Roman round temples are usually discussed either in the context of round buildings like baths and mausolea or on a case-by-case basis. Both approaches fail to reveal what makes round temples a distinct architectural type and moreover, what reasons can account for their use throughout the Roman world. By examining round temples from the Republic, when they are first attested, to the early fourth century AD, this thesis aims to explain why the round form had such a lasting appeal. It follows a chronological approach, discussing the evidence for individual temples and situating them within their historical, social, topographical, and architectural contexts. In a comparative analysis, the building components, materials, techniques, decorative details, and proportions employed by round temples are outlined to reveal influences on their design. The round temples discussed in this study are concentrated in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. While the earliest examples in Rome draw on Italic traditions, from the late Republic, round temples begin to reflect Greek trends. Greek tholoi and the Greek decorative repertory, balanced by Roman developments in design, have a lasting influence on round temples. Based on tholoi, scholars have assumed that Roman round temples honored Vesta and divinized heroes. While they were celebrated with a few examples, the majority were dedicated to other gods and goddesses. As a result, religious, social, topographical and aesthetic reasons are proposed to explain the enduring appeal of round temples. Like the motivations behind their foundations, the plans, dimensions, and proportional relationships employed by round temples are noted for their diversity. For their individuality and inventive spirit, round temples make a significant contribution to the Roman architectural repertory.

This thesis presents a new systematic arrangement of the coinage of the Gallic Empire as the basis for a revised edition of Roman Imperial Coinage. The coinage of all denominations, gold, silver and bronze, are unified into a single structure of issues. In 260, Postumus revolted against the Roman emperor Gallienus and took control of the Gauls. The chronology of his reign and of his successors is reviewed. The short reign of Domitianus II is interpreted as a revolt against the elevation of Tetricus. A rearrangement of Tetricus’s coinage supported by the epigraphic evidence proves that the elevation of Tetricus II to the Caesarship must be redated from 273 to 272. The location of the mints is discussed. Conclusive hoard evidence proves that the main mint was located at Trier, and not at Cologne. The study of iconography implies that choices were not necessarily made by the imperial authorities, but that more freedom was given to engravers than is usually assumed. The use of earlier coins as an iconographic repertoire strongly suggests that earlier coins were brought to the mint to be melted down. Metrological analyses of gold coins of the Gallic emperors show for the first time that silver was deliberately added to the alloy, following a practice introduced by Valerian and continued by Gallienus. The debasement of the ‘silver’ coinage is studied in parallel with its contemporary evolution within the Central Empire. Coin circulation is used in order to determine the frontiers of the Gallic Empire. It is demonstrated that the Gallic Empire reached its apogee between 262 and 265, ruling over Britain, the Gauls, Hispania and Raetia. The nature of the Gallic Empire is discussed. It is argued that this ‘Empire’ should not be viewed as a form of separatism, as often claimed, but as the unintended result of a status quo following Postumus’s acclamation and the long postponement of a final confrontation against the emperor of Rome.

This dissertation examines the interaction between leisured movement and space in Rome from 100 BC – AD 150, primarily drawing upon archaeological evidence from Rome, central Italy and the Bay of Naples. This thesis argues that leisured movement was significant and that an examination of the relationship between leisured movement and space provides new insights into Roman architecture, gardens, attitudes to design and space. Chapter one reviews the theoretical models associated with the study of movement and space in various disciplines and utilitizes these approaches to formulate the theoretical basis for this thesis. Previous scholarship on movement and space in the Roman world is also reviewed to demonstrate the need for further study. Chapter two focuses on ancient literature and epigraphy to examine leisured movement in ancient Rome and the spaces identified as locations for leisured movement. In chapter three the Severan marble plan and the archaeological evidence for the monumental porticos and temple-porticos in Rome, the public and urban context for leisured walking, are analyzed. An examination of the relationship between leisured movement and space in high-status Roman villas and residences is undertaken in chapter four. Walking, driving, riding and boating and their spatial context played an important role in these high-status residences. Finally, chapter five examines the relationship between leisured movement and space in Pompeian houses, in order to understand how leisured movement functioned in such houses and to demonstrate that leisured movement also had a role in the lives of those below the top of Roman society. This thesis demonstrates that movement was a prominent leisure activity and that it was a complex way through which the Romans negotiated Greek culture. It also establishes that Rome’s public porticos and portico-temples, which housed leisured movement, were original contributions to the architectural canon. Movement and space were interconnected phenomena that interacted upon each other; the design of private and public gardens and porticos often created an ordered approach to movement and space. In sum, leisured movement is a productive lens through which we can study Rome, her cultural and leisure activities, approach to design and conception of space.

The economic development of frontier regions has been neglected in the study of the Roman economy. Traditional core/periphery models suggest that frontiers were marginal zones dependent on a wealthy Mediterranean core, and this view has dominated scholarship for more than thirty years. In light of recent work on the Roman economy, it is clear that many old models need to be reappraised; this thesis examines the economic development of frontiers through the case study of the Rhine River Basin. This region formed one of Rome’s northern frontiers for more than 400 years and has a rich tradition of detailed archaeological and historical research. Using data from the Rhine frontier, this thesis re-examines the nature of frontier economies, arguing that they were dynamic, versatile, and complex rather than subaltern and undeveloped. A new model, based in the analytic framework of economic geography, is suggested as a replacement in order to appreciate the realities and potential of frontier economies.

This thesis examines the post-Roman and Anglo-Saxon religious reuse of Roman structures, particularly burials associated with Roman structures, and churches on or near Roman buildings. Although it is known that the Anglo-Saxons existed in and interacted with the vestigial, physical landscape of Roman Britain, the specific nature and result of this interaction has not been completely understood. The present study examines the Anglo-Saxon religious reuse of Roman structures in an attempt to understand the Anglo-Saxon perception of Roman structures and the impact they had on the developing ecclesiastical landscape. In particular, the study reveals how we may better understand the structural coincidence of Roman buildings and early-medieval religious activity in the light of the apparent discontinuity between many Roman and early-medieval landscapes in Britain. The study begins by providing an overview of the evidence for existing Roman remains in the Anglo-Saxon period. It examines the archaeological and historical evidence, and discusses literary references to Roman structures in an attempt to ascertain how the ruins of Roman villas, towns and forts would have been perceived. Particular attention is paid to The Ruin, a poem in Old English which provides us with our only contemporary description of Roman remains in Britain. The first chapter concludes by examining the evidence for the religious reuse of Roman secular structures in Gaul and Rome, providing a framework into which the evidence in the subsequent chapters is placed. The examination the proceeds to burials on or associated with Roman structures. It shows that the practice of interring the dead into Roman structures occurred between the fifth and eighth centuries, but peaked at the beginning of the seventh, with comparatively few sites at the extreme end of the data range. The discussion is based on the evidence of 115 sites that show this burial rite, but it is very apparent that this number is only a fragment of the whole, as these inhumations are often mistakenly identified as Roman, even when the stratigraphy demonstrates that burial occurred after the ruin of the villa, as is often the case. The placement of the bodies show a conscious reuse of the ruinous architecture, rather then suggesting interment was made haphazardly on the site: frequently the body is placed either centrally within a room, or is in contact with some part of the Roman fabric. Some examples suggest that there may have been a preference for apsidal rooms for this purpose. Churches associated with Roman buildings are then examined, and their significance in the development of the English Christian landscape is discussed. Churches of varying status – from minsters to chapels – can be found on Roman buildings throughout the country. Roman structures were clearly chosen for the sites of churches from the earliest Christian period into the tenth, and probably even the eleventh century. Alternatives to the so-called proprietary model are examined, and their origins and development are discussed, particularly in reference to the continental evidence. The end of the study places the thesis into a wider landscape context, and introduces potential avenues of further exploration using GIS. The study concludes that there are a number of causes underlying the religious reuse of Roman buildings, each not necessarily exclusive of the other, and that the study of these sites can further any investigation into the development of the ecclesiastical topography of England, and the eventual development of the parochial landscape.

In this thesis, the fabrication technology of Roman lead glazes were examined using a number of materials science techniques: namely, electron probe microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. The overall aim of this work was to discern particular technological styles for a wide group of lead glazes by quantifying the chemical and microstructural features of glaze production. Using experimental replication, it was found that two basic methods of glazing could be identified chemically. When applying PbO alone to an earthenware ceramic, the resulting glaze was in equilibrium with the ceramic as indicated by flat compositional profiles obtained along the glaze cross-section. However, when applying PbO·SiO₂ mixtures to earthenware ceramics, gradient profiles indicative of diffusive mass transfer were obtained from the glaze cross-section. On the basis of these chemical criteria, these two methods of glazing were identified in archaeological material. It has been determined that the earliest lead glazes from Anatolia and Italy (approximately 1^st century B.C.) were made using PbO·SiO₂ mixtures applied to calcareous clays with Fe and Cu oxides added as colourants. Later production (post 2^nd century A.D.), seems to have employed PbO alone applied to non-calcareous clays with no intentionally added colourants. The Roman production of lead glazes was compared to both those of Late Antiquity (4^th – 10^th centuries A.D.) which continued to use PbO applied to non-calcareous clays, and to those of Byzantine and Islamic contexts (8^th – 14^th centuries A.D.) which seem to have used PbO·SiO₂ mixtures applied to both calcareous and non-calcareous clays. It is also argued that the technological features of the Byzantine and Islamic glaze production shared more in common with the contemporary Chinese lead glazing tradition (the Sancai wares of the 7^th century A.D.) which also used PbO·SiO₂ mixtures applied to non-calcareous clays, than with the Late Antique glazing tradition.

This thesis examines funerary iconography for evidence of Roman attitudes towards children, childhood and the family. Based on 690 portrait monuments drawn from select areas of the Western Empire, its central hypothesis is that the commemorations are best read as highly artificial constructs which reveal more about the social preoccupations of the commissioners than the lives of the children whom they represent. The first of the seven chapters defines the parameters of the accompanying catalogue and discusses the benefits of studying a diverse range of monuments (rather than isolated "show-pieces"). The methodological section which follows assesses the cultural limitations and identification problems inherent to funerary material and considers how the terms "child" and "portrait" are best defined in this medium. The four subsequent chapters analyse the following key areas: the ages, genders and attributes of children; the presentation and composition of the family; the iconography of surrogate and extended relationships; and the archaeological context of funerary display. In each case any emotional interpretations which surround the material are discussed and then countered with alternative, and better supported, social readings. It is argued that previous research has been based on samples which are too limited in terms of size, genre and geographical scope and influenced too heavily by a desire to prove parental benevolence and the existence of "love" and "affection" within the Roman household. By exposing demographic biases and iconographic problems, it is shown that commissioners were actually using the image of the child for overtly social purposes, with some of the results being subject to substantial, and hitherto unacknowledged, regional variation. The conclusion then reassesses a well-known example to show that while Roman parents did attach importance to their children, funerary evidence can only prove it to be of a social, rather than an emotional, nature.

The separation of agricultural practice from urban communities has long been understood as a key defining feature of urban societies. This thesis investigates the relationship between developments in agriculture and urbanisation in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain. The Late Iron Age period saw the rise of oppida, characterised by extensive dyke systems, the presence of elites and imported material culture. Three models of the agricultural basis of oppida are currently available: agricultural innovations, surplus production, and non-arable settlements. These three models have been evaluated through three methods: the analysis of charred, waterlogged and mineralised plant remains from Silchester, an oppidum and civitas capital in southern Britain; the quantitative analysis of secondary archaeobotanical data from the regional area of the Hampshire Downs and the Thames Valley; and the synthesis of archaeobotanical evidence for food and agriculture at oppida and Roman towns in Britain. Key findings are that spelt wheat and barley were cultivated at Late Iron Age Silchester in combination with a new crop (flax), new management techniques (hay meadows) and the consumption of new plant foods (olives, celery and coriander). Following the establishment of the Roman civitas capital, the agricultural basis continued unchanged for several decades before a re-organisation c. AD70/80, whereby crop-processing ceased within Silchester. The regional crop-processing and weed ecology analysis shows that arable farming was conducted at Silchester, and that large-scale handling of cereals was not occurring unlike at earlier hillforts, and later towns. The evidence for animal stabling, flax cultivation, haymaking, and new plant foods from Silchester are interpreted as representing the coalescence of a rural population, developing new farming techniques to cope with the nucleated population, and therefore supportive of internal models of oppida development.

The aim of this thesis is to approach Ptolemaic and Imperial royal sculpture in Egypt dating between 300 BC and AD 220 (the reigns of Ptolemy I and Caracalla) from a contextual point of view. To collect together the statuary items (recognised as statues, statue heads and fragments, and inscribed bases and plinths) that are identifiably royal and have a secure archaeological context, that is a secure find spot or a recoverable provenance, within Egypt. I then used this material, alongside other types of evidence such as textual sources and numismatic material, to consider the distribution, style, placement, and functions of the royal statues, and to answer the primary questions of where were these statues located? what was the relationship between statue, especially statue style, and placement? And what changes can be identified between Ptolemaic and Imperial royal sculpture? From analysis of the sculptural evidence, this thesis was able to create a catalogue of 103 entries composed of 157 statuary items, and use this to identify the different styles of royal statues that existed in Ptolemaic and Imperial Egypt and the primary spaces for the placement of such imagery, namely religious and urban space. The results of this thesis, based on the available evidence, was the identification of a division between sculptural style and context regarding the royal statues, with Egyptian-style material being placed in Egyptian contexts, Greek-style material in Greek, and Imperial-style statues associated with classical contexts. The functions of the statues appear to have also typically been closely related to statue style and placement. Many of the statues were often directly associated with their location, meaning they were an intrinsic part of the function and appearance of the context they occupied, as well as acting as representations of the monarchs. Primarily, the royal statues acted as a way to establish and maintain communication between different groups in Egypt.

This thesis focuses on a short period of time between 50 B.C. to A.D. 14, which is marked by the increased prominence of pax as a central concept within the victory rhetoric of the period. The period is one of immense political and social upheaval and change that was to dictate the power structures of the Roman world, and one of the ways in which this change was conceptualised was through the language of peace. In this thesis I examine pax as a concept within the Roman empire and as part of an discourse on the nature of Roman imperialism. This examination considers not just the development of pax as a concept over time, but also how it was variously conceptualised and presented to different audiences and in different locations. This focuses the examination of pax on understanding what the term as an expression of Rome’s imperium meant to various peoples within the Roman empire, how it was expressed and for what reasons. As David Mattingly has recently emphasised the nature of Roman imperialism changed radically over time (‘Imperialism, Power, and Identity: Experiencing the Roman Empire’ (2011)). This study of the different rhetorics of peace offers new insight into this changing nature. Beyond the specific examination of pax as a part of imperial discourse within the late Republic and early Principate, this study raises questions about the way we think about concepts in the ancient world. Rather than talking about a single development or evolution over time, we should rather consider concepts as constantly active and changing in time. Our view of the ancient world and the way in which it was conceptualised should not be a static one, but one where the meaning and value of words give us insights into how individuals and communities expressed and explained changing social and political conditions.