Eastern Frontiers of the Roman Empire

Abstract

SIR AUREL STEIN has made an offer to the authorities concerned to make a detailed survey of that part of the eastern frontier of the ancient Roman Empire which lies within Transjordania and Iraq. It will be necessary that a great part of this survey should be carried out from the air, as many of the sites are situated in the desert, and can be located only by this method. The proposal has the support of the British Academy and the Society of Antiquaries of London. It will form part of the scheme for the complete survey of the Roman Empire on a scale of 1: 1,000,000, for which the British Ordnance Survey has already accepted its share of respons-ibility. The French have now completed the survey of that part of the frontier within the mandated territory of Syria. The survey was made by the French Air Force acting in conjunction with the Academie des Inscriptions et Lettres, and records observations of ancient roads, forts and defensive posts, as well as water supply. It is proposed that similar observations should be made in the survey projected by Sir Aurel Stein.