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

过去三十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，这些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“公元3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。他们的都市主义的特征不是衰落，而是转型；描述他们的社会精英履行的职能的，不是变化，而是连续性。这一公社观点的物质基础令人惊讶地贫乏。因此，ATLAS项目的目的是创建一个地图集(开放获取的网络地理信息系统)，记录前罗马省份Baetica(安达卢西亚)和非洲领事馆(突尼斯)的选定城市，这两个经济繁荣的地区，由于其高度的城市化水平，可以被视为城市研究问题的典范。这份地图集将是第一个收录在“微区域”背景下研究晚期古董城市历史所需的所有传播记录的地图集--不仅是物质遗迹，还包括碑文纪念碑和所有文学证据。在这里，我们集中研究了公元3世纪至8世纪这段时期。从两个历史背景中挑选案例研究提供了一种方法论上的“新潮”：在这些结构设计的案例研究的基础上进行比较，能够洞察一致或不一致之处，从而为评估整个区域局势得出富有成效的结论。这种比较的城市研究之所以可能，是因为ATLAS结合了德国对伊比利亚半岛古代历史和金石学主题的研究，以及法国对西班牙和北非考古主题的关注。对传递的记录的汇编和分析将作为晚期古代新叙事的基础，而不是像这一时期关于城市化的先前著作那样，停留在类比的结论上，因此倾向于概括。此外，对所有类型来源的详细检查和有条不紊的明确比较旨在区分所调查的六个世纪。这得益于以专题地图的形式对历史发展的可视化。因此，在古代晚期和中世纪早期这一发展开放和充满活力的研究领域的背景下，阿特拉斯对城市研究以及权力的社会史都作出了贡献。为了让更广泛的公众也能看到这部作品，该项目还将利用最先进的技术进行虚拟，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.