as well as newly discovered sources of marble. These results as well as technical details about the manufacture of the sculptures seem to fully cohere with Andreae’s hypothesis that the Sperlonga groups were made on-site during the Tiberian age. They also tend to exclude alternative chronologies. The same arguments, however, make it difficult to believe that the Sperlonga sculptures and the Laocoön, thought to be made by the same Rhodian sculptors (Plin., HN 36.37) joining together several blocks of Parian Lychnites, are coeval. This apparent incongruity is briefly discussed, and the possibility of reconciling prosopographical and art historical considerations with technical marble data is examined.

The post The Docimium Marbles of the Sculptures of the Grotto of Tiberius at Sperlonga appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Athenian Eye Cups in Context

aja — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 13:40:06 +0000

Since the late 1970s, scholars have explored Athenian eye cups within the presumed context of the symposion, privileging a hypothetical Athenian viewer and themes of masking and play. Such emphases, however, neglect chronology and distribution, which reveal the complexity of the pottery trade during the late sixth and the fifth centuries B.C.E. Although many eye cups have been found in Athens—namely on the Acropolis and mainly from late in the series—the majority come from funerary, sanctuary, and domestic contexts to the west and east. Most of the earliest, largest, and highest-quality examples were exported to Etruria, where the symposion as the Athenians knew it did not exist. Workshops and traders were clearly aware of their audiences at home and abroad and shifted production and distribution of vases to suit. The Etruscan consumers of eye cups made conscious choices regarding their purchase and use. Tomb assemblages from Vulci and elsewhere reveal their multivalent significance: they are emblematic of banqueting in life and death, apotropaic entities, likely with ritual uses. Rather than being signs of hellenization in a foreign culture, Athenian eye cups—like all Greek vases—were brought into Etruria, then integrated, manipulated, and even transformed to suit local needs and beliefs.

The post Athenian Eye Cups in Context appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Archaeological Research at Gabii, Italy: The Gabii Project Excavations, 2009–2011

aja — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:58:21 +0000

Since the summer of 2009, the ancient site of Gabii has been the focus of excavations conducted by the University of Michigan. Stratigraphic investigations near the urban core are revealing the complex sequence of occupation in this Latin city, which emerged in the Early Iron Age. The spatial distribution of intramural burials of the Orientalizing and Archaic periods shows that the settlement was initially organized in separate habitation clusters. The city was provided with monumental fortifications by the late seventh or early sixth century B.C.E., but its layout was radically modified in the fifth century B.C.E., and a uniform orthogonal plan was imposed across the entire site. Three domestic structures dating to the Middle Republican period have been identified in two of the city blocks. Significant modifications of this sector of Gabii are attested from the first century B.C.E. Excavation data confirm that the city began to decline dramatically at this time. Areas in the upper part of the site were taken up for industrial activities or transformed into burial grounds and were finally abandoned in the Late Imperial period. These preliminary results document how ancient cities in the region developed and decayed; the findings have also provided the basis for further research on-site in 2012–2014.

The post Archaeological Research at Gabii, Italy: The Gabii Project Excavations, 2009–2011 appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

A Domus in the Subura of Rome from the Republic Through Late Antiquity

aja — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:53:38 +0000

The crypt of the church of Santi Sergio e Bacco on Piazza Madonna dei Monti in Rome preserves the partial remains of a Roman structure showing multiple building phases. Tuff piers approximately 5 m tall belong to the atrium of a republican atrium house, with the surrounding rooms reflected in the adjacent spaces of the modern basement. During the Imperial period, this atrium was closed off, and a bath complex was added in adjacent rooms. The rooms preserve marble revetment, figural painted plaster of various styles, and floors of opus sectile. As a residential structure with a long occupation history, the house clarifies our impression of the lower Subura and its development as a neighborhood. When considered with other examples of atrium houses nearby, a standard lot size and house form for elite residential development can be suggested for the Subura and the southern Viminal slopes during the Republican period. Later renovations to the structure provide material evidence that a socially mixed population continued to occupy the valley of the Subura, and they demonstrate the persistent importance of the Argiletum as the primary thoroughfare of the area from the Imperial period through late antiquity.

The post A Domus in the Subura of Rome from the Republic Through Late Antiquity appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

The Christianization of Space Along the Via Appia: Changing Landscape in the Suburbs of Rome

aja — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:56:39 +0000

This article examines the changes caused by the Christianization of the area along the Via Appia between the third and seventh century and its implications for our knowledge and understanding of the evolution of the suburban landscape in the Late Antique city. During the mid-Imperial period this area was characterized by a complex system of roads, residential districts, farms, and funerary monuments. Starting from the late second century, it was increasingly devoted to the creation of “Christian spaces,” first in the form of surface and subterranean funerary complexes, and later with churches and monuments associated with the presence of the martyrs' tombs. In the fourth and early fifth century, the presence of Christian cemeteries, between the Aurelian Wall and the third milestone, contributed also to the growth of secondary access roads to the funerary complexes.

The post The Christianization of Space Along the Via Appia: Changing Landscape in the Suburbs of Rome appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

Public Space in Late Antique Ostia: Excavation and Survey in 2008–2011

aja — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:13:10 +0000

This article presents the work of the University of Kent section of the Late Antique Ostia Project, which since 2008 has studied the evolution of public space in the central area of the city, in conjunction with the Humboldt University of Berlin. This research has sought to detect and document Late Antique remains within a clearance-excavated classical site using minimally invasive methods. It has demonstrated that Ostia saw a level of investment in secular public buildings that surpassed other cities in Italy outside of Rome. Thus, Russell Meiggs’ view that the construction of Portus led to the demise of Ostia, in terms of its political and economic vitality, now seems unlikely. Until the mid fifth century, Ostia was still significant as a center of political representation that followed the urban fashions of the age, which now came from the eastern Mediterranean rather than from Rome. English summaries of the work of the Berlin team are provided by its director, Axel Gering; that work is published in greater detail in a parallel report in Römische Mitteilungen.

The post Public Space in Late Antique Ostia: Excavation and Survey in 2008–2011 appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

A New Plan for an Ancient Italian City: Gabii Revealed

website — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:42:00 +0000

The city of Gabii was one of the main centers of ancient Latium, yet very little of the settlement is known through archaeology. The site has been the focus of only sporadic exploration, and the available evidence for the urban history and development of the city is extremely fragmentary. New fieldwork has investigated the urban area with magnetometry and core sampling in preparation for a major campaign of new excavations. The results show that Gabii was orthogonally planned around a main, hitherto unknown thoroughfare and that significant structures and associated stratifications are relatively well preserved. The new work has the potential to yield much-needed information, not just about this important center but also about first-millennium B.C.E. urbanism in the Italian peninsula.

The post A New Plan for an Ancient Italian City: Gabii Revealed appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.

A Hall for Hercules at Ostia and a Farewell to the Late Antique “Pagan Revival”

website — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:00:00 +0000

In 1945, Herbert Bloch published an inscription from Ostia recording the restoration of a cellam Herc[ulis] in the late fourth century and suggested that it heralded the last pagan revival in the western Roman empire. Social historians now largely dispute this thesis, yet the details of the Ostian evidence remain unchallenged. This article demonstrates that the Hercules inscription, which Bloch attributed to the so-called Temple of Hercules (1.15.5) at Ostia, more probably records the restoration of a bath complex once decorated with the labors of Hercules. Given the persistence of traditional religious practices now known to have characterized the Late Antique city, neither the restoration of the baths nor the temple need bear the weight of religious revivalism. Evidence suggests that the urban image of fourth-century Ostia remained inconspicuously traditional, even as Christianity gained a more visible presence in the town.

The post A Hall for Hercules at Ostia and a Farewell to the Late Antique “Pagan Revival” appeared first on American Journal of Archaeology.