New Open Access- International Preservation News

http://www.ifla.org/publications/international-preservation-news

The University of Huddersfield in northern England is a key centre for research into the art of magic and illusion and has now appointed the world’s first Visiting Professor of Performance Magic. But his students will not be taught to pull rabbits from top hats or to saw their glamorous assistants in half.

US-born Dr Todd Landman, who combines a career as a magician and mentalist with a post as a professor of government, delves deeply into the history and heritage of magic and believes that it enables the world to be viewed with a fresh sense of wonder.

A deeper side

“We are trying to rescue magic from its worst faults – which is cheesy guys in cheesy ties with rabbits in hats!” he says.  “We are interested in the deeper side of things.”

He has a special fascination for renaissance men such as Dr John Dee and Sir Isaac Newton – scientists, astronomers and mathematicians who also practised astrology and alchemy. And today, the study of magic allows for “different ways of knowing the world”, according to Dr Landman.

“Even some neuro-scientists are saying we can’t explain everything with neuro-science.  There are some things, like consciousness, that can’t be explained and that is the contribution we can make.”

Seasoned performer

But Dr Landman is a seasoned performer as well as a philosopher-researcher and his new appointment at the University of Huddersfield is the result of his established links with its drama department, where senior lecturer Nik Taylor’s research and teaching portfolio includes performance magic. The University’s Drama Division is also home to a newly-formed Magic Research Group, which aims to be the leading forum for state-of-the-art of scholarship in the field.

Says Nik Taylor: “Despite the perennial reports of its demise at the hands of both old and new media, magic is a performance art with a vibrant culture of live work, popular TV shows, and emerging forms. The time is ripe for a serious modern study of modern magic.”

Todd Landman marked his appointment as Visiting Professor by holding a workshop for drama students in which he explored three dimensions of the magician’s art – half an hour of close up magic, followed by a mentalism session in which he gave an illusion of mind-reading powers, closing with a “mystical set” in which he delved into the realm of the “collective unconscious”.

An evening of magic, mystery and the esoteric

After this session with drama students, Dr Landman teamed up with the magician Paul Voodini for a public performance named Edge Of The Unknown.  Taking place at the University’s Milton Theatre Studio, it was billed as “an evening of magic, mystery and the esoteric”.

The two performers took on roles – as an American rationalist and as a British spiritualist – and the show was framed around the enigma of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the ultra-rationalist Sherlock Holmes but was also an advocate of spiritualism and even asserted his belief in fairies.

The interest in magic came first

There is an enigma, too, over Todd Landman.  In addition to his activities in the realm of magic and performance, he is also Professor of Government and Director of the Institute for Democracy and Conflict Resolution at the University of Essex.

The interest in magic came first – as a child in Pennsylvania – with the study of politics beginning at university. For most of his academic career he has kept the two dimensions of his life separate but more recently he has explored intersections between illusion and politics, such as the use of rhetoric and the exploration of free will.

“I kept two worlds completely separate for over 20 years, but then I started bringing them together and realised it was fruitful intellectually,” said Dr Landman.

However, his new appointment at the University of Huddersfield is the sole academic outlet for his magic skills and the post is unique in the UK, and maybe the world.

“This is very progressive and exciting thing for Huddersfield to do,” says Dr Landman.

But the intention is not to create a whole new generation of magicians among University of Huddersfield drama students.

“There might be a few who follow me into the field, but that is not my goal.  My aim is to open their minds to a whole world of performance that’s out there.”

Source: University of Huddersfield

More Information

Magic Research Group

The Cottingley Fairies

The John Dee Society

For Archaeology News – Archaeology Research – Archaeology Press Releases

At long last I got around to watching the movie Prometheus – aka Intelligent Design: The Motion Picture. It is a great film for those interested in the intersection of religion and science fiction. And I am therefore delighted to learn that there are plans for a sequel,

Prometheus begins with the discovery on the Isle of Skye the latest of a series of cave drawings depicting a giant being pointing to the sky and a particular configuration of stars. We then fast forward to the journey of the spacecraft Prometheus, which is seeking to find a planet in the star system depicted – and the beings presumed to dwell there, referred to as “the Engineers,” who are thought to have created human beings.

The journey is thus a quest for the creator, and as in any such quest, we find that different people are making it for different reasons.

Elizabeth Shaw is seeking answers to religious questions. She lost both her parents, her mother very early in her life, and she wears a cross that is very important to her. When it is suggested to her that she might want to take it off, having found aliens who created human beings, she responds by asking “Who made them?” As LOST famously put it, finding answers lead on to more questions.

David, her conversation partner, is a robot. He is like a son to the wealthy Weyland whose corporation is funding the journey, but a recording of Weyland says that David will never have a soul. Later David asks Charlie Holloway, who is pondering the question of why the Engineers made us, why humans made him, and Holloway says “Because we could,” to which David suggests that receiving such an answer from one’s creator is incredibly disappointing. David seems to be genuinely curious about the Engineers – so much so that he is happy to take risks that put the humans on the mission in danger. He is on a quest, perhaps, to discover the creators of his creators.

Weyland himself turns out to be on board, and wants to ask the Engineers to save him from death.

The movie thus explores the topic of what people seek their creators for. In some cases, it is curiosity. In some, it is existential, with the expectation that it will provide satisfying answers to the big questions about why we exist. For some, it is a desire to cheat death and attain immortality. If some scenes and plot devices in the movie are highly implausible, the motives that the characters seem to have for being on the mission closely mirror the motivations that drive people in religious questing on our planet.

There are deleted scenes that also touch on this topic, including one in which Elizabeth Shaw tells a traditional creation myth, which provides another possible answer for why a creator might create: to not be alone any longer.

Prometheus explores some very dark but profound religious ground. Who created the creators, if anyone? There is room to take this in a Gnostic direction – perhaps there is an ultimate source beyond the immediate creators – and those latter seem malevolent. Are we disappointing to our creators? Is that why they have sought to destroy us and left us seemingly alone and abandoned?

And can any answer to questions of this sort ever satisfy? The ending of the movie is striking both in its mention of “the Year of our Lord 2094″ (an archaic way of putting things with explicit religious overtones), and in its very last words, “Still searching.”

At some point, I hope to watch the classic Alien movies with Prometheus in view and see what happens.

If you’ve seen Prometheus, what did you think of it, and in particular its treatment of religious themes?

Open Space Session Scheduling, Wikipedia, ‘Unconference’

I teach HIST2809A, The Historian’s Craft. Each week we have 2 hours of lecture and 1 hour of tutorial with a TA. This term, I have 102 students in the class. Over 12 weeks, I try to instill a measure of reflexivity in my students, in their approach to primary documents. In my assignments, I have them transcribe primary documents, analyze visual evidence (photos, paintings, etc) and even some material culture. As a final assignment, I do a variation of the Forgery Game and we try to approach the same problems from 180 degrees the other direction.

At the midway point, I like to stop and ask for feedback on my teaching, and the course. I hand out 3×5 index cards, and have students write on one side the things that are working for them, and on the other, the things that’d be even better if…

That exercise takes about 20 minutes. What do I do with the other 100 minutes? Given the theme of reflexivity and community, I think an unconference is appropriate. Watch for #hist2809 on your twitter stream tomorrow. So here’s what I’m going to do.

8.35- 8.55 – mid-term feedback on my teaching.

8.55-9.15 – unconference explanation & scheduling. They already know what an unconference is, as I’m hosting THATCamp Accessibility on Saturday. Some of them are even coming! I’ll ask for suggestions, and put them up on the board. I’ll direct them to think about the things we’ve already covered.

9.15-9.20- voting. Simple show of hands. We’ll have four breakout areas, in the different corners of the room, in 15-20 minute ish sessions.

9.25-9.45. Session 1.

9.45-10.10. Session 2.

10.10-10.25. My concluding remarks. Class over.

I’ll encourage students to tweet while this is all going on. A handful are already on twitter; I’ll have a live stream displaying on the classroom projector. Maybe some of you will buzz in with comments on how you approach The Historian’s Craft. #hist2809, October 26th, 9 til 10 ish.

See you there!

This morning I opened volume 1 of the Loeb edition of Pliny’s letters, and read a few.  I also read the introduction.  This was fine, but I found it infuriating that the text did not include the chapter titles from the front of each book, since these alone supply the names of the people to whom Pliny was writing.

This afternoon I worked on my Mithras site a bit more.  I’m still coding, and still not confident that everything is right, but it’s getting there.

By: Emily Coate, 2012 Heritage Fellow

The generosity of those behind the ASOR Heritage Fellowship afforded me my first opportunity to dig at a Near Eastern site. I participated in the excavations at Tell Tayinat, a settlement occupied during the Early Bronze and Iron Ages located in southern Turkey near the Syrian border. You may have heard the name in the news recently, owing to the discovery of a couple impressive statues this season. Particularly noteworthy is the head and torso of King Suppiluliuma, with a Hieroglyphic Luwian inscription across his back.

I worked supervising a square currently in an Iron Age context. We were fortunate enough to uncover many interesting finds and significant architectural features, including clay figurines, loom weights, tabuns, and mud brick wall remains.  Having previously only excavated in the Midwestern United States, I found tracing the mud brick lines beneath our feet to be a new challenge—surely different than the posthole residues with which I had become accustomed. And coming from sites where we were excited to find a handful of sherds, the amount of pottery we unearthed at Tayinat never ceased to amaze me.

Along with the excavations, the experience itself is not one I will soon forget. Our team arrived at site with the dawn every morning, scooped the frogs out of our squares that had wandered in during the night, and prepared for another blisteringly hot day. I quickly found that the experienced local workers’ abilities and familiarity with the area offered a great conduit to improving my own excavation techniques. Even with our limited Turkish vocabulary, they were always willing and effective teachers.

The people in the nearby villages we had the opportunity to get to know, the places we visited, the food we ate, and the mix of Arab and Turkish culture we experienced made the summer all the more remarkable.

Knowing that the work we accomplished this summer adds inch by inch toward a better understanding of the lives, economy, and industry of the people who inhabited the area so long ago makes me all the more grateful for the chance to be a part of the Tayinat excavations, and to the Heritage donors who made it possible.

~~~

All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this blog or found by following any link on this blog. ASOR will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information. ASOR will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information. The opinions expressed by Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of ASOR or any employee thereof.

Mathal/Mashal: Journal of Islamic and Judaic Multidisciplinary Studies (ISSN 2168-538X) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal dedicated to scholarly discussion of topics present in the Islamic and Jewish traditions, cultures, and practices especially in the area where thematic and doctrinal aspects are common.

The journal approaches these complex issues through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary lenses. There are many topics that lend themselves to comparative studies but we will publish papers that deal with any of the topics in either of the traditions. Topics that can be discussed include Islamic and Jewish law, socio-economic and political history of the Islamic and Jewish communities, social and religious institutions, Tafsir and Rabbinic traditions, Midrash and/or Islamic and Jewish mysticism.

To submit an article, please use the submit link in the sidebar. Authors retain their copyrights, releasing their works for publication in the journal through creative commons licenses.

To submit an article, please use the submit link in the sidebar. Authors retain their copyrights, releasing their works for publication in the journal through creative commons licenses.

Volume 2, Issue 1 (2012)

Article

PDF

Islam and Qur'anic figures in Africa: Prophets, Sages and Disciples
Abdin Chande

Volume 1, Issue 1 (2011)

Article

PDF

Religion, Ideology and Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Majlis-e-Hussain
Snobra Rizwan

PDF

Hacer patria de David Blaustein: Reconstrucción colectiva e historia judeo-argentina reciente
Daniela Goldfine

Review

New Open Access Article- A NEW FLINT SOURCE DISCOVERED IN SIBIU COUNTY

http://www.brukenthalmuseum.ro/publicatii_en/01_1.htm

ISIS was the only scholarly organisation specifically established to study the chronology of ancient times. Its multidisciplinary approach - combining archaeology, textual analysis and scientific dating techniques - has revealed new and fascinating insights into the history of the ancient world.

It was founded in 1985 by a group of students and scholars of ancient history, and its related fields of study, who felt it was important to develop an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Man's ancient past.

ISIS has published research on the great cultures of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East including Egypt and Nubia; Canaan, Philistia and Israel; Phoenicia and Syria; Assyria, Babylonia, Elam and Persia; Anatolia; Cyprus, Crete and Greece; and Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. Fields of study have included Egyptology; archaeology; astronomical retrocalculation; textual analysis; dendrochronology; carbon dating; pottery; jewellery, goldwork and metalworking technology.

The Journal of the Ancient Chronology Forum (JACF) is the journal of the Institute. In its time it was the only academic publication dedicated to the study of old world chronology: a high quality, award-winning journal, heavily illustrated with diagrams, charts and photographs to enhance the arguments put forward by the contributors.

Volume Index

01	|	02	|	03	|	04	|	05	|	06	|	07	|	08	|	09	|	10
1987		1988		1990		1991		1992		1993		1995		1999		2002		2005

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

Volume 7

Volume 8

Volume 9

Volume 10

The idea of issuing a newsletter dealing with excavations of the city of Memphis and its extensive necropoleis, and with research on New Kingdom Memphis in general, was born during a CNRS colloquium on Memphis et ses nécropoles au Nouvel Empire held in Paris from 9 to 11 October 1986. The first issue, produced by the late Alan Schulman, appeared two years later, but lack of funds (and of regular contributions) and the fact that the internet soon made a paper newsletter redundant meant that the newsletter turned out to be a short-lived affair. 

Since the three existing issues were dispersed privately among the small group of scholars directly involved in research on New Kingdom Memphis and Saqqara and not many libraries hold copies of them, these issues are made available here in pdf form. 

No. 1 (October 1988)

→ pdf Contents: A.R. Schulman, Introduction, 4–5.
A.R. Schulman, "Varia from the 1915–1923 Philadelphia Excavations, I", 8–22. ________________________________________________________________

No. 2 (September 1989)

→ pdf Contents: J. Malek, "New Kingdom Personnel in Teti Pyramid Cemeteries III: A Preliminary List", 4–7.
J. van Dijk, "A Preliminary List of New Kingdom Names and Titles from the EES-Leiden Excavations at Saqqâra (1982–1989)", 8–12. ________________________________________________________________

No. 3 (October 1995)

→ pdf Contents: G.T. Martin, "Reliefs and Architectural Fragments from New Kingdom Tombs in the Cairo Museum, principally from the Memphite Necropolis", 5–33.

•  Vol.51(2008)
•  Vol.50(2007)
•  Vol.49(2006)
•  Vol.48(2005)
•  Vol.47(2004)
•  Vol.46(2003)
•  Vol.45(2002)
•  Vol.44(2001)
•  Vol.43(2000)
•  Vol.42(1999)
•  Vol.41(1998)
•  Vol.40(1997)
•  Vol.39(1996)
•  Vol.38(1995)
•  Vol.37(1994)
•  Vol.36(1993)
•  Vol.35(1992)
•  Vol.34(1991)
•  Vol.33(1990)
•  Vol.32(1989)
•  Vol.31(1988)
•  Vol.30(1987)
•  Vol.29(1986)
•  Vol.28(1985)
•  Vol.27(1984)
•  Vol.26(1983)
•  Vol.25(1982)
•  Vol.24(1981)
•  Vol.23(1980)
•  Vol.22(1979)
•  Vol.21(1978)
•  Vol.20(1977)
•  Vol.19(1976)
•  Vol.18(1975)
•  Vol.17(1974)
•  Vol.16(1973)
•  Vol.15(1972)
•  Vol.14(1971)
•  Vol.13(1970)
•  Vol.12(1969)
•  Vol.11(1968)
•  Vol.10(1967)
•  Vol.9(1966)
•  Vol.8(1965)
•  Vol.7(1964)
•  Vol.6(1963)
•  Vol.5(1962)

•  Vol.4(1961)
•  Vol.3(1960)
•  Vol.2(1959)
•  Vol.1(1955 - 1958)

Although the actual population admixture of African Americans might be more complex than what our simulation suggested, the CGF1 model setting at 14 generations was found to be reasonably  epresentative, capturing the main pattern of the population admixture dynamics.

In short, the GA model at 24 generations fit the empirical data best among all these simulated scenarios, as indicated by the distribution of EMDs.

Comparing the empirical distribution of CSDAs with that simulated, we found that the Mozabite admixture process essentially fit the HI model with 100 generations since admixture. There was an almost complete absence of recent gene flow from European populations to the Mozabite gene pool (Figure 6A). For the Sub-Saharan African ancestral component, there were more long CSDAs at the tail of empirical distribution than those in the HI model, which confirmed that recent gene flow from African populations had contributed to the Mozabite gene pool (Figure 6B). 

Analyses of European ancestral component in Bedouin and Palestinian populations also showed that the empirical distributions essentially fit the HI model for both populations (Figures 6C and 6E). Although the empirical CSDA distribution of Sub-Saharan African ancestral component also fit the HI model  best, both distributions showed a long tail at the right compared with those under the HI model, indicating that recent gene flow from Sub-Saharan Africans also contributed to the two admixed populations (Figures 6D and 6F). ... For Druze, their European component of ancestry fit the HI model very well. However, their African ancestral component contained much shorter CSDAs than those of simulated (Figure S14), which might indicate that previous studies had underestimated the admixture time of Druze. In addition, populations receiving recent gene flow from their parental populations showed higher variation of individual ancestral proportions than those who did not (Figure S13).

Information signalée par Marie-Karine Lhommé

Ad familiares

Familie und Verwandtschaft in der griechisch-römischen Antike

Internationale und interdisziplinäre Tagung an der Universität Hamburg vom 26. bis 27.10.2012

Als wichtiger Bezugs- und Identitätsrahmen des Individuums bildet die Familie auch in der Antike eine grundlegende soziale Ordnungseinheit. Ihr kommt dadurch eine Schlüsselstellung im Verständnis menschlicher Handlungsweisen und Interaktionen zu.

Zeitlich noch räumlich kann man allerdings von einer einheitlichen oder umfassenden Konzeption von „der Familie“ sprechen, vielmehr sollte die Bedeutung verwandtschaftlicher Bindungen in diachroner Hinsicht für die meisten Belange des sozialen Lebens als Größe von konstanter Relevanz betont werden.

Ungeachtet der bisweilen sehr komplexen antiken Familienkonzeptionen ist die zentrale Stellung der Kernfamilie und ihrer nahestehenden Blutsverwandten in den literarischen und materiellen Überlieferungen besonders augenfällig.

In dieser Konstellation kam der Familie auch immer wieder eine besondere Stellung in politischen Belangen zu: Von ihrer Funktion als ursprüngliche Basiseinheit der Polis bis hin zur Akzentuierung als dynastischer Nukleus der Königs- und Kaiserherrschaft. Die Herstellung und Demonstration möglichst enger Verwandtschaftsgrade war in der Antike dementsprechend zu allen Zeiten von hoher gesellschaftlicher Relevanz; denn gerade Verwandtschaft war in den meisten gesellschaftlichen Lebensbereichen, die nach dem Reziprozitätsprinzip funktionierten, ein wesentliches Kriterium für Einbindung oder Ausgrenzung.

Die interdisziplinär angelegte Tagung „Ad familiares – Familie und Verwandtschaft in der griechisch-römischen Antike“ setzt Schwerpunkte auf die Erfassung bekannter familiärer Verhältnisse und ihre Verankerung in gesellschaftlichen Kontexten, insbesondere im Hinblick auf Familie und Verwandtschaft als soziales Netzwerk. Die Tagung soll dem wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs, der sich in seinen aktuellen Forschungsprojekten direkt oder indirekt mit Familie und Verwandtschaft auseinandersetzt, eine Plattform für wissenschaftliche und vor allem fächerübergreifende Diskussionen bieten.

Vorläufiges Tagungsprogramm

26. Oktober 2012
13.00 - 14.00 Registration
14.00 - 14.15 Martina Seifert (Hamburg), Begrüßung

Sektion I: Klassisches Athen
14.15 - 14.45 Maria Xagorari-Gleißner (Erlangen), Die Darstellung des Oikos von privilegierten Metöken auf attischen Grabreliefs klassischer Zeit
14.45 - 15.15 Kornelia Kressirer (Würzburg), Die Rolle der Alten im generationsübergreifenden Familienverbund. Beobachtungen anhand griechischer Bild- und Schriftquellen
15.15 - 15.30 Kaffeepause
15.30 - 16.00 Katharina Reinstadler-Rettenbacher (Innsbruck), Die gesellschaftliche und rechtliche Stellung von Waisenkindern im klassischen Athen
16.00 - 16.30 Salvatore Vacante (Genua), Nothoi in ancient Greece: the contribution of epigraphy
16.30 - 17.00 Ann-Cathrin Harders (Bielefeld), Über oikos und domus hinaus: Anthropologische Zugriffe auf die Familie in der Antike
18.00 - 19.00 Barbara Borg (Exeter), Familienehre: Die Bedeutung von Familie und familia in den Bestattungssitten Roms
ab 20.00 Empfang

27. Oktober 2012

Sektion II: Hellenismus
9.00 - 9.30 Anne Fohgrub (Leipzig), Individualisierung contra Familie – Grabbauten der makedonischen Oberschicht von der Mitte des 4. bis zur Mitte des 2. Jh. v. Chr.
9.30 - 10.00 Mairi Gkikaki (Würzburg/Athen), The royal sibling marriage: incestuous and yet holy
10.00 - 10.30 Jörg Erdtmann (Trier), Mehr als Zechbrüder und Gründungsväter? Zu quasi-verwandtschaftlichen Verhältnissen und Beziehungen in hellenistisch-römischen Kultvereinen
10.30 - 10.45 Kaffeepause

Sektion III: Republik und Kaiserzeit
10.45 - 11.15 Stephan Faust (Hamburg), Rollenbilder der Mitglieder des römischen Kaiserhauses
11.15 - 11.45 Nadine Leisner (Hamburg), Familiendarstellungen auf stadtrömischen Sarkophagen
11.45 - 12.15 Lennart Gilhaus (Bonn), Unterschiede im Repräsentations- und Heiratsverhalten dekurionaler, ritterlicher und senatorischer Familien im römischen Nordafrika
12.15 - 13.45 Mittagspause
13.45 - 14.15 Andrea Binsfeld (Luxemburg), Die Bedeutung der Familie auf Grabmonumenten der Gallia Belgica
14.15 - 14.45 Sarah Schneider (Augsburg), Familie in der Provinz – Die Grabreliefs mit Familiendarstellungen aus dem römischen Augsburg
14.45 - 15.00 Kaffeepause

Sektion IV: Spätantike
15.00 - 15.30 Moritz Schnizlein (Köln), Wiederverheiratung und Patchwork in der römischen Antike
15.30 - 16.00 Katharina Walther (Dresden), Qui diligit patrem aut matrem aut uxorem aut filios aut fratres aut parentes super me, non est me dignus – Umwertung und Umdeutung von ‚Familie‘ in den frühchristlichen Märtyrerakten
16.00 - 16.30 Abschlussdiskussion

Yesterday I announced that a special edition of The Façade is being released. You can get it for 25% off from Vyrso. Along with some never-before-seen bonus content, the special edition includes the first five chapters of the sequel.

So what is the title of the sequel?

Use the hints below and post your guess in the comments section for a chance to win a free copy of The Façade: Special Edition.

The sequel title has two words. The first is “the” so you’re half way there. For those who have access to the normal edition of the book as it’s been sold to this point,  the second word of the sequel title can be found somewhere in chapter 66. The word occurs only once in the chapter (its only occurrence in the entire book).

Be the first to guess correctly and you’ll win a free copy of The Façade: Special Edition from Kirkdale Press and Vyrso. Post your guess in the comments!

Technorati Tags: aliens, ancient, Enoch, extraterrestrials, facade, kirkdale, nephilim, novel, UFOs, Watchers

The Homogenisation of Military Equipment Under the Roman Republic

By Michael T. Burns

Digressus Supplement 1 (2003)

Introduction: Most studies of the Roman army introduce the legion as a fully developed and thoroughly Roman entity. Little attempt has been made to examine the technical and tactical developments that occurred in Italy before the third century BC, and the interaction between Rome and its Italic allies. Lawrence Keppie, in The Making of the Roman Army, passes over the allies with the brief summary that, ‘as far as can be determined, they were organised and equipped in more or less identical fashion to the Romans, with their own distinctive arms and tactics being gradually subsumed’. This is a typically Romano-centric view, and equates the subsuming of distinctive arms and tactics with the Romanisation of the allies. To do so ignores a wealth of archaeological and representational evidence from the formative period of the fourth century BC, which shows that many items of equipment and tactical innovations, which are commonly associated with the ‘Roman’ legion, were already in use by the various Italic peoples long before Roman hegemony.

It is not the purpose of this paper to make definitive statements regarding the development of military equipment during the Republic; the evidence available to us, both literary and archaeological, is insufficient for this purpose. Rather, what I hope to offer is a new perspective on a very neglected and misunderstood aspect of the Roman army, by examining why regional variations in Italic military equipment came to be replaced by a largely homogeneous panoply and method of fighting by the middle of the third century BC. The usual answer to this question is based almost entirely on the assumption that after the Romans defeated various Italic peoples, the latter subsequently adopted Roman arms and armour. Such a conception of the Romanisation of the Italic allies’ military equipment presumes that this is a one-way process. It ignores and glosses over a complex and fascinating period of military evolution, development, and interaction in Italy. The results of this process would later provide Rome with the foundations of a military system that few ancient powers could resist.

Click here to read this article from Digressus