An intellectual history of the late Roman Republic-and
the senators who fought both scholarly debates and a civil
war In The Roman Republic of Letters , Katharina
Volk explores a fascinating chapter ...of intellectual history,
focusing on the literary senators of the mid-first century BCE who
came to blows over the future of Rome even as they debated
philosophy, history, political theory, linguistics, science, and
religion. It was a period of intense cultural flourishing and
extreme political unrest-and the agents of each were very often the
same people. Members of the senatorial class, including Cicero,
Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Cato, Varro, and Nigidius Figulus,
contributed greatly to the development of Roman scholarship and
engaged in a lively and often polemical exchange with one another.
These men were also crucially involved in the tumultuous events
that brought about the collapse of the Republic, and they ended up
on opposite sides in the civil war between Caesar and Pompey in the
early 40s. Volk treats the intellectual and political activities of
these "senator scholars" as two sides of the same coin, exploring
how scholarship and statesmanship mutually informed one another-and
how the acquisition, organization, and diffusion of knowledge was
bound up with the question of what it meant to be a Roman in a time
of crisis. By revealing how first-century Rome's remarkable
"republic of letters" was connected to the fight over the actual
res publica , Volk's riveting account captures the
complexity of this pivotal period.
Describes and integrates the contrasting histories of different parts of the empire. The Roman empire during the period framed by the accession of Septimus Severus in 193 and the rise of Diocletian ...in 284 has conventionally been regarded as one of 'crisis'. Between 235 and 284, at least eighteen men held the throne of the empire, for an average of less than three years, a reckoning which does not take into account all the relatives and lieutenants with whom those men shared power. Compared to the century between the accession of Nerva and the death of Commodus, this appears to be a period of near unintelligibility. The middle of the century also witnessed catastrophic, if temporary, ruptures in the territorial integrity of the empire.
Nathan Rosensteing charts Rome's stunning rise to mastery of the ancient Mediterranean over the course of the third and second centuries BC. He describes the Republic's great wars —against Pyrrhus, ...Carthage and Hannibal, and the kings of Macedon and Syria—as well as its subjugation of Gallic northern Italy and Spain. Rosenstein also reveals why and shows how Rome engaged in war so frequently, highlighting the secret of Rome's extraordinary military success and the significant impact on both Italy and Rome.
Between the deaths of the Emperors Julian (363) and Justinian (565), the Roman Empire underwent momentous changes. Most obviously, control of the west was lost to barbarian groups during the fifth ...century, and although parts were recovered by Justinian, the empire's centre of gravity shifted irrevocably to the east, with its focal point now the city of Constantinople. Equally important was the increasing dominance of Christianity not only in religious life, but also in politics, society and culture.
Doug Lee charts these and other significant developments which contributed to the transformation of ancient Rome and its empire into Byzantium and the early medieval west. By emphasising the resilience of the east during late antiquity and the continuing vitality of urban life and the economy, this volume offers an alternative perspective to the traditional paradigm of decline and fall.
Key features:• Provides a clear analytical narrative of pivotal political, military, and religious developments• Complements this with an examination of overarching trends in urban life and the economy• Gives particular attention to the dynamics of political and religious power and of Roman-barbarian relations during the fifth century
The Jewish community of Rome is the oldest Jewish community in
Europe. It is also the Jewish community with the longest continuous
history, having avoided interruptions, expulsions, and
annihilations ...since 139 BCE. For most of that time, Jewish Romans
have lived in close contact with the largest continuously
functioning international organization: the Roman Catholic Church.
Given the church's origins in Judaism, Jews and Catholics have
spent two thousand years negotiating a necessary and paradoxical
relationship. With engaging stories that illuminate the history of
Jews and Jewish-Catholic relations in Rome, Intimate
Strangers investigates the unusual relationship between Jews
and Catholics as it has developed from the first century CE to the
present in the Eternal City. Fredric Brandfon innovatively frames
these relations through an anthropological lens: how the idea and
language of family have shaped the self-understanding of both Roman
Jews and Catholics. The familial relations are lopsided, the
powerful family member often persecuting the weaker one; the church
ghettoized the Jews of Rome longer than any other community in
Europe. Yet respect and support are also part of the family
dynamic-for instance, church members and institutions protected
Rome's Jews during the Nazi occupation-and so the relationship
continues. Brandfon begins by examining the Arch of Titus and the
Jewish catacombs as touchstones, painting a picture of a Jewish
community remaining Jewish over centuries. Papal processions and
the humiliating races at Carnival time exemplify Jewish
interactions with the predominant Catholic powers in medieval and
Renaissance Rome. The Roman Ghetto, the forcible conversion of
Jews, emancipation from the Ghetto in light of Italian nationalism,
the horrors of fascism and the Nazi occupation in Rome, the Second
Vatican Council proclamation absolving Jews of murdering Christ,
and the celebration of Israel's birth at the Arch of Titus are
interwoven with Jewish stories of daily life through the centuries.
Intimate Strangers takes us on a compelling sweep of two
thousand years of history through the present successes and
dilemmas of Roman Jews in postwar Europe.
Imperialism, power, and identity Mattingly, D. J; Mattingly, D. J
2010., 20131205, 2013, 2010, 2010-04-11, 2014-01-01, Letnik:
2
eBook
Despite what history has taught us about imperialism's destructive effects on colonial societies, many classicists continue to emphasize disproportionately the civilizing and assimilative nature of ...the Roman Empire and to hold a generally favorable view of Rome's impact on its subject peoples. Imperialism, Power, and Identity boldly challenges this view using insights from postcolonial studies of modern empires to offer a more nuanced understanding of Roman imperialism.
Languages are central to the creation and expression of identities and cultures, as well as to life itself, yet the linguistic variegation of the later-Roman and post-imperial period in the Roman ...West is remarkably understudied. A deeper understanding of this important issue is crucial to any reconstruction of the broader story of linguistic continuity and change in Europe and the Mediterranean, as well as to the history of the communities who wrote, read, and spoke Latin and other languages. In spite of intensive study of culture and ethnic identity in late antiquity, language has often been neglected, a neglect encouraged by the disciplinary boundaries between linguists and historians, Romanists, and medievalists. There is no single volume that sets out the main developments, key features, and debates of the later-Roman and post-imperial linguistic environment. The linguistic landscapes of the late-Roman and post-imperial West are difficult to uncover and describe, while attempts to speak across disciplinary divides are challenging. The contributors have tackled this subject by offering detailed coverage of the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, Gaul, the Germanies, Britain, and Ireland. This volume, the third in the LatinNow series, helps readers to understand better the embeddedness, or not, of Latin, at different social levels and across provinces, to consider (socio)linguistic variegation, bilingualism and multilingualism, and attitudes towards languages, and to confront the complex role of language in the communities, identities, and cultures of the later and post-imperial Roman West.
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