Ewan S Coopey

Full thesis available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/1280183. Data at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7052901.
The Imperial Roman military consisted of a vast collection of armies and overlapping sub-communities, causing it to be a multi-layered socio-cultural entity. Scholars have explored its social dynamics since the 1980s, with epigraphic material – particularly of a funerary nature – providing some of the best insight into the social ‘reality’ of members of the ‘Roman military community’. The Roman provinces of southeastern Europe, such as Dalmatia, are home to a great deal of well-catalogued archaeological and epigraphical material which could contribute to these studies, however it is often left unconsidered. As such, this thesis conducts an epigraphical and archaeological analysis of the 1st century CE Romano-Dalmatian inscribed funerary monuments of the Seventh Legion (Legio VII Claudia pia fidelis) in order to study the social dynamics of the unit, as well as the construction of identity and community. This is done by applying a theoretically underpinned and historically contextualised approach to studying community and identity onto the detailed epigraphic corpus. It is demonstrated that Legio VII was home to a complex social network of servicemen – one which was intersected by various social, familial, legal, and military roles, relations, and symbols, and which was rejuvenated and negotiated through the textual, sculptural, and spatial dimensions of the soldiers’ funerary monuments. Moreover, these very funerary monuments were socially agential within the network, acting as a medium through which servicemen could symbolically and relationally (re)construct military identities and (re)define the nature of their community. Not only does this shed light on the social dynamics of a Roman unit-based community, but it also reinforces the image of funerary monuments as socially constructive mediums that has emerged in recent classical scholarship. Finally, this thesis demonstrates the value of theoretically engaged analyses of the detailed datasets collated by local scholarship on Romano-Dalmatia.

Coopey, E.S. (2023). Inscribed funerary monuments of Legio VII and the emergence of military communities in 1st century AD Dalmatia. Prilozi Instituta za arheologiju u Zagrebu, 40 (2), 89-128. https://doi.org/10.33254/piaz.40.2.3.

The Imperial Roman military consisted of a vast collection of armies and overlapping sub-communities, causing it to be a multi-layered entity. Scholars have explored its social dynamics since the 1980s, with epigraphic material – particularly of a funerary nature – providing valuable insight. The provinces of southeastern Europe, such as Dalmatia, are home to a great deal of well-catalogued archaeological and epigraphical material which could contribute to these studies, however, they are often left unconsidered in scholarship from outside the region. This paper conducts an epigraphical and archaeological analysis of the Romano-Dalmatian inscribed funerary monuments of the Seventh legion (Legio VII Claudia pia fidelis) to study the construction of identity and community. It is demonstrated that Legio VII was home to a complex network of servicemen intersected by various social, familial, legal, and military roles, relations, and symbols, which was rejuvenated and negotiated through the textual, sculptural, and spatial dimensions of funerary monuments. Moreover, these very funerary monuments were a significant part of this network, acting as media of identity and community (re)construction and (re)negotiation. Not only does this shed light on the social dynamics of Roman military communities, but it also reinforces the image which has emerged in recent scholarship of funerary monuments as socially constructive media. Finally, this paper demonstrates the value of theoretically engaged analyses of material from, and scholarship concerning, Romano-Dalmatia.

Explicit engagement with theoretical frameworks since the 1980s significantly impacted the development of the field of Roman army studies. Sociological theory was drawn upon to ask new questions of the so-called Roman ‘military’ and move beyond a functionalist view of the entity towards a more ‘ground-up’, localised, diverse, and community-based understanding. By examining this use of theory, particularly in relation to agency, practice, and community, I argue that there is great value in the endeavour, especially when properly contextualised and explicitly applied – irrespective, even, of its supposed ‘success’. With this in mind, I propose a new direction by which to continue this fruitful tradition of theoretical engagement: that is, new materialism and relational thinking. Landscapes and objects are typically passive in studies of Roman army and frontier communities, merely inanimate ‘things’ free from affectual capacity unless as an extension of human agency or structure. This leaves their place (and therefore that of human—non-human’ interactions) in the communities of the Roman world underappreciated. Originating in sociology, posthumanist assemblage thinking sees communities as multi-scaled relational entities, continually (re)constructed through impactful relations between humans, landscapes, and objects. The ‘fuzzy’ nature of the framework and the growing body of archaeological scholarship drawing upon it, combined with the rich archaeological record — be it the well-preserved archaeo-epigraphic corpora or the vast swathes of militaria —present an ideal opportunity for archaeologists and historians to move ‘beyond the human’ (or rather, beyond just the human) to create a holistic understanding of Roman army communities.

Paper presented at the Mediterranean Archaeology Australasian Research Community Conference, held online via the University of Melbourne and University of Auckland 31 Jan - 2 Feb 2022.

The Roman camp of Tilurium (modern Gardun, Croatia) was a strategically
important site, overlooking the surrounding Sinjsko polje and several key
roads into the provincial capital Salona (Solin). Following its establishment as a permanent fort in c.9 CE, possibly upon
the foundations of a Republican castrum, the site was garrisoned by both legionarii and auxilia until the 3rd century CE. Archaeologists from Zagreb University have been excavating the site since 1997, unearthing a great deal of valuable finds which shed light on daily military life at the camp as well as its overall composition. These finds, as well as the
sizeable amounts of epigraphic and archaeological material which have been making their way into nearby museum collections since the 19th century, make for a strong case study of social life at a Roman camp in the Imperial period. This paper will overview the evidence at the
site and examine some of the social dynamics of life in a Dalmatian military castrum.

A paper presented at the conference: Between Global and Local: Adriatic Connectivity from Protohistory to the Roman Period. Organised by the Institute of Archaeology & Stari Grad Museum on Stari Grad, Hvar Island, 28th –29th October 2022.

Communities are a focal point of a great deal of research concerning the Adriatic in antiquity and archaeological research more broadly. As concepts, however, ‘community’ and ‘communal identity’ are not often properly defined, nor are explicit or effective frameworks deployed to study the processes of their creation and development. Furthermore, the relationship between objects and humans in these communal settings are not fully explored. This paper presents a transplantable theoretical lens through which to understand communities as dynamic social entities comprising individual agents, objects, relations, and symbols. The lens
gives agency to individual members of ancient Adriatic communities through their engagement with material culture and considers this very same material culture to be operative within community structures. Importantly, it allows for engagement with the adoption and adaptation of pan-Adriatic or even pan-Mediterranean identities and cultures by local Adriatic communities. To demonstrate its effectiveness and applicability, this paper applies the lens to two Adriatic case studies from different
contexts: the well-studied pan-Adriatic Hellenistic cults of Diomedes and the military community within the Roman Seventh Legion of the first century CE.

Recording available on request from author.

Since the 1990s, scholarship has turned its focus towards the more social dynamics of the Roman military, endeavouring to reconstruct the ‘reality’ of the Roman miles (soldier). Such scholarship has revealed a multi-layered social entity, or ‘community of the solider’, comprising numerous overlapping subcommunities underpinned by strong, unifying and, paradoxically, distinct military identities. Scholarship has, however, focused almost exclusively upon central and southern European evidence, leaving material from other regions unacknowledged. Our reconstruction of the miles’ ‘reality’ must, therefore, be developed further. The province of Dalmatia (parts of Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Serbia) is home to a great deal of well-documented Roman material. That said, the highly descriptive local scholarship, whilst valuable, does not engage with theory or broader dialogues concerning the Roman Empire. To address this issue, and to illuminate the usefulness of Romano-Dalmatian evidence, my research conducts an epigraphical and archaeological analysis of the funerary monuments belonging to the Roman Seventh Legion (Legio VII/Septima) in Dalmatia. Specifically, I will explore the articulation of communal military identities. To do so, I approach the monuments as ‘integrated wholes’, studying their visual, textual and contextual dimensions, whilst also historically contextualising anthropological and sociological theories. In doing so, my research reveals that military identities were constructed through funerary monuments in several ways, and the monuments themselves were integral in the (re)construction of the ‘military community’. Moreover, I hope to highlight the potential for further developments in the popular field of Roman military studies.

Myth was intrinsic within Ancient Greek society, constantly evolving to maintain relevance. Due to this, myths accompanied the spread of Greek influence, being particularly present at the frontiers of the Ancient Greek world. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that when Greeks settled off the Dalmatian coast in the 4th century BC, their myths accompanied them. However, one must ask, why were certain myths chosen by Greek settlers, and why did some indigenous groups adopt facets of Greek myth and cult when they came into contact with Greek communication networks?
By analysing the archaeological material from the sites of Spila Nakovana and the Sanctuary of Diomedes on Cape Ploča, this presentation will discuss the dynamics of the spread of Greek myths in Dalmatia. It will demonstrate that myths were used as part of societal and cultural processes of identity reinforcement, cultural exchange, and acculturation, by both Greek colonisers and indigenous Dalmatians, to maintain connection to, or establish a connection with, the wider Ancient Greek world.