Piracy and Economic Production in Roman Asia Minor: Recent Developments at Antiochia ad Cragum in Rough Cilicia, Türkiye (20 min)

Presenters

Asena Kızılarslanoğlu, Kastamonu University, Michael Hoff, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Megan Moore, Eastern Michigan University

Abstract

The site where the city of Antiochia ad Cragum would be founded was one of the bases of the notorious “Cilician Pirates” from a century earlier, and some evidence of this late Hellenistic piracy has been in fact discovered. Excavations unfolding at the site since 2005 have revealed a remarkably wealthy city. In addition to the documentation of the civic architecture, mostly from the period of its foundation in the mid-first century C.E., one of the most notable avenues of research undertaken is the documentation of how the city transforms itself in late antiquity as a major regional economic player regarding the production of ceramics and wine. This paper will delineate how temples and bath buildings go out of use in the late third century C.E. and, beginning in the fourth century, are transformed into industrial centers, producing wine and the amphorae that will transport this commodity throughout the region. We have so far documented two major press installations for wine production, one found in 2023, as well as seven kilns whose primary product appears to have been transport amphorae.

At one of these grape-press installations in a former bath building, seven sets of human remains were found. Careful excavation of these skeletons reveals that not all the bodies were carefully buried; instead, some appear to have been hastily and haphazardly laid out in various chambers of the building. The skull of one skeleton indeed shows evidence of trauma and animal scavenging. Initial analyses of the remains conducted in 2023 indicates possible maritime-related afflictions, such as scurvy. More analyses remain to be done but evidence appears to point to a seaborne life for the individuals and may represent the traumatic aftermath of a pirate raid in the Late Roman period.