New inscriptions from Saudi Arabia and the extent of Roman rule along the Red Sea [Farasan Islands]

Tabulae Geographicae ^ | March 2017 | Michael Ditter

[SunkenCiv]

The first inscription was discovered in 2003 at ancient Hegra in Hedjaz, an oasis city on the Incense Road. Today it is known as Al-Hijr (Mada'in Salih)...

Hegra was the major center in the south of the Nabataean kingdom that in the 1st century CE also controlled other oasis towns, such as nearby Taima or Dumatha. The kingdom was one of Rome's client states along its eastern border. When the last Nabataean king died in 106 CE, Trajan had already prepared the orders for imperial troops in neighboring provinces to swiftly move in and occupy his territory before any resistance could possibly be organized. The newly annexed state was subsequently transformed into the province Arabia... the newly buil[t] Via Nova Traiana from Bostra to Aila, which connected a chain of forts, marked its eastern border.

...several inscriptions from the region... include material from Roman soldiers found in Dumatha (Dumat Al-Jandal), Hegra, Dedan (al-'Ula) or other places and especially a bilingual inscriptions recording the involvement of an imperial governor of Arabia to settle disputes between members of the Thamudi confederation and in constructing a temple dedicated to Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius in Ruwwafah.

The new inscription (AE 2004, 1620) can be dated to 175-177 CE. It commemorates the reconstruction of Hegra's defenses under the overall responsibility of the imperial governor of Arabia, Julius Firmanus...

More amazing is the find of two Latin inscriptions on Farasan... In the Latin text, the name is spelled Ferresan...

The toponym Pontus Herculis is otherwise not attested, but seemingly refers to the southern portion of the Red Sea leading to the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, just as the Pillars of Hercules marked the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar.

[SunkenCiv]

Source: Phillips, Carl, et al. “A Latin Inscription from South Arabia.” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, vol. 34, 2004, pp. 239–250. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41223821. Accessed 3 Aug. 2020.

Rome's Furthest Outpost (It's Not Scotland!) | November 2, 2020 | Stefan Milo | Artwork by Ettore Mazza

[SunkenCiv]

This video was on the YT selections when I awoke, and got me started on this.

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[BradyLS]

Saw this on youtube the other day. Makes you wonder where else the Romans trod, even if they didn’t leave an outpost.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

It’s a good one, not least because the vlogger appears to know very little about the whole thing. :^) I’ve been stalled about a third of the way through in my reading of “The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean”, this may motivate me to finish. :^)

[SunkenCiv]

It was amusing that he used that compass line of sorts to demo just how the distance compared with Greenland etc. :^) The tax collection on imported goods from India (plus the stuff that Roman-era traders sold there) fattened the coffers and went a long way in building and maintaining the Empire as a whole. There’s a document that survived that is one ship’s manifest apparently compiled by the tax assessor, and the largest part of the cargo from India (but not the only part) consisted of over 600 tons of pepper.

By contrast, a good many of the provinces didn’t generate enough tax to support the garrisoning of the province itself. Caledonia was so poor and underpopulated (kinda like now, except we call it Scotland) that the Romans never bothered to add it to the Empire. OTOH, for some period of time Copenhagen was apparently under Roman rule, which makes sense as it controls trade in and out of the Baltic. Iron processing came into its own along the Baltic shores during the Roman Empire.

Likewise Hibernia (Ireland) was not added, although a trading post was apparently built on a promontory (Drumanagh) not far north of modern Dublin, and Agricola was given an extension in his term as governor of Britain, and built a long-lived fortress at modern Chester, possibly with a view of moving the capital there after finishing up in Ireland and Scotland.

[SunkenCiv]

A Latin inscription from South Arabia
Carl Phillips, François Villeneuve and William Facey
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies
Vol. 34,
July 2003 (2004), pp. 239-250 (12 pages)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41223821

[BradyLS]

I know they found a Roman statue on an ancient ship wreck somewhere off the coast of...Brazil? And then there is the reputed discovery of an Olmec head that had Caucasoid features (sharp nose, prominent brow and chin) that was later destroyed via “target practice” the same way The Sphinx’s face was mutilated. Maybe one day there will be evidence discovered of a Roman settlement in the Americas.

[SMARTY]

It saya ‘Let’s go Brandon’

[dfwgator]

“BE SURE TO DRINK YOUR OVALTINE”

[SunkenCiv]

https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3295687/posts

[SunkenCiv]

The magnificent ancient city of Petra, located in modern day Jordan, is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. But many people don't realise that Petra has a mysterious 'twin' in Saudi Arabia.

Hegra was once the second largest settlement in the ancient Nabataean kingdom – the largest being Petra itself. Its beautiful ancient architecture shows a unique mixture of Greco-Roman, North African and Middle-Eastern influence.

Video by Ana González and Frederick Bernas

The mysterious 'other Petra' of Saudi Arabia
October 26, 2020 | BBC Reel