Call for Papers

Roman history is marked by continuous and occasionally drastic migration. Especially the soldiers of the imperial army usually rendered their service far away from home, and often stayed in the places they were deployed after they had been discharged. Civilians too, were involved in the military endeavours: merchants and craftsmen migrated into the newly conquered (and sometimes more lucrative) territories. Conversely, selected soldiers of the indigenous, provincial population were chosen for service in Rome. On the basis of their names, military unity, and other information of their origin from inscriptions these subjects are usually easily recognized within the corpus of grave and votive reliefs. Often the inscriptions are the only firm evidence of the migrational history of the represented people and their grave and votive reliefs blend in perfectly into the typical panorama of the sanctuaries and necropoleis. In addition, there are numerous examples of monuments in which the “foreigners” typologically, through particular iconographic elements as well as stylistically, adhere to local traditions of their home country. A prime example is the grave stele of Regina from South Shields in the United Kingdom that has iconographical ties to monuments from Syria. More evidence for this phenomenon can be gathered from all around the Mediterranean Sea and Rome. These monuments represent very individual attitudes of small groups towards their countries of origin, and precisely these individual attitudes have been extensively discussed, especially from the epigraphical perspective and on the basis of a small group of monuments. Until now, however, an extensive discussion that – on the basis of a comprehensive gathering of material – additionally takes into account the iconography, materiality, and the specific contexts, e. g. of grave stelae, does not exist. A systematic compilation of the relevant archaeological evidence within the Colloquium of Roman Provincial Art would greatly enrich our perspectives on adaption and delimitation as well as the importance of foreign identities in local contexts, different regions, times, and allow for a comparatist approach to different Roman provinces.

Those interested in presenting a paper should submit the title and an abstract (not longer than 300 words) by November 9, 2018 to the following address: xvi.crpaspam prevention@klassarch.uni-tuebingen.de

The abstracts will be made anonymous and forwarded to the scientific board. Applicants will be informed if and for what presentation mode (talk or poster) their proposals have been accepted by December 2018.