This thesis uses the early Latin inscriptions of Sardinia to investigate aspects of culture contact and local responses to new ideas of inscribing on stone after the Roman take-over of Sardinia. Previous traditions may also have had an impact on the inscriptions of the Roman era; in this case, the Nuragic and Punic periods which preceded the Roman conquest. The Latin inscriptions are used to examine the results of the cultural encounters between existing populations and incomers and to see whether the incorporation of previous traditions has led to expressions of a more ‘indigenous’ or even a ‘Romano-Sardo’ identity. Epigraphic material is used typically only as a textual source. Naturally there are some exceptions, such as inscriptions with high quality relief sculpture which have been used to investigate perceived identities or the portrayal of certain aspects of life. However, the majority of inscriptions do not fall into this category and the iconographic aspects of these stones are often very subtle. Therefore, the inscriptions studied in this thesis are treated as material culture and their every detail is considered. To this end the concept of the chaîne opératoire is examined and the various stages in the production of epigraphic material are set out. This thesis further considers to what extent inscriptions can be considered as an aspect of Romanisation and postcolonial theory provides the overarching framework with which culture contact is examined. This concept allows this process to be viewed as a fluid two-way interaction, rather than the static imposition of culture by a dominant power. It also permits the contemplation of such issues as changes or continuity in epigraphic expression and the creation of new identities. The main aim is to get a detailed picture of local responses to the imported Latin epigraphic habit, and to this end the island has been split into smaller sections and relational database of the relevant inscriptions has been created to facilitate analysis. The results of this detailed approached are presented in one chapter that gives an overview of the entire island and three chapters addressing case study areas in more detail. The three study areas clearly demonstrate local differences in epigraphic expression and the merger of Roman elements with local practices that in some cases may have been incorporated to set up a distinct non-Roman identity.

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Summary This thesis is an evaluation of Roman light infantry and non-pitched battle combat in the Roman army, from the years 264 BC – AD 235. This study incorporates a thorough etymological assessment of the Latin and Greek vocabulary of light infantry, and how the ancient sources use these terms. Building on this assessment, this thesis then includes a discussion on defining Roman light infantry. From this follows an analysis of the various modes of combat of these troops, including skirmishing, ambushing, small-scale engagements. A ‘face of battle’ approach (after John Keegan) assessing the nature and experience of the various forms of warfare mentioned above is also included.

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This thesis is a survey of Mount Amani, the northwestern province of Chios island (east Aegean). The thesis examines the natural environment and explores the landscape using different kinds of information, in order to reconstruct the medieval historical topography of this region and to contribute to the problématique of the history and evolution of the Byzantine village and its remarkable longevity. The methodology applied ranges from the scanty literary sources, and visible archaeological evidence, and extends to the tracing of any sign of human activity on the landscape. Additionally, toponmy, ethnography and oral tradition are implemented for the examination of other aspects, such as the peasant architecture and material culture. From many perspectives, the study is paramount. It presents archaeological evidence for sites, for which there are no literary sources to rely upon. It highlights their share in the economy of Chios during the Byzantine and the Genoese periods. Finally, it aims to contribute to the debate over the ‘depopulation’ or ‘demographic decline’ of mountainous terrains in the ages prior to the eleventh century.

The purpose of my research is to illuminate the gendered and ethnic stereotyping of Easterners in Roman literature of the central period (c. 200 BCE to 200 CE), particularly in texts concerned with masculinity and warfare. Military situations were often constructed as the ultimate ‘tests’ of masculinity and Romanness, and they are, therefore, uniquely revealing for the constructions of these ideas. The idea of gendered lifestyles was central to these constructions. Roman authors distinguished between easy, pleasurable, feminine lifestyles and hard, austere, masculine ones. Masculinity and virtue were intertwined, and these precepts informed the ways in which Roman authors constructed their own worth, and the worth of other peoples. Easterners were presented as living luxurious, pleasurable lives, which were contrasted with a stereotypical Roman life of martial toil. However, when Easterners were depicted in martial contexts, this resulted in the caricature of their inabilities in this area. The accusation that Easterners allowed pleasure into martial contexts underpins these caricatures, and this was particularly challenging for Roman authors. Athletic training, for example, was constructed as pseudo-martial but inadequately so, as it was enjoyable. This was contrasted with difficult, ‘true’ military training, which helped build a man’s endurance, and proved his masculinity. The relationship of Easterners to arma (arms) was also deemed troubled, and Easterners were often constructed as having poor ability with arms, or an interest in adorned arms for their aesthetic value rather than their rugged purpose. Similarly, in the naval sphere, Roman authors were prone to depict Hellenistic rulers with luxurious and ornamented flagships, oversized and unsuitable for real warfare. In essence, these constructions were used to affirm Roman superiority – both moral and military – and also to serve as a warning as to what could happen should Romans allow themselves to succumb to easy, ‘effeminate’ lifestyles. Fundamentally, I argue that gendered constructions of ethnic ‘warlikeness’ were the principal force behind the disparagement of Greeks and other Easterners in Roman literature.

Despite the wealth of research on Roman interior decoration, little has been said about the use of motifs of arms and armour in domestic contexts. Previous scholarship has generally interpreted such images as representing Roman spoils of war. This study challenges this connection with spoils, looking at a wider range of influences on the development and deployment of motifs of arms. It explores how such motifs could have been interpreted in light of their wider decorative context. Drawing on an extensive catalogue of images in painting, mosaic and stucco dating from 100 BC to 100 AD, this thesis looks at the ways real captured arms were displayed in public and private contexts to assess how closely the domestic decorations mirror these idealised practices. It also explores the influence of Greek culture on Roman decorative motifs, decorative fashions across Mau’s Four Styles, the possible influence of gladiatorial combats on the depiction of arms and begins to assess the extent to which all of these factors may have been involved in interpreting motifs of arms in the Roman home. This allows a more nuanced approach to motifs of arms in decorations, emphasising their flexibility and ambiguity. This study also begins to explore how the location of motifs of arms within the house can impact on how a Roman observer could have interpreted the images, opening up a further avenue of research on motifs of arms and understanding how they were deployed and responded to in Roman domestic contexts.

While the Latin version of William of Tyre’s chronicle of the Latin East, Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum, is a valuable tool for modern historians, it was not particularly well-known during the medieval period with only nine copies surviving. However, William’s history did become extremely popular through a translation of the original into Old French, the so-called L’Estoire de Eracles, with fifty-one surviving manuscripts. The Eracles text has been overlooked by scholars who have assumed that it is a simple translation of William’s text, and there has also been little work in to establishing a provenance for the translation or determining the translator’s motives. This thesis seeks to identify the extent to which the Eracles is a simple translation and assess its importance to historians. While, for the most part, the translator is faithful to William’s text, he made alterations throughout. Many are of a stylistic nature, and the translator did not simply abridge William’s text for a new audience. He made several additions that serve to identify him and his audience. In particular, he regularly added background material on French crusaders, and on events in France, including additional information not found in any other source. On occasion the translator alters William’s criticism of certain individuals and gives a very different version of events that may be more accurate. The major difficulty with studying the Eracles text is the fact that the nineteenth-century editions were reliant upon a limited number of manuscripts. There has been little work on these manuscripts and no clear understanding of the relationships between these manuscripts. This thesis also seeks to tackle this problem by presenting a critical edition of six sample chapters that takes into account all the surviving manuscripts and by establishing the relationships between these manuscripts.

This thesis discusses a number of issues related to the relationship between Gallo-Roman aristocrats and political power in Gaul during the fifth and sixth centuries. The first chapter opens with a discussion of classical literary culture and its role in defining and maintaining elite status in the later Roman empire while the second discusses epistolary literature specifically and the function of letter-writing in the period when Roman political power was fading and barbarian authority was only beginning to assert itself in Gaul. I show how individuals like Sidonius clung, in a world that was swiftly becoming entirely post-Roman, to a Roman cultural and political identity, while others, such as Syagrius, embraced the opportunities afforded by the barbarian regna. In my third chapter, I consider the growth of the ecclesiastical aristocracy and examine the ways in which those Gallo-Romans who entered the church redefined their position, creating, in the process, new criteria for the definition and expression of romanitas and nobilitas. I examine, in particular, the growth of aristocratic asceticism as a means for Roman nobles to gain new relevance and credibility in Gaul without having to enter barbarian service. I move on, in my fourth chapter, to examine the part played by aristocratic kinship in Episcopal elections in fifth and sixth century Gaul. In the fifth chapter I argue that Gallic bishops of the period were rarely interested in complex theology - or evangelism - and that modern expectations in this respect are at odds with the extant evidence. In this context, I look particularly at the famous monastery of Lérins, which is usually held to have been a great school of theology and centre of religious thought. Not only was Lérins not a theological centre, in fact very few bishops had any interest in theology. In each of the remaining four chapters, I examine some facet of the life and career of Caesarius of Arles whose career and attitudes not only represent an acute departure from the Episcopal aristocrat norm but also actually swept away much of the extant Episcopal culture and established the pattern for following bishops.

This thesis explores the early phases of marketing activity in Britain by investigating the supply-chains through which imports arrived during the Roman period. The study adopts a cross-disciplinary approach which draws on archaeological evidence, as few written records survive from this era. The investigation commences with a review of the structure of the Roman economy, after which the characteristic features of a traditional supply-chain are presented and the rôles and relationships of its key members examined. The empirical evidence relating to cross-channel exchange in the Romano-British period (c. 120 BC-AD 410) is reviewed by means of four product-based case studies; two of which relate to amphorae-borne commodities (olive-oil and wine) and two involve types of ceramic pottery (samian ware and Rhenish-beakers). The contribution of this thesis is to combine methodologies from apparently disparate fields such as archaeology and marketing to enable new questions to be asked of existing data to enhance understanding in each discipline. In addition to using archaeological evidence to trace the evolution of marketing practices in the Romano-British period, the reciprocal aim of the study was to explore ways in which archaeologists may be able to utilize economic and marketing models to offer new insights into their own subject area. Supply-chain analysis forms the central focus of this thesis. Its main insight is to recognize that through their contacts with clients in both Britain and Gaul, Romano-British and Gallo-Roman merchants must inevitably have gained asymmetric knowledge of market conditions in each location, thus enabling them through their choice of cargoes to control the vital ‘choke-point’ of the channel-crossing. In addition to the principal theme of supply-chain analysis, the inclusion of economic and marketing models such as industrial location criteria (Weber, 1929; Ohlin, 1933) and product-cycle analysis (Vernon, 1966; Wells, 1968) all represent new applications of business theories to the archaeological domain and add to the uniqueness of this research.