Andrew Bell
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199242344
- eISBN:
- 9780191714092
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199242344.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter considers the importation of megalomaniacal majesty into the Roman Republic. Over time, kingly conceit became more conspicuous in Rome, and particularly at times of communal festivity. ...
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This chapter considers the importation of megalomaniacal majesty into the Roman Republic. Over time, kingly conceit became more conspicuous in Rome, and particularly at times of communal festivity. In contrast to the manner in which the behaviour of kings such as Philadelphus or Epiphanes is remembered, there is rather more information in Roman sources about the sentiments of the urban audience, as is seen in reports about the employment of animals in order to advertise personal greatness.Less
This chapter considers the importation of megalomaniacal majesty into the Roman Republic. Over time, kingly conceit became more conspicuous in Rome, and particularly at times of communal festivity. In contrast to the manner in which the behaviour of kings such as Philadelphus or Epiphanes is remembered, there is rather more information in Roman sources about the sentiments of the urban audience, as is seen in reports about the employment of animals in order to advertise personal greatness.
John P. McCormick
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691183503
- eISBN:
- 9780691187914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691183503.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter contends that Jean-Jacques Rousseau's analysis and appropriation of the Roman Republic deliberately undermines Machiavelli's efforts to reconstruct and promote institutions that both ...
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This chapter contends that Jean-Jacques Rousseau's analysis and appropriation of the Roman Republic deliberately undermines Machiavelli's efforts to reconstruct and promote institutions that both maximize the participation of poor citizens in popular governments and facilitate their efforts to control or contain economic and political elites. Rousseau's radical revision of Machiavelli's appropriation of the ancient Roman Republic historically served to foreclose the possibility of an alternative, popularly participatory, and anti-elitist strand of modern republicanism that in subsequent centuries would have better served democratic theory and practice. Through the promulgation of sociologically anonymous principles like generality and popular sovereignty, and by confining elite accountability to elections alone, Rousseau's institutional analyses and proposals allow wealthier citizens and magistrates to dominate the politics of popular governments in surreptitious and unassailable ways.Less
This chapter contends that Jean-Jacques Rousseau's analysis and appropriation of the Roman Republic deliberately undermines Machiavelli's efforts to reconstruct and promote institutions that both maximize the participation of poor citizens in popular governments and facilitate their efforts to control or contain economic and political elites. Rousseau's radical revision of Machiavelli's appropriation of the ancient Roman Republic historically served to foreclose the possibility of an alternative, popularly participatory, and anti-elitist strand of modern republicanism that in subsequent centuries would have better served democratic theory and practice. Through the promulgation of sociologically anonymous principles like generality and popular sovereignty, and by confining elite accountability to elections alone, Rousseau's institutional analyses and proposals allow wealthier citizens and magistrates to dominate the politics of popular governments in surreptitious and unassailable ways.
Edward Bispham
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231843
- eISBN:
- 9780191716195
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231843.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Rome's once independent Italian allies became communities of a new Roman territorial state after the Social War of 91-87 bc. This book examines how the transition from independence to subordination ...
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Rome's once independent Italian allies became communities of a new Roman territorial state after the Social War of 91-87 bc. This book examines how the transition from independence to subordination was managed, and how — between the opposing tensions of local particularism, competing traditions, and identities, aspirations for integration, cultural change, and indifference from Roman central authorities — something new and dynamic appeared in the jaded world of the late Republic. The book charts the successes and failures of the attempts to make a new political community (Roman Italy), and new Roman citizens scattered across the peninsula — a dramatic and important story in that, while Italy was being built, Rome was falling apart; and while the Roman Republic fell, the Italian municipal system endured, and made possible the government, and even the survival, of the Roman empire in the West.Less
Rome's once independent Italian allies became communities of a new Roman territorial state after the Social War of 91-87 bc. This book examines how the transition from independence to subordination was managed, and how — between the opposing tensions of local particularism, competing traditions, and identities, aspirations for integration, cultural change, and indifference from Roman central authorities — something new and dynamic appeared in the jaded world of the late Republic. The book charts the successes and failures of the attempts to make a new political community (Roman Italy), and new Roman citizens scattered across the peninsula — a dramatic and important story in that, while Italy was being built, Rome was falling apart; and while the Roman Republic fell, the Italian municipal system endured, and made possible the government, and even the survival, of the Roman empire in the West.
Charles Capper
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195396324
- eISBN:
- 9780199852703
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195396324.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This chapter examines Margaret Fuller’s experiences in Italy as foreign correspondent of the New York Tribune covering the local political situation related to the revolution. It suggests that Fuller ...
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This chapter examines Margaret Fuller’s experiences in Italy as foreign correspondent of the New York Tribune covering the local political situation related to the revolution. It suggests that Fuller failed to recognize the possibility of foreign intervention after Giuseppe Mazzini was installed as leader of the Roman Republic and the pope fled. In July 1899, Mazzini’s government was overthrown by the French. This chapter discusses the details of Fuller’s dispatches to her newspaper and her correspondence with Mazzini.Less
This chapter examines Margaret Fuller’s experiences in Italy as foreign correspondent of the New York Tribune covering the local political situation related to the revolution. It suggests that Fuller failed to recognize the possibility of foreign intervention after Giuseppe Mazzini was installed as leader of the Roman Republic and the pope fled. In July 1899, Mazzini’s government was overthrown by the French. This chapter discusses the details of Fuller’s dispatches to her newspaper and her correspondence with Mazzini.
Peter Temin
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147680
- eISBN:
- 9781400845422
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147680.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter discusses how there is little of what economists call data on markets in Roman times, despite lots of information about prices and transactions. Data, as economists consider it, consist ...
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This chapter discusses how there is little of what economists call data on markets in Roman times, despite lots of information about prices and transactions. Data, as economists consider it, consist of a set of uniform prices that can be compared with each other. According to scholars, extensive markets existed in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. Even though there is a lack of data, there are enough observations for the price of wheat, the most extensively traded commodity, to perform a test. The problem is that there is only a little bit of data by modern standards. Consequently, the chapter explains why statistics are useful in interpreting small data sets and how one deals with various problems that arise when there are only a few data points.Less
This chapter discusses how there is little of what economists call data on markets in Roman times, despite lots of information about prices and transactions. Data, as economists consider it, consist of a set of uniform prices that can be compared with each other. According to scholars, extensive markets existed in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. Even though there is a lack of data, there are enough observations for the price of wheat, the most extensively traded commodity, to perform a test. The problem is that there is only a little bit of data by modern standards. Consequently, the chapter explains why statistics are useful in interpreting small data sets and how one deals with various problems that arise when there are only a few data points.
F. S. Naiden
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195183412
- eISBN:
- 9780199789399
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183412.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
This is the first book-length treatment of supplication, an important social practice in ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Despite the importance of supplication, it has received little attention, ...
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This is the first book-length treatment of supplication, an important social practice in ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Despite the importance of supplication, it has received little attention, and no previous study has explored so many aspects of the practice. This book investigates the varied gestures made by the suppliants, the types of requests they make, the arguments used in defense of their requests, and the role of the supplicandus, who evaluates and decides whether to fulfill the requests. Varied and abundant sources invite comparison between the societies of Greece, especially Athens, and the Roman Republic and Principate and also among literary genres such as epic and tragedy. Additionally, this book formulates an analysis of the ritual in its legal and political contexts.Less
This is the first book-length treatment of supplication, an important social practice in ancient Mediterranean civilizations. Despite the importance of supplication, it has received little attention, and no previous study has explored so many aspects of the practice. This book investigates the varied gestures made by the suppliants, the types of requests they make, the arguments used in defense of their requests, and the role of the supplicandus, who evaluates and decides whether to fulfill the requests. Varied and abundant sources invite comparison between the societies of Greece, especially Athens, and the Roman Republic and Principate and also among literary genres such as epic and tragedy. Additionally, this book formulates an analysis of the ritual in its legal and political contexts.
Nikola Čašule
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199600755
- eISBN:
- 9780191738791
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600755.003.0012
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter analyses the evidence for Roman integration in networks of trade and communication in the Adriatic Sea during the third century bc, and its impact upon modern interpretations of the ...
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This chapter analyses the evidence for Roman integration in networks of trade and communication in the Adriatic Sea during the third century bc, and its impact upon modern interpretations of the Romans' military intervention in the Greek east. New archaeological evidence for the character and function of trans-Adriatic networks based around a regional cult to the Greek hero Diomedes confirms that the third century Adriatic was an interconnected entity whose polities enjoyed strong links with each other and the wider Mediterranean world. Numismatic finds and the occurrence of Roman and Latin names in the epigraphic record of the eastern Adriatic demonstrate that Romans were active participants in these networks, with individual Romans becoming substantially integrated in the civic life of the region. These findings demand a reassessment of recent scholarship which has argued that the Romans were unfamiliar with the eastern Adriatic at the time of their first military intervention there in 229 bc.Less
This chapter analyses the evidence for Roman integration in networks of trade and communication in the Adriatic Sea during the third century bc, and its impact upon modern interpretations of the Romans' military intervention in the Greek east. New archaeological evidence for the character and function of trans-Adriatic networks based around a regional cult to the Greek hero Diomedes confirms that the third century Adriatic was an interconnected entity whose polities enjoyed strong links with each other and the wider Mediterranean world. Numismatic finds and the occurrence of Roman and Latin names in the epigraphic record of the eastern Adriatic demonstrate that Romans were active participants in these networks, with individual Romans becoming substantially integrated in the civic life of the region. These findings demand a reassessment of recent scholarship which has argued that the Romans were unfamiliar with the eastern Adriatic at the time of their first military intervention there in 229 bc.
Ronald G. Musto
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233966
- eISBN:
- 9780520928725
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233966.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Cola di Rienzo envisioned a clear and consistent foreign policy and diplomacy in order to manifest the deeply apocalyptic underpinnings and goals of his stato, to spell out the practical results of ...
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Cola di Rienzo envisioned a clear and consistent foreign policy and diplomacy in order to manifest the deeply apocalyptic underpinnings and goals of his stato, to spell out the practical results of the buono stato in a language understood by the Italian communes, and to proclaim the renewal of the Roman Republic and of the ancient liberties and greatness of all Italy. The buono stato had attracted many in the professional and business classes of Rome, her best and brightest. Cola had established himself and Rome as a font of learning and political wisdom. Rienzo's coronation made clear his threefold political and religious program. Cola had declared himself the “lover of the world,” and now the world had begun to engage him. It was the barons who were to make the first pass.Less
Cola di Rienzo envisioned a clear and consistent foreign policy and diplomacy in order to manifest the deeply apocalyptic underpinnings and goals of his stato, to spell out the practical results of the buono stato in a language understood by the Italian communes, and to proclaim the renewal of the Roman Republic and of the ancient liberties and greatness of all Italy. The buono stato had attracted many in the professional and business classes of Rome, her best and brightest. Cola had established himself and Rome as a font of learning and political wisdom. Rienzo's coronation made clear his threefold political and religious program. Cola had declared himself the “lover of the world,” and now the world had begun to engage him. It was the barons who were to make the first pass.
Richard S. Katz
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195044294
- eISBN:
- 9780199854752
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195044294.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter examines the history of early voting and elections. It describes the functions and procedures of elections in four different settings. The purposes of the idea of election through ...
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This chapter examines the history of early voting and elections. It describes the functions and procedures of elections in four different settings. The purposes of the idea of election through history have included the prevention of tyranny in Athens, the confirmation of authority through consent in the Roman Republic, the discovery of a divinely ordained choice in the medieval Catholic Church, and the selection of attorneys to act for the community in 13th- through 18th-century England.Less
This chapter examines the history of early voting and elections. It describes the functions and procedures of elections in four different settings. The purposes of the idea of election through history have included the prevention of tyranny in Athens, the confirmation of authority through consent in the Roman Republic, the discovery of a divinely ordained choice in the medieval Catholic Church, and the selection of attorneys to act for the community in 13th- through 18th-century England.
Gary Forsythe
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520226517
- eISBN:
- 9780520940291
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520226517.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
This chapter provides a discussion on the beginning of the Roman Republic. It is shown that the Roman chronology is basically accurate for the beginning of the republic and the Gallic occupation of ...
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This chapter provides a discussion on the beginning of the Roman Republic. It is shown that the Roman chronology is basically accurate for the beginning of the republic and the Gallic occupation of Rome. The difference between patricians and plebeians within the Roman ruling class is discussed. Various aspects of the plebeian tribunate indicate that the office was urban and civilian, whereas the original nature of the consulship seems to have been extra-urban and military. It is noted that in later times there existed in popular tradition the recollection of a Roman military reversal at the Cremera during the early years of the republic, but apart from this single fact nothing was securely known about it. Even before the discovery of the Lapis Satricanus, the Fabian defeat at the Cremera was regarded by many scholars as belonging to an early stage in Roman social development.Less
This chapter provides a discussion on the beginning of the Roman Republic. It is shown that the Roman chronology is basically accurate for the beginning of the republic and the Gallic occupation of Rome. The difference between patricians and plebeians within the Roman ruling class is discussed. Various aspects of the plebeian tribunate indicate that the office was urban and civilian, whereas the original nature of the consulship seems to have been extra-urban and military. It is noted that in later times there existed in popular tradition the recollection of a Roman military reversal at the Cremera during the early years of the republic, but apart from this single fact nothing was securely known about it. Even before the discovery of the Lapis Satricanus, the Fabian defeat at the Cremera was regarded by many scholars as belonging to an early stage in Roman social development.
Owen Chadwick
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198269229
- eISBN:
- 9780191600456
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198269226.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
The election of Pius IX in 1846 aroused great enthusiasm among liberals and nationalists in Italy, and the evidence indicates that for the first two years of his papacy, until the Roman Revolution of ...
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The election of Pius IX in 1846 aroused great enthusiasm among liberals and nationalists in Italy, and the evidence indicates that for the first two years of his papacy, until the Roman Revolution of 1848, Pius's liberalism was genuine. But his refusal to join the war against Austria in 1848 highlighted the contradiction between his role as an Italian political leader and his office as an international spiritual leader who had to retain the support of conservative Catholics throughout Europe, including Austria. When revolution broke out in Rome and a republic was declared, the pope had to flee to Neapolitan territory, and he was only restored to the papal states by French and Austrian arms. The experience changed Pius's outlook to that of a resolute conservatism as he lost any belief that papal authority could be reconciled with constitutional government. Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli emerged as the dominant figure in papal government.Less
The election of Pius IX in 1846 aroused great enthusiasm among liberals and nationalists in Italy, and the evidence indicates that for the first two years of his papacy, until the Roman Revolution of 1848, Pius's liberalism was genuine. But his refusal to join the war against Austria in 1848 highlighted the contradiction between his role as an Italian political leader and his office as an international spiritual leader who had to retain the support of conservative Catholics throughout Europe, including Austria. When revolution broke out in Rome and a republic was declared, the pope had to flee to Neapolitan territory, and he was only restored to the papal states by French and Austrian arms. The experience changed Pius's outlook to that of a resolute conservatism as he lost any belief that papal authority could be reconciled with constitutional government. Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli emerged as the dominant figure in papal government.
Stuart Elden
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226202563
- eISBN:
- 9780226041285
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226041285.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter discusses Ancient Rome. It provides detailed readings of the writings of Julius Caesar and Cicero; the former treating the question of terrain and the military-geography terms he uses, ...
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This chapter discusses Ancient Rome. It provides detailed readings of the writings of Julius Caesar and Cicero; the former treating the question of terrain and the military-geography terms he uses, and the latter the res publica. These are followed by a discussion of the Latin historians, with a specific focus on Tacitus. The chapter then proceeds with substantial analyses of two key terms: imperium and limes - boundaries or frontiers. It shows how the question of how we should translate territorium is not straight-forward: it means lands surrounding a place, usually a city. The lands so described are outside the city walls, predominantly agricultural lands. Yet on the other hand, the Romans had plenty of ways to describe lands belonging to people or towns: terra, ager, or the area within fines, boundaries. The discussion of the limes, the edges or limits of the empire, raises the question of how Rome saw the rest of the world. The chapter discusses the civil war, practices of land reform, the founding myth of Rome, the names of Octavian/Augustus, and ends with a discussion of practices of land surveying that are outlined in the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum and of the later historian Ammianus Marcellinus.Less
This chapter discusses Ancient Rome. It provides detailed readings of the writings of Julius Caesar and Cicero; the former treating the question of terrain and the military-geography terms he uses, and the latter the res publica. These are followed by a discussion of the Latin historians, with a specific focus on Tacitus. The chapter then proceeds with substantial analyses of two key terms: imperium and limes - boundaries or frontiers. It shows how the question of how we should translate territorium is not straight-forward: it means lands surrounding a place, usually a city. The lands so described are outside the city walls, predominantly agricultural lands. Yet on the other hand, the Romans had plenty of ways to describe lands belonging to people or towns: terra, ager, or the area within fines, boundaries. The discussion of the limes, the edges or limits of the empire, raises the question of how Rome saw the rest of the world. The chapter discusses the civil war, practices of land reform, the founding myth of Rome, the names of Octavian/Augustus, and ends with a discussion of practices of land surveying that are outlined in the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum and of the later historian Ammianus Marcellinus.
Joshua Arthurs
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449987
- eISBN:
- 9780801468841
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449987.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The cultural and material legacies of the Roman Republic and Empire in evidence throughout Rome have made it the “Eternal City.” Too often, however, this patrimony has caused Rome to be seen as ...
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The cultural and material legacies of the Roman Republic and Empire in evidence throughout Rome have made it the “Eternal City.” Too often, however, this patrimony has caused Rome to be seen as static and antique, insulated from the transformations of the modern world. This book revises this perception, arguing that as both place and idea, Rome was strongly shaped by a radical vision of modernity imposed by Benito Mussolini's regime between the two world wars. Italian Fascism's appropriation of the Roman past—the idea of Rome, or romanità—encapsulated the Fascist virtues of discipline, hierarchy, and order; the Fascist “new man” was modeled on the Roman legionary, the epitome of the virile citizen-soldier. This vision of modernity also transcended Italy's borders, with the Roman Empire providing a foundation for Fascism's own vision of Mediterranean domination and a European New Order. At the same time, romanità also served as a vocabulary of anxiety about modernity. Fears of population decline, racial degeneration and revolution were mapped onto the barbarian invasions and the fall of Rome. Offering a critical assessment of romanità and its effects, the book explores the ways in which academics, officials, and ideologues approached Rome not as a site of distant glories but as a blueprint for contemporary life, a source of dynamic values to shape the present and future.Less
The cultural and material legacies of the Roman Republic and Empire in evidence throughout Rome have made it the “Eternal City.” Too often, however, this patrimony has caused Rome to be seen as static and antique, insulated from the transformations of the modern world. This book revises this perception, arguing that as both place and idea, Rome was strongly shaped by a radical vision of modernity imposed by Benito Mussolini's regime between the two world wars. Italian Fascism's appropriation of the Roman past—the idea of Rome, or romanità—encapsulated the Fascist virtues of discipline, hierarchy, and order; the Fascist “new man” was modeled on the Roman legionary, the epitome of the virile citizen-soldier. This vision of modernity also transcended Italy's borders, with the Roman Empire providing a foundation for Fascism's own vision of Mediterranean domination and a European New Order. At the same time, romanità also served as a vocabulary of anxiety about modernity. Fears of population decline, racial degeneration and revolution were mapped onto the barbarian invasions and the fall of Rome. Offering a critical assessment of romanità and its effects, the book explores the ways in which academics, officials, and ideologues approached Rome not as a site of distant glories but as a blueprint for contemporary life, a source of dynamic values to shape the present and future.
Christopher Smith and Liv Mariah Yarrow (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199600755
- eISBN:
- 9780191738791
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199600755.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The chapters here address central problems in the development of Roman imperialism in the third and second century bc. Published in honour of the distinguished Oxford academic Peter Derow, they ...
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The chapters here address central problems in the development of Roman imperialism in the third and second century bc. Published in honour of the distinguished Oxford academic Peter Derow, they follow some of his main interests: the author Polybius, the characteristics of Roman power and imperial ambition, and the mechanisms used by Rome in creating and sustaining an empire in the east. Written by a distinguished group of international historians, all of whom were taught by Derow, the volume constitutes a new and distinctive contribution to the history of this centrally important period, as well as a major advance in the study of Polybius as a writer. In addition, the volume looks at the way Rome absorbed religions from the east, at Hellenistic artistic culture, and sheds new light on the important region of Illyria on the Adriatic Coast, which played a key part in Rome's rise to power. Archaeological, epigraphic, and textual evidence are brought together to create a sustained argument for Rome's determined and systematic pursuit of power.Less
The chapters here address central problems in the development of Roman imperialism in the third and second century bc. Published in honour of the distinguished Oxford academic Peter Derow, they follow some of his main interests: the author Polybius, the characteristics of Roman power and imperial ambition, and the mechanisms used by Rome in creating and sustaining an empire in the east. Written by a distinguished group of international historians, all of whom were taught by Derow, the volume constitutes a new and distinctive contribution to the history of this centrally important period, as well as a major advance in the study of Polybius as a writer. In addition, the volume looks at the way Rome absorbed religions from the east, at Hellenistic artistic culture, and sheds new light on the important region of Illyria on the Adriatic Coast, which played a key part in Rome's rise to power. Archaeological, epigraphic, and textual evidence are brought together to create a sustained argument for Rome's determined and systematic pursuit of power.
Benjamin Straumann
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199950928
- eISBN:
- 9780190491154
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199950928.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, World History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter shows how the Roman constitutional theme established a framework for later discussions, with special reference to the classical Roman jurist Pomponius, Ptolemy of Lucca around 1300, and ...
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This chapter shows how the Roman constitutional theme established a framework for later discussions, with special reference to the classical Roman jurist Pomponius, Ptolemy of Lucca around 1300, and Mario Salamonio of Rome in the 16th century. Pomponius’ discussion of institutions such as the Ten Men who gave Rome its first law code, the dictatorship, and the office of Emperor shows an awareness of the sovereignty of the People. An admirer of the liberty of the Roman Republic, Ptolemy of Lucca justified Roman expansion on the grounds of its civilizing effects and as the expansion of constitutional justice. Mario Salamonio, on the other hand, was interested in the Emperor’s position: was he immune to the laws (legibus solutus) or subject to them? For these thinkers it was higher-order constitutional norms that set the Roman Republic apart from other models, not virtue or glory.Less
This chapter shows how the Roman constitutional theme established a framework for later discussions, with special reference to the classical Roman jurist Pomponius, Ptolemy of Lucca around 1300, and Mario Salamonio of Rome in the 16th century. Pomponius’ discussion of institutions such as the Ten Men who gave Rome its first law code, the dictatorship, and the office of Emperor shows an awareness of the sovereignty of the People. An admirer of the liberty of the Roman Republic, Ptolemy of Lucca justified Roman expansion on the grounds of its civilizing effects and as the expansion of constitutional justice. Mario Salamonio, on the other hand, was interested in the Emperor’s position: was he immune to the laws (legibus solutus) or subject to them? For these thinkers it was higher-order constitutional norms that set the Roman Republic apart from other models, not virtue or glory.
Jessica H. Clark
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199336548
- eISBN:
- 9780199376919
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199336548.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, World History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter asks, why consider Roman defeats in the first place? After all, Rome’s victories dominate both ancient and modern representations of Roman culture and the military history of both the ...
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This chapter asks, why consider Roman defeats in the first place? After all, Rome’s victories dominate both ancient and modern representations of Roman culture and the military history of both the Republic and the Empire. By way of answer, the chapter introduces the scholarly background of the book, discusses the importance that defeats held for the Romans themselves, surveys Roman commemorative practices, and offers a case study (in the form of a close reading of Livy’s “Alexander Digression”) into the potential of texts to serve as monuments to defeat. This chapter also situates the thesis of the book in the context of current debates over the definition of victory and the use of the past in the articulation of modern military policy.Less
This chapter asks, why consider Roman defeats in the first place? After all, Rome’s victories dominate both ancient and modern representations of Roman culture and the military history of both the Republic and the Empire. By way of answer, the chapter introduces the scholarly background of the book, discusses the importance that defeats held for the Romans themselves, surveys Roman commemorative practices, and offers a case study (in the form of a close reading of Livy’s “Alexander Digression”) into the potential of texts to serve as monuments to defeat. This chapter also situates the thesis of the book in the context of current debates over the definition of victory and the use of the past in the articulation of modern military policy.
James Gordley
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199689392
- eISBN:
- 9780191768286
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689392.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History, Philosophy of Law
This chapter begins by considering the origins of the intellectual tradition that shaped Western law, which can be traced back to the late Roman Republic in the second century bc when the Romans ...
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This chapter begins by considering the origins of the intellectual tradition that shaped Western law, which can be traced back to the late Roman Republic in the second century bc when the Romans began to produce jurists. The discussions then turn to the method used by Roman jurists; Roman law and Greek philosophy; Roman law and later civil law; and Roman law and common law.Less
This chapter begins by considering the origins of the intellectual tradition that shaped Western law, which can be traced back to the late Roman Republic in the second century bc when the Romans began to produce jurists. The discussions then turn to the method used by Roman jurists; Roman law and Greek philosophy; Roman law and later civil law; and Roman law and common law.
Benjamin Straumann
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199950928
- eISBN:
- 9780190491154
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199950928.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, World History: BCE to 500CE
This unique study makes both a substantial contribution to our understanding of Roman political thought and a major contribution to the reception of Roman ideas about politics. The book reorients the ...
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This unique study makes both a substantial contribution to our understanding of Roman political thought and a major contribution to the reception of Roman ideas about politics. The book reorients the discussion of the debt of early modern political thought from the familiar claims about republicanism and republican virtue to the rediscovery of a tradition of Roman constitutionalism. In the first part, we learn how a Roman concept of constitution emerged out of the crisis of the Republic. The emergency powers of the late Republic provoked Cicero and other contemporaries to turn an inchoate constitutionalism into explicit constitutional argument and constitutional theory. The crisis of the Republic thus brought about a powerful constitutionalism and convinced Cicero to articulate the norms and rights that would provide its substance; this typically Roman constitutional theory is described in the second part. Part three discusses the reception of Roman constitutional thought up to the late eighteenth century and the American Founding, which gave rise to a new constitutional republicanism. Special attention is paid to Jean Bodin, who emerges as a key thinker in a tradition leading up to Montesquieu and, eventually, the Federalist and John Adams. This tradition was characterized by a keen interest in the Roman Republic’s decline and fall and an insistence on the limits of virtue. The crisis of the Republic was interpreted as a constitutional crisis, and the only remedy to escape the Republic’s fate—military despotism—was thought to lie, not in republican virtue, but in Roman constitutionalism.Less
This unique study makes both a substantial contribution to our understanding of Roman political thought and a major contribution to the reception of Roman ideas about politics. The book reorients the discussion of the debt of early modern political thought from the familiar claims about republicanism and republican virtue to the rediscovery of a tradition of Roman constitutionalism. In the first part, we learn how a Roman concept of constitution emerged out of the crisis of the Republic. The emergency powers of the late Republic provoked Cicero and other contemporaries to turn an inchoate constitutionalism into explicit constitutional argument and constitutional theory. The crisis of the Republic thus brought about a powerful constitutionalism and convinced Cicero to articulate the norms and rights that would provide its substance; this typically Roman constitutional theory is described in the second part. Part three discusses the reception of Roman constitutional thought up to the late eighteenth century and the American Founding, which gave rise to a new constitutional republicanism. Special attention is paid to Jean Bodin, who emerges as a key thinker in a tradition leading up to Montesquieu and, eventually, the Federalist and John Adams. This tradition was characterized by a keen interest in the Roman Republic’s decline and fall and an insistence on the limits of virtue. The crisis of the Republic was interpreted as a constitutional crisis, and the only remedy to escape the Republic’s fate—military despotism—was thought to lie, not in republican virtue, but in Roman constitutionalism.
Jessica H. Clark
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199336548
- eISBN:
- 9780199376919
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199336548.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, World History: BCE to 500CE
This book examines the implications of Rome’s many military defeats during the Roman Republic. Tracing responses to defeat from the Second Punic War through the second century B.C.E., it reconsiders ...
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This book examines the implications of Rome’s many military defeats during the Roman Republic. Tracing responses to defeat from the Second Punic War through the second century B.C.E., it reconsiders the triumphalist narratives that have sometimes dominated studies of the culture of politics and commemoration at Rome. It argues that Roman experiences in the Second Punic War led to the articulation of a particularly fraught relationship to defeat, which informed strategic priorities and commemorative activities in the aftermath of that war. A range of mechanisms developed to control the reception of military activities at Rome, and as long as the Roman Senate maintained its construction of consensus, defeats could be plotted within the larger narratives of victory created through its decisions on triumphs and diplomacy. Thus this book proposes that, while Rome did sometimes win its wars through unequivocal battlefield success, at other points senatorial decisions ended wars, redefining the terms and timelines of victory. Alternate interpretations of Rome’s military record could call into question the validity of the Senate’s verdicts, however, and thus also challenge the authority that underlay those verdicts. Ultimately, Rome’s approach to defeat was rendered unsustainable by the recurring wars fought by succeeding generations, the advancement of multiple narratives on particular conflicts, and the mismanagement of the public apprehension of the costs and consequences of Rome’s overseas involvements.Less
This book examines the implications of Rome’s many military defeats during the Roman Republic. Tracing responses to defeat from the Second Punic War through the second century B.C.E., it reconsiders the triumphalist narratives that have sometimes dominated studies of the culture of politics and commemoration at Rome. It argues that Roman experiences in the Second Punic War led to the articulation of a particularly fraught relationship to defeat, which informed strategic priorities and commemorative activities in the aftermath of that war. A range of mechanisms developed to control the reception of military activities at Rome, and as long as the Roman Senate maintained its construction of consensus, defeats could be plotted within the larger narratives of victory created through its decisions on triumphs and diplomacy. Thus this book proposes that, while Rome did sometimes win its wars through unequivocal battlefield success, at other points senatorial decisions ended wars, redefining the terms and timelines of victory. Alternate interpretations of Rome’s military record could call into question the validity of the Senate’s verdicts, however, and thus also challenge the authority that underlay those verdicts. Ultimately, Rome’s approach to defeat was rendered unsustainable by the recurring wars fought by succeeding generations, the advancement of multiple narratives on particular conflicts, and the mismanagement of the public apprehension of the costs and consequences of Rome’s overseas involvements.
Louise Hodgson
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198777380
- eISBN:
- 9780191823824
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198777380.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Chapter 7 concludes with some observations on res publica under Augustus and his successors. The term all but vanishes from Suetonius’s Lives after Augustus, which suggests that res publica lost much ...
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Chapter 7 concludes with some observations on res publica under Augustus and his successors. The term all but vanishes from Suetonius’s Lives after Augustus, which suggests that res publica lost much of its political charge with the fall of the Republic. While res publica did not automatically now take on the meaning of ‘the Roman Republic’, it could be made to mean this by historians like Velleius Paterculus and Tacitus, who use temporal tags such as prisca, antiqua, or vetus to indicate a historic state of the political sphere. This chapter argues that whereas Velleius Paterculus and Augustus in his Res Gestae are tactful about the latter’s power, Ovid is not; he echoes Cicero’s equation of Sulla with Jupiter by equating Jupiter with Augustus and provides the title for this chapter, which also serves as an unintentional response to Julius Caesar’s pedantry: res publica est Caesar.Less
Chapter 7 concludes with some observations on res publica under Augustus and his successors. The term all but vanishes from Suetonius’s Lives after Augustus, which suggests that res publica lost much of its political charge with the fall of the Republic. While res publica did not automatically now take on the meaning of ‘the Roman Republic’, it could be made to mean this by historians like Velleius Paterculus and Tacitus, who use temporal tags such as prisca, antiqua, or vetus to indicate a historic state of the political sphere. This chapter argues that whereas Velleius Paterculus and Augustus in his Res Gestae are tactful about the latter’s power, Ovid is not; he echoes Cicero’s equation of Sulla with Jupiter by equating Jupiter with Augustus and provides the title for this chapter, which also serves as an unintentional response to Julius Caesar’s pedantry: res publica est Caesar.
