Ascending and Descending the Acropolis – Mobility in Athenian Religion provides new perspectives on religious mobilities within the geographically limited region of Attica in Greece from the Late Bronze Age to the second century AD. Attica is a particularly fruitful region to study these forms of mobility, as it provides rich evidence across a range of material and textual sources for a variety of different mobile situations – both inside the city of Athens itself (such as on and circumnavigating the Acropolis) and to sanctuaries in its hinterland (such as Eleusis and Brauron), as well to as more distant sanctuaries, such as Delphi.

Two enclosures were recorded – near Rodway was discovered a small Middle Bronze Age farmstead containing evidence of two roundhouses, with associated pottery and plant remains; and at Sandy Lane a Roman villa was shown to have developed from a Late Iron Age ridge-top settlement.

Culture and Perspective deals with a variety of key aspects concerning heritage management at times of crisis and specifically with the public character of cultural heritage. Special, but not exclusive emphasis, is on the case of Greece. In order to understand, evaluate and reconsider the role of the state in heritage management, contributors address a series of issues including the downgrading and shrinking of state structures, which have been the dominant mechanisms in heritage management; the upgrading and expansion of the role of private initiative towards covering the gap created by the insufficiency of the state; the public character of heritage, in terms of ownership as well as access; and finally the synergies between state structures and private initiatives in view of the public character of heritage. Key themes include: state heritage policies at times of crisis and the legal framework of heritage management; the role of non-government/non-profit agencies; heritage and business enterprise focusing on developmental and energy infrastructures in proximity to historic environments; the role of museums in the current socio-economic environment; and digital media and new types of public engagement that they engender.

As the founder of the longest-lasting of all the Hellenistic kingdoms, not only was Ptolemy I an able soldier and ruler, he was also an historian and, in Egyptian eyes, a living god. His own inclination and experience facilitated continuous acts of self-creation in a variety of forms, whether literary, dynastic, artistic, or political. His work on Alexander and his campaigns was used by the later Alexander historians, and was one of Arrian’s major sources for his Anabasis. In the pages of his own history, Ptolemy constructed a self-portrait characterized by military courage and deep friendship with Alexander. As ruler of the Egyptian kingdom, Ptolemy experienced an elevated model of kingship very different from the Macedonian one: he consciously embraced the divinity of the Pharaoh, a construct that had little to do with the real man who wore the crowns. The chapters in this book, written by field experts in numismatics, gender, warfare, historiography, Egyptology and religion, examine the many ways in which Alexander the Great’s most successful Successor consciously made his own legacy.

Embracing the Provinces is a collection of essays focused on people and their daily lives living in the Roman provinces, c. 27 BC-AD 476. The main aim is to showcase the vibrancy of Roman provincial studies and suggest new directions, or new emphasis, for future investigation of Roman provincial world. It capitalizes on a wealth of data made available in recent decades to provide a holistic view on life in the Roman provinces by analysing various aspects of daily routine in the frontier regions, such as eating, dressing, and interacting. The contributors, who are acknowledged experts in their fields, make use of innovative interpretations and modern approaches to address current issues in the study of the provinces and frontiers of the Roman Empire.Twenty-one essays are cohesively structured around five themes, encompassing studies on the female and juvenile presence on Roman military sites, Roman provincial cooking, and Roman cavalry and horse equipment. For the first time in the Roman provincial scholarship the volume has a special section on the subject of Roman leather, providing a much-needed overview of the current stance of work. A few papers deal also with experimental archaeology. The essays reflect a wide geographical and chronological range, while retaining thematic consistency, and will be of great interest to those working in Roman archaeology and provincial studies.

Before the 1970s, discoveries of Roman material in Guernsey consisted of a few chance finds of coins, plus a handful of sherds of samian pottery from the harbour and from prehistoric megaliths. Since the 1980s, however, two large-scale excavations in the town of St Peter Port, plus accumulated evidence from rescue excavations elsewhere in the island and from underwater discoveries, has demonstrated that there was significant Roman occupation which lasted for several centuries. This volume presents reports of the excavations carried out at La Plaiderie (1983–85) and the Bonded Store (1996–2005) in St Peter Port, together with a gazetteer of all Roman finds recorded from almost one hundred other sites in Guernsey and Herm. It includes a detailed study of the pottery recovered from the two town sites, which demonstrates that Guernsey was a significant port-of-call on the Atlantic trade route and along the length of the Channel. Finds included pottery, including samian, glass, intaglios, metalworking debris, a range of small finds and environmental data. The volume concludes with a gazetteer of Roman sites and finds on Guernsey and Herm.

Motherhood and childhood are social and cultural constructions that have their origins in prehistoric times and are visible through Greek and Roman discourses in Antiquity. This volume explores various images of maternity and infancy, and the identification of women and womanhood in prehistoric and classic societies. Aspects such as the crucial role of maintenance activities and care, the processes of socialization and learning, the impact of infant death, the figure of the mother queen, the religious discourses about motherhood, the rules on parental rights, the transgressions of traditional motherhood and the emotional aspects of the mother-child relation are analysed. The book covers the ancient Mediterranean area, from Mesopotamia to the Iberian Peninsula and from prehistoric communities to classic societies, with Mesopotamian, Phoenician and Iberian examples. A multidisciplinary approach is adopted, analysing material culture, representations and texts to gain a deeper understanding of the plurality of motherhood, and the diversity of women’s agency through history.

The aim of this book is to investigate the role of local and imported wines on the Egyptian market during the Graeco-Roman period. In order to study the supply of wine and its economic role, two separate topics must be considered: local production, and import of foreign vintages. In this book, the part devoted to Egyptian wine seeks to establish where and how wine was manufactured, what was the social base for this industry and what kinds of wine were locally produced in Egypt, as well as what patterns of distribution wine followed after it left the winery. The aim of the part devoted to import, in turn, is to try to determine which foreign wines reached Egypt during the Graeco-Roman period. This part seeks to trace the supply-and-demand mechanisms and channels of distribution of the country’s foreign wine market, and to view Egypt in a wider perspective of Mediterranean trade routes. Why did some wines find their way to Egypt and others did not? Lastly, what changes on the wine market can we trace over time?

The House of the Surgeon represents the first major publication of an important series of excavations undertaken by the Anglo-American Project in Pompeii (1994-2006) at the ancient city of Pompeii in a city block known as Insula VI 1. This is one of the largest, most comprehensive, and most important sub-surface, pre-79 AD excavations ever to have been undertaken at Pompeii. The methodology employed to the systematic examination of an entire city block, involving extensive artefact and ecofact recovery, using the latest scientific methods, has generated one of the single largest bodies of archaeological data ever produced on the development of ancient Pompeii, from the earliest traces of human habitation until its destruction. The first major section of this data is now made available in form of a study of the most famous and prominent of the houses on the block. The Casa del Chirurgo (House of the Surgeon) has been one of the most frequently cited houses in the ancient city since its discovery in 1771. The results of the exhaustive study of the house within its urban context not only challenge many of the conclusions of previous research, but also make it possible at last for this important property to contribute information to the full history of Pompeii’s urban development, illuminating the chronology of urban change, the processes involved in ancient domestic construction, aspects of the ancient environment, and changing socio-political and economic conditions within Italy throughout the middle to late Republic and early Empire.

This book describes the archaeological evidence from excavations at Crossrail's Broadgate ticket hall at Liverpool Street, from the Late Iron Age to the late Roman marsh formation. The site lay 120m north of the town defences in a landscape dominated by a former tributary of the Walbrook stream, which ran along the west edge of the site. The earliest Roman activity focused on draining the site sufficiently to allow burial and road building in the area. Extensive remains of an early 2nd- to 3rd-century AD west–east metalled road with two main phases were traced across the site, along with several phases of roadside ditches. The road ran west from Ermine Street, and evidence for horse transport and pasture suggests that it may have led to the fort in the north-west corner of Londinium. To the south of the road, seven 2nd-century AD inhumation burials, including three decapitations, and one cremation burial formed part of a burial ground in this waterlogged area. Following on earlier such finds, the large assemblage of accompanying disarticulated human bone remains one of the most intriguing aspects of the Walbrook valley.

Insularity – the state or condition of being an island – has played a key role in shaping the identities of populations inhabiting islands of the Mediterranean. As entities surrounded by water and usually possessing different landscapes and ecosystems from those of the mainland, islands allow for the potential to study both the land and the sea. Archaeologically, they have the potential to reveal distinct identities shaped by such forces as invasion, imperialism, colonialism, and connectivity. The theme of insularity and identity in the Roman period has not been the subject of a book length study but has been prevalent in scholarship dealing with the prehistoric periods. The papers in this book explore the concepts of insularity and identity in the Roman period by addressing some of the following questions: what does it mean to be an island? How has insularity shaped ethnic, cultural, and social identity in the Mediterranean during the Roman period? How were islands connected to the mainland and other islands? Did insularity produce isolation or did the populations of Mediterranean islands integrate easily into a common ‘Roman’ culture? How has maritime interaction shaped the economy and culture of specific islands? Can we argue for distinct ‘island identities’ during the Roman period? The twelve papers presented here each deal with specific islands or island groups, thus allowing for an integrated view of Mediterranean insularity and identity.

Excavations by Oxford Archaeology at Kingshill South on the eastern edge of Cirencester in Gloucestershire uncovered evidence for prehistoric and Roman activity. The earliest evidence comprised a pit dating to the late Neolithic period or early Bronze Age, and the site was also inhabited during the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age. There was a gap in activity until the late 1st century AD, when fields were laid out on the site's southern slope. Three buildings were recorded within the area of the excavation. Building 1 was a domestic, stone-footed building best described as a proto-villa. Building 2 was an aisled building with an apsidal end and is likely to have served an agricultural function. Both were constructed in the 2nd century AD. Building 3, dated to the late Roman period, is interpreted as a granary. The settlement was abandoned by the late 4th century AD. The site remained agricultural land until the establishment of Cirencester's eastern suburb in the 20th century. Grain, meat, and wool, among other goods, were produced at the Roman settlement, probably to supply the town of Corinium Dobunnorum. Evidence for craft activity, including pin-making, horn-working and smithing, was also recorded. Formal burials and disarticulated human bone were encountered across the settlement. Analysis of the bones revealed remarkable insights into the lives of the settlement's inhabitants. The habitual, possibly craft-related, activity performed by one young female adult required her to spend much of her time in a squatting position. One adult male had a facial disfigurement which had an impact not just on his daily life, but also the manner of his burial.

The hoard of Roman-British temple treasure discovered at Ashwell in 2002 provides fascinating new insights into the ritual of Roman religion. This is the first full publication of the Ashwell treasure since its high profile discovery in 2002, and features a detailed, highly illustrated discussion of the beautiful gold and silver votive plaques as well as the figurine of the previously unknown goddess Senuna. It will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in Roman religion, especially in Roman Britain, as well as historians and archaeologists.

This volume publishes papers relating to new research on Roman period ceramics. Two papers present evidence of Late Iron Age and early Roman pottery forms and fabrics from west and east Kent: from West Malling, including transitional wares, and by Sholden villa, with groups of second century date including samian. Ceramic fire-dogs discovered in the area of the Dutch Lowlands and Flanders brings to attention a type of find that may prove to be more common than previously noted. The same may be the case with portable Roman ceramic ovens and baking plates recorded in recent years in Britain; these two papers contribute to a growing corpus and debate on Roman cooking, ‘fast-food’ and functions. Amphorae from the eastern Mediterranean in northern Europe and pottery used in Roman ritual and religion noting distinct types and trends often involving symbolism are dicussed. Details of the pottery production site at Snape, Suffolk, and the types produced, are described. This volume also features ‘retrospectives’ as Beth Richardson, Peter Webster and Christopher Young reflect on their careers and experiences working with pottery, looking to the future and the volume also contains reviews and obituaries.

This second volume in the new TRAC Themes in Roman Archaeology series seeks to push the research agendas of materiality and lived experience further into the study of Roman magic, a field that has, until recently, lacked object-focused analysis. Building on the pioneering studies in Boschung and Bremmer's (2015) Materiality of Magic, the editors of the present volume have collected contributions that showcase the value of richly-detailed, context-specific explorations of the magical practices of the Roman world. By concentrating primarily on the Imperial period and the western provinces, the various contributions demonstrate very clearly the exceptional range of influences and possibilities open to individuals who sought to use magical rituals to affect their lives in these specific contexts – something that would have been largely impossible in earlier periods of antiquity. Contributions are presented from a range of museum professionals, commercial archaeologists, university academics and postgraduate students, making a compelling case for strengthening lines of communication between these related areas of expertise.

The ancient Greek word koine was used to describe the new common language dialect that became widespread in the ancient Greek world after the conquests of Alexander the Great. Modern scholars have increasingly used the word to conceptualise regional homogeneities in the material culture of the ancient Mediterranean. In this volume, twenty scholars from various disciplines present case studies that focus on the fundamental question of how to perceive and the social and cultural mechanisms that led to the spread and consumption of material culture in the Greek early Iron Age. Combined the chapters provide a critical examination of the use of the koine concept as a heuristic tool in historical research and discuss to what degree similarities in material culture reflect cultural connections. The volume will be of interest scholars interested in archaeological theory and method, the social significance of material culture, and the history of the ancient Greek world in the first half of the first millennium BC.