Urban Space between the Roman Age and Late Antiquity: Continuity, Discontinuity and Changes ed. by A. Cortese and G. Fioratto (review)

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:

• Urban Space between the Roman Age and Late Antiquity: Continuity, Discontinuity and Changes ed. by A. Cortese and G. Fioratto
• Miko Flohr

Urban Space between the Roman Age and Late Antiquity: Continuity, Discontinuity and Changes Edited by A. Cortese and G. Fioratto Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2022. Pp. 178. ISBN: 978375436605

This edited volume publishes the proceedings of a workshop on late antique transformations of urban space in the Roman and post-Roman Mediterranean held at Regensburg in February 2020. It consists of seven chapters preceded by an introductory chapter authored by the two editors and a concluding discussion by Nadin Burkhardt. The individual chapters vary somewhat in their scope and approach, but there is a some emphasis on developments in Anatolia and surrounding regions further to the East, though two papers focus on the city of Aquileia in Northern Italy. Thematically, there is a slight focus on religion and religious architecture. Ideologically, as the editors rightly observe, the chapters are connected by the fact that they tend to see Late Antiquity as a "time of renewal and transformation" (9) rather than as an era of decline. The volume certainly offers ammunition to those who want to stress the vitality of urban communities in Late Antiquity, particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean—but at the same time, this reviewer feels that the book does not offer a strong case against those who wish to argue that there (also) was substantial urban decline or abandonment.

The two chapters following the introduction focus on Aquileia. The first, by Fioratto, analyses the transformation of the "peri-urban" space of Aquileia in order to assess the demographic development of the city after the third century ce. F. argues how particularly in the fourth century, domestic structures in several areas appear to have been transformed or abandoned, suggesting a decline in the population. The second chapter, by Furlan, uses waste management as a perspective to understand the transformation of the city between the third and fifth century ce. It sketches a similar picture to Fioratto's, one of general urban decline, though Furlan notes, rightly, that the gradual break-down of the early imperial [End Page 290] sewage system and the appearance of rubbish dumps within the city coincided with the period in which the community invested significantly in the construction of churches.

The subsequent two chapters focus on western Anatolia. The third chapter, by Poulsen, offers a case study of the city of Halicarnassus between the Hellenistic and the late antique period, showing that evidence for the period between the fourth and seventh century ce is much more abundant than that for the preceding three centuries, suggesting that Halicarnassus actually flourished during Late Antiquity. The subsequent chapter by Demirci focuses on the long-term history of the Jewish community at Priene. Demirci argues that while the community remained stable throughout Late Antiquity, the Christianization of the urban landscape and the changing religious topography meant that the community became somewhat spatially marginalized, as it was now situated away from the heart of the city.

The final three chapters move further eastward still. The fifth chapter, by Cortese, focuses on late antique monastic foundations in Cilicia and Isauria. Cortese argues that monastic construction flourished in both regions. As she presents it, this is both a sign of transformation and of continuity: religious change generated construction activity, sometimes on rather remote locations, but the construction activity itself can be seen as a form of continuity. The subsequent chapter, by Intagliata, looks at the late antique urban history of Georgia and Abkhazia, which from the fourth century onwards was controlled by the kingdom of Lazica. Intagliata argued that over time, these cities began to conform to the "Byzantine" ideal of small, fortified, Christian, and imperial urban settlements, which shared a regional architectural vocabulary. Again, this points to both transformation and continuity. The final chapter, by Raja, brings us to Palmyra, and uses the concept of "lived urban religion" to explore the impact of the transformation of the sanctuary of Bel in the first centuries ce on religious practices and experiences in the city.

The introduction and the concluding chapter offer the broader interpretative framework in...