Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:31:31.710Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Apollonia-Sozousa in late antiquity: some remarks on the caput provinciae of Libya Superior1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2017

Christian Barthel
Christian Barthel*
Affiliation:
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Historisches Seminar, Abteilung für Alte Geschichte, IG-Farben-Haus, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, 60629 Frankfurt. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the available archaeological and historical data on the Late Antique city of Apollonia-Sozousa, with a particular focus on the date of its elevation to the capital of Libya Superior. Contrary to recent scholarship that stressed intrinsic evidence in the form of a combination of Berber raids and a deficient Roman military infrastructure, this article seeks to reintegrate the local conflicts of late Roman Cyrenaica to the major historical events of the fifth century AD. It is argued that the failed attempt of AD 468 to conquer Vandal Africa and the subsequent retreat of the Roman forces out of Tripolitania in AD 470 serves as a more likely political background to date the relocation of the capital from Ptolemais to Apollonia-Sozousa.

يتناول هذا المقال البيانات الأثرية والتاريخية المتوفرة عن مدينة أبولونيا سوزا الأثرية القديمة، بالتركيز على تاريخ ترفيعها إلى عاصمة ليبيا العظمى . وعلى العكس من الدراسات الحديثة التي شددت على الدليل الجوهري على شكل توليفة من الغزو البربي والنقص في البنية التحتية العسكرية الرومانية، فإن هذا المقال يسعى إلى إعادة إدماج الصراع المحلي في القيروان القديمة مع الأحداث التاريخية الرئيسية في القرن الخامس الميلادي . يقال أن المحاولة الفاشلة لغزو الجرمانيين لإفريقيا في عام 468 ميلادي والانسحاب اللاحق للقوات الرومانية من طرابلس عام 470 ميلادي مرجح أكثر كخلفية سياسية لتأريخ تغيير موقع العاصمة من القيروان لأبولونيا سوزا.

Type
Part 2: Research Papers
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 48 , November 2017 , pp. 159 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Libyan Studies 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

The research for this article was done during a doctoral fellowship at the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies. My thanks go to Christoph Rummel for sharing his thoughts on a previous version of this article as well as improving my English. I am also indebted to the anonymous reviewers of Libyan Studies for their helpful suggestions. Any remaining errors are mine.

References

Ameling, W. et al. (eds) 2011. Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae (CIIP), vol. 2: Caesarea and the Middle Coast. De Gruyter, Berlin: 1121–2160.Google Scholar
Arnaud, P. 2005. Les routes de la navigation antique. Itinéraires en Méditerranée. Edition Errance, Paris.Google Scholar
Arthur, C. 1973–74. The Ptolemais aqueduct: a description of its present condition and its course. Libyan Studies 5: 24–29.Google Scholar
Arthur, C. 1974–75. The aqueduct of Ptolemais. Libya Antiqua 11: 243–49.Google Scholar
Barthel, C. Forthcoming. Die Kyrenaika in der Spätantike. Studien zur Grenzorganisation und Grenzpolitik unter Anastasius I.Google Scholar
Beltrame, C. 2012. New evidence for the submerged ancient harbour structures at Tolmetha and Leptis Magna, Libya. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 41.2: 315–26.Google Scholar
Bentaher, F., and Buzaian, A. 2010. The fort of Al-Motanib. In Luni, M. (ed.), Cirene e la Cirenaica nell'Antichità, vol. 2. Rome: 229–35.Google Scholar
Blackman, D., Rankov, B., Baika, K., et al. 2013. Shipsheds of the Ancient Mediterranean. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Bleckman, B. 2010. Historische Bemerkungen zu den Briefen an und über Johannes. In Luchner, K. et al. (ed.), Synesios von Kyrene. Polis-Freundschaft-Jenseitsstrafen. Briefe an und über Johannes. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen: 207–29.Google Scholar
Blockley, R. C. 1983. The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. 2. Francis Cairns, Liverpool.Google Scholar
Blockley, R. C. 1992. East Roman Foreign Policy: Formation and Conduct from Diocletian to Anastasius. Francis Cairns, Liverpool.Google Scholar
Börm, H. 2013. Westrom: Von Honorius bis Justinian. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Brodka, D. 2014. Priskos und der Feldzug des Basiliskos gegen Geiserich (468). In Bleckmann, B. and Stickler, T. (eds), Griechische Profanhistoriker des fünften nachchristlichen Jahrhunderts. Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart: 103–21.Google Scholar
Busine, A. 2015. Introduction: religious practices and Christianization of the Late Antique city. In Busine, A. (ed.), Religious Practices and Christianization of the Late Antique City (4th-7th cent.). Brill, Leiden: 1–19.Google Scholar
Carolla, P. 2008. Priscus Panita. Excerpta et Fragmenta. De Gruyter, Berlin.Google Scholar
Castritius, H. 2007. Die Vandalen. Etappen einer Spurensache. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Chamoux, F. 1968. Sur quelques inscriptions greques trouvées a Apollonia de Cyrénaique. In Gadallah, F. F. et al. (eds), Libya in History: University of Libya – Faculty of Arts, Historical Conference 16–23 March 1968. Department of Antiquities,Tripoli.Google Scholar
Conant, J. 2012. Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439–700. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawes, E. A. S. 1948. Three Byzantine Saints: Contemporary Biographies of St. Daniel the Stylite, St. Theodore of Sykeon, and St. John the Almsgiver. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Desanges, J. 1990. Austoriani/Austur . In Encyclopédie berbère 8. Peeters, La Calade: 1170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Segni, L., et al. 2003. A schedule of fees (sportulae) for official services from Caesarea Maritima, Israel. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 145: 273–300.Google Scholar
Duval, N. 1989. Les monuments d'epoque chrétienne en Cyrénaique. In Actes du Xie Congrès International d'Archéologique Chrétienne. Lyon, Vienne, Grenoble, Genève et Aoste (21–28. Septembre 1986), vol. 3. Collection de l'École Française de Rome, Rome: 2743–96.Google Scholar
Ellis, S. 1985. The ‘Palace of the Dux’ at Apollonia, and related houses. In Barker, G. et al. (eds), Cyrenaica in Antiquity. British Archeological Reports, Oxford: 15–27.Google Scholar
Fleming, N. C. 2013. Versunkene Städte und verlorene Schiffswracks an der libyschen Küste. In Reinfeld, M. (ed.), Archäologie im Mittelmeer. Auf der Suche nach verlorenen Schiffswracks und vergessenen Häfen. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz: 139–47.Google Scholar
Fulford, M. 1989. To East and West: the Mediterranean trade of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania in antiquity. Libyan Studies 20: 169–91.Google Scholar
Goodchild, R. G. 1960. A Byzantine palace in Apollonia (Cyrenaica). Antiquity 34: 246–59.Google Scholar
Goodchild, R. G. 1971. Kyrene und Apollonia. Raggi, Zurich.Google Scholar
Goodchild, R. G. (ed.). 1976. Apollonia: The Port of Cyrene Excavations by the University of Michigan 1965–67. Department of Antiquities, Tripoli.Google Scholar
Greatrex, G. (ed.) 2011. The Chronicle of Pseudo-Zachariah Rhetor: Church and War in Late Antiquity. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool.Google Scholar
Haarer, F. K. 2006. Anastasius I: Politics and Empire in the Late Roman World. Cairns, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Haensch, R. 1997. Capita provinciarum. Statthaltersitze und Provinzialverwaltung in der römischen Kaiserzeit. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz.Google Scholar
Haensch, R. 2013. Die Statthalterarchive der Spätantike. In Faraguna, M. (ed.), Archives and Archival Documents in Ancient Societies: Legal Documents in Ancient Societies IV ; Trieste 30 September–1 October 2011. Edition University of Trieste, Trieste: 333–49.Google Scholar
Hahn, J. 2013. Die Herausforderung der antiken Stadt in der Spätantike – Christentum, urbane Sakraltopographie und religiöse Gewalt. In Oberste, J. (ed.), Pluralität - Konkurrenz - Konflikt. Religiöse Spannungen im städtischen Raum der Vormoderne. Forum Mittelalter-Studien 8. Verlagsgruppe Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg: 11–30.Google Scholar
Henning, D. 1999. Periclitans res publica: Kaisertum und Eliten in der Krise des Weströmischen Reiches 454/5–493 n. Chr. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Honigmann, E. 1939. Le Synekdèmos d'Hiéroklès et l'Opuscule Géographique de Georges de Chypre. Édition de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves, Brussels.Google Scholar
Kenrick, P. 2013. Libya Archaeological Guides: Cyrenaica. Silphium Press, London.Google Scholar
Kosinski, R. 2010. The Emperor Zeno: Religion and Politics. Byzantina et Slavica Cracoviensia 6 . Kracow.Google Scholar
Laronde, A. 1990. Recherches sous-marines dans le port d'Apollonia de Cyrénaique: apercu préliminiare. In Atti dei convegni Lincei. Giornata Lincea sulla Archeologia Cirenaica (Roma, 3 Novembre 1987). Academia nazionale dei Lincei, Rome: 75–83.Google Scholar
Laronde, A. 1992. Les ports de Ptolémaïs et d'Apollonia. Les Dossier de l'Archèologie 167: 54–63.Google Scholar
Laronde, A. 1996. Apollonia de Cyrénaïque: archéologie et histoire. Journal des Savants: 3–49.Google Scholar
Lavan, L. 1999. Late Antique governors’ palaces: a gazeteer. Antiquité Tardive 7: 135–64.Google Scholar
Lavan, L. 2001. The praetoria of civil governors in late antiquity. In Lavan, L. et al. (eds), Recent Research in Late-Antique Urbanism, special issue of Journal of Roman Archaeology: 39–56.Google Scholar
Leone, A. 2013. The End of the Pagan City. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leppin, H. 2011. Justinian. Das christliche Experiment. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Meier, M. 2009. Anastasios I. Die Entstehung des Byzantinischen Reiches. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Merrills, A., and Miles, R. 2010. The Vandals. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester.Google Scholar
Modéran, Y. 2003. Les Maures et l'Afrique romaine (IVe - VIIe siècle). École Française de Rome, Rome.Google Scholar
Modéran, Y. 2014. Les vandales et l'Empire romain. Edited by M. Y. Perrin. Édition Errance, Arles.Google Scholar
Pedley, J. G. 1976. The history of the city. In Goodchild, R. G. et al. (eds), Apollonia, the Port of Cyrene: Excavations by the University of Michigan 1965–67. Department of Antiquities, Tripoli: 11–20.Google Scholar
Pfeilschifter, R. 2013. Der Kaiser und Konstantinopel. Kommunikation und Konfliktaustrag in einer spätantiken Metropole. De Gruyter, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, J. M. 1976. The inscriptions of Apollonia. In Goodchild, R. G. et al. (eds), Apollonia: The Port of Cyrene Excavations by the University of Michigan 1965–67. Department of Antiquities, Tripoli: 309–12.Google Scholar
Reynolds, J. M. 2000. Byzantine buildings, Justinian and Procopius in Libya Inferior and Libya Superior. Antiquité Tardive 8: 169–76.Google Scholar
Reynolds, J. M. (ed.) 2003. Christian Monuments of Cyrenaica. Oxbow, Hertford.Google Scholar
Reynolds, J. M., and Ward-Perkins, J. B. 1952. The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania. British School at Rome, Rome.Google Scholar
Roques, D. 1983. Synésios de Cyrène et les migrations berbères vers l'Orient (398–413). Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 127.4: 660–77.Google Scholar
Roques, D. 1985. L’économie de la Cyrénaïque au Bas-Empire. In Barker, G. et al. (eds), Cyrenaica in Antiquity. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford: 387–94.Google Scholar
Roques, D. 1987. Synésios de Cyrène et la Cyrénaïque du Bas-Empire. Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.Google Scholar
Roques, D. 1999. Ports et campagnes de Cyrène d'Apollonia à Phycous. Karthago 24: 187–95.Google Scholar
Roques, D. 2004. Capitale millénaire, capitales temporaires, capitale éphémère: le cas de la Cyrénaïque antique (631 av. J.-C.-642 ap. J.-C.). In Ferdière, A. (ed.), Capitales éphémères des capitales de cités perdent leur statut dans l'antiquité tardive. Actes du Colloque organisé par le Laboratoire Archéologie et Territoires (UMR CITERES), Tours, 6–8 mars 2003. Atlas des capitales éphémères. Revue archéologique du Centre de la France – Suppléments, Tours: 297–309.Google Scholar
Roques, D. 2008–13. Synésios de Cyrène et la mer. Karthago 28: 97–141.Google Scholar
Sapir-Hen, L., et al. 2014. Animal economy and social diversity in Byzantine Apollonia/Sozousa. Council for British Research in the Levant 46.3: 371–81.Google Scholar
Sarantis, A. 2013. Military encounters and diplomatic affairs in the North Balkans during the reign of Anastasius and Justinian. In Sarantis, A. and Christie, N. (eds), War and Warfare in Late Antiquity: Current Perspectives, vol. 2. Brill, Leiden: 759–808.Google Scholar
Schmitt, T. 2001. Die Bekehrung des Synesios von Kyrene. Politik und Philosophie, Hof und Provinz als Handlungsräume eines Aristokraten bis zu seiner Wahl zum Metropoliten von Ptolemais. Saur, Munich.Google Scholar
Siebigs, G. 2010. Kaiser Leo I. Das oströmische Reich in den ersten drei Jahren seiner Regierung (457–460 n. Chr.). De Gruyter, Berlin.Google Scholar
Slootjes, D. 2006. The Governor and his Subjects in the later Roman Empire. Brill, Leiden.Google Scholar
Somma, M. C. 2013. Mura e città nella Cirenaica bizantina, Scienze dell'antichità. Storia Archeologia Antropologia, 19.2/3: 613–35.Google Scholar
Steinacher, R. 2015. Krieg und Frieden im Mittelmeerraum des 5. und 6. Jahrhunderts. Ostrom und die afrikanischen Vandalen. In Gastgeber, C. and Daim, F. (eds), Byzantium as Bridge between West and East. Proceedings of the International Conference, Vienna, 3rd – 5th May 2012, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna: 75–98.Google Scholar
Steinacher, R. 2016. Die Vandalen. Aufstieg und Fall eines Barbarenreiches. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Traina, G. 2013. Mapping the world under Theodosius II. In Kelly, C. (ed.), Theodosius II: Rethinking the Roman Empire in late Antiquity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 155–71.Google Scholar
Trampedach, K. 2013. Daniel Stylites and Leo I: an uneasy relationship between saint and emperor. In Dignas, B. et al. (eds), Priests and Prophets among Pagans, Jews and Christians. Peeters, Leuven: 185–207.Google Scholar
Vössing, K. 2014. Das Königreich der Vandalen. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz.Google Scholar
Waldherr, G. H. 2006. Lagua(n)tan und Austur – Invasion aus dem Osten oder Ethnogenese ‘vor Ort’. In Olshausen, E. and Sonnabend, H. (eds), ‘Troianer sind wir gewesen’ – Migrationen in der antiken Welt. Stuttgarter Kolloquium zur Historischen Geographie des Altertums, 8, 2002. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart: 158–67.Google Scholar
White, D. 1998. Static versus reactive defense: an in-progress case study of the Apollonia and Cyrene fortifications. In Catani, E. and Marengo, S. M. (eds), La Cirenaica in Età Antica. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Macerata, 18–20 maggio 1995. Poligrafici Internazionali, Pisa: 579–612.Google Scholar
Wiemer, H.-U. 2014. Malchos von Philadelpheia, die Vandalen und das Ende des Kaisertums im Westen. In Bleckmann, B. and Stickler, T. (eds), Griechische Profanhistoriker des fünften nachchristlichen Jahrhunderts. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart: 121–61.Google Scholar
Wilson, A. 2004. Cyrenaica and the Late Antique economy. Ancient West and East 3.1: 143–54.Google Scholar
Wilson, A. 2012. Roman ports and Mediterranean connectivity. In Keay, S. J. (ed.), Rome, Portus and the Mediterranean. The British School at Rome, London: 367–91.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. J. A. 2011. The fourth-century villa at Piazza Armerina (Sicily) and its wider imperial context: a review of some aspects of recent research. In Bülow, G. von (ed.), Bruckneudorf und Gamzigrad. Spätantike Paläste und Großvillen im Donau-Balkan- Raum. Akten des Internationalen Kolloquiums in Bruckneudorf vom 15. bis 18. Oktober 2008. Sonderschriften des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes. Habelt, Bonn: 55–89.Google Scholar
Wipszycka, E. 2011. The basilicas at Ptolemais: a historian's commentary on the results of archaeological exploration, Światowit. Annual of the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw 8.49 (2009–10): 51–67.Google Scholar
Wulf-Rheidt, U., and Weber, T. M. 2009. Ptolemais 2009: a report on the 2009 campaign of the joint archaeological mission by the German Archaeological Institute, Berlin, the Technical University of Brandenburg Cottbus, and the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mayence, at Tolmeitha/Cyrenaica, Libya. Available at: www.klassische-archaeologie.uni-mainz.de/Bilder_allgemein/Ptolemais_Homepage_1-2(1).pdf (accessed 24 July 2017).Google Scholar
Żelazowski, J., et al. 2011. Polish archaeological research in Ptolemais (Libya) in 2007–2009. Preliminary report, Światowit. Annual of the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw 8.49 (2009–10): 9–28.Google Scholar