The transformation of an agricultural economy : forms of rural settlement in Epirus from the second century BCE to the fourth century CE

Thesis

This thesis investigates the transformation of the agricultural economy of Epirus in Roman times, approximately from its conquest in 168/7 BCE and its annexation in the province of Macedonia in 146 BCE, until the 4th century CE. It does so through study of diverse forms of rural settlement in the Epirote countryside, using untapped rescue archaeology to distinguish between different farms, to refine their chronologies, and to assess their agricultural productions. In so doing, the nature of the villa and its temporal spread in this area of Greece is also thoroughly examined and clarified. The development of Epirus has in the past often been closely linked to narratives painted by Roman authors of its allegedly devastating destruction and subsequent agricultural exploitation by members of the Roman aristocracy, who called themselves "Synepirotae". Many rural sites have been interpreted in this light and called "villas", leading scholars to postulate that the villa spread widely in Epirus during the early Roman period. In contrast to this theory, it is argued that, while a few exceptional villas were constructed early on, they did not become popular until the middle and later Imperial periods; instead, in early Roman times dispersed villages and fortified farms, many of which had been inhabited before the Roman period, were more numerous. Consequently, the villa was not always the typical way to manage agricultural resources of substantial scale in this part of the Roman world. The thesis also combines rural rescue archaeology with material culture from cities and with written evidence, to reconstruct a new view of societal and economic change in Epirus during the Roman period. It is shown how gradual changes in the agricultural economy reflected changes in local societies, which were also measured in pace, and it is highlighted that the individuals making up those societies played a more active role in the ways that Epirus became incorporated into the Roman Empire than has previously been thought.

Authors: Piree Iliou, N

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: rescue archaeology; rural settlement; Roman Empire; ancient agriculture; Roman Greece; ancient economy; Epirus
• Subjects: Villas; Agriculture, Ancient; Agriculture--Economic aspects--Rome; Epirus (Greece and Albania); Land use, Rural; Greece--Civilization--Roman period; Excavations (Archaeology)