Volume 89, 2014

This paper proposes to attribute, for the first time, three Attic kyathoi to the Sappho Painter and gathers together other vases that may belong to this late black-figure workshop (end of the 6th- beginning of the 5th century BC). It further confirms through the study of figured decoration and shape that an important part of Attic kyathoi manufactured in this workshop was a legacy left by Psiax, a hypothesis already suggested for a few pieces by C. Jubier-Galinier. A study of shape makes it possible to group vases which would not be comparable on stylistic grounds alone, and it reinforces previous stylistic comparisons of figured decorations. It also points out the importance of the potter’s work in the organization and understanding of Attic ceramic workshops.

The citation of natural environmental processes as a key element in the formation of and changes in human culture has been unfashionable for some time. Whilst scepticism of certain unfettered cultural ecological or socioecological theories is understandable, archaeologists often fail to engage fully with the dynamic relationships between people and environment in the past. This paper provides a new assessment of the potential of more nuanced cultural and historical ecological frameworks that explicitly develop notions of environmental knowledge in the investigation of human engagements with the environment. More specifically, this contribution considers the development of the forms of environmental knowledge associated with a Roman wetland, the Pontine Marshes. Changes in settlement activity and practices in this central Italian wetland landscape close to Rome were the product of a complex interplay of elite political initiatives and management projects and local forms of environmental knowledge applied by ordinary people who had to engage with this landscape. The paper comprises an introduction to the research questions and the interpretive framework, followed by an assessment of documentary and recent archaeological research that serve to illustrate the development of human interaction with these marshes. The discussion considers the probable reasons for the waxing and waning of wetland activity, and the nature of different class-based understandings of the wetland during the Roman period.

More than twenty years after the publication of Giuliano Volpe’s La Daunia nell’età della romanizzazione, it is important to reflect again on settlement and rural landscapes of Northern Apulia, between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 2nd century BC, in order to focus on how and in which directions the interpretative scenarios regarding these issues have changed from then to now. This paper aims not to follow the path, still premature, of the overall synthesis on Daunia between the Samnite wars and the age of Hannibal; it intends to present an overview of the results of the most recent research projects carried out in different regional districts, which allow archaeologists to problematize theories and interpretations.

In einer 2008 erschienenen Studie machen J.-P. Adam und P. Varène unter anderem Aussagen zur Funktion der Wasserverteilung im Castellum Aquae in Pompeji. Sie stützen sich dabei auf selektive Beobachtungen von Kalkablagerungen im Zuleitungskanal und im Becken, versuchen, die zur Verfügung stehende Wassermenge zu berechnen usw., lassen dabei aber grundlegende hydrotechnische Kenntnisse vermissen. Sie datieren das Gebäude und vor allem die Fassade augusteisch, letztere im Vergleich mit einem im Haus des L. Caecilius Iucundus gefundenen Flachrelief jedoch auch (zumindest partiell) in die Zeit nach dem Erdbeben von 62 n.Chr., ohne diesen Widerspruch auflösen zu können. Insgesamt fällt ihre Studie weit hinter den aktuellen Forschungsstand zurück.

Im folgenden Beitrag werden meine eigenen Forschungsergebnisse, die im Überschneidungsbereich von Philologie, Archäologie und Hydrotechnik entstanden sind, den Thesen von Adam und Varène korrigierend gegenübergestellt. Es wird anhand von Befunden gezeigt, wie die Wasserverteilung im Castellum Aquae von Pompeji tatsächlich funktioniert hat und wie die Baugeschichte der Anlage in zwei Phasen von spätrepublikanischer bis in augusteische Zeit verlaufen ist. Ein eingeschobener Exkurs beschäftigt sich mit dem genannten Relief und seinen Deutungsproblemen.

The present article discusses the various scholarly interpretations of the events depicted on the Cancelleria Reliefs, and identifies the scene in Panel B as the appointment of Titus Flavius Vespasianus the Younger as crown prince by his adoptive father, the emperor Domitian. This event, mentioned by historical accounts and commemorated in one provincial coin issue, was the climactic moment in Domitian’s program for the celebration of the Gens Flavia, which found its most grandiose manifestation in the public buildings that he dedicated in Rome to the cults of his father, brother, and extended family.

In 2008, during a small excavation in the city centre of Nijmegen, an extraordinary bronze hoard came to light. During the Roman period, this area was part of the burial site of Ulpia Noviomagus, the civitas capital of the Batavians that developed from AD 70 onwards, after oppidum Batavorum was destroyed by fire in the Batavian Revolt. The hoard consists of eighty pieces, amongst others fragments of a life-size arm or leg, fragments of a monumental bronze tablet, and heavy ornamental fragments. In this article, two fragments will be presented and placed in their regional context: a fragment of a Jupiter-Ammon herm and a fragment of a large Bacchus statuette.

While the thermae publicae have been researched by many scholars like I. Nielsen or F. Yegül for decades, little attention has been paid to private baths. This is, despite their importance, particularly the case with the often lavishly decorated palatial baths.

Through my research I developed the theory that there were three kinds of palatial bath buildings, representational baths, private refuges for the emperor as well as some bathing facilities that were built to be used by servants and slaves.

The starting point for this paper is the publication of I am the Last of the Travelers by C.H. Emilie Haspels, with contributions by Halet Çambel1 (second revised and enlarged edition),2 Istanbul, Archaeology and Art Publications, 2012, 196 pp.; 91 figs, large folded map at end; 24×16.5 cm. – ISBN 978-605-396-029-4. This paper consists of three parts: Part 1 is a review of the book – an autobiographical report edited with great care and expertise by Dr. Dietrich Berndt3 – in which Haspels describes the excavation of Midas City and two survey expeditions in the Phrygian Highlands (1946 and 1950). In Part 2 the author will discuss some specific questions, sites and monuments in the Phrygian Highlands, to elucidate matters that have not been treated in Highlands, or are difficult to appreciate to the full in the enormous mass of the material of the two volumes. In Part 3 the author, who accompanied Haspels on the expeditions of 1953 and 1958 (of which the reports are lacking in the book under review, though an extensive written manuscript is known to exist), will give some further information on the archaeological work that led to Haspels’ masterpiece: The Highlands of Phrygia (1971).