According to its first great historian, the story of the English Church began in a street market in Rome sometime around 580. There, Bede reported, a young cleric named Gregory joined a large crowd examining what newly arrived merchants had to sell: Dicunt, quia die quadam cum, aduenientibus nuper mercatoribus, multa uenalia in forum fuissent conlata, multi ad emendum confluxissent, et ipsum Gregorium inter alios aduenisse, ac uidisse inter alia pueros uenales positos candidi corporis, ac uenusti uultus, capillorum quoque forma egregia. Quos cum aspiceret, interrogauit, ut aiunt, de qua regione uel terra essent adlati. Dictumque est, quia de Brittania insula, cuius incolae talis essent aspectus. The conversation continued as Gregory quizzed them regarding their religion and homeland, including the part usually summarized as “non Angli, sed Angeli!” The slaves were from Deira and their king was named Ælla; Gregory made further puns on these. Afterward, he went to the Bishop of Rome, begging to be sent as a missionary to the English. Though the Pope was willing to send him, the Roman people would not allow Gregory to leave the city. Eventually, Gregory himself became Pope and dispatched Augustine and his companions to fulfil his ambition. Gregory’s encounter with the angelic slaves has long been one of the most familiar stock-images of English history even though, in the principal source, Bede himself warns that he cannot testify to its veracity as he only knows the story from oral accounts. However, the very strength of an oral tradition makes it seem likely that the idea of English slaves being sold in Rome did not surprise Bede or his audience while, as Pope, Gregory himself wrote instructing his representatives in Marseille to purchase English slaves there. Other written evidence demonstrates that, at the end of the sixth century, there was a movement of slaves from the Anglo- Saxon kingdoms southwards to Gaul as well as a further movement of slaves from Gaul into the Mediterranean world. Whether or not Gregory ever actually had the reported conversation, it was widely seen as likely that slaves from Britain would be offered for sale in Rome. This slave trade across Gaul, as well as a second route along the Atlantic coasts of western Europe, brought a steady supply of goods from the developed economies of the eastern and southern Mediterranean to these western lands while, in return, the peoples of those regions exported both raw materials and other humans. At the time of Gregory’s papacy, this system of exchange linked all the parts of the former Roman Empire. Within little more than a century, however, it had all but disappeared. That trade within the former boundaries of the Roman Empire and its disappearance in the period between the time of Gregory’s visit to the market (roughly 580) and Bede’s recording of it (sometime before 731) is the subject of this thesis. Investigating the slave trade in the long seventh century in the post-Roman world will involve investigations into both slavery and commerce in a period in which neither was static. Instead, the seventh century was an era of rapid and profound change in many things, not least of which were transformations within the slave trade itself. Yet, the slave trade, as argued in this thesis, can be seen as providing a critical framework for understanding the economic and cultural developments of the entire period. The slave trade and its fluctuations may even have been a driving force in some of the enormous social changes of the time that continue to shape the present world. Four principal theses will be advanced and supported through the combination of a reading of the written sources (primarily, though not exclusively, those in Arabic, Greek, and Latin), an examination of relevant archaeological data, and the use of analogous evidence from other periods. These four propositions may be seen as the basis of the overall argument demonstrating 1) that slaves were numerous and that they played a crucial role in the societies of the post-Roman world, 2) that the continuing function of these societies required a greater supply of slaves than could be provided internally, 3) that this resulted in a long-distance slave trade that was a key force in the post-Roman system of exchange in the Mediterranean world, 4) and that the breakdown of this system of trade and of many contacts across the Mediterranean during the seventh century was caused primarily by alterations in the sources of the slave supply of the most developed economies. None of these four has been argued previously though academics have been increasingly examining the pre-modern history of slavery and of the slave trade. Though numerous articles and volumes have looked at particular aspects of slave-systems in the periods immediately before or after, none have examined the slave trading systems of the long seventh century itself. Similarly, those works that do touch on it have been largely concerned with other issues or focussed solely on a single region, whether that is the Byzantine Empire, the British Isles, Spain, Gaul, or the earliest Islamic societies. Older works were similarly limited in geographic scope, with even the broadest concentrating solely on European or Islamic materials. No one has previously attempted to bring together materials from the whole of the post-Roman world in a single coherent account nor has any prior scholarship shown either the ubiquity of slavery in the period or the extent of the slave trade at the time. By putting together these four arguments, an overall thesis that provides an original synthesis and reconciliation between divergent interpretations of the economies of the end of the Roman Empire and the formation of the medieval world will be created.

This thesis seeks to further research into Prosper’s chronicle and to counter Theodor Mommsen’s conclusions that Prosper made no editorial changes between the 445 and 455 editions of his chronicle. The ultimate result will be to prove that there were significant and deliberate alterations made by Prosper and to create a critical edition and translation of the chronicle of 445. The methodology includes establishing Prosper’s place in the Latin chronicle tradition, his alleged role as secretary to Pope Leo, his supposed residence in Rome and his theological views. Mommsen’s edition will then be used to compare the manuscripts of the 445 and 455 editions and to determine what differences exist. This comparison will show that Prosper not only continued his own chronicle but also edited it between 445 and 455. We will then fill the void left by Mommsen when he created only one edition by providing a critical edition and translation of the 445 chronicle for the first time.

The subject of this thesis is the variety of ways that temples were reused by Romans, both Christian and non-Christian, at the end of Antiquity in the present-day country of Greece. It discusses these means of reuse using principally archaeological evidence as a means of countering interpretations of the material culture that temples were either destroyed or reused as churches. These interpretations are based on the assumption that contemporary written sources such as Saints’ ‘Lives’ (the literary genre known as hagiography) are an accurate portrayal of temple reuse in Late Antiquity, without taking into consideration the legendary nature of hagiography. On the other hand, they do not account for potentially contradictory evidence of temple reuse derived from archaeological excavation. It is argued in this thesis that archaeological evidence provides an alternative outcome to that described in contemporary written sources such as hagiography, one that emphasizes practical forms of temple reuse rather than religious. The evidence for this argument is presented at both a geographic level and as discreet categories of forms of reuse of both a religious and practical nature, as a first glimpse of the nuanced image of temple reuse in Greece. Specific examples of the evidence are then cited in a number of case studies to be further developed as a valid attribute in the characterisation of the Late Antique sacred landscape at the level of the Roman Empire. It is concluded that, although practical forms of temple reuse do not greatly alter the sacred landscape of Late Antique Greece, they are crucial in developing a more diverse view of Late Antique religion.

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The purpose of this dissertation is to examine Quintilian' s discussion of the progymnasmata, or elementary rhetorical exercises, in the Institutio Oratoria against an historical background. The study of evidence for the development of the exercises will therefore be important, as well as comparison with the Greek Progymnasmata of Aelius Theon, who was probably a contemporary of Quintilian, and of Hermogenes, Aphthonius and Nicolaus, who all lived during the period of the Roman Empire. Authors after the fifth century A.D. have not been considered, since the progymnasmata seem to have been fixed by then and collections appeared in the Byzantine period added no new exercises. The comparison of Quintilian's work with Greek texts has necessitated a good deal of Greek terminology, for which I apologize to the reader. Since the Greek progymnasmatists have a love of classification and categorization, the reader will also find discussion of rhetorical terms. At the same time, this study shows how often the ideas of Quintilian and Theon are similar, especially in regard to teaching method, which was not usually an interest of ancient rhetorical writers, and it seems likely that Quintilian was acquainted with Theon's work. It is also instructive to see Quintilian's affirmation of the value of the progymnasmata, at a time when they were not popular with Roman rhetoricians, as part of an educational tradition which continued for many centuries. It was hoped to add an appendix containing the parts of Theon's work which are missing from the Greek text but which are found in an Armenian translation of the sixth century A.D. Unfortunately, I have not yet found anyone who can translate sixth-century Armenian. The missing passages, when translated, should be of considerable worth, not only for understanding Theon's Progymnasmata, but also for throwing more light on Quintilian's use of these exercises, especially paraphrase, and praise and denunciation of laws, concerning which little is known. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Lämningar från mer än 230 romerska amfiteatrar har hittats sprida runt om i alla av det romerska imperiets provinser. Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att skapa en förståelse för amfiteatrarnas betydelse för det romerska riket, genom att studera var de är lokaliserade och det fynd som har gjorts i dem. De flesta arbeten som redan gjorts i ämnet är gjorda på amfiteatrarnas konstruktion eller på separata amfiteatrar. Genom litteraturstudier av 23 amfiteatrar är syftet att få en större överblick över ämnet. Resultatet visar på att amfiteatrarna låg på militära, politiska och ekonomiskt strategiska platser och ofta i utkanten eller utanför staden. Fynd från amfiteatrarna visar att huvudstrategin bakom byggandet av amfiteatrarna var att kontrollera imperiets folk. / Remains of more than 230 Roman amphitheatres have been found scattered around the provinces of the Roman Empire. The purpose of this essay is to create an understanding of the importance of amphitheatres to the Roman Empire, by studying where they are located and the archaeological finds that have been made in them. Most of the work already done on the subject has been done on the construction of the amphitheatres. Through literature studies of 23 amphitheatres, the aim is to get a greater overview of the subject. The results show that the amphitheatres were located in military, political and economic strategic locations and often on the outskirts or outside the city. Finds from the amphitheatres show that the main strategy behind the construction of the amphitheatres was to control the people of the empire.

Throughout the history of the United States, its inhabitants have looked upon their nation as a special place. In some cases, this has exceeded the natural and simple love of home and country and taken a more extreme form. Important to this bent is the tendency to see the nation, its beliefs, and its actions around the world as divinely sanctioned and inspired in some regard. This is a generally necessary component to the idea of American Exceptionalism, which views the United States as a nation with a divinely imposed mission to spread civilization, freedom, and democracy to the ends of the earth. In many ways, the Roman Empire shared these pretentions of being the bearers of civilization to the rest of the world and of being a divinely chosen nation with that vocation. Voices within Christianity, as it developed, provided a potent antithesis to this aspect of Roman imperial ideology, critiquing Roman ideas of their own exceptionalism. By comparing the ideological basis of Roman and American concepts of exceptionalism, this thesis will attempt to apply the critique made by people like Jesus, Paul and Augustine to the United States today.

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Fractures, one of the most common findings in paleopathology, can reveal information about behaviour and social identity in the past. A new methodology for assessing the healing stages of fractures has recently been proposed, which could allow for additional data to be gathered from the study of fractures. Trauma, post-traumatic time interval, and injury recidivism were studied in five late Roman (c. 3rd – 4th centuries AD) British and Spanish skeletal samples. The aims of this thesis are: 1) record fractures and their healing stage using new post-traumatic time interval estimation methods; 2) determine how trauma profiles vary in the Romano-British and Spanish samples; 3) employ biocultural and life course approaches in the analysis of the results to reveal information about the culture, social identities, and environmental circumstances in the two Roman provinces under study. The remains of 214 adults from two Romano-British and three Romano-Spanish sites were examined for the presence of long bone and rib fractures. Fracture data was analyzed by age, sex, site, bone element, and fracture type to build a profile of trauma at each of the sites. In addition, cases of multiple injury were assessed using new post-traumatic time interval methods in order to discern cases of injury recidivism. A total of 44 individuals were identified as having 89 fractures across all the skeletal samples. Sixteen individuals had multiple fractures, eight of which were determined to have fractures of different ages using methods for determining post-traumatic time interval. Males and females had similar rates of fractures and multiple injuries. Fractures peaked among economically active young and middle-aged adults. A number of differences between the Romano-British and Spanish sample were observed with regards to trauma patterns and fracture prevalence. The results of this research contribute to our understandings of trauma profiles and injury recidivism in Roman populations, and provide the first comprehensive trauma study of a Romano-Spanish skeletal sample. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)