Resurrecting Berytus

This book examines burial practices in Roman Berytus (modern Beirut) from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD. Using archaeological, osteological and isotopic evidence, it explores identity, migration, social status and cultural change, revealing how Roman colonialism shaped life, death and tradition in the eastern Mediterranean.

In the late 1st century BC, the first Roman colony in the Near East was founded in Berytus – modern-day Beirut, Lebanon. The city’s transformation following Roman annexation and colonization marked a pivotal period of administrative, economic, and demographic change. Yet the social and cultural impact of this transition remains largely understudied. This book examines how burial practices in Roman Berytus evolved during this formative phase of colonial rule. Mortuary customs off er a unique window into the cultural norms, identities, and social structures of past communities. In imperial and colonial settings, funerary spaces also served as arenas for expressing power, asserting status, and negotiating social standing within rapidly changing societies. Focusing primarily on the period from the late 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, but also extending through to the 4th century AD, this study investigates different aspects of ancient burial practice and their patterns of change and continuity over time. Drawing on material culture, human osteology, and isotopic data, it applies an interdisciplinary approach to reconstruct life, death, and identity within a shifting provincial landscape. This contextual analysis offers new insights into burial practices linked to age, gender, mobility, kinship, and social differentiation. Addressing a significant gap in the scholarship on Roman colonialism in the eastern Mediterranean, this research explores how broader processes of imperialism, migration, and cultural interaction impacted the lived – and buried – sociocultural realities of Roman Berytus, and whether deeply-rooted traditions were renegotiated in death, as they may have been in life.

List of Figures and Plates

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

PART I INTRODUCING THE STUDY

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Historical Background

PART II MATERIAL AND METHODS

Chapter 3: The Dataset

Chapter 4: Methodology

PART III INTRA-SITE ANALYSIS

Introduction to Part III

Chapter 5: SFI 655

Chapter 6: RML 2385

Chapter 7: SFI 645

Chapter 8: MDWR 02

Chapter 9: ASH 163

Chapter 10: MDWR 466/468

Chapter 11: ASH 002

PART IV INTER-SITE ANALYSIS

Introduction to Part IV

Chapter 12: The Buried Cohort: Makeup of the Berytian Assemblage

Chapter 13: The Physical Body within the Grave

Chapter 14: The Burial Grounds

Chapter 15: Burial Architecture

Chapter 16: Spatial Organization of the Burial Grounds

Chapter 17: Grave Goods

Chapter 18: Migration and Mobility: Isotope Analysis

PART V CONCLUSIONS

Chapter 19: Contextualizing the Findings

Chapter 20: Conclusion

Plates

Appendices

References

• By (author) Vana Kalenderian