Atlas of Late Roman Cities in the South of the Iberian Peninsula and the North of Africa (3rd-8th centuries)

过去30年的研究从根本上改变了我们对西班牙和北非城市的印象：从古典研究的角度来看，城市作为统治实体的力量和重要性在公元300年至800年之间保持不变。军事政治事件，如“世纪的危机”或汪达尔人的入侵，似乎几乎没有触及城市世界。他们的城市化特征不是衰落，而是转型;他们的社会精英履行的职能不是变化，而是延续。这种共同体的意见是建立在一个极其微薄的物质基础上的。因此，ATLAS项目的目的是创建一个地图集（开放获取的WebGIS），记录前罗马省份Baetica（安达卢西亚）和Africa Proconsularis（突尼斯）的选定城市-这两个经济繁荣的地区，由于其高水平的城市化，可能被视为城市研究问题的典范。这本地图集将是第一本涵盖所有在“微区域”背景下研究古代晚期城市历史所需的传递记录的地图集-不仅是物质遗迹，而且还有金石纪念碑和整个文学证据。在这里，我们集中研究3 - 8世纪世纪之间的时期。从两个历史景观的案例研究的选择提供了一个方法论的“novum”：这些结构设计的案例研究的基础上进行比较，使洞察一致性或差异，导致生产性的结论，作为一个整体的区域情况的评估。这种比较城市的研究是唯一可能的，因为ATLAS结合了德国的研究重点的古代历史和金石学的主题在伊比利亚半岛与法国的重点在西班牙和北非的考古学的主题。对这些流传下来的记录进行汇编和分析，是对古代晚期进行新的叙述的基础，这种叙述不像以前关于这一时期城市化的著作那样，依赖于类比的结论，因此倾向于概括。此外，详细检查所有类型的来源和有条不紊地明确比较的目的是在六个世纪内进行区分调查。以专题地图的形式直观地显示历史发展情况有助于这一点。因此，ATLAS为城市研究做出了贡献，也为在古代晚期和中世纪早期之间发展开放和动态研究领域的背景下的权力社会史做出了贡献。为了让更广泛的公众也能看到这项工作，该项目还将使用最现代的技术进行虚拟化，使用户能够在巡回展览的背景下单独体验城市历史。

The research of the last three decades has fundamentally modified our image of the cities of Spain and North Africa: From the perspective of classical studies, the cities’ strength and significance as ruling entities remained unbroken between 300 and 800 A.D. Military-political events such as the "crisis of the 3rd century" or the invasion of the Vandals seem to have barely touched the urban worlds. It is not downfall but transformation that characterises theirurbanism, not change but continuity that describes the functions their social elites fulfilled. This communis opinio is grounded in an astonishingly slim material basis. The aim of the ATLAS project is therefore to create an atlas (WebGIS in Open Access) that record sselected cities in the former Roman provinces Baetica (Andalusia) and Africa Proconsularis (Tunisia) – two economically flourishing regions, who thanks to their high levels of urbanism may be taken as paradigmatic for questions of urban studies. This atlas will be the first to encompass all transmitted records necessary for research into Late Antique urban histories within the context of "micro-regions" – not just material remains, but also epigraphic monuments and the entire spectrum of literary evidence. Here, we concentrate our research on the period between 3rd and 8th century. The selection of case studies from two historical landscapes offers a methodological "novum": A comparison on the basis of these structurally designed case studies enables insight into conformities or discrepancies, leading to productive conclusions for the evaluation of the regional situation as a whole. This comparative urban research is only possible because ATLAS combines German research’s focus on the subjects of ancient history and epigraphy on the Iberian Peninsula with the French focus on the subject of archaeology in both Spain and North Africa. The compilation and analysis of the transmitted records is to serve as the basis of a new narrative of Late Antiquity, which does not – as in previous works on urbanism in this period – rest on analogical conclusions and therefore skew towards generalisations. Moreover, the detailed examination of all types of sources and a methodically clear comparison is aimed at differentiating within the six centuries under investigation. This is aided by visualization of the historical developments in form of thematic maps. ATLAS therefore offers a contribution to urban research and so to the social history of power in the context of the developmentally open and dynamic research field between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. To make this work available to a broader public as well, the project will also be virtualized with the most modern technology, which enables users to individually experience urban history in the context of a travelling exhibition.