Capital continuous: A Study of Vandal Carthage and Central North Africa from an Archaeological Perspective (Spätantike – Frühes Christentum – Byzanz) - Hardcover

Inhaltsangabe

The study “Capital continuous” deals with the Vandalic epoch of the fifth and early sixth centuries in North Africa that has received major historic interest in recent years. The Vandal epoch was an important transitional period between late Roman and Byzantine times, in which essential social developments took place in the religious, political and economic spheres. For a long time, the Vandal period has been viewed under the influence of tendentious historic sources. Recently, modern studies were able to reconstruct a more nuanced picture. However, the archaeological part of Vandalic North Africa has mostly been disregarded. A number of modern excavations and a change in the assessment of the sources now enable a study of the material remains of the epoch beyond single finds and coins, putting the focus on the edificial and urbanistic developments. The first part of the study engages with Carthage that became the capital of the Vandal kingdom. How were the kings present, what ideological role did Carthage play for them and how did they intervene in the city’s development? How did the mixed elite of Vandal era Carthage act, and which changes occurred independent of the political situation? In the second part of the book, the development in what is today Tunisia and Algeria is studied, in the north east of the antique province of Africa Proconsularis and the border region of Proconsularis with Numidia and Byzacena. The relations between local officials and the Vandal government and its influence for example on public infrastructure is analysed. While major fields show great continuity from the late Roman epoch, a number of developments are visible that fully unfolded in the Byzantine epoch but had their basis earlier. “Capital continuous” is the first integral consideration of the archaeological findings of the Vandal era in North Africa in a wider sense and thereby an important addition and counterweight to the predominantly historic studies of the epoch.

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