The socio-ecosystem of South-Western Asia Minor in the Roman period

Thesis

The aim of this thesis is to explore the characteristics of the socio-ecosystem of south-western Asia Minor in the Roman period. I propose a new narrative anchored in complex systems approach reconstructing the co-evolution of the human populations and their environment with the main focus on the ancient regions of Pisidia and Pamphylia. This experimental work combines recent developments in a number of scholarly fields. The previous historical narratives on the regions, both ancient and modern, have been deconstructed. The numismatic material serves firstly as a starting point for the synthesis of the history of the region, and then as a material for performing Social Network Analysis of Anatolian ‘poleis’ and the creation of multiple graphs. The climatic framework of the Roman period has been discussed with the special focus on the proxies relevant to south-western Asia Minor. The past landscapes and their changes have been reconstructed with the use of palynology. My main hypothesis is that in the Roman Imperial period Anatolia operated not only on the basis of independent micro-ecologies, but also on the level of meso-scale entities. These were formed along river systems from their springs in the high mountains through upland and coastal plains to their outlets to the Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas. Such regional socio-ecological systems were more connected internally than externally, characterised by hierarchical structures and developed thanks to both cultural and natural drivers. The cultural drivers included the interplay between imperial and local politics and economy, changes in land ownership patterns and land use practices. The main natural drivers were the shape and cycles of the local hydrosphere and climatic variability. The potential and connectivity of the regional and supra-regional socio-ecological systems of Anatolia had been accumulating over a longer period of time, but it was particularly encouraged and accelerated by the conditions created effectively by the Pax Romana, and this proved later to be the basis of the resilience of the Roman Empire in Anatolia. My reconstruction tries to grasp the dynamics of these processes in Pisidia and Pamphylia and add nuance to earlier syntheses on the region.

Authors: Fiolna, SB

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-6grnepked
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Roman Provincial Coinage; Social Network Analysis; Environmental History; Palynology; Asia Minor; Panarchy; Pamphylia; Climate; Roman Empire; Roman Early Imperial Period; Pisidia
• Subjects: History, Ancient; Numismatics, Roman--Turkey; Social sciences--Network analysis; Environmental sciences--History