Archaeology Odyssey

Good examples of early gates can be found at Abydos in Egypt (29th century B.C.E.) and at Troy II (early third millennium B.C.E.). See Alexander Badawy, Architecture in Ancient Egypt and the Near East (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1966), p. 57; and Yadin, Warfare in Biblical Lands, p. 57.

For the earliest fortifications, see Lawrence H. Keeley, War Before Civilization (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), and Arther Ferrill, The Origins of War (London: Thames and Hudson, 1985). For siege warfare in biblical times, see Yigael Yadin, The Art of Warfare in Biblical Lands in the Light of Archaeological Discovery (London: McGraw-Hill, 1963).

See Justinian’s Digest 3.2.4.2.

For a fuller discussion of these problems and related matters concerning Pompeian brothels, including a catalogue of all known examples, see Thomas A.J. McGinn, “Pompeian Brothels and Social History,” Journal of Roman Archaeology, Supplement 47 (2002), pp. 7–46. For a broader perspective on the economics and archaeology of Roman prostitution, see McGinn, The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World: A Study of Social History and the Brothel (University of Michigan Press, forthcoming).

Moorehead, Theoderic, p. 247.

Moorehead, Theoderic, p. 248.

John Moorehead, Theoderic in Italy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), p. 249.

Some have argued that the upper story was never finished, but this claim seems unwarranted given the lavish and careful labors expended on the entirety.

Richard Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, Pelican History of Art (New York: Penguin, 1965), p. 192.

The only contemporary source to mention the tomb’s roof, the Anonymous Valesii, does not enlighten us on the need for this monstrous construction.