Figure 14.8C Copper-alloy coin of Antoninus Pius (138–161 CE), minted at Emesa. The obverse carries the imperial portrait; the reverse shows an eagle perched on the stone of Elagabal, carrying a wreath in its beak. The stone itself is decorated with a crescent and two stars, recalling Herodian’s description of the stone’s surfaces (5.3.5, Loeb version): “there are some markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because that is how they see them.”
Figure 14.8D Copper-alloy coin of Valerian I (253–260 CE), minted at Ptolemais. The obverse shows the emperor in military attire, carrying a shield and with a spear over his shoulder. The reverse has a tree, flanked by two altars, from which a snake is seen rising, and a caduceus on the right-hand side. The exact nature of the cult expressed by this image is uncertain, but the presence of a caduceus suggests a connection with Hermes. Ptolemais was given the status of a Roman colony under Claudius (41–54 CE), and consequently the legends on its coinage are in Latin.
Figure 14.9A Copper-alloy coin of the joint emperors Trebonianus Gallus and Volusian (251–253 CE), minted at Antioch. The obverse shows busts of the two emperors facing each other (Trebonianus Gallus on the left, and his son Volusian on the right). The reverse depicts the statue group of the Tyche of Antioch with the river Orontes at her feet, housed in a portable shrine with carry-bars at the bottom. Above the shrine, a ram (probably a Zodiacal symbol) is shown leaping right. Although Antioch was a Roman colony at the time, its coinage continued to carry Greek legends (even the title “colonia” appears in Greek on the reverse, abbreviated at the bottom right as KOΛΩΝ).
Figure 14.9B Copper-alloy coin of Gallienus (253–268 CE), minted at Heliopolis. The obverse carries a portrait of the emperor; the reverse shows an athlete holding a victor’s palm branch and placing a crown on his head. Heliopolis was a Roman colony, like Ptolemais, and hence the legends on the coin are in Latin. By the mid-third century it held Greek festivals; its coins refer to a sacred Capitoline ecumenical games, and this type was a standard coin type in the Greek east to denote the athletic element of such festivals.
Figure 14.9C Copper-alloy coin of the early fourth century, minted at Antioch. The obverse shows the Tyche of Antioch, seated on a rock, with the river Orontes personified as a young man swimming beneath her. The legend reads GENIO ANTIOCHENI (“to the genius of Antioch”). The reverse shows another famous Antiochene monument: the statue of Apollo at Daphne near Antioch; and the legend reads APOLLONI SANCTO (“to sacred Apollo”).
Figure 14.9D Copper-alloy coin of Justin I (518–527 CE), minted at Antioch, with a portrait of the emperor on the obverse. The reverse depicts the Tyche of Antioch seated within a two-columned shrine; the backwards letter E in front of her is a value mark (5 nummi).
Figure 14.10 Places and regions mentioned in chapter 14. Map of distribution of coinage based on https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Middle_East_topographic_map-blank_3000bc_crop.svg. All adjustments © T. Kaizer.
Figure 15.1 Australian aerial photography on the Palestine Front in 1916–18. (A) The Australian War Photographer Frank Hurley. (B) Australian servicemen processing aerial photographs. (C) An Australian view of the remarkable location of Kerak in Jordan, the shadows pointing to the deep valleys on either side of the ridge. The Crusader castle (center) and town overly the Roman city of Characmoab.
Figure 15.2 A mosaic of Royal Air Force vertical photographs of 1926 of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa (Jarash). The entire circuit of city walls can be seen, the monumental west side of the city, the circus (south of city) and the Circassian settlement overlying the eastern side (APAAME_19261122_OGSC_RAF-AP1084C).
Figure 15.3 Google Earth imagery allowing a comparison of part of Hellenistic-Roman Apamea in Syria before and after recent massive looting.
Figure 15.4 Successive street grid extensions at Antioch based on interpretation of vertical aerial photographs (after Leblanc and Poccardi 1999: Figure 5).
Figure 15.5 The Roman town at Umm el-Jimal, Jordan. (A) The unplanned character is typical of such towns and contrasts with most cities (Courtesy: Bert de Vries). (B) The scale and character of this large Roman-Umayyad town is readily apparent. Also visible is the earlier Nabataean town – the gray area at top center (APAAME_20020929_DLK-0155).
Figure 15.6 Yajuz seen in 1998 (above) when it lay in relatively open countryside and with just one intrusive building. By 2014 (below) several large houses had been constructed, including this one cutting through structures visible in the section.
Figure 15.7 Umm er-Rasas, Jordan. The village of about 3 ha grew up organically and without plan around an earlier fort of c. 2.2 ha. In time the abandoned fort, too, was settled, including no less than four churches.
Figure 15.8 A Roman farm south of Madaba in Jordan. The panorama shows the relatively arid marginal landscape though the structure itself is well-built.
Figure 15.9 The late Roman legionary fortress at Lejjun, Jordan. The location at a major spring (A) on the fringe of the cultivable area was attractive. The dark structures (B) above the fortress are a late nineteenth-century Ottoman barracks, the plateau in the center (C) has a Bronze Age fortress and an Iron Age fort can be seen right of center (D).
Figure 15.10 Roads and tracks in Arabia. (A) The Via Nova Traiana on the plateau south of the Wadi el-Hasa including standing milestones in situ (APAAME_20141019_DLK-0203C). (B) Recently discovered stretch of road southwest of Amman (APAAME_20111010_MND-0021). (C) Vicinal roads east of Jarash (APAAME_19990614_DLK-0056).
Figure 15.11 Fossilized field boundaries. Although dating is always problematic, these examples are closely associated with Roman period settlement. (A) German aerial photograph of 1918 showing strip fields. (B) Location of similar field boundaries identified on aerial photographs of 1953 in the area of Masuh southwest of Amman.
Figure 15.12 Qanats. (A) An example southeast of the Roman and early Umayyad town of Udruh in southern Jordan (APAAME_20090930_RHB-0368). (B) Qanats mapped from aerial or satellite imagery in Syria, especially around the Roman town of Androna.
Figure 16.1 Mosaic from Antioch (House of the Drinking Contest) of drinking contest of Dionysus and Heracles. Princeton University neg. 5273.
Figure 16.2 Mosaic from Zeugma (Gaziantep Museum) of Pasiphae, Daedalus, and Icarus. Courtesy J.-P. Darmon.
Figure 16.3 Mosaic from Emesa (Maarret en-Noman Museum) of Heracles as a child strangling the serpents. Photo J.Ch. Balty.
Figure 16.4 Mosaic from Palmyra (in situ) of Odaenathus and his son victorious against the Persians. Courtesy of M. Gawlikowski.
Figure 16.5 Mosaic from Shahba-Philippopolis (Shahba Museum) of Sea Goddess Tethys. Photo J.Ch. Balty.
Figure 17.1 Map of northern Syria. Courtesy of A. Bousdroukis. >
Figure 17.2 The colonnade at Apamea. © T. Kaizer.
Figure 18.1 Plan of Gerasa, after A. Lichtenberger, R. Raja and D. Stott 2019. “Mapping Gerasa: A new and open data map of the site,” Antiquity 93, issue 367: E7. doi:10.15184/aqy.2019.9.
Figure 18.2 The nymphaeum of Pella on the reverse of a Pella bronze coin from the time of Elagabalus, after Triton XVI, 8 January 2013, lot 738.
Figure 19.1 Relief of Jupiter Dolichenus from Dülük Baba Tepesi (Doliche). © Forschungsstelle Asia Minor, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.
Figure 19.2 Statues on top of Nemrud Dağı. © T. Kaizer.
Figure 20.1 Hippodrome at Tyre. © T. Kaizer.
Figure 20.2 Temple of Zeus at Baetocaece in the Jebel Ansariyeh. © T. Kaizer.
Figure 21.1 The courtyard of the great Roman sanctuary at Heliopolis-Baalbek. © J. Aliquot 2009.
Figure 22.1 Qumran – caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. © T. Kaizer.
Figure 22.2 Herod’s harbor at Caesarea Maritima. © D.A. MacLennan.
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