Roman Towns between the Adriatic and the Danube River
Comparative Studies of Ideas and Cultures (3rd level)Modul:
Course code: 19
Year of study: Without
Workload: lectures 60 hours, seminar: 30 hours
Course type: general elective
Learning and teaching methods: lectures, discussions classes
Objectives and competences
The settlement system in the Roman provinces of central Europe was based on three foundations: autonomous towns (municipia, coloniae), small central settlements (vici), and rural farms (villae rusticae). The towns (and the vici to a limited scale) functioned as administrative, economic, social, and religious centres. They had immense influence on the way of life and on the processes of romanization. The interruption with the old prehistoric world could be perceived very clearly through the introduction of new building techniques and architectural types. The development of Roman architecture was a dynamic process, during which some regional forms were given up and new ones were introduced. The basic types were preserved in spite of rich variations. Special building types connected with special functions were widespread throughout the empire; for example, forums with basilicas and tabernae, temples, theaters, amphitheaters, stadia, public baths, houses in the towns and partly in the country, infrastructure, and defensive architecture. This course presents the development of Roman towns in central Europe and the Balkans and the perception of special issues such as settlement, urbanization, architecture, administration, economics, and religion.
At least a passive understanding of German, English, Italian, and French is recommended.
Content (Syllabus outline)
- Legal status of towns and other settlements:
- Town territories, the countryside, and roads:
- Comparative study of regions: northern Italy, Istria, Noricum, Upper and Lower Pannonia, and Dalmatia
- Topography of towns: comparative study:
- Administrative centres
- Public and representative buildings
- Defensive architecture
- Production areas
- Water supply and other infrastructure
- Development of towns:
- From the first century to the Severan dynasty
- The late Roman period
- The decline of towns
- Bosio, L. 1991. Le strade romane della Venetia e dell’Histria. Padova.
- Gros, P. 2001. L’architecture romaine: du début du IIIe siècle av. J.-C. à la fin du Haut-Empire. Paris.
- Die römische Stadt im 2. Jahrhundert n. Chr. – Xantener Berichte 2, Köln 1992.
- Die Stadt in Oberitalien und in den nordwestlichen Provinzen des Römischen Reiches. Kölner Forschungen 4, Mainz a. R. 1991.
- Fentress, E. ur. 2000. Romanization and the city. Creation, transformatons, and failures. Journal of Roman Archaeology, Supp. Ser. 38, Portsmouth.
- La città nell’Italia settentrionale in età romana. Collection de l’École française de Rome 130, Trieste – Roma 1990.
- Lovenjak, M. 1998. Inscriptiones Latinae Sloveniae 1: Neviodunum. Situla 37, Ljubljana.
- Starac, A. 1999-2000. Rimsko vladanje u Histriji i Liburniji, 1. Histrija, 2. Liburnija. – Katalozi i monografije, Arheološki muzej Istre 10, Pula.
- Šašel Kos, M. 1997. The Roman Inscriptions in the National Museum of Slovenia (Lapidarij Narodnega muzeja Slovenije). Situla 35, Ljubljana.
- Šašel Kos, M. in P. Scherrer ur. 2002-2004. The autonomous towns of Noricum and Pannonia: Noricum, Pannonia I, Pannonia II. Situla 40-42, Ljubljana.
- Zaccaria, C. 1992. Regio X, Venetia et Histria, Tergeste – Ager Tergestinus et Tergesti adtributus. V: Supplementa italica, Nuova serie 10, Roma: 139-283.
Active participation in lectures and discussion classes, preparation of a term project, and an exam. Assessment:
- The ability to analytically understand individual problems, ability to select a bibliography, ability to exercise analytical and critical thinking, ability to form an argument, and a high level of written language will be demonstrated in the term project.
- The oral exam assesses what students have learned through lectures, through reading and analysing the literature, and their ability to understand and present the issues covered.