Title Information
Title
Ad Fines Imperii: The Roman Army in Dacia and Arabia (106-275 CE)
Name: Personal
Name Part
Bocancea, Emanuela
Role
Role Term: Text
creator
Origin Information
Copyright Date
2016
Physical Description
Extent
xv, 656 p.
digitalOrigin
born digital
Note
Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2016)
Name: Personal
Name Part
Bodel, John
Role
Role Term: Text
Director
Name: Personal
Name Part
Cherry, John
Role
Role Term: Text
Reader
Name: Personal
Name Part
van Dommelen, Peter
Role
Role Term: Text
Reader
Name: Corporate
Name Part
Brown University. Archaeology and the Ancient World
Role
Role Term: Text
sponsor
Genre (aat)
theses
Abstract
This dissertation comparatively examines the acquisition, military organization, and historical development of the last provinces fully incorporated into the Roman Empire – Dacia and Arabia – from 106 to 275 CE. More specifically, this study focuses on the Roman army, the sine qua non of Roman imperial expansion, in order to explore several interrelated questions: Why and how were the Dacian and Nabataean kingdoms transformed into Roman provinces? What was the nature and role of the Roman army in the conquest of these kingdoms, in their physical and administrative organization as frontier provinces, and in their historical development over the second and third centuries? What was the nature of the provincial garrison and military organization of each province, and what changes can be observed in the army’s activities and distribution over time? What was the primary role of the army, and what was the nature of the Roman frontier in each province? What kind of empire wide policies and trends vs. ad hoc local adaptations and developments are evident? This study argues that in both provinces the Roman army was as much concerned with matters of internal security, administration, and control as it was with defending against external threats. Legionary and auxiliary soldiers built and maintained infrastructure, they regulated traffic, secured roads, collected taxes, and served as provincial administrators and customs officers. The army functioned as a military police force, and its primary goal was the protection of Roman economic interests in both territories. The Dacian and Arabian frontiers constituted porous, controlled buffer zones broadly marking the furthest extent of direct Roman control, which both channeled and blocked people and products. They differed markedly from each other and from other Roman frontiers due to unique geographical challenges and Roman interests in each place. Several temporal horizons marked important contemporaneous changes in both provinces: the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius, the Severan period, and the reign of Aurelian. This dissertation demonstrates that the Roman army was a defining characteristic of Roman rule and provincial society in both Dacia and Arabia during the second and third centuries CE.
Subject
Topic
Roman Dacia
Subject
Topic
Roman Arabia
Subject
Topic
Dacia
Subject
Topic
Nabataea
Subject
Topic
Roman army
Subject
Topic
Roman Empire
Subject
Topic
Roman frontiers
Subject
Topic
Roman imperialism
Subject (FAST) (authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1240130")
Geographic
Middle East--Arabia, Roman
Subject (FAST) (authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1236546")
Geographic
Europe--Dacia
Subject (FAST) (authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1204885")
Geographic
Rome (Empire)
Record Information
Record Content Source (marcorg)
RPB
Record Creation Date (encoding="iso8601")
20160629
Language
Language Term: Code (ISO639-2B)
eng
Language Term: Text
English
Identifier: DOI
10.7301/Z037774R
Access Condition: rights statement (href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/")
In Copyright
Access Condition: restriction on access
Collection is open for research.
Type of Resource (primo)
dissertations