Simon Esmonde Cleary | University of Birmingham (original) (raw)

Books by Simon Esmonde Cleary

Chedworth Roman Villa: Excavations and Re-imaginings from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries, 2022

Chedworth is arguably the best-known Roman villa in Britain, its site visited by thousands of peo... more Chedworth is arguably the best-known Roman villa in Britain, its site visited by thousands of people every year. Yet since its original uncovering in 1864 it has never been the subject of a full academic publication, until now. This volume seeks lay out what can be known of the history and development of the villa. Important sections analyse the structural remains through from the Roman period to the present, the material culture, including the exceptional suite of mosaics. The villa is then placed in its immediate landscape, in the context of late Roman villas in Britain and of late Roman villas in the Western Empire. The volume ends with a consideration of how the villa has been interpreted over the last century and a half.

The construction of urban defences was one of the hallmarks of the late Roman and late-antique pe... more The construction of urban defences was one of the hallmarks of the late Roman and late-antique periods (300–600 AD) throughout the western and eastern empire. City walls were the most significant construction projects of their time and they redefined the urban landscape. Their appearance and monumental scale, as well as the cost of labour and material, are easily comparable to projects from the High Empire; however, urban circuits provided late-antique towns with a new means of self-representation. While their final appearance and construction techniques varied greatly, the cost involved and the dramatic impact that such projects had on the urban topography of late-antique cities mark city walls as one of the most important urban initiatives of the period. To-date, research on city walls in the two halves of the empire has highlighted chronological and regional variations, enabling scholars to rethink how and why urban circuits were built and functioned in Late Antiquity. Although these developments have made a significant contribution to the understanding of late-antique city walls, studies are often concerned with one single monument/small group of monuments or a particular region, and the issues raised do not usually lead to a broader perspective, creating an artificial divide between east and west. It is this broader understanding that this book seeks to provide. The volume and its contributions arise from a conference held at the British School at Rome and the Swedish Institute of Classical Studies in Rome on June 20-21, 2018. It includes articles from world-leading experts in late-antique history and archaeology and is based around important themes that emerged at the conference, such as construction, spolia-use, late-antique architecture, culture and urbanism, empire-wide changes in Late Antiquity, and the perception of this practice by local inhabitants.

Chedworth is one of the few Roman villas in Britain with remains open to the public, and this boo... more Chedworth is one of the few Roman villas in Britain with remains open to the public, and this book seeks to explain what these remains mean. The fourth century AD in Britain was a 'golden age' and at the time the Cotswolds was the richest area of Roman Britain.
The wealthy owners of a villa such as Chedworth would have felt themselves part of an imperial Roman aristocracy. This is expressed at the villa in the layout of the buildings, rooms for receiving guests and for grand dining, the provision of baths, and the use of mosaics. The villa would have housed the owner, his wife, family and household, as well as being the centre of an agricultural estate.
In the nineteenth century Chedworth was rediscovered, and part of the villa's tale is the way in which it was viewed by a nineteenth-century Cotswold landowner, Lord Eldon, and then its current owners, the National Trust.
Now, in this remarkable and beautifully illustrated volume, Chedworths' story is told in full.

"Simon Esmonde Cleary explains what Britain was like in the fourth century A.D., and how this can... more "Simon Esmonde Cleary explains what Britain was like in the fourth century A.D., and how this can be understood only in the wider context of the western Roman Empire. His emphasis is on the information to be won from archaeology rather than history, leading to a compellling explanation of the fall of Roman Britain - and some novel suggestions about the place of the post-Roman population in the formation of England.

Batsford, London, 1989, pp.xi + 242, illus. 48, plates 11

ISBN: 07134-5275-7

reissued by Routledge, London, 2000

ISBN: 0-415-23898-6"

This book describes and analyses the development of the Roman West from Gibraltar to the Rhine, u... more This book describes and analyses the development of the Roman West from Gibraltar to the Rhine, using primarily the extensive body of published archaeological evidence rather than the textual evidence underlying most other studies. It situates this development within a longer-term process of change, proposing the later second century rather than the 'third-century crisis' as the major turning point, although the latter had longer-term consequences owing to the rise in importance of military identitites. But in many areas more 'traditional' forms of settlement and display were sustained, to which was added the vocabulary of Christianity. The longer-term rhythms are also central to assessing the evidence for such aspects as rural settlement and patterns of economic interaction. The collapse of Roman imperial authority emphasised trends such as militarisation and regionalisation along with economic and cultural dis-integration. Indicators of 'barbarian/Germanic' presence are reassessed within such contexts and the traditional interpretations questioned and alternatives proposed.

"'Rome in the Pyrenees' is a unique treatment in English of the archaeological and historical evi... more "'Rome in the Pyrenees' is a unique treatment in English of the archaeological and historical evidence for an important town in Gaul, Lugdunum in the French Pyrenees, and for its surrounding people the Convenae. The book opens with the creation of the Convenae by Pompey the Great in the first century B.C. and runs down to the great Frankish siege in A.D.585 and its aftermath.

Drawing on his own excavations at Saint-Bertrand and the extensive earlier and recent work there, Simon Esmonde Cleary combines a clear description of the buildings and monuments of Lugdunum and of its countryside with a discussion of what they can tell us about the impact of Rome on this remote corner of its empire.

The book closes with a practical guide to visitng the Roman remains at Saint-Bertrand and in the surrounding countryside.

Routledge, London, 2008, pp.171, illus.42

ISBN 978-0-415-46286-2"

This volume contains the detailed description, analysis and discussion of the work by a British t... more This volume contains the detailed description, analysis and discussion of the work by a British team between 1992 and 2000 on the late Roman wall-circuit of ancient Lugdunum of the Convenae (modern Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, Haute-Garonne, France).
It opens with a detailed descrition of the surviving Roman fabric of the walls, divided into 26 sectors, followed by an analysis of the various constituent elements of the fortification and of the evidence for its construction (by J.Wood). Almosat unique here is the discovery of a portion of the wall-top with parapet, merlons and traverses preserved in situ.
There is then a report on the archaeological interventions effected along the course of the defences with a consideration of their significance, in particular for the dating of the walls to the early fifth century A.D. and for the history of the occupation of the hill-top in the late Roman and early medieval periods, from the late fourth to the eighth centuries(by S.Esmonde Cleary).
A series of specialist reports on the material from the excavations (in particular the pottery, glass, marble fragments and animal bone) follows (various specialists).
The volume closes with a consideration of the place of the defences in the urban development of Lugdunum, in the development of late Roman defences in the region and of late Roman urban fortification more generally (by SEC).

Editions de la Federation Aquitania, Bordeaux, 2006, pp.338, figs.299

ISBN: 2-910763-06-4

Papers by Simon Esmonde Cleary

Du Royaume Goth au Midi Mérovingien, 2019

A survey of the development of thinking about ethnicity in anglophone research, with special refe... more A survey of the development of thinking about ethnicity in anglophone research, with special reference to the late Roman period. and to the implications for the identification of Visigoths in the archaeological record, particularly in south-western France.

ARGENTUM ROMANORUM SIVE BARBARORUM TRADITION UND ENTWICKLUNG IM GEBRAUCH DES SILBERGELDES IM RÖMISCHEN WESTEN (4.-6. JH.) PERMANENCES ET ÉVOLUTION DES USAGES MONÉTAIRES DE L’ARGENT DU IVE AU VIE SIÈCLE DANS L’OCCIDENT ROMAIN, 2020

A survey of the uses of silver in Britain and Ireland in various forms from the end of the fourth... more A survey of the uses of silver in Britain and Ireland in various forms from the end of the fourth to the end of the sixth century CE. Principal areas and periods are:
(i) the major horizon of the deposition of hoards of intact Roman silver (coins, plate, objects) in the late fourth and fifth centuries within the borders of the late Roman Diocese of the Britains;
(ii) Hoards of 'Hacksilber', fragmented Roman silver plate and other objects along with coins, particularly in modern Scotland, also Roman Britain, occasionally Ireland;
(iii) the relation of the 'Hacksilber' hoards to hoards of so-called 'Pictish' silver in Scotland;
(iv) the lack of silver in areas such as Anglo-Saxon England is also noted.
Reasons for the patterns of the hoarding and uses of silver in this period are considered, including, raiding, diplomatic intervention, mercenary payment, slave trading along with comments on the circumstances of deposition.

Barbares dans la ville de l’Antiquité tardive: Présences et absences dans les espaces publics et privés, 2020

A survey of the evidence for 'barbarians', or incomers, at the cities of Roman Britain in the fou... more A survey of the evidence for 'barbarians', or incomers, at the cities of Roman Britain in the fourth century, A brief survey of the textual evidence followed by a longer treatment of the archaeology, focusing on the evidence from burials.

Interpreting Transformations of People and Landscapes in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 2018

A discussion of the evidence for rural settlement in the province of Novempopulana from the 4th t... more A discussion of the evidence for rural settlement in the province of Novempopulana from the 4th to the 7th century, and how the focus on aspects such as major villas and Christianisation have affected understanding of the area and period, also how this is changing.

Les enceintes urbaines de Novempopulanie à la fin de l’Antiquité, entre Aquitaines et Hispanies, 2020

A summary (French-language) of the results of the British project on the standing fabric of and e... more A summary (French-language) of the results of the British project on the standing fabric of and excavations on the late Roman wall-circuit at Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, Haute-Garonne, France.
The hilltop walls enclosing an area of 4.43 ha were shown to survive in substantial part, including one section up to the wall-walk, parapet and merlons. Excavation of substantial internal stratification yielded dating evidence suggesting they were constructed in the early fifth century AD and formed part of a regional group of urban fortifications in the province of Novempopulana, south-western Gaul.

City Walls in Late Antiquity, 2020

A survey of the 'classic' late Roman city walls in Gaul arguing that they respond more to the req... more A survey of the 'classic' late Roman city walls in Gaul arguing that they respond more to the requirements of the state than they express civic monumentalism.

Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité Tardive 31, 2016

From the 'hommages/Festschrift' for Jean-Michel Carrié. A paper setting the evidence for high-sta... more From the 'hommages/Festschrift' for Jean-Michel Carrié.
A paper setting the evidence for high-status villas in late Roman Britain in its continental context to argue that far from being 'insular' these residences are part of the same cultural phenomenon as their counterparts elsewhere in the late Roman West.

This paper argues that in the western provinces of the Roman Empire the principal city of a regio... more This paper argues that in the western provinces of the Roman Empire the principal city of a region (the 'civitas-capital') was the preferred location for the use and display of epigraphic messages, surviving in particular in stone. By contrast inscriptions were rare at secondary and rural settlements. Equally, this meant that 'written space' was one of the defining features and experiences of these cities alongside their formal lay-out or public buildings and monuments. Over time, the accumulation of publicly-displayed written texts extolling emperors, notable citizens, public benefactions, legal frameworks, and individuals in their epitaphs, would have come to act as a 'lieu de mémoire' for the wider community, whatever their level of literacy. The destruction of these monuments to conceal them in the late Roman defences thus marks a major caesura in urban consciousness. The province of Gallia Aquitania is used as a case-study.
G.Sears, P.Keegan, R.Laurence (eds.): Written Space in the Latin West, 200BC to AD300, Bloomsbury, London, 2013, 217-230

The distribution of classes of material related to the late Roman state, coins and 'official-issu... more The distribution of classes of material related to the late Roman state, coins and 'official-issue' metalwork, shows a marked retraction into the South and East of Britain from the last quarter of the fourth century with a corresponding near-absence in the North and West. Was the late Roman state refocusing its priorities in the diocese away from the traditional 'military zone'?

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N.Roymans, S.Heeren, W. de Clercq eds.: Social Dynamics in the Northwest Frontiers of the Late Roman Empire: beyond decline or transformation

This paper looks at the involvement of the ninereenth-century British antiquary Charles Roach Smi... more This paper looks at the involvement of the ninereenth-century British antiquary Charles Roach Smith in the investigation of two sets of late Roman fortifications in western France and his connections with French antiquaries of the period. The first site is that of Larcay (Indre-et-Loire) upstream of the city of Tours, where Roach Smith was one of a number of antiquarian visitors to the late Roman 'castellum', publishing a plan and drawings of the fortlet. The second is that of Dax (Landes) where the exceptionally well-preserved late Roman fortifications were threatened with demolition by the local council as part of a scheme of civic improvement. Roach Smith visited Dax and published some drawings and on his return to Britain attempted to mobilise learned societies to put pressure on the French authorities, including Prosper Merimee, to have the demolition halted.

This Word document is the English-language text subsequently published in Spanish as 'Fortificaci... more This Word document is the English-language text subsequently published in Spanish as 'Fortificacion en la Britannia Romana: defensa militar o monumento civico?' in the volume edited by Rodriguez Colmenero and Roda de Llanza. Readers are referred to the published version for the accompanying illustrations.

This paper seeks to put forward an alternative model to help debate the major changes in the arch... more This paper seeks to put forward an alternative model to help debate the major changes in the archaeology of Britain, particularly the Roman part of the island, during the fifth century A.D. It draws on the modern concepts and analyses of the 'failed' and/or 'collapsed' state as an aid to understanding the situation in Britain at that time and hence the causes and processes of the change in the archaeological evidence.
It appeared as a contribution to F.Hunter & K.Painter eds.: Late Roman Silver: The Traprain Treasure in Context' (Edinburgh 2013).

This article examines: the development of thinking about urban defences in Roman Britain from the... more This article examines: the development of thinking about urban defences in Roman Britain from the early twentieth century and the proposed links with episodes of external threat; the sequence of defensive provision in Britain from the late first to the late fourth century A.D.; current thinking about reasons for the provision of defences, in particular their role as civic monuments; a comparison of the situation in Britain with that in neighbouring areas of the Continent.

An English-langiage version is available as a Word document without illustrations at 'Urban Fortification in Roman Britain: military defence or civic monument?