This thesis examines socio-spatio-temporal practices in Roman military bases between the first and third centuries AD. The thesis analyses archaeological, documentary and textual evidence in order to understand how the spatial setting of the military base was underpinned by socio-temporal practices associated with those built spaces. The archaeological data consists of two case-study military bases informed by insights from two additional sites. Elginhaugh provides the best known plan of a Roman military base in the Empire and a well stratified finds assemblage. Bu Njem, at the time of its excavation, was preserved in places to the level of the first storey ceiling and is accompanied by an archive of military documents recording the activities of the troops. The analysis is complimented by insights from Inchtuthil, as the best explored plan of a legionary base and 2nd century A.D. Vindolanda, with its tablets providing a wealth of details about the society of the base. Having identified the gap in our understanding of the role of socially constructed space in the study of Roman military bases, this thesis investigates the archaeological and textual evidence for patterns of movement and presence within the base, the temporal variation in social activity in a military base and the way both community and institution of the army functioned in space. The topic of social use of space in the context of the Roman military bases has seen some attention in recent years, but has rarely been addressed as a primary research aim. No one has attempted to do it through integrating all available sources of data: literary data, the documents, the plans of sites and the artefactual record. The thesis investigates presence and movement understood as social practices; time understood as a socially constructed phenomenon and an element giving rhythm to activity within the base; and social networks, stratification and hierarchy as vital elements of the social experience of a given place. The thesis argues that these socio-spatial practices had deeper meaning. The thesis traces normative, disciplinary, ideological, hierarchical, religious and infrastructural socio-spatial practices. The thesis concludes with how these forms of socio-spatial practices encapsulated cultural concepts, social relationships and their proper spatial and temporal settings.

This thesis surveys and discusses the documentary and archaeological evidence for sixth-century fortifications in Byzantine Africa. Chapter I examines the sources of evidence, noting that over 80 years have passed since the last major study of the subject was undertaken, by Charles Diehl in 1896. Chapter II traces the military history of Byzantine Africa from 533 to 602, with introductory and concluding sections on the fifth and seventh centuries. Chapter III discusses the evidence for the military organization and defensive strategy of Byzantine Africa in the sixth century, looking in particular at the structure of military command, the composition of the Byzantine army, the garrison structure (including the evidence for the nature and size of local garrisons stationed in forts and towns), the administrative machanisms by which fortifications were built and the strategy to be discerned in their siting. The chapter ends with a general appraisal of the benefits that Roman Africa received from Justinian's reconquest. Chapter IV examines the architecture of Byzantine fortifications in Africa, comparing it with earlier and contemporary practice in the eastern and western empires. The tactical aspects of fortifications are also considered, in particular the question of how far their design was influenced by the use made of artillery and archery in the sixth-century Byzantine army. In a short final chapter, an assessment is made of the value that the study of sixth-century Byzantine fortifications in Africa has for understanding later developments in the military architecture of eastern and western Christendom and of Islam. The Gazetteer includes full descriptions (with plans and photographs) of all the Byzantine fortifications identified in Africa, and shorter notes on other structures of more doubtful Byzantine identification; an index to fortifications in Africa referred to by Procopius; and a corpus of sixth- and seventh century military inscriptions from Africa.