Search results for ""author i. jacobs""

In the Roman period, construction and maintenance of civic monuments and infrastructure were regarded as the normal duty of well-off citizens. For the subsequent centuries, encompassing the 4th to the 7th century AD, changing social and political conditions within the Roman Empire assumingly resulted in a severe reduction of expenditure and concurrent loss of sentimental and aesthetic attitudes towards public space. This book challenges this assumption. It reconstructs how cities of the Eastern Mediterranean in late antique and Early Byzantine times represented themselves towards outsiders by assessing the care given to urban fortifications, streets and squares, decorative and religious monuments and, finally, statuary. Thereafter, the architectural changes that distinguished these centuries from previous times are discussed. The book then evaluates the identity and motives of the diverse initiators of interventions, as well as the skills and work organisation of the actual constructors. Finally, the priorities of the users of public space, as well as their responses to it, are explored.

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Despite the large increase in material evidence datable to the Theodosian period (379-455 C.E.), textual sources still dominate our view of the period. This has led to a pretty bleak picture made up of foreign invasions, loss of territory, a weak ruler dynasty, a state-driven distribution system, and declining cities. And yet, many regions of the Roman Empire seem to have been doing quite well. For this reason, this volume aims at a re-evaluation of the prosperity of the Roman Empire under the Theodosii. Archaeological, historical, epigraphic and numismatic research are combined to investigate the vitality and socio-economic potential of distinct regions of the empire; to explore the relative importance of cities, villages, fortresses and estates in patterns of purchase and consumption; to gain insights into the mechanisms and forces underlying production, distribution and consumption of both staple goods and luxury products; and, eventually, to offer explanations for the general condition and functioning of the empire.

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