Roman Military Architecture on the Frontiers: Armies and Their Architecture in Late Antiquity

153 Pages·2015·8.18 MB·English

by  Rob Collins

Roman Military Architecture
on the Frontiers
Armies and Their Architecture
in Late Antiquity
Rob Collins, Matthew Symonds
and Meike Weber
Oxbow Books
Oxford & Philadelphia
Published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by
OXBOW BOOKS
10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW
and in the United States by
OXBOW BOOKS
908 Darby Road, Havertown, PA 19083
© Oxbow Books and the individual authors 2015
Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-78297-990-6
Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78297-991-3
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Collins, Rob, 1977-
Roman military architecture on the frontiers : armies and their architecture in late antiquity / Rob Collins, Matt
Symonds and Meike Weber.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-78297-990-6 (hardback)
1. Fortification, Roman. 2. Military architecture--Rome. 3. Rome--Military antiquities. I. Symonds, Matthew F. A.
II.Weber, Meike. III. Title.
UG405.C65 2015
725’.180937--dc23
2015022492
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
from the publisher in writing.
Printed in the United Kingdom by Berforts Information Press
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Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate Group
Front cover: Gasr Kh 14 in the Wadi Kharab (in the Tripolitanian pre-desert), © John Dore, used with the kind
permission of his estate.
CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables v
List of Contributors vii
Acknowledgements viii
List of Abbreviations ix
1. Late Roman military architecture: An introduction 1
Rob Collins and Meike Weber
2. Making sense of the frontier armies in late antiquity: An historian’s perspective 6
Conor Whately
3. Economic reduction or military reorganization? Granary demolition and conversion
in later 4th-century northern Britannia 18
Rob Collins
4. Late Roman military buildings at Binchester (Co. Durham) 32
David Petts
5. Fourth-century fortlets in Britain: sophisticated systems or desperate measures? 46
Matthew Symonds
6. The late Roman coastal fort of Oudenburg (Belgium): Spatial and functional transformations
within the fort walls 62
Sofie Vanhoutte
7. The legionary fortress of Vindobona (Vienna, Austria): Change in function and design
in the late Roman period 76
Martin Mosser
8. The dwindling legion: Architectural and administrational changes in Novae (Moesia inferior)
on the threshold of late antiquity 90
Martin Lemke
iv Contents
9. Severan Castra, Tetrarchic Quadriburgia, Justinian Coenobia, and Ghassanid Diyarat:
Patterns of transformation of limes Arabicus forts during late antiquity 98
Ignacio Arce
10. Castra or centenaria? Interpreting the later forts of the North African frontier 123
Alan Rushworth
11. In defence of the late empire 140
David Breeze
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
List of Figures
Figure 6.2: An aerial view of Oudenburg
Figure 3.1: Hadrian’s Wall in the 4th century Figure 6.3: The city center of Oudenburg showing the location of
Figure 3.2: The horreum structures from the principal sites under the different excavation campaigns on the fort area
consideration Figure 6.4: A simplified excavation plan of the fifth fort period
Figure 3.3: The 3rd and 4th century plans of the double-granary Figure 6.5: A view of the hypocaust floor from the fifth fort period
at Housesteads Figure 6.6: A section through the double well of the 4th century AD
Figure 3.4: The 4th century plans of Building XV at Housesteads Figure 6.7: The large wooden water-basin, 4.5 m square
Figure 3.5: The 4th and 5th century plans of the east and west Figure 6.8: An excavation plan of the fifth fort period
granaries at Vindolanda
Figure 3.6: The sequence of transformation of the granaries at Figure 7.1: Vindobona – the Late Roman legionary fortress with
Birdoswald sites numbered
Figure 3.7: A visualization of the second timber structure at Figure 7.2: The Acaunus altar from Vindobona
Birdoswald as a hall Figure 7.3: The western intervallum and via sagularis of the
Vindobona legionary fortress
Figure 4.1: Location plan of Binchester Roman fort Figure 7.4: A map of Pannonia I and the eastern part of Noricum
Figure 4.2: A geophysical survey of Binchester, showing the earlier ripense
and later phases of fort Figure 7.5: Late Roman graves and stamped tiles sites of Vindobona
Figure 4.3: An outline plan of the Phase 1 barrack block Figure 7.6: 1st- to 3rd-century tombstone findspots
Figure 4.4: A vertical photograph of excavations within the barrack
area at Binchester Figure 8.1: Novae in late antiquity
Figure 4.5: An outline plan of the Phase 2 barrack block Figure 8.2: Novae: the military hospital with the courtyard house
Figure 4.6: The Vicus bath-house under excavation Figure 8.3: The courtyard house in Sector 4
Figure 8.4: Late antique portico looking towards the south, Sector
Figure 5.1: The Yorkshire fortlets and the Nunnery on Alderney 12
Figure 5.2: The possible late Roman fortlets on the west coast
Figure 5.3: The core of the southern enclosure wall at Hen Waliau Figure 9.1: A map of the Limes Arabicus
Figure 5.4: The north rampart at Caer Gybi Figure 9.2: A plan of Qasr al-Hallabat
Figure 5.5: The north-west bastion at Caer Gybi Figure 9.3: Qasr al-Hallabat Sequence of the evolution of the
Figure 5.6: The north-east bastion at Caer Gybi complex
Figure 5.7: The robbed-out remains of the corner tower at Burrow Figure 9.4: Deir el Kahf, plan
Walls Figure 9.5: Khirbet el-Khaw
Figure 5.8: The northern length of extant masonry at Burrow Walls Figure 9.6: Khirbet es-Samra
Figure 5.9: The late Roman installations on the Carlisle–York Figure 9.7: Umm al-Jimal
Highway Figure 9.8: Qasr el-Ba’ij
Figure 9.9: Qasr al-Hayr al Gharbi (Hauliaram)
Figure 6.1: The location of Oudenburg fort, along with other Figure 9.10: (a) Deir an-Nasrani; (b) Qasr Burqu
military installations of the Litus Saxonicum Figure 9.11: Qasr Burqu
vi List of Figures and Tables
Figure 9.12: Monastery of St. Mary, Mt. Gerizim, Neapolis-Nablus List of Tables
(Palestine)
Table 2.1: Disposition of auxiliaries in the Moesias in AD 138
Figure 9.13: Castrum-Lavra of St. Catherine in Sinai
Table 2.2: Disposition of auxiliaries in the Moesias in AD 170
Figure 9.14: Khirbet al-Kerak, identified as Sinnabra
Table 2.3: The legions of the Moesias listed in the Antonine
Figure 9.15: Kastron at Al-Andarin / Androna
Itinerary
Figure 9.16: Qasr Ibn-Wardan. The so-called 6th-century ‘Barracks’
Table 2.4: The legions in the Notitia Dignitatum
Figure 9.17: Civil Forts. (a) Istabl Antar and (b) Kastron at Androna
Table 2.5: The units listed in the Notitia Dignitatum for the Moesias
/ Anderin
Figure 9.18: Roman (and Persian) forts that served as inspiration
Table 3.1: Summary of changes to granaries at selected Wall forts
for Arab fortified residences
in the late Roman period
Figure 9.19: (a) Ed-Dur Fort (chantier F) (UAE); (b) Jabal Says
Table 3.2: Summary of palaeobotanical evidence from Wall
6th-century pre-Umayyad (Ghassanid?) fort; (c) Kh. el-Bayda
granaries
(Hauran, Syria)
Table 7.1: Construction periods of the legionary fortress in
Figure 10.1: A map of late Roman military sites in Mauretania
Vindobona
Caesariensis, Sitifensis and eastern Numidia
Figure 10.2: Late Roman forts and fortlets in North Africa
Table 9.1: A comparison of enlarged forts and single-phase
Figure 10.3: The Tripolitanian fortlet of Benia bel-Recheb
fortifications from the Limes Arabicus
Figure 10.4: Forts and fortlets in the limes commands of western
Tripolitania and southern Byzacena
Figure 10.5: Plans of a range of courtyard towers (gsur)
Figure 10.6: A typical courtyard tower: Gasr Kh 41 in the Wadi
Kharab
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Dr IgnacIo arce Dr alan rushworth
Director The Archaeological Practice
Spanish Archaeological Mission to Jordan Newcastle University
Prof DavID Breeze Dr Matthew syMonDs
Honorary Professor Editor
Durham, Edinburgh and Newcastle Universities Current Archaeology
Newcastle University
Dr roB collIns
Newcastle University sofIe vanhoutte
Flemish Heritage Institute
Dr MartIn leMke
University of Warsaw Dr MeIke weBer
Cambridge University
Dr MartIn Mosser
Stadtarchäologie Wien Dr conor whately
University of Winnipeg
Dr DavID Petts
Durham University
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This volume originated with the session “You call that a wanted to expand on the conference session, as well as
principia?” at the 22nd International Congress of Roman offering longer papers so that sufficient detail could be
Frontier Studies, in Ruse (Bulgaria) in 2012. Ordinarily, presented to the reader. Suffice to say, we (the editors) are
sessions papers are published in the proceedings of that pleased with the volume, and are especially grateful to the
esteemed congress, but the editors of the present volume contributors for their excellent and timely work.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AAA Gsell, S. (1911) Atlas Archéologique de l’Algérie. Paris and Algiers. N.B. Site entries are given as AAA (map
sheet):(site entry)
AE L’Année épigraphique
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
ILAf Inscriptions latines d’Afrique. Cagnat, R., Merlin, a. and Chatelain, L. (1923) Paris
ILS Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. Dessau, H. (1892–1916) Berlin
IMS Inscriptions de le Mésie Supérieure
IRT Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania. Reynolds, J. M. and Ward Perkins, J. B. (1952) Rome and London
Itin Ant Itineraria provinciarum Antonini Augusti. Cuntz, O. (1929) Itineraria Romana, I, 1–85 Leipzig, Teubner
ND Notitia Dignitatum (ed.) O. Seeck, (1876) Berlin
ND Occ. Notitia Dignitatum omnium in partibus Occidentis
ND Or. Notitia Dignitatum omnium in partibus Orientalis
P.Oxy Papyrus Oxyrhynchus
RGZM Römisch-Germanishcen Zentralmuseums
RIB Collingwood, R. P. and Wright, R. G. (1995) Roman Inscriptions of Britain Volume 1 Inscriptions on Stone.
Stroud, Sutton
RMD Roman Military Diplomas
RMR Fink, R. O. (1971) Roman Military Records on Papyrus. Cleveland