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This thesis considers the changes to settlement and land use that occurred in the region of Udhruh, southern Jordan,following the annexation of the Nabataean kingdom by Rome in AD 106 until the Early Islamic period. The region experienced a long flourishing period of history as part of the Nabataean kingdom in the hinterland of the capital at Petra.H istorical and archaeologica resources clearly indicate its importance throughout most of the historical periods after the Roman conquest. A legionary fortress is still fairly well preserved at Udhruh and other military structures have long been suspected at Ayl and Sadaqa and elsewhere. Apart from Alistair Killick's study in the 1980s( not yet fully published), the area has received little scholarly attention. This study provides for the first time a detailed survey of about 336 archaeological sites, most of which were undocumented. These were recorded in the course of two seasons of fieldwork and many of these sites demonstrated continued occupation and activity up to the last century. Overall, there is exceptional preservation and very little disturbance of the archaeological remains from the period under study. The thesis also considers evidence for the region found in historical documents. Udhruh, for instance, was second on the Beersheba Edict list of tax-paying towns in the province of Palestenia Terfla during the Byzantine period. Udhruh and al-Jerba are also said to have paid the poll tax to the Muslims in AD 630. Finally, apart from investigating the shifts in settlement patterns, the thesis provides a clear understanding of the military organisation in the region and its relation to the broad system of the limes Arabicus. There is also a detailed discussion of the road system and its relation to the imperial road system such as the via nova Traiana and the ancient trade routes. This study also presents a detailed investigation of the water supply systems and the techniques used by the inhabitants of the region to overcome the shortage of water resources in a dry zone of Jordan and its impact on the economic situation of the area. Other significant archaeological features such as Khatt Shabib were also considered in this study.

The aim of this thesis is to gain a greater understanding of metalla, the imperially owned mining and quarrying districts of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. These extraction industries, and their products, were vital for the State to supply the army and to provide metals for coinage and marble for imperial building projects. To meet the largescale production needs of the State, the administration of these regions had to manage, supply and organise the industry. This thesis argues that the administration of metalla profoundly impacted the regional landscape and studying these landscapes can reveal the management strategies employed. To explore these issues the Faynan, a copper mining district located in southern Jordan, is used as a case study. This region has been the focus of intensive survey and presents an exceptional opportunity for studying an industrial landscape. By examining the landscape, and comparing the Faynan case study to other metalla, the specific mechanisms of management used by the administration are revealed. Some methods involved the creation of infrastructure (roads, aqueducts and administrative buildings) to facilitate production. Certain activities and resources were centralised to allow for greater control. Using GIS, it is demonstrated that the administration employed complex understanding of the ability to exert control through surveillance in its placement of structures in the landscape. It is shown that the Faynan and other metalla used multiple strategies to accomplish production. By comparing metalla from a number of regions common patterns emerge and the importance of decorative stone and metal to the imperial State is confirmed. The archaeological record reflects in general and specific ways that landscapes were managed and organised by the mining and quarrying authorities.

L’impôt joue un rôle important dans les relations de pouvoir en Judée aux époques hellénistiques et romaines, non seulement par son poids économique, mais aussi et surtout par ses aspects idéologiques. Car imposer une population revient à s’en prétendre maître. Or, en Judée, une première lecture des sources laisse croire que beaucoup voyaient d’un mauvais œil le tribut étranger, alors que le temple de Jérusalem prélevait déjà des impôts censés revenir à Dieu, seul véritable maître d’Israël. Un examen plus attentif montre l’aspect polémique de cette déclaration : cette opposition dialectique entre les prélèvements du temple et ceux revenant aux étrangers est une construction idéologique, dont le but est de fournir une légitimation de l’opposition politique. Apparue à l’époque des Maccabées et participant à l’argumentation théologique de leur soulèvement, cette rhétorique se repère, avec quelques variations, dans chaque mouvement contestataire jusqu’à Bar Kokhba. Mais les sources dissimulent quelques indications qui montrent que tous ne partagent pas cette vue, et que dans les faits, l’offrande n’est pas plus joyeusement payée que le tribut. L’objet de cette thèse est de mettre en avant cette construction représentationnelle en la confrontant aux données brutes, et d’en souligner les implications sociales, économiques, financières et politiques, depuis la conquête de la Judée par Antiochos III jusqu’à la disparition de la province de Judée en 135 apr. J. C. / Taxes are important matters for understanding relations of power in Hellenistic and Roman Judaea, not only because of its economic burden, but above all because of its ideological sides: to tax a population means to pretend being its master. In Judaea, a first look to the sources let believe that many saw with a bad eye the foreign tribute, while the temple of Jerusalem exacted some revenues supposed to return to God, the sole proper master of Israel. However, a close examination proves the polemical sides of such a declaration: this dialectical opposition between the revenues of the shrine and the ones returning to foreigners is an ideological construction, whose purpose is to furnish a legitimation to the political opposition. Appeared at the time of the Maccabean uprising and used for theologically founding the war, this rhetorical instrument is visible, with some variations, in each protest movement until Bar Kokhba. But the sources hide some indications that let see that not everyone shared this view, and that, in the facts, the “offering” is not more cheerfully paid that the “tribute”. The purpose of the present dissertation is to underline the social, economical, financial and political implications of this representational construction, since the conquest of Judaea by Antiochos III, until the disappearance of the Judaea in 135 C.E.