RoMAfrica. Roads and Milestones in Roman Africa

RoMAfrica is an IdEx Bordeaux Postdoctoral Project (march 2019- february 2021) On-going

Institut Ausonius (UMR 5607, CNRS-Université Bordeaux, Montaigne, Labex LaScArBx)
Funded by the Initiative d’excellence de l’Université de Bordeaux 2017 call
http://ausonius.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/

Description

The aim of this research is to renovate the vision of the interconnectivity in the provinces of Roman Africa. The first purpose is to create an updated and critical reviewed corpus of Roman milestones from the province of Mauretania Caesariensis in order to compare it with other regions. This type of epigraphy provides a huge amount of information concerning the organisation of roads and policies, as well as clues about provincial administration of the Empire. Its study offers the foundation for understanding the fixation of landmarks along the pathways and the propaganda in rural areas. However, this sort of epigraphy has not been explored in depth in North Africa. There are only some specific studies on Africa Proconsularis, but not on the other parts of the vast territory. This postdoctoral project will deal with an updated corpus of milestones with the objective of further investigating the historical interpretation and geographical implications of such evidence. It will also allow me to carry out an interprovincial and diachronic comparison to contrast diverse road policies and strategies of interconnections between Mauretania Caesariensis, Mauretania Tingitana and Africa Proconsularis.

The most outstanding results of RoMAfrica overpass the narrow vision of road policy in Roman North Africa solving this existent gap in the bibliography. It will also explore the system of interconnectivity, public works, and administration of rural landscapes of Roman Africa. This encourages an enrichment cultural exchange, and all of this will converge on culture of translation.

Outputs
ESPAÑA CHAMORRO, S. (2020): “Engaging landscapes, connecting provinces. Milestones and the construction of Hispania at the beginning of the Empire” en M. Horster and N. Hächler (eds.), The impact of Empire on Roman landscapes, Editorial: Brill (collection IMEM 37), (forthcoming).

Journée d’études « L’Hispanie et l’Afrique romaines : actualité des recherches/ regards croisés ». Institut Ausonius (CNRS-UBM). Bordeaux (France). 23 January 2020
Oral presentation:  L’épigraphie routière hispanique et africaine: le cas de la Baetica et de la Mauretania Caesariensis

14^th Impact of Empire: The impact of Empire on Roman landscapes. Die Johannes Gutenberg- Universität Mainz. Mainz (Germany). 12-15 June 2019.
Oral presentation: Engaging landscapes, connecting provinces. Milestones and the construction of Hispania at the beginning of the Empire.