Department of Archaeology

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Open Access
Agricultural strategies and the Roman Military in Central Anatolia during the Early Imperial Period
(Mersin University, Research Center for Cilician Archaeology, 2013) Bennett, J.
A recent review of the palaeoenvironmental and related evidence for the multiperiod site of Gordion has identified a pattern of intensive and ultimately unsustainable land use for the region during the Roman period, a pattern interpreted as resulting from the need for over-production by estate-owners to comply with the “often onerous taxes” levied by the provincial authorities. The nature of these “onerous taxes” is not made clear in that review, but it can be argued that the Roman period intensification of land use at Gordion initially came about from the need to supply food for the legionary and auxiliary troops stationed in Galatia and Cappadocia from the Neronian-Flavian period onwards. This explanation is suggested by the evidence that Gordion served as a Roman military base between the mid-1st and the early 2nd centuries. As the use of the location in this way began almost a full century after Galatia was provincialised, a military presence there at that time is unlikely to have been required for security reasons. In which case there is a strong probability that this activity was somehow linked with the increased military activity in Central and Eastern Anatolia that began in the Neronian-Flavian period.
Open Access
Auxiliary deployment during trajan’s parthian war: Some neglected evidence from asia minor
(Peeters Publishers, 2010) Bennett, J.
Open Access
The auxiliary garrison of Asia province
(Netherlands Institute for the Near East, 2016) Bennett, J.
The Roman province of Asia was one of those grouped by some ancient authors as being among the inermes provinciae of the Roman Empire. In fact just like all the others in this group of ‘unarmed provinces’ it contained a garrison of auxiliary soldiers, there to help maintain internal security. This article catalogues and discusses the limited evidence available for the garrison of Asia province in part to correct the still common if often un-stated view that it lacked any form of regular Roman military garrison, but also to help in understanding the overall Roman ‘Order of Battle’. In addition, it highlights the importance of Eumeneia as one of the very few sites in Asia Minor identifiable as the location of a purpose-built Roman fort.
Open Access
A centurion and his slave: a Latin epitaph from Western Anatolia in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden
(Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 2007) Bennett, J.
Open Access
The cohors equitata fort at Tihău-Cetate, Romania: the results of geophysical survey and other research
(Journal of Roman Archaeology LLC., 2006) Bennett, J.
Open Access
The cohors equitata fort at Tihǎu-Cetate, Romania: the results of geophysical survey and other research
(Journal of Roman Archaeology LLC., 2006) Bennett, J.
Open Access
The Cohortes Augustae Cyrenaicae
(Brill, 2009) Bennett, J.
The auxiliary regiments of the Imperial Roman army were as vital to the defensive and offensive capabilities of the Roman Empire as the better-known Roman legions. Initially raised on an ethnic basis through the levy from among Rome 's subject peoples, and then maintained at or near their full strength by conscription and voluntary recruitment, these units of auxilia were often deployed far from their original ' home As such, by analysing where these units were recruited and in what numbers, and then studying their subsequent history and deployment, it is possible to begin an assessment of their full value to Rome and to better comprehend overall developments in Roman strategic thinking. This paper contributes to such an appraisal by reviewing the evidence for the history and deployment of the three cohortes Augustae Cyrenaicae, among the least well-known auxiliary units in the entire Roman army.
Open Access
Gladiators at Ancyra
(Netherlands Institute for the Near East, 2009) Bennett, J.
Open Access
Hendek Kale: a Late Roman multiple lever press site in western Asia Minor
(Cambridge University Press, 2009-03) Bennett, J.; Coockson, B. C.
Open Access
An investigation of the weights of pattern 1907 bayonets made in the UK around the First World War period
(Routledge, 2017) Ballard, J. M.; Bennett, J.
The standard issue bayonet of the British Army immediately preceding and during the First World War was the Pattern 1907. This was manufactured at different times and in varying numbers during that period by one official body, the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield, and by five private contractors. These bayonets were made according to published official specifications issued by the War Department and based on a ‘pattern example’ provided by the Royal Small Arms Factory. The specifications indicate, inter alia, the quality of metal used in making the bayonets, methods of inspection and proofing, and the required maximum and minimum weight range of the completed bayonet. However, examination of a series of these bayonets in a private collection suggested that their weights varied considerably from the mid-point values of the allowed weight ranges in the original and amended specifications (16.5 oz. and 17 oz., respectively). To establish if this was a common feature among this class of bayonet as opposed to a chance factor, the weights of other surviving Pattern 1907 bayonets were determined and compared to establish the degree of variance from the official specifications as originally set out by the Royal Small Arms Factory. Seventy-six percent of the 142 bayonets surveyed were found to be above the mid-point of the allowed weight range given in the amended manufacturing specifications, with many being at the upper end of the allowed range. This is a statistically unusual result. It is speculated that the target weight may have been deliberately set higher by the individual manufacturers to eliminate the possibility of rejection of any underweight bayonets by the Royal Small Arms Factory inspectors and so a refusal of acceptance and payment for the work
Open Access
The Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix Pia Fidelis and Severus' expeditiones Asiana and Mesopotamena
(Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseum Mainz, 2008) Bennett, J.
Open Access
Mummies for export? the repatriation of a corpse from Alexandria to Ancyra in The Roman Imperial period
(Sage Publications Ltd., 2010) Bennett, J.
An inscription on a sarcophagus of the mid- or late second century AD found at Ancyra (modern Ankara, Turkey) indicates that it contained the repatriated body of an Ancyran who died in Alexandria. While absolute proof is lacking, it seems likely that his body had been mummified to allow for its return. As such, this sarcophagus and its inscription provide a rare reference to a mummy being sent out of Egypt for burial elsewhere.
Open Access
New evidence from Ankara for the collegia veteranorum and the albata decursio: in memoriam J.C. Mann
(2006) Bennett, J.
A tombstone of a legionary centurion found in Ankara proves to be of wider and greater significance than was originally recognised. Not only does it offer valuable evidence for early local recruitment patterns into the Roman legions, but, more importantly, it supplies the fifth recorded reference in the entire Roman Empire for a collegium veteranorum, a fraternity of army veterans; and the fourth known record in the whole epigraphic corpus for the albata decursio, or 'white parade uniform'.
Open Access
The origins and early history of the Pontic-Cappadocian frontier: in memoriam Charles Manser Daniels (10 August 1932-1 September 1996)
(Cambridge University Press, 2006) Bennett, J.
With an overall length of about 550km, the Pontic-Cappadocian frontier was among the longest in the Roman Empire. It is also the least known, as there is a minimal amount of literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence available for the location and identity of the province's garrison. In addition, many of the military stations known or believed to have existed on the frontier are now lost beneath the waters of the Keban dam. However, a re-examination of the available evidence, along with recent limited and spontaneous fieldwork in the region, allows for some tentative remarks to be made on the origins and early history of this frontier. These form the main subject of this article, and include the suggestion that Nero should be credited with the genesis of this frontier, not Vespasian, as usually indicated in the modern literature.
Open Access
The political and physical topography of Early Imperial Graeco-Roman Ancyra
(Netherlands Institute for the Near East, 2006) Bennett, J.
In his magistral study of Anatolia in antiquity, S. Mitchell drew attention to the way Rome presided over the process of urbanisation in Galatia specifically through the founding of three new city states at Ancyra, Tavium and Pessinus. He further observed that the political model adopted for this process was the settlement Pompey imposed on Pontus in c. 64 BC, by which that newly annexed territory was divided into eleven poleis, each given an assigned political centre and a constitution to ensure the successful administration of both polis and chora. Mitchell's account of the method in Galatia, however was deliberately summary in form, and thus he did not assess in detail either the municipalisation or the monumentalisation of the region as a whole, nor the specific case of Ancyra, metropolis provinciae Galatinae - except for giving an account of the explicit exemple of Ancyra's Temple to Augustus and Roma.
Open Access
A Prefect of the ala I Ulpia Dromedariorum Palmyrenorum milliaria from Attaleia? IGR 3.777 re-assessed
(Suna ve İnan Kıraç Akdeniz Medeniyetleri Araştırma Merkezi, 2009) Bennett, J.
Open Access
A preliminary report on the Roman Military presence at Gordion Galatia
(Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), 2009) Bennett, J.; Goldman, A. L.
Open Access
The regular Roman Auxiliary Regiments formed from the provinces of Asia Minor
(Netherlands Institute for the Near East, 2011) Bennett, J.
Knowing the recruitment patterns and the areas of service for the auxilia, the auxiliary units of the Roman Imperial Army, helps us better understand overall developments in Roman strategic thinking. In this regard the establishment of auxiliary units from the provinces of Asia Minor is of interest in pointing to Roman military thought and practice with regard to the Eastern provinces as a whole. This paper examines the history of those auxiliary units raised from Asia Minor in the light of these matters. It shows that until the emperor Trajan made heavy demands on this region for new units in connection with his Parthian War, the provinces concerned contributed very few locally raised units of Roman auxilia, and explains why this might be so.
Open Access
Roman Military Occupation at Yassihöyük (Gordion), Ankara Province, Turkey
(Cambridge University Press, 2008-03) Bennett, J.; Goldman, A. L.
Open Access
Two new centurions of the Legio IIII Scythica
(Societe d'Etudes Latines de Bruxelles, 2007) Bennett, J.