James Crow

Unlocking historic landscapes in the Eastern Mediterranean: two pilot studies using Historic Landscape Characterisation

Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) maps landscape with particular reference to its historic character and development. Executed using sources including satellite imagery and aerial photography and presented in a Geographic Information System (GIS), this offers a powerful insight into a landscape story. Here two leading advocates of the approach apply HLC for the first time to historic landscapes in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ruling the waters: managing the water supply of Constantinople, ad 330–1204

Constantinople was the largest city in late antiquity, and in medieval Europe until the thirteenth century. Over the first two centuries of the city’s life as a new imperial capital the eastern emperors created a water supply system to rival that of imperial Rome. This article summarises recent studies of the hydraulic system in Thrace in order to contextualise a discussion of imperial patronage and the methods used to finance the system’s upkeep. From the fourth to the sixth century collections of imperial legislation provide important evidence for the control of abuse, the distribution of water within the city and the financing of the system. This evidence is discussed in the context of the known topography and archaeology of the water supply to provide a richer understanding of the urban history. After a period of decline the system was renovated as the city’s population recovered and there is extensive evidence for continuing maintenance until the twelfth century. A number of senior Byzantine officials with specific responsibilities for the city’s water are discussed for the first time and provide important evidence for the continuing concerns necessary to sustain the developing urban population.

Integration of remote sensing and GIS for archaeological investigations

The western hinterland of the modern city of Istanbul contains some of the most remarkable monuments of ancient and medieval hydraulic engineering. Until recently fieldwork has been limited and only within the last two decades have there been serious attempts to map the complexity of the monuments and water lines. A GPS‐based archaeological survey has been undertaken by the authors and has been integrated with high resolution (IKONOS) and multi‐spectral spatial data giving the opportunity to view the system in its wider setting and also to identify major urban and landscape changes impacting on the long‐term conservation and management of the ancient remains.

The Byzantine fortifications of Amastris in Paphlagonia

This article is chiefly concerned with the chronology of the Byzantine fortifications of Amastris, which are the subject of current research by the authors, but, in order to set the settlement at Amasra and its fortifications into their context in the Black Sea area, the present study must commence with a brief account of some aspects of the monuments and history of the city in the Hellenistic and Classical periods. The present Turkish town of Amasra on the south coast of the Black Sea (Fig. 1; Pl. XXXVII a ) occupies the site of the ancient city of Amastris which has a long history extending as least as far back as the period of Milesian colonisation in the Black Sea zone from the seventh century B.C. Like the more famous city of Sinope to the east, the settlement at Amasra stood on the isthmus of a peninsula projecting into the Black Sea. At Amasra the isthmus leads to the upstanding promontory rock, Zindan Kalesi (Dungeon Castle) on which part of the Byzantine fortification stands, and which protects the east harbour. The whole site is further protected by the closely adjacent island of Boz Tepe which encloses the northern side of the west harbour. The site was doubtless chosen for settlement because of its good natural harbours which, as will be seen, have been of central importance throughout the history of Amasra.

The fortifications and water supply systems of Constantinople

An archaeological survey of the Thracian hinterland of Constantinople led by James Crow (Newcastle University) began in 1994 and its first stage is due for completion this year (2000). The main focus of the project over the past five years has been the Anastasian Wall, a 6th-century monumental linear fortification stretching some 56 km from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and situated c. 65 km from the city itself. In places the Wall survives up to 5 m high, but for the most part it lies obscured deep within the forests of central and northern Thrace, together with its associated forts, an outer ditch and a complement of massive towers.

Water supply infrastructure of Byzantine Constantinople

Modern water-supply systems — hidden beneath the ground, constructed, expanded, adapted and repaired intermittently by multiple groups of people — are often messy and difficult to comprehend. The ancient water-supply system we consider here is no different — and perhaps even more complex as it was developed over 1200 years and then had a modern city built on top. Despite this, we are beginning to understand how one of the Roman worlds most important cities provided its population with water. The remains of water infrastructure in Constantinople attest to a complex system of water-management and distribution, one that developed from the colony of Byzantium, through the growth and eventual decline of the new capital of the Roman empire, until conquest by the Ottomans. Aqueducts — the system of channels, bridges and tunnels designed to carry water through the landscape — were the focus of infrastructure investment in earlier periods, but cisterns for the storage and distribution of water were constructed throughout the time of Byzantine Constantinople.

Through Western Eyes: A Review of Recent Publications on Rome's Eastern Frontiers@@@The Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East@@@Rome's Desert Frontier from the Air@@@The Eastern Frontier of the Roman Empire, Proceedings of a Colloquium Held at Ankara in September 1988

Thirty-seven papers which were given at a colloquium held at Ankara in 1988. The contents are many and varied, written by some very distinguished contributors, but there is a string emphasis on military aspects and events in the area. The papers include: The events of 351-352 in Palestine- the last revolt against Rome? (M. Mor); The 4th century garrison of Arabia (S. T. Parker); The Jews between Rome and Parthia (U. Rappaport); A fortified site to the east of Malatya (V. Sevin and Z. Derin); Procopius and Antioch (L. M. Whitby); The Nabataean army (J. Bowsher); Roman responses to local conditions in Colchis (D. Braund); Roman policy in Transcaucasia from Pompey to Domitian (E. Dabrowa); Equestrian officers in the East (H. Devijver); The East as part of the wider Roman imperial frontier policy (N. Hodgson); Campaign preparations in late Roman-Persian warfare (A. D. Lee); Sapor before the walls of Amida (C. S. Lightfoot); The siege of Cremna (S. Mitchell).