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Conclusions

Catherine Hezser

in Jewish Slavery in Antiquity

This book investigates ancient Jewish slavery in the context of slavery in Graeco-Roman society to determine whether and in what regard Jews differed from Romans and early Christians in their ... More

This book investigates ancient Jewish slavery in the context of slavery in Graeco-Roman society to determine whether and in what regard Jews differed from Romans and early Christians in their discourse about and practice of slavery. The book examines whether ancient Jewish literary sources reveal different attitudes towards slaves and indicate a different treatment of slaves from Graeco-Roman sources. As pointed out at the outset, the socioeconomic conditions in which slavery develops tend to be similar in many societies, whereas the specific configuration of slavery varies from one society to the next. Slavery was an important aspect of the everyday life of Jews in both the land of Israel and the Diaspora in Hellenistic and Roman times: Jews owned slaves and Jews were employed as slaves by Jewish and non-Jewish owners.Less

The Sources of Slaves

Catherine Hezser

in Jewish Slavery in Antiquity

The main source of slaves in antiquity was the enslavement of war captives, which accompanied conquest of foreign territories in the course of imperialist policies. Other forms of enslavement such as ... More

The main source of slaves in antiquity was the enslavement of war captives, which accompanied conquest of foreign territories in the course of imperialist policies. Other forms of enslavement such as natural reproduction, debt slavery, child exposure and sale, and the theft of human beings seem to have been less common and dependent on particular socioeconomic conditions and behavioural patterns. They will have gained in significance in late antiquity, however, when new war captives became scarce. Slaves would be sold at slave markets but also on other occasions, on the basis of mutual sales agreements between owners. Since the category of the slave was markedly distinct from that of the free person in both Jewish and Roman society, the transition from one mode to the other was legally regulated, so that particular forms of enslavement were prohibited and others allowed. However, it is not clear whether and to what extent these legal limitations were actually followed by the populace.Less

Between Slavery and Freedom

Catherine Hezser

in Jewish Slavery in Antiquity

Distinctions between slaves and free persons were far from clear-cut as far as status, work, and lifestyle were concerned. In their dependence on the householder, women and minors often resembled ... More

Distinctions between slaves and free persons were far from clear-cut as far as status, work, and lifestyle were concerned. In their dependence on the householder, women and minors often resembled slaves; many slaves worked alongside free persons or were even better educated, clothed, and nourished than the free. In antiquity, everyone had to reckon with the possibility that he or she could become enslaved, but slaves could also hope to obtain freedom. In ancient society, some people seem to have stood on the border between slavery and freedom, being part of both worlds but not properly belonging to either of them. This was the case with half-slaves, who worked for themselves as well as for their masters, and with freed slaves, whose former enslavement had left a lasting mark and who had to fulfil certain obligations towards their former master, at least as far as Roman society is concerned.Less

Vico’s Social Theory: The Conundrum of the Roman Metropolis and the Struggle of Humanity for Natural Rights

Barbara Ann Naddeo

in Vico and Naples: The Urban Origins of Modern Social Theory

This chapter considers both the legal aspirations and jurisprudential works of Vico, and reconstructs his first full-blown account of Roman law and society in light of the jurisprudential tastes of ... More

This chapter considers both the legal aspirations and jurisprudential works of Vico, and reconstructs his first full-blown account of Roman law and society in light of the jurisprudential tastes of his target audience, the leading members of the Neapolitan judiciary. It begins with an ample reconstruction of Vico's life and work between the publication of his last inaugural address, the De ratione (1709), and the drafting of his legal treatise known as the Diritto universal. It then identifies Vico's motivations for undertaking a legal treatise, and reconstructs the publication history and reception of both De uno (1720) and De Constantia (1721). The third section of this chapter reconstructs Vico's unique history of Rome, which made novel claims about the origins and laws of development characteristic of cities and, by analogy, world polities.Less

Introduction

in The Commerce of War: Exchange and Social Order in Latin Epic

This book presents an argument that Vergil's Aeneid, Lucan's Civil War, and Statius' Thebaid represent complex and distinctive responses to the socioeconomic mores of each poet's day. The distinction ... More

This book presents an argument that Vergil's Aeneid, Lucan's Civil War, and Statius' Thebaid represent complex and distinctive responses to the socioeconomic mores of each poet's day. The distinction between reciprocal and commodity exchanges was basic to Roman society. In the Aeneid, Civil War, and Thebaid, commodity expressions for punishment resonate with other commodity language. The book also reviews the socioeconomic landscape of each poem, and then explores how the poets use economic language metaphorically to give insights into the thoughts and dispositions of their central characters. Additionally, it argues that the Aeneid shows Vergil longing for the late republican economic system; that Lucan voices skepticism of republican socioeconomic values and tentatively advocates the return to an earlier Roman order; and that Statius turns away from reflection upon a sociopolitical system to express concern for the perils of excessive individual desires.Less

What City Patrons Did

CLAUDE EILERS

in Roman Patrons of Greek Cities

The question of what patrons did for their client cities is an important one. It is complicated, however, by the fact that patronage was never a monolithic phenomenon, and because the institution ... More

The question of what patrons did for their client cities is an important one. It is complicated, however, by the fact that patronage was never a monolithic phenomenon, and because the institution itself underwent important changes, as did Roman society as a whole in its transition from republic to empire. This chapter considers several texts that illustrate the services which patrons and clients could perform for each other, beginning with several from the Republic and then moving on to the Empire.Less

Good Governance and the Economy of Violence

James A. Palmer

in The Virtues of Economy: Governance, Power, and Piety in Late Medieval Rome

This chapter describes the economy of violence. Through a theatrical form of ritualized peacemaking, Roman elites managed private violence, claimed justice and peace as characteristic of Roman ... More

This chapter describes the economy of violence. Through a theatrical form of ritualized peacemaking, Roman elites managed private violence, claimed justice and peace as characteristic of Roman political society, and claimed for themselves a unique capacity to sustain this rightly ordered social world. Such peacemaking was the domain of the political elite but under their guidance was participated in not only by prominent male citizens but by women, noncitizens, and even Jews. Performed on the city's streets, these rituals make clear the importance of the circuit between the Roman political elite and the city's diverse political society. They also reveal the gradual decentering of communal institutions. Nowhere is the legitimization of power in a political society that transcends the civic realm clearer. It is in these rituals that the transformative potential of Rome's new political culture becomes most apparent, as they gradually produced a distinct new Roman elite with a new kind of claim to the virtues of good governance.Less

Introduction

Adam M. Schor

in Theodoret's People: Social Networks and Religious Conflict in Late Roman Syria

This book seeks to comprehend the Christological dispute by investigating the social dynamics that fostered alliance and conflict, focusing on the dyophysites who assembled around Theodoret of ... More

This book seeks to comprehend the Christological dispute by investigating the social dynamics that fostered alliance and conflict, focusing on the dyophysites who assembled around Theodoret of Cyrrhus. It examines Theodoret's relational patterns, his network and its fall, and the patronage roles and relations during the fifth century. It also explores the social dynamics of Theodoret's Christology and his patronage relations across late Roman society.Less

Base Pleasures, Spectacle, and Society

Alex McAuley (ed.)

in STARZ Spartacus: Reimagining an Icon on Screen

This chapter takes a closer look at Spartacus' engagement with Roman spectacle as a fighter and entertainer. Beyond the series' intense focus on sexuality and the problems of slavery, this chapter ... More

This chapter takes a closer look at Spartacus' engagement with Roman spectacle as a fighter and entertainer. Beyond the series' intense focus on sexuality and the problems of slavery, this chapter argues that the creators also emphasize the multimodal representation of the Roman culture of performance and spectacle in the arena. The new Spartacus series, the chapter claims, offers a complex image of Roman spectacle in terms of spatial materialities, spectacular aesthetics, and social realism: the amphitheater is conveyed as a microcosm of Roman society and the central point of reference for Roman “popular” culture in the sense of mass entertainment.Less

Introduction

Paul J. du Plessis

in New Frontiers: Law and Society in the Roman World

This brief introduction places the volume in context and explains its rationale. It provides a brief survey of current literature on the subject of “law and society” in the Roman world and sets out ... More

This brief introduction places the volume in context and explains its rationale. It provides a brief survey of current literature on the subject of “law and society” in the Roman world and sets out the structure of the volume along with the main contributions provides by each of the authors in their chapters.Less

Constructing Social Identity: Pietas, Women, and the Roman House

Steven H. Rutledge

in Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting

This chapter examines how the Roman social and historical record was remembered through a variety of cultural material in a manner that reinforced Roman values and ideology beyond those directly ... More

This chapter examines how the Roman social and historical record was remembered through a variety of cultural material in a manner that reinforced Roman values and ideology beyond those directly associated with military conquest and imperial hegemony. It focuses on three significant categories that encompassed and preserved historical memory: artefacts that dated to early in Rome's history that were reflective of Roman pietas; commemoratives that celebrated a variety of roles for women in Roman society and their place in it; and the Roman house, specifically, houses of men who had had a powerful influence in shaping Rome's history.Less

Displaying Domination: Spoils, War Commemoratives, and Competition

Steven H. Rutledge

in Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting

This chapter examines how imperial domination by the ruling elite influenced the appearance of the city. The elite used cultural objects both to maintain and perpetuate their control over not merely ... More

This chapter examines how imperial domination by the ruling elite influenced the appearance of the city. The elite used cultural objects both to maintain and perpetuate their control over not merely Roman society, but other peoples as well. Such display was not just an additional luxury of conquest, but inherently bound up with it.Less

Teaching by Examples: Roman

Clive Skidmore

in Practical Ethics for Roman Gentlemen: The Work of Valerius Maximus

This chapter discusses the use of historical examples for moral education in Rome. It shows that various forms of education by example had long been institutionalized into Roman society, which ... More

This chapter discusses the use of historical examples for moral education in Rome. It shows that various forms of education by example had long been institutionalized into Roman society, which testify to the important role of examples before the Hellenization of Roman society in the second century bc. Thus, in Rome as in Greece, men were trained from an early age to emulate concrete examples of abstract ideals embodied in the great men of past and present.Less