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The origins and early history of the Pontic-Cappadocian frontier

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Julian Bennett
Julian Bennett
Affiliation:
Bilkent University, Ankara
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Abstract

With an overall length of about 550km, the Pontic-Cappadocian frontier was among the longest in the Roman Empire. It is also the least known, as there is a minimal amount of literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence available for the location and identity of the province's garrison. In addition, many of the military stations known or believed to have existed on the frontier are now lost beneath the waters of the Keban dam. However, a re-examination of the available evidence, along with recent limited and spontaneous fieldwork in the region, allows for some tentative remarks to be made on the origins and early history of this frontier. These form the main subject of this article, and include the suggestion that Nero should be credited with the genesis of this frontier, not Vespasian, as usually indicated in the modern literature.

Özet

Yaklaşık 550km'lik toplam uzunluğuyla Pontus-Kapadokya sınırı Roma İmparatorluğu'nun en uzun sınırlarından biriydi. Eyaletin garnizonunun yeri ve kimliği ile ilgili mevcut edebi, epigrafik ve arkeolojik kanitların azliğından dolayı en az bilinendirde. Buna ek olarak, sınırda olduğu bilinen veya varsayılan pek çok askeri yerleşim günümüzde keban barajının suları altında kalmıştır. Bununla beraber, bölgedeki kısıtlı ve kendiliğinden gelişen güncel alan çalışmalarıyla mevcut kanıtların yeniden incelenmesi ve sınırın kökenleri ve ilk tarihi hakkında bazı yaklaşık görüşler ortaya koymaya imkan verir. Bu görüşler bu makalenin ana konusunu oluşturur, ve modern edebiyatta sıkça belirtildiği gibi sınırın meydana getiriliş onurunun Vespasian'a değil Nero'ya atfedilmesi gerektiği önerisini içerir.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 56 , December 2006 , pp. 77 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 2006

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