Synagogue chronology has been the subject of scholarly debate for decades, especially in the Galilee, where synagogues have been dated both to the Roman and Byzantine (= late-antique) periods.1 For the Golan,2 the consensus has been that there is no evidence for them in the Roman period, and especially not in the 2nd-3rd c. The c.30 synagogues there, nearly all in the W central Golan, have always been precluded from the debate since, with the exception of an Early Roman one at Gamla,3 the accepted dates for their construction and use are between the 4th and the 7th c. (fig. 1).4

Situated at the NE corner of the Propontis, Nicomedia (modern İzmit) was a major urban centre throughout history. Since the ancient city is buried directly beneath the modern industrial Turkish one, little was known archaeologically until recently1 when a series of painted reliefs, part of a continuous marble frieze of which c.55 m in length have been uncovered, was discovered in the Çukurbağ district. They contain a remarkable combination of imperial, agonistic and mythological scenes.2 The depictions on the frieze, precious examples of tetrarchic art, shed light not only on the socio-political history of the Later Empire but also on the creation, self-identification and reception of a new tetrarchic capital.3 The marble frieze seems to have decorated an imperial complex dating to the late 3rd and early 4th c. when Nicomedia was Diocletian‘s administrative capital for the eastern Roman empire. Among the scenes on the frieze, the group of blocks representing an adventus with Diocletian and Maximian has been published in detail, and a monograph on the Diocletianic complex is under preparation. The present article will examine the mythological depictions on the frieze.

Since 1960, archaeological research in the area of the legionary base at Novae (fig. 1) has yielded many traces of its defensive system.1 Although the results were published regularly in field reports,2 information on the fortifications remained inadequate due to the methodologies and measuring equipment used in those days. Even with the new discoveries made in the 1980s and 1990s, most notably the earth-and-timber defences, many crucial issues including the chronology and construction sequence remained unresolved.3 Therefore in 2005 a review of the early excavations began within the framework of a postexcavation project, “Per lineam munitionum”. It involved recording all visible architectural and archaeological remains from previous seasons of fieldwork through the cleaning and deepening of old trenches. If the original stratigraphy was found to be too disturbed, soundings were extended. Advanced methods such as geodesy, photogrammetry and 3D modelling significantly improved the interpretation. In several years of topographic survey almost all of the early trenches were located, the general plan updated and corrected,4 and a detailed digital terrain model (DTM) produced (fig. 2).

As part of an investigation of the use of geometric painting on ceilings in late-antique Egypt, this article will focus on the evidence found in a 4th-c. A.D. church at the polis of Trimithis (Amheida), located in the Dakhla Oasis of Egypt‘s Western Desert. Excavation in 2012-13 as part of a project directed by R. S. Bagnall highlighted the church‘s rôle for both cult and burials. Thousands of fragments of painted plaster, part of the church‘s collapsed flat ceiling, revealed a wide array of interlocked geometrical shapes in vivid colors, creating a visually dramatic contrast with the church‘s seemingly white walls. The polychrome decoration was probably meant to replicate the effect of a coffered ceiling. Similar geometric schemes are found elsewhere in the Western Desert in both domestic and funerary contexts, and there is evidence of other Egyptian Early Christian churches that had flat ceilings, but a flat roof with painted geometric decoration in the context of an Early Christian church is thus far unattested elsewhere in Egypt. This article will highlight the popularity and longevity of this decorative style in Egypt throughout the Roman period and well into late antiquity and will point to similarities between this type of ceiling decoration and Alexandrian models of the Ptolemaic period, as well as mosaic designs found throughout Mediterranean lands.

Rough Cilicia is well-known for the number of wine-presses found,1 which shows that viticulture was important locally as well as wine being a likely candidate for export.2 Excavation and survey here has generally lagged behind other regions,3 and work at Antiochia ad Cragum (Güney Köyü, Gazipaşa) in particular is relatively recent, starting with the Rough Cilicia Archaeological Survey Project (RCSP) and continuing with its offshoot, the Antiochia ad Cragum Archaeological Research Project (ACARP).4 The city, founded by Antiochus IV of Commagene in the Julio-Claudian period, lies on an important road along the S coast with direct links to settlements of the central Anatolian plateau;5 it also lies on the maritime trade route extending from Syria and Palestine to Constantinople and the area of the Black Sea, with another going to central and W Mediterranean lands.6 Occupied continuously from the Imperial to the Byzantine period,7 it achieved a considerable size.

The Sardis excavation sector known as MMS was a center of habitation for over a millennium. Archaic houses built near the great mudbrick fortification were succeeded by scattered Hellenistic and Roman dwellings, to be followed in late antiquity by imposing residences of complex plan and ambitious decoration. Like other parts of the city, these houses saw extensive structural damage in the early A.D. 600s. Raised floors, flimsy partitions and makeshift hearths are among the few signs of lingering occupation.1