Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air
About: This article is published in Classical World.The article was published on 1992-01-01. It has received 21 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Desert (philosophy).
Citations
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TL;DR: In this article, an air photograph taken by the German air force in 1918 provides a precise location and allows more recent air photographs to be exploited to exploit more recent archaeological sites of modern Jordan.
Abstract: In modern times the town of Zarqa has been a stopping place on the Pilgrim Road and a halting place on the Hijaz Railway. Today, swollen by refugees and Jordan's rising population, it has spread rapidly. At the heart of old Zarqa is the medieval khan (Qala'at Zarqa) but not far off is another site, apparently Roman and once perhaps more important than Zarqa. Although Qaryat al-Hadid was known to scholars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is not well-known today; indeed, it is one of the more elusive archaeological sites of modern Jordan. The rare nineteenth-century accounts suggest a major settlement, perhaps a fort; of the two reports from this century, the most recent cast doubt on the interpretations of these predecessors. The precise location was uncertain and recent research on old air photographs was inconclusive. Now study of an air photograph taken by the German air force in 1918 provides a precise location and allows more recent air photographs to be exploited.
5 citations
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TL;DR: The SYGIS project of the Finnish archaeological survey and mapping project of Jebel Bishri in Central Syria as discussed by the authors has documented and documented the site with GPS, EDM, GPR and the location has been mapped with a rectified Landsat-7 ETM satellite image.
Abstract: A ruined fort rises at Tabus on the north-eastern edge of Jebel Bishri in Central Syria. The fort which is situated c. 25 km north-west of the city of Deir ez-Zor along the road to Aleppo overlooks the Valley of the Euphrates. The fort is roughly triangular in layout covering c. 300 m x 80 m x 100 m. It is connected with a graveyard and two separate towers in one kilometre’s distance. The fort obviously belongs to the network of the Roman eastern limes and is hardly ever mentioned in encyclopedias of the ancient world. The fort has, however, been associated by early travellers, inter alia, with the Alalis of Ptolemy’s Geography and the Gothic legionary fort of Helela/Elela mentioned in Notitia Dignitatum. The new documentation of the fort by SYGIS -the Finnish archaeological survey and mapping project of Jebel Bishri - is a step towards studying the origins of the fort and to protecting the site. Since 2004, the project has recorded and documented the site with GPS, EDM, GPR and the location has been mapped with a rectified Landsat-7 ETM satellite image. The remains were also photographed, documented on special computerized site data record forms and the potsherds lying on the ground surface were collected. The layout of the fort is reminiscent of the fortress of Zenobia rebuilt by Emperor Justinian on the Euphrates, and the pottery types and stamps offer datings from the Late Roman to the Byzantine era. In order to study the connection of the fort with the nearest Late Roman forts, such as Mambri and Qreiye, we carried out an experimental GIS viewshed analysis to test the intervisibility of the forts and hence elucidate their dating, function and connection. The origins of the fort in its present form seem to date to the Late Roman – Byzantine periods. The inner courtyard of the fort is filled with robbers’ pits that would need a rescue excavation. The walls and towers require consolidation, anastylosis and conservation to preserve the site for the future. Protection work would need the defining of a buffer zone, closing the fort and building a special high terrace for visitors overlooking the site with its unique landscape.
5 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the main Umayyad urban and rural house architecture in Jordan is discussed, while addressing al-Hallabat houses based on recent unpublished reports and preliminary results of excavations.
Abstract: The Umayyad period represents one of the most prosperous periods in the history of Jordan. Most of the studies, however, have long been focused on palatial and luxurious architecture. In Jordan, few examples of Umayyad houses have survived in their entirety. However, the new discoveries at al-Hallabat rural houses allow an architectural enrichment of our knowledge for that period, even from a socio-economic point of view. In contrast with the better-known desert palaces that dominate the evidence for this period, they also assist in establishing the houses’ typological patterns. This paper attempts to present and discuss the main Umayyad urban and rural house architecture in Jordan, while addressing al-Hallabat Umayyad houses based on recent unpublished reports and preliminary results of excavations. It aims to present a comparative typological pattern analysis of al-Hallabat houses excavated at two phases (1979-1982, 2002-2006) with parallel examples from Bilad al-Sham. The paper defines three typological patterns; nucleus, courtyard, and complex houses. All have at least one courtyard. The study shows that there were continuity and parallelism in Bilad al-Sham between these types and those used at least in early Byzantine and early Islamic period, such as these at ar-Risha and Khirbet al-Askar in Jordan.
3 citations
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TL;DR: The authors presente quelques inscriptions decouvertes au cours d'un program de recherche d'archeologie aerienne mene en Transjordanie sur le site de Qasr el-Hallabat.
Abstract: L'A presente quelques inscriptions decouvertes au cours d'un programme de recherche d'archeologie aerienne mene en Transjordanie sur le site de Qasr el-Hallabat. Il evoque, tout d'abord, les evenements qui ont aboutit a ce projet et a la realisation de ces photographies par S. A. Stein. Il etudie ensuite ces inscriptions : celles-ci, gravees, pour la plupart, sur des bornes milliaires, fournissent des informations sur les installations militaires romaines dans la region.
3 citations
References
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Book•
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05 Jul 1995
TL;DR: David Braund, University of Exeter Brian Campbell Queen's University of Belfast Duncan Cloud, University Of Leicester Tim Cornell, University College, London Wolfgang Liebeschuetz, University OF Nottingham Stephen Oakley, Emmanuel College, Cambridge John Patterson, Magdalene College and Cambridge John Rich, Universityof Nottingham.
Abstract: David Braund, University of Exeter Brian Campbell Queen's University of Belfast Duncan Cloud, University of Leicester Tim Cornell, University College, London Wolfgang Liebeschuetz, University of Nottingham Stephen Oakley, Emmanuel College, Cambridge John Patterson, Magdalene College, Cambridge John Rich, University of Nottingham Harry Sidebottom, Christi College, Oxford Dick Whittaker, Churchill College, Cambridge Greg Woolf, Magdalen College, Oxford Adam Ziolkowski, University of Warsaw
114 citations
Dissertation•
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01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: The Sasanids’ sieges of Roman cities and the Great King’s kindliness presented in literary sources and the Khwadaynamag tradition are presented.
Abstract: .........................................................................................1 Acknowledgements.............................................................................2 Table of contents................................................................................3 Notes on transliteration and terminology....................................................5 Introduction.......................................................................................6 Chronological and geographical scope..........................................11 Civilians: terminology, description and composition.................................15 Existing scholarship on civilians in siege warfare...............................24 Sources and methods................................................................28 Structure of the thesis...............................................................38 Chapter 1. Historical and intellectual background..........................................40 Historical setting....................................................................40 Intellectual and social contexts of key texts......................................48 A chronological table on the sixth-century Persian wars, with a special emphasis on the Sasanids’ sieges of Roman cities..............................54 Chapter 2. Analysis of literary accounts .....................................................55 Words and phrases..................................................................55 Women, children and the urbs capta.............................................61 Motifs from Judeo-Christian Literature..........................................68 The Great King’s kindliness presented in literary sources and the Khwadaynamag tradition............................................................................77 Chapter 3. The experience of civilians in Roman cities...................................88 Loss of life...........................................................................88 Hand-to-hand combat and street battles....................................88 Massacres and executions...................................................92 Lack of subsistence.........................................................103 Sexual violence..................................................................113 Concubinage and sexual relations with the conquerors................113 Rape...........................................................................115 The suicide of two thousand virgins......................................120 Loss and destruction of property................................................123 Plundering....................................................................123
59 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated the abilities of three satellite remote sensed image products (low spatial resolution LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM); medium resolution SPOT Panchromatic; high resolution KVR-1000) to detect archaeological features in the environs of the Iron Age hillfort at Figsbury Ring, Wiltshire.
Abstract: The abilities of three satellite remote sensed image products (low spatial resolution LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM); medium resolution SPOT Panchromatic; high resolution KVR-1000) to detect archaeological features in the environs of the Iron Age hillfort at Figsbury Ring, Wiltshire, have been evaluated. Given prior knowledge of their locations, relatively large features together and those possessing a strong linear nature could be detected on the LANDSAT TM multispectral and SPOT Panchromatic image products. Near-infrared TM imagery showed promise for the detection of smaller features as a result of differences in vegetation cover, but was constrained by its low spatial resolution. High resolution Russian KVR-1000 imagery was found to be capable of detecting both upstanding and ploughed-out archaeological features without the need for prior knowledge of ground truth.
It is concluded that satellite imagery, although not a substitute for conventional aerial photography, represents a complementary source of information when prospecting for archaeological features. In a regional context, low resolution multispectral imagery can be used for the prospection for areas of high archaeological potential through the use of image processing and modelling techniques and, together with medium resolution imagery can be used to prepare base maps of regions for which up to date mapping is not available. High-resolution imagery, together with conventional aerial photographs, can be used subsequently to detect and map archaeological features. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
50 citations
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01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the Marshland of Cities: Deltaic Landscapes and the Evolution of Civilization is described. And the evolution of cities in the Marshlands of Cities is discussed.
Abstract: OF THE BOOK Marshland of Cities: Deltaic Landscapes and the Evolution of Civilization
37 citations
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TL;DR: El-LejjunLegionary31° 13′ N, 35° ǫ 0.5° 0.3°EFigures as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Site NameTypeLocationIllustrations in Kennedy and Riley (1990)1El-LejjunLegionary31° 13′ N, 35° 48′ EFigures 76–78 fortress 2Khirbet el-FityanFort31° 14′ N, 35° 48′ EFigures 120–1213Qasr BshirFor...
30 citations
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