Review of de Jong, The Archaeology of Death in Roman Syria

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Book Note | The Archaeology of Death in Roman Syria: Burial, Commemoration, and Empire (Dina Boero).

de Jong, Lidewijde. The Archaeology of Death in Roman Syria: Burial, Commemoration, and Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.

In The Archaeology of Death in Roman Syria, Lidewijde de Jong examines mortuary customs in the Roman province of Syria between 64/63 BCE and 330 CE. She clarifies what constituted a proper burial, situates burial practices in the wider political-cultural context, and traces their continuity and change over time. Whereas most archaeologists of Roman Syria focus on discrete regions, de Jong is the first to undertake a systematic study of burials from across the province.

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The book examines burial sites at many well-known cities in Syria-Lebanon, including Beirut, Dura Europos, Palmyra, Tyre, and many others.

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