Christianity was an appealing religion for late Romans and no matter how many times the powers that be made martyrs of its followers, it came back each time stronger than ever. However, as this excellent book demonstrates, Christianity's success was not entirely due to peaceful means. Sauer argues that without violence it could not have become the sole religion of the west. Sad evidence for this force can be found on monuments and artworks across the Late Antique and early medieval world, particularly in the form of mutilated statues, defaced architectural reliefs, vandalised inscriptions, ruined buildings and desecrated temples. Sauer traces the footsteps of the first missionaries across Europe, the Mediterranean and Egypt, to look at what the archaeological evidence reveals about the identity and motives of those who wielded the chisels. The study also considers the effects of this movement on the everyday life and worship of pagan populations. Illustrated throughout.

The Archaeology of Religious Hatred

History

Sauer, Eberhard

Ancient Civilizations

The History Press

The decline of Mithraism in the fourth century AD is used as a case-study for understanding the end of other classes of `paganism' in the Roman western provinces. The author reviews epigraphic and numismatic evidence to date the final uses of Mithraea. He then discusses examples of wilful damage to Mithraic monuments. Drawing all this archaeological evidence into a historical framework, Sauer argues that rather than losing its social function as the Roman army became splintered, Mithraism was a healthy religion with active shrines until the very late fourth century. Rather than fading away, its desecrated monuments indicate that the religion was the victim of a sustained Christian attack which was also directed at other established faiths in the western provinces.

The End of Paganism in the North-Western Provinces of the Roman Empire: The example of the Mithras cult (BAR International)

Politics & Social Sciences

Archaeology

British Archaeological Reports

The Huns, invading through Dariali Gorge on the modern-day border between Russia and Georgia in AD 395 and 515, spread terror across the late antique world. Was this the prelude to the apocalypse? Prophecies foresaw a future Hunnic onslaught, via the same mountain pass, bringing about the end of the world. Humanity's fate depended on a gated barrier deep in Europe's highest and most forbidding mountain chain.Centuries before the emergence of such apocalyptic beliefs, the gorge had reached world fame. It was the target of a planned military expedition by the Emperor Nero. Chained to the dramatic sheer cliffs, framing the narrow passage, the mythical fire-thief Prometheus suffered severe punishment, his liver devoured by an eagle. It was known under multiple names, most commonly the Caspian or Alan Gates.Featuring in the works of literary giants, no other mountain pass in the ancient and medieval world matches Dariali's fame. Yet little was known about the materiality of this mythical place. A team of archaeologists has now shed much new light on the major gorge-blocking fort and a barrier wall on a steep rocky ridge further north. The walls still standing today were built around the time of the first major Hunnic invasion in the late fourth century - when the Caucasus defences feature increasingly prominently in negotiations between the Great Powers of Persia and Rome. In its endeavour to strongly fortify the strategic mountain pass through the Central Caucasus, the workforce erased most traces of earlier occupation. The Persian-built bastion saw heavy occupation for 600 years. Its multi-faith medieval garrison controlled Trans-Caucasian traffic. Everyday objects and human remains reveal harsh living conditions and close connections to the Muslim South, as well as the steppe world of the north. The Caspian Gates explains how a highly strategic rock has played a pivotal role in world history from Classical Antiquity into the twentieth century.

Dariali: The 'Caspian Gates' in the Caucasus from Antiquity to the Age of the Huns and the Middle Ages: The Joint Georgian-British Dariali Gorge ... Studies, Archaeological Monograph Series)

Oxbow Books

The Gorgan Wall stretches for over 200km through northern Iran. Guarded by over 30 forts, it is longer than Hadrians Wall and the Antonine Wall put together and is the most monumental ancient border defense system between Central Europe and China. Yet few have heard of it. Until recently, dating proposals ranged over more than a millennium, and majority opinion attributed the wall to the Parthians (3rd century BC 3rd century AD). Scientific dating has now established that this massive monument was created in the 5th/6th century AD and belongs to one of the largest and most long-lasting empires of antiquity, that of Sasanian Persia (3rd-7th centuries AD). Stretching from modern Pakistan to Mesopotamia and into Central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, the empire conquered in the early 7th century much of the Levant and advanced as far as the Bosporus. Investigations between 2005 and 2009 by a team of archaeologists makes clear that such expansion was made possible through one of the largest and most well organized military systems of antiquity, together with targeted investment in border defense and the empires agriculture. In the hinterland of the wall there were massive square fortifications, of some 40 ha size each, one of which has yielded traces of dense occupation, probably neat rows of army tents. The Late Sasanian era also saw the foundation of a city, more than twice the size of Roman London at its prime, demonstrating that the area was prosperous enough to sustain a sizable urban population. Substantial manpower was required for these construction projects. Brick production for the Gorgan Wall depended on thousands of kilns that received water via major canals. The wall cut through a landscape that already a millennium earlier was heavily settled and irrigated by canals which enabled a flourishing culture to emerge in the steppe. The Gorgan Wall project has shed light on what made one of antiquity's largest empires and earlier civilisations succeed. Table of Contents SECTION A: RESEARCH CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND 1.Introduction 2. History of Research SECTION B: FIELD RESEARCH 3. The Landscapes of the Gorgan Wall (Tony J. Wilkinson, Hamid Omrani Rekavandi, Kristen Hopper, Seth Priestman, Kourosh Roustaei and Nikolaos Galiatsatos) 4. The Brick Kilns Alongside the Gorgan Wall 5. The Architecture of the Gorgan Wall 6. Forts, Fortlets and Watchtowers on the Gorgan Wall 7. The Brick Kilns Alongside the Tammisheh Wall 8. The Architecture of the Tammisheh Wall 9. The Forts on the Tammisheh Wall 10. Mountain Strongholds and Refuges Above the Tammisheh Wall 11. Linear Earthworks Of More Recent Date – Timeless Responses To A Continuous Threat 12. Sasanian Campaign Bases 13. A Sasanian City In The Gorgan Plain: Dasht Qal‘eh 14. Early Urban Expansion Into The Steppe: Qelich Qoineq SECTION C: SPECIALIST CONTRIBUTIONS 15. The Underwater Survey of the Tammisheh and Gorgan Walls (Julian Jansen Van Rensburg, Francesco Caputo, Hamid Omrani Rekavandi, Eberhard W. Sauer, Bardia Shabani and James Ratcliffe) 16. Archaeomagnetic Studies Of Features Along The Gorgan And Tammisheh Walls (Cathy M. Batt and David P. Greenwood) 17. OSL Dating (Jean-Luc Schwenninger and Morteza Fattahi) 18. Sasanian Ceramics From The Gorgan Wall And Other Sites On The Gorgan Plain (Seth M.N. Priestman) 19. Vessel Glass and Beads (Birgitta Hoffmann) 20. Animal Bones (Marjan Mashkour, Valentin Radu and Richard Thomas) 21. Charcoal (Imogen Poole and Rowena Gale) 22. Bitumen (Richard Evershed) SECTION D: CONCLUSIONS 23. History of the Walls and of the Sasanian Military Build-up in the Gorgan Plain: A Microcosm of a Powerful Empire Appendices 19th-Century Sources On The Physical Remains Of The Gorgan Wall Bibliography Persian translation of introduction, table of contents and title page (Amin Nazifi)

Persia's Imperial Power in Late Antiquity: The Great Wall of Gorgan and the Frontier Landscapes of Sasanian Iran (British Institute of Persian Studies, Archaeological Monograph Series)

Wilkinson, T. J.

Rekavandi, H. Omrani

Nokandeh, J.

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