Earthquakes as Nonhuman Agents in the Roman – Late Antique Mediterranean

Summary

Recent studies of the sociology of contemporary earthquakes have emphasized the generative physical spaces of potentiality created by these disasters: the destruction of earthquakes, while traumatic for survivors, also clears the way for large-scale infrastructural and architectural development programs that can re-shape aged urban environments to better reflect changing societal values and priorities. This paper offers a survey of earthquakes as non-human change agents in the Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean, with especial focus on the cities of Ephesus, Antioch, and Phrygian Hierapolis. While contemporary Roman sources tend to describe urban rebuilding after earthquakes in a symbolic manner with a generic picture of cities "rebuilt" (ἀνοικοδομίσθαι) or "restored" (ἀνενέοθι) with state-directed support in coin or labor, these literary images rarely correspond with the archaeological evidence. Rather, earthquake events in Roman cities provided opportunities for adaptation and the implementation of new planning schemes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22013