Theoretical approaches to Roman camp and fort design : an examination of the frontiers in Britain and North Africa under Hadrian
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Steinhoff, John Paul
issued: 2019-08-26T14:54:21Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This thesis reviews the research and theoretical models of Alan Richardson on Roman camps and forts in Britain and applies the models to Roman forts located in North Africa. Richardson developed his models from ancient textual sources, a thorough examination of Roman camps and forts throughout Britain, and intuitive mathematical reasoning. For this paper, the most important model produced by Richardson during his study was a model which utilizes the perimeter dimensions of a fort to predict the type of military unit that the fort was designed to house, as each Roman military unit had varying space requirements. This is significant to the study of the Roman military in North Africa because often little archaeological evidence from Roman forts remains other than perimeter dimensions. This is a powerful tool to examine and enhance our understanding of the epigraphic evidence available, as this model has been extremely accurate predicting the type of military unit when compared to inscriptional evidence. The successful application of Richardson’s models in two separate frontier regions suggests that this was indeed how the Roman military went about constructing camps and forts throughout the empire during the 2nd century AD. Furthermore, the fort model is used to explore troop distribution in the frontier regions of Britain and Numidia during the reign of Hadrian. The results suggest that these two areas associated with linear barriers, Hadrian’s Wall in Britain and the African Fossatum in Numidia, were manned by a similar number of troops and were managed as their own distinct military entity.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/71438
note: THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO ROMAN CAMP AND FORT DESIGN: AN EXAMINATION OF THE FRONTIERS IN BRITAIN AND NORTH AFRICA UNDER HADRIAN by JOHN PAUL STEINHOFF B.Sc., Northern Michigan University, 2012 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Ancient Culture, Religion & Ethnicity) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2019 © John Paul Steinhoff, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: Theoretical Approaches to Roman Camp and Fort Design: An Examination of the Frontiers in Britain and North Africa under Hadrian submitted by John Paul Steinhoff in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Ancient Culture, Religion & Ethnicity Examining Committee: Dr. Leanne Bablitz Supervisor Dr. Robert Cousland Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Hector Williams Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract This thesis reviews the research and theoretical models of Alan Richardson on Roman camps and forts in Britain and applies the models to Roman forts located in North Africa. Richardson developed his models from ancient textual sources, a thorough examination of Roman camps and forts throughout Britain, and intuitive mathematical reasoning. For this paper, the most important model produced by Richardson during his study was a model which utilizes the perimeter dimensions of a fort to predict the type of military unit that the fort was designed to house, as each Roman military unit had varying space requirements. This is significant to the study of the Roman military in North Africa because often little archaeological evidence from Roman forts remains other than perimeter dimensions. This is a powerful tool to examine and enhance our understanding of the epigraphic evidence available, as this model has been ex…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2019-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0380617
language: eng
degree discipline: Ancient Culture, Religion and Ethnicity
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/71438