This paper explores the processes of specialized viticulture in the province of Gallia Narbonensis over the first three centuries CE and brings this evidence to bear on broader economic questions, particularly as they relate to the effects of connectivity and globalization on Roman economic development. Evidence from small farms to sprawling villas suggests that specialized production stretched across multiple strata of society in Narbonensis, from so-called peasants to the wealthiest elites. The existence of specialized agricultural production at the scale documented in Narbonensis required significant demand, well-connected and integrated markets, sustained trade, and an awareness of these economic factors by the residents of the province. The evidence presented here demonstrates that the residents of Narbonensis recognized that they were part of an economic environment in which high levels of connectivity and integrated markets allowed them to pursue more profitable production strategies and that they pursued these opportunities.

L'articolo indaga le immagini di famiglia sui monumenti funerari della Venetia, concentrate per lo più nel corso dell'età giulio-claudia, anche incrociando le informazioni epigrafiche e integrando l'analisi con elaborazioni quantitative. Si registra una certa codificazione del significato parentale, che emerge dallo schema iconografico e viene ribadito dai gesti, mentre abiti e oggetti aiutavano a caratterizzare il singolo ritratto. Non si riconosce una consistente alterazione del significato dell'immagine in base al contesto sociale o alla premorienza di alcuni membri della famiglia. L'analisi permette di comprendere quali fossero le tendenze trasversali su cui la committenza agiva per ritrarre il proprio nucleo domestico, dialogando con il contesto geografico e culturale di appartenenza e sintetizzando la realtà familiare del mondo dei vivi per creare un modello iconico per la comunità dei morti.

This article presents a new interpretation of the results of the 1980s excavations led by Andrea Carandini on the north Palatine slope. In contrast to Carandini's original reconstruction of the complex as four atrium houses, I propose one palatial complex on the Sacra Via that finds some parallels in recently excavated complexes elsewhere, like the Auditorium site in Rome and the Borgo at San Giovenale.

This paper examines the distinctive distribution patterns of Amphore Crétoise (AC) 4 amphoras within Roman trade networks through critical assessment of the morphological attributes of this amphora type compared to AC1–3 jars and through consideration of the mechanisms that underlie these patterns. This builds on a growing number of studies that have focused on the design attributes of amphoras as important factors tied to their economic role. It also demonstrates the importance of engaging in more nuanced and detailed investigations that question assumptions about amphora distribution within the Roman world. The AC4 is the primary, and often only, Cretan type found at sites in Rome's northwestern provinces and along the Danube frontier. A narrower profile and smaller capacity appear to have made this amphora type more attractive than other Cretan forms for transport along river and overland routes.

The peristyle house kitchen in the legionary camp at Vindonissa is one of the few examples of a Mediterranean-style kitchen with a raised hearth in the northwestern provinces. The exceptional preservation of the kitchen made possible an interdisciplinary investigation combining archaeological, archaeobiological, and micromorphological analyses in order to reconstruct dietary and food-processing practices, kitchen maintenance, and waste disposal management in a 1st-c. CE legionary camp household in Germania Superior. The kitchen infrastructure, the large ceramic inventory, and the amphorae finds together indicate a sophisticated cuisine and also food preparation for a large number of people, most likely by servants. The archaeobiological finds provide evidence that the diet was strongly Roman influenced and luxurious. These results confirm that the diet and in general the whole lifestyle of military members was strongly determined by military rank. The house was most likely inhabited by a high-ranking officer of the 11th legion.

Un texte récemment mis au jour dans les environs de Lepti Minus (Lamta, dans le Sahel tunisien), gravé sur sur la face principale d'une base de statue, apporte un éclairage substantiel concernant l’édification de l'amphithéâtre de la ville: le contexte d‘édification, la nature du financement et l'identité des évergètes qui l‘ont pris en charge. Il s'agit donc d'un hommage public que le populus Leptitanorum a rendu à L. Octauius Felix, un notable local, membre de l'ordre équestre, coopté en qualité de patron de la cité. Le texte présente ainsi des centres d'intérêt multiples: des considérations onomastiques et sociales, le cursus équestre du notable laptitain, L. Octauius Felix, du primipilat, à la préfecture du camp de la Legio VII Gemina, en Espagne, et a prise en charge de la construction de l'amphithéâtre.

Discussions of mithraea tend to emphasize their uniformity. While it is true that many earlier mithraea do adhere to an established plan, there are a notable number of mithraea dating from the late 3rd c. onward that do not. This article discusses these various atypical mithraea, how such alterations to the standard mithraeum plan might have impacted on Mithraic rituals, and how this might have affected the experiences of the participants. It also explores why such changes occurred, observing that while in some instances this may have been to accommodate alterations to ritual practices, in others it was likely due to more mundane issues, such as limitations on space and environmental factors. The article concludes by reflecting on the implications this has for the identification of mithraea in the archaeological record.

This paper analyzes the reuse of ancient tuff blocks in early medieval architecture in Rome, in both papal and private structures. The blocks are a well-known phenomenon, but they have not yet received any focused study. Short discussions in earlier scholarship have typically described them in utilitarian terms. I first identify a pattern of targeted reuse in papal building projects. I then argue that they would also have had symbolic value for an independent papacy wanting to display power. For later private builders, I propose that the blocks became prestige materials displayed on the houses of an ever-tightening aristocracy eager to be seen within some of the city's most important monumental spaces. I consider how the city's ancient monuments and their pieces were viewed in the early medieval period and how the blocks’ ancient contexts contributed to the symbolic value that I identify in them.

In 2017, archaeologists at Pompeii discovered by far the longest tomb inscription ever found at the city on a monumental tomb. This elogium provided insight into many aspects of the city's social, economic, and political world. One clause attests to the distribution of baked bread in the city. This note argues that the passage provides new evidence from Pompeii that answers two longstanding questions. The first is that of the subject of an often-reproduced Pompeian fresco. The identity of the main figure in the painting is debated: either a baker or a politician. The second is the status, political rank, and network of the owner of the property on which the fresco was discovered. Supported by the evidence of an electoral programma, the painting and inscription illuminate the mechanics of beneficence at Pompeii and serve to identify the residence of someone who operated in the political networks of the 1st-c. CE city at a sub-elite level.