Tropaea in Oriente Roman victory monuments located within the eastern Mediterranean /

by 1975- Yavenditti, James Allen

When the Romans defeated and subsequently governed areas of the Eastern Mediterranean, they were certainly influenced by the people whom they ruled. One unique feature of propagandistic art and architecture first created during the Classical and Hellenistic periods was a victory monument, or tropaeum, located at the site of a famous battle. This idea of building tropaea also permeated Roman culture, and several victory commemorations have been found in the former provinces of the Roman Empire. The intention of this thesis is to examine the Roman tropaea in the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, since its recent study as an artistic and symbolic group is lacking. I also outline the differences and similarities both among the Roman victory monuments in the East collectively and among Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman tropaea within the Eastern Mediterranean.