Roman imperialism

This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach combining research methods in history and political science to propose that the fundamental cause of Rome’s entry into and later domination of the Greek world was its reaction to a series of geopolitical developments in the Mediterranean region around the years 219 – 188 BCE. The thesis contends that the dominant paradigm in current scholarship on Roman imperialism assigns too much value to the internal structures of Roman society and consequently overlooks the importance of developments in the interstate system, in which the Roman state was a participant.

Following Alexander’s unexpected death in 323, his subordinates waged constant warfare for the next four decades to divide the spoils of his vast empire. By the 280s, these wars subsided, and an unstable balance of power emerged in the east Mediterranean, between the Antigonid, Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties.

This balance of power shattered seventy years later due to a sudden decline in Ptolemaic power, caused by a massive native uprising in Egypt, chronic domestic maladministration and a series of unfortunate coincidences. Ptolemaic collapse triggered what political scientists term a power-transition crisis, as it motivated the Antigonid and Seleucid rulers to launch aggressive wars with the aim of capturing Ptolemaic territory. Their aggression threatened the independence of minor Greek states, which attempted to recreate a tripolar balance of power in the region by appealing to Rome for intervention in the crisis.

With the Roman defeat of the two great dynasties and the collapse of the third, a new interstate system emerged in the Mediterranean: hegemony under the government of the Romans.

Violence in Roman warfare is certainly not a myth. But until recently, historians have understood violence in terms of their own standards instead of considering the thresholds of Roman sensibilities. Within the framework of the “histoire des representations”, a discussion is made about the discourses that underly the violence in Roman warfare. We aim to reassess the methodological basis of such an analysis by close observation of its vocabulary. By scrutinizing the appearance of the terms uis and βία, we undermine their traditional relevance in war contexts. Then, we apply methods of correspondence analysis on the example of Latin verbs for killing. It reveals their meaning and stresses the strengths and flaws of text analytics, still not much employed in ancient history. In the end, returning to the texts and their contexts is necessary to qualify and refine this technique.

http://annalesdejanua.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php?id=2003

La violence de Rome à la guerre n’est certes pas un mythe. Mais, jusqu’à très récemment, les historiens l’ont davantage évaluée à l’aune de leurs propres normes qu’ils n’ont abordé la question des seuils de sensibilités proprement romains en la matière. Dans le cadre d’une histoire des représentations, l’étude de la violence guerrière romaine implique par conséquent un examen des discours qui la sous-tendent. Cet article a ainsi pour ambition de repenser les fondements méthodologiques d’une telle analyse à travers l’observation serrée du vocabulaire de la violence guerrière. Un examen complet des contextes d’apparition des termes uis et βία permet de relativiser leur pertinence en contexte guerrier. Dès lors, le recours à d’autres méthodes est nécessaire. À travers l’exemple des verbes latins signifiant l’action de tuer, on entend montrer les atouts et les limites de l’analyse factorielle des correspondances, branche de la statistique textuelle encore peu mobilisée en histoire ancienne. Enfin, un retour aux textes et à leurs contextes est une démarche nécessaire afin de nuancer et d’affiner cette technique.

http://annalesdejanua.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php?id=2003

La deditio est ici envisagée comme l'acte diplomatique paradoxal par excellence, en tant qu'acte unilatéral et inégal qui nie par définition l'échange diplomatique, mais qui requiert pourtant toutes les formalités d'usage (notamment, l'envoi de représentants légitimes aux yeux des deux parties), et qui comporte aussi des éléments négociables. Ce dernier aspect suppose d'interroger le rôle du magistrat et sa liberté d'action.

The aim of this article is to provide an institutional analysis of Polybius’ text (1,11,1-3) concerning the outbreak of the First Punic War. Polybius says that when the Mamertines’ request for help against the Carthaginians came to Rome, the senate – which was divided between advocates and opponents of a military commitment in Sicily – could not find a resolution, and the matter was decided by “the majority” that voted for entrusting the consul of that year, Appius Claudius, with the task to save the Mamertines. The ‘issue’ is represented here by the interpretation of Polybius’ term “the majority” (Oi dé pollói), that modern scholars have interpreted both as a reference to the majority of the Roman senators – assuming therefore that the final decision was taken by the senate – and as an allusion to the “majority of the Romans” – henceforth supposing that the question was ultimately decided by a vote of the popular assembly. This paper offers a third way, and suggests that the Polybian “majority” must be interpreted as a reference to the intervention of the Roman people, but not in the form of an official vote by the comitia. Several elements in the language of Polybius (i.e. the economic status of those who attended the meeting, and the role played by the consul in the gathering of this crowd) make us suspect that the popular intervention took the form of a "contio", that is an informal meeting through which a magistrate tried to create a popular consensus on a particular political initiative. A new political interpretation of Polybius’ passage is hence proposed, namely that the consul used the will expressed by the people in the "contio" in order to force the Senate to entrust him with the command he was asking for.

RESUMO O estudo do processo do imperialismo romano na Judeia deve ressaltar as especificidades daquela região frente ao Ocidente conquistado pelos romanos. Dentre tais especificidades destacamos: a recorrência de revoltas armadas e o contato prévio com o helenismo. Para analisarmos como se desenvolveu tal processo imperialista, torna-se fundamental delimitarmos os conceitos a serem utilizados, a fim de que possamos estabelecer as relações entre as especificidades judaicas e o processo imperialista romano. ABSTRACT The study of Roman imperialism in Judea should stands out the specificities of that region face to Roman West. In the midst of such specificities, we point out: the recurrence of gunned revolts and the previous contact with helenism. To analyze how this imperial process developed, is fundamental to establish the concepts we use, with the intention of to relation Judea´s specificities to Roman imperialism.

CONTENTS

October 17th, 2011 [pages 6-15]
I
Persecution and the Art of Writing or Towards a Hermeneutics of Suspicion
from interpretation of the meaning between lines to explanation of the transcendental effect of forms

1. ‘PERSECUTION’: from the threat of philosophical truth to the subversion of the verisimilitude of fiction

2. ‘THE ART OF WRITING’: protection for the author and selective communication with accomplices

i. The protective output: the censor’s impasse and authority outwitted

ii. The communicational output: separation of readerships and selective training in the subversive knowledge

3. The ‘ART OF READING’: from interpretation of the implicit message to explanation of the transcendental revolution in forms

i. The ‘interpretation’ stage: moving from the explicit sense to the implicit intended meaning—criteria for recognizing and reconstructing the concealed message.
  * First stage: criteria for recognizing anomalies that give grounds to suspect second intentions
  * Second stage: reconstruction criteria allowing the implicit meaning to be established

ii. The stage of ‘explanation’: from the sociology of knowledge to transcendental stylistics

October 18th, 2011 [pages 16-31]
II
The Latin Erotic Elegy and the Case of Propertius
from subversion of the Augustan imperial ethos to the metaphysics of dissimulatio

1. Introduction. From the elegiac paradox (irrepressible passion-love in an interruptive texture) to an art of writing between the lines

2. A historico-literary context of substitution: the Roman erotic elegy between poetic dissimulatio and Augustan auctoritas

i. Literary elements that contribute to ‘recognition’ of the elegiac art of writing: from literature as imitatio to irony as dissimulatio

ii. Political elements that contribute to the ‘reconstruction’ of the implied message: elegiac values versus the values of Augustan auctoritas—Propertius’ authorial situation vis-à-vis the vates, Horace and Virgil.

3. Interpretation: an amatory façade for the subversion of imperial values—progressive dissimulatio in Propertius’ writing

i. Propertius’ independence in the Monobiblos: from amatory etiology to the sphragis of political resistance

ii. Propertius’ precautions in Maecenas’ circle, or the art of writing in Books 2 and 3: from the amatory mask to the mask of literary rivalry
  * The love mask: frontal subversion of Augustan moral reforms and marriage laws sheltered in the imperative of ‘irregular elegiac passion’
  * The mask of literary rivalry in the programmatic elegies: from urban recusatio, the refusal to write epic on national themes, to subversion of the Augustan ideals expressed in the official poetry of Horace and Virgil.
  -Subversion of the imperial ideals in Virgil’s poetry: mocking the claims of the Aeneid. Propertius 2.34.
  -Subversion of Horace’s public stances in the Odes. Propertius 3.1-2.
  * The final mask: the use of hyperbole, bad taste and mythological harmonics to subvert the political values and legitimated triumphs of the imperial authority

iii. Propertius under Augustus’ eye: the final dissimulatio in Book 4—subversion by deliberate bad taste and allusion by mythological harmonics.

4. Explanation: from the counterworld of the elegiac fiction to the metaphysics of dissimulatio

i. The sociology of discourse: the counterworld of the elegiac fiction, or the Dionysiac inversion of Apollonian values

ii. Transcendental poetics: the metaphysics of dissimulatio


October 19th, 2011 [pages 32-56]
III
The Love Poetry of the Provençal Troubadours
from the sensualism of the gai saber to the synthesis of sound against the totalitarianism of vision

1. Introduction. A paradoxical contrast – the monotony of the motives of idealized love versus the originality of the couplings of rhyme – as promotion of the queen in a game of warfare

2. A historico-literary context of substitution. Troubadour joi: from the gai saber of Occitan dispersion to the linguistic joculum of the couplings of rhyme

i. The philosophico-discursive side: the naturalistic sensualism of the gai saber vs. Christian orthodox ontotheology

ii. The poetico-literary aspect: the promotion of musical joculum in the couplings of rhyme

3. Interpretation. The naturalistic sensualism of the gai saber: a provocative defense of ‘sensory passion’ in a ‘world governed by chance’

i. The trobar prim (naturau e cortes) of William of Aquitaine (1071-1126): from the paradox of a ‘double-faced poet’ to the game of con in a world of chance
  * The contradictions of a ‘double-faced poet.’ A reading in context
  * The natural register in the companion songs: a pornographic imaginary behind the explicit defense of natural passion.
  * The invention of the ‘courtly love’ register: a confession of unsatisfied desire and submission to the domna as a parody of the new ideals of monastic asceticism.
  * The pseudo-metaphysical register in Farai un vers de dreit nien: an ‘Enigma about Nothingness’ as a parody of the Hyperessence, or immanent naturalism against negative theology.

* Conclusion regarding the interwoven registers at the origin of the trobar: the promotion of passion-love in the immanence of the world behind the defensive façade of courtly love.

ii. Marcabrú’s trobar brau: the paradox of a moralizing but obscene condemnation of love as a parody of preachers that awakens desire.

iii. The courtly trobar or the classic canso in anamorphosis: from confession of a belligerent confrontation over sensory passion to staging of the experience of joi

iv. Arnaut Daniel’s trobar clus: concealment and final communication of the gai saber in the arts of the miglior fabbro del parlar materno
  * The trobar leu and the arrival of the trobar clus: the case of Arnaut Daniel’s trobar ric.
  * The concealment of meanings in the trobar clus.
  * Lexicon and images: the dir strano e bello or the subversion of the metaphorical order
  * Linguistic Marranism and barbarolexia: the Provençal parody of official Latin
  * Impossible images and dream allegories: subversion of the metaphorical order.
  * Verbal music: from the sensory materialization of the joi of the world to the experience of pleasure in the arts of delay
  * Daniel’s characteristic consonance: the song of nature as an invitation to joi
  * The cobla ‘dissoluta’: the arts of amatory delay, intensification of desire by deferred satisfaction, in the sensory field of rhyme. (Sim fos amors de joi donar tan larga).
  * The last stage of the trobar (Lo ferm voler qu’el cor m’intra): linguistic, sexual and metaphysical dissemination in the ‘sestina.’
-The involution of the sestina as the final stage of experimentation in the arts of delay of the trobar (mot refranh, rims estrams, permutations).
-The linguistic dissemination of the words in the poem: from the banal motifs of courtly love to the martial imagery and sensory experience of the pleasures of delay
-The sexual dissemination of images: the pornographic double meaning behind the mask of courtly love
-Metaphysical dissemination in the formal device: the imperative of a ‘game of chance’

4. Explanation. From the foundation of the space of modern lyrical fiction to the synthesis of sound against the totalitarianism of vision

i. Sociology of discourse: the forms of meaning of the trobar as the foundation for the sphere of modern lyrical fiction – from concealment of enjoyment in form to promotion of independent enjoyment of form

ii. Emancipation of the synthesis of hearing versus the totalitarianism of vision and the diurnal image
  * The oral forms of meaning of the Romance tongues versus the written Latinitas
  * From reversal of the hierarchy between material sound and spiritual light to the synthesis of listening vs. the epistemology of vision
  * The significant detail of the ‘alba’: explicit defense of natural passion in the context of a musical and nocturnal perception that turns away from the diurnal vision of the opponents of joi

* Coda. A detective’s art of reading of selective application

Beginning with a semantic history of the term negotiator, this essay reconsiders Augustus’s role in the history of Roman citizenship. It restores negotiator as a byword for how Roman officials in the Late Republic understood Romans in the provinces and argues that the term’s connotations, combined with several Late Republican institutions, reveal a vision of these Romans as partaking in Roman imperialism. Several of Augustus’s actions, including the development of a new language for understanding these Romans, promoted a new vision of the place of citizens in the empire, making them subjects of an empire which had previously been theirs.

Like gladiators in the arena, competing ideologies in Rome’s early imperial period battled one another with the rhetoric of honor and shame. Despite sharply divergent definitions of the actions that accrue glory, these ideological contests often culminated in expressions of spectacular, voluntary deaths that shared a common rhetorical framework. In this paper I argue that John’s stylization of Jesus’ death both participates in and subverts aspects of the Romana mors. I first outline the imperial configuration of honor, and then I analyze the anti-imperial rhetoric in Plutarch’s narration of the Roman republican martyr Cato. Finally, I examine John’s portrayal of Jesus’ death, showing how it rhetorically resonates with other glorious Roman deaths, and yet ideologically subverts them by configuring glory around Jesus’ crucifixion. As such, John’s hybridized discourse of Jesus’ anti-violent laying down of his life in love enunciates a radical reconfiguration of social life, freed from imperial violence.

Abstract
This article examines the longstanding rivalry of Rome and Parthia, which began as an unintended consequence of Crassus’ decisive defeat at Carrhae in 53 BCE. It synthesizes the accounts and opinions of numerous Graeco-Roman writers from the Augustan Age to late antiquity in order to help illustrate the new and interconnected post-Carrhae world and its legacy. The rivalry of the Romans and Parthians became a primary focus of their foreign policies and drastically expanded their perceptions of the world in which they interacted. Even after the fall of the Parthians to the rebellious Sassanid Persians in the 220s CE, the Romans continued to find their three-century-long rivalry with the Parthians of interest and relevant to the changing world of late antiquity.

This article aims to explain in a theoretical way, but with practical historical examples the complex notion of informal imperialism. First analyzing imperialism(s) and colonialism as a whole, it will then try to caracterize and categorize more specifically what is informal imperialism. Comparing imperialism with the our understanding of space, a grid of understanding is thus applied to imperialism as a whole, to then qualify and address the informality of the phenomenon, and give theoretical tools based on practical historical cases for the historian and the political scientist.

Protected by Rome, Carthage regained much prosperity under a relatively open political system, while the grasping Masinissa of Numidia was thwarted repeatedly from annexing Punic territory. But Rome's attitude changed after 167, to his advantage.

In this work we seek to understand the relationship between power and culture in the construction of the project of political domination instituted by the Romans during the period of the Principality (I B.C. to II A.D.) on the Lusitania region. For this, we demonstrate how Rome became a hegemonic power in the Mediterranean Sea, structuring itself through a strong imperialist policy. Next, we present the main aspects of the urbanization implanted in that province, we used the provincial capital Augusta Emerita as object of such study, since this was considered a roman diffuser center, contributing significantly to the paving of the Roman domain in that province. Finally, we analyze how the urban apparatuses, especially the civic buildings and spectacles, and the insertion of new cultural practices, such as the imperial cult and the gladiatorial games contributed to the formation of new identities and the insertion of the indigenous population in the project of power constituted by Rome.

Neste trabalho, buscamos compreender a relação entre poder e cultura na construção do projeto de dominação política instituído pelos romanos durante o período do Principado (séc. I a.C. a II d.C.) sobre a região da Lusitania. Para isto, demonstramos de que maneira Roma se tornou uma potência hegemônica no Mar Mediterrâneo, estruturando-se através de uma forte política imperialista. Em seguida, apresentamos os principais aspectos da urbanização implantada naquela província, utilizamos a capital provincial Augusta Emerita como objeto de tal estudo, uma vez que esta era considera um centro irradiador de romanidade, contribuindo significativamente para a pavimentação do domínio romano naquela província. Por último, analisamos como os aparelhos urbanos, principalmente os edifícios cívicos e de espetáculos, e a inserção de novas práticas culturais, como o culto imperial e os jogos gladiatórios contribuíram para a formação de novas identidades e na inserção da população indígena no projeto de poder constituído por Roma.

Roman colonization and expansionism in the Republican period, and its impact on ancient Italy, are intensely debated in current ancient historical and archaeological research. Traditional, diffusionist views from the late 19th and especially the 20th century have recently been heavily criticized, and many socio-economic and cultural developments in ancient Italy (e.g. ‘romanization’) have been disconnected from Roman conquest and expansionism. Although this development has been extremely important and salutary, in this paper it is argued that we should be careful not to throw away the baby with the bathwater. Very recent and ongoing research can be seen as pointing at real Roman impact in various spheres - if in different ways and places than traditionally assumed. Inverting the causal logic between new developments in ancient Italy and Roman colonization, it is argued that Roman expansionism actively targeted hotspots in socio-economic and cultural networks of special interest in ancient Italy. The privileged status of colonial communities then energized and redrew existing constellations, thus using, but also impacting on pre-existing configurations. Such a view stimulates us to rethink the primary incentives behind Roman colonization, and to investigate more intricate patterns of Roman agency.

Dans son livre "Hannibal Barca", Abdelaziz Belkhodja nous présente une nouvelle biographie d'Hannibal, complètement dépoussiérée de la propagande pro-romaine. Il nous rappelle que la principale version des faits qui nous soit parvenue est celle de l'historien Polybe, qui était au service de l'Emilien, destructeur de Carthage et petit-fils de Scipion l'Africain, et qui a travesti l'Histoire pour le prestige de la famille et l'intérêt de l'Etat. Il nous révèle entre autre que la fin de la guerre ne s'est pas passée comme les historiens pro-romains nous l'ont transmise. Selon Abdelaziz Belkhodja, Hannibal n'a jamais perdu à Zama, et ses arguments, particulièrement solides, sont couronnés par des preuves archéologiques. Si sa version est corroborée par les scientifiques, il s'agira d'un véritable séisme historique dont Hannibal sera le grand bénéficiaire. Nous vous présentons en avant-première une version journalistique du chapitre concernant la fin de la seconde Guerre punique. Nous sommes en 203 avant J.C., les sénateurs Carthaginois-sans en référer à Hannibal, qui est toujours en Italie-ont signé un armistice avec Scipion. Conformément à l'armistice, Hannibal doit rentrer en Afrique et Scipion doit repartir en Italie. Mais voici que l'histoire rapportée par l'historiographie romaine se complique de façon très étrange... (Note : pour éviter toute confusion entre Scipion l'Africain (le «vainqueur» d'Hannibal) et Scipion Emilien (son petit-fils adoptif) qui a détruit Carthage un demi-siècle plus tard, nous nommerons le second «l'Emilien».)

Marcello Tartaglia Elogio dell'inettitudine Leopardi, Svevo, Montale, Pirandello Con il titolo del suo primo romanzo-Un inetto, poi cambiato, come noto, per volontà dell'editore, in Una vita-Svevo indicava una condizione esistenziale che, a ben guardare, si rivela una efficace chiave interpretativa di tanta letteratura del Novecento, e non solo italiano. Svevo lo nomina alla fine dell'Ottocento (Una vita è del 1892), ma la figura dell'inetto attraversa, in maniera davvero caratterizzante, tutto il secolo successivo e sta ad indicare, pur nelle diverse forme in cui si presenta, un tipo umano estraneo-appunto, incapace di adattarsi-alla concretezza pragmatica e all'efficienza produttiva della moderna società industriale. Dunque un anti-eroe, i cui precedenti sono senz'altro riconoscibili in certi personaggi del grande romanzo russo dell'Ottocento: in Oblomov, ad esempio, ma anche-e citeremo due autori notoriamente cari a Svevo-nell'"uomo del sottosuolo" di Dostoevskji e nell'"uomo superfluo" di Turgenev. E certo, in questa galleria ideale non può mancare l'albatro che Baudelaire ha cantato in una delle più celebri Fleurs du mal: quel grande uccello marino, re dell'azzurro e principe dei nembi, che, simile al poeta esiliato sulla terra, impacciato dalle sue ali di gigante, appare goffo e ridicolo sulla tolda della nave dove i marinai ne fanno oggetto di scherno, ha connotati che lo rendono dell'inetto sveviano l'antenato più illustre e credibile. Ma se non è sorprendente incrociare, in questa breve ricognizione, un maestro riconosciuto, quale Baudelaire, del Novecento letterario, più sorprendente sarà, risalendo a ritroso, scoprire che già Leopardi aveva individuato la specificità di quella condizione umana e ne aveva effettuato una diagnosi quanto mai precisa. Più sorprendente, ma solo per chi non sappia riconoscere a quel pensatore poetante la straordinaria capacità di vedere, con largo anticipo di tempo, temi e problemi che diventeranno attuali più di un secolo dopo. I. Leopardi: l'anima Nel Dialogo della Natura e di un'Anima Leopardi ribadisce quell'associazione fra grandezza e infelicità, già enunciata nello Zibaldone 1 1 1 La questione è connessa con la cosiddetta "teoria del piacere", su cui Leopardi ritorna più volte, ma che elabora in maniera più sistematica nelle riflessioni del 12 febbraio 1821 (Zibaldone, pp. 646-50) e del 2 maggio 1822 (Zibaldone, pp. 2410-14).

The New Classical Scholarship: The New Forensic Study Of History (Roman Piso, 11-25-2016, edited & updated 03-22-2017) [Note: To fully understand this, it is recommended that other related papers be read as well, as this is a complex subject, and the study of this employs methodology not generally taught yet.] This paper is meant to introduce the subject of the forensic study of history. And therefore, a Summary. The reason for this new way of studying ancient history is the discovery of it in an entirely difference context; that of being written from within a closed or controlled environment, which consisted of royalty who comprised a sustained Oligarchy. That condition is now known as 'Royal Supremacy'. The New Classical Scholarship, or the NCS was developed and founded by Roman Piso. Some of the ideas for it originated from methodology by others who, through their work had managed to reach the conclusion of a Roman authorship for the New Testament texts. [a] However, the main procedures and methodology (as well as some terminology) was developed by the author of this paper. In the 1800's, Professor Bruno Bauer had reached the conclusion that the New Testament was authored by Romans. He was not able to go much further than was reflected within his papers and books, and so, he was not able to actually name just who those Romans were. But, he (Prof. Bruno Bauer) did identify "word usage" and phraseology, as well as conceptual and ideological comparisons between the gospels and the works of Seneca and Flavius Josephus. Thus, paving the way for further research into their probable association with the creation of Christianity. And our research, has now verified his suspicions. Particularly, that of Abelard Reuchlin, who was the very first to name the authors of the New Testament texts in his 'The True Authorship of the New Testament' (1st printing, 1979; 2nd printing, 1986). In the early part of the 20th century, several scholars of the time were making great strides in terms of word meanings and word usage in the New Testament; and in fact, the Bible as a whole. One of those scholars was James Ballantyne Hannay, a contributor to the 'Encyclopedia Biblica', which was produced by Oxford university and various scholars of the time. [b] There were several books written by scholars and researchers of the time, which shed light upon words and word usage in the Bible; many of which are very rare, out of print, and/or non existent today. [c] Much of that earlier work was destroyed by many people who did not like what it revealed or what it would do in terms of scholarship should it become more widely known. At the time, Christians destroyed copies of these books and many were destroyed due to two world wars. The Vatican hierarchy knew about various discoveries made by researchers both in and out of Academia, and likewise, did not want that material to get out to other scholars or the public in general. Hitler and his followers too, had destroyed many thousands of books which, of course, included anything that the Vatican did not like and/or which revealed Christianity in a bad light. Many rare and one-of-a-kind books and other materials were destroyed simply because some people did not like that material for whatever reason. One of the main things that has been wrong with academia for so long is that many of its members have always consisted of the religious and thus, it has been strongly "Christian" in nature. That has alarmed many of us who realize the problem that that has been to getting at the truth in history and religion.

Die Frage was in Polybios Historien der Grund für Roms Aufstieg zum Imperium war, die Τύχη oder die αἰτία soll hier erarbeitet werden. Dabei soll herausgestellt werden, dass Tyche zwar nach Polybios eine bedeutende Rolle zukommt, Polybios aber doch die αἰτία als Hauptgrund für den Aufstieg Roms sieht. Da die αἰτία jedoch grundsätzlich etwas ist, dass erklärbar und aufzeigbar ist, gilt es auch diese zu finden. Dabei wird die im VI. Buch angesprochene Verfassung als Hauptursache genommen, wobei hier allerdings nicht das Hauptaugenmerk auf der viel bearbeiteten Mischverfassung Roms liegen soll, sondern der wenig beachteten Militärverfassung die sich ersterer anschließt.

This study looks at the representation of the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus in Tacitus's Agricola. It considers what the intention of of his famous speech was at the culminating battle of the historian's work, and whether it's purpose perhaps possessed subtle undertones of censure and rebuke of Roman Imperialism.

Road maps of the Roman Empire usually show a reticulate network of local and long distance routes stretching to the very limits of the Imperium Romanum, where all roads suddenly appear to end. Although the physical remains of Roman roads clearly show that Rome constructed its road system only within the empire's boundaries, they also reveal that this was not done to a single empire-wide standard. Nor did Rome's interest in road connections end where provincial territory did. This contribution discusses new epigraphic and archaeological evidence from the territory of the former Nabataean kingdom that illustrates how, in the early decades of the new province of Arabia, the purpose that a certain road was expected to serve determined the standards to which it was constructed.

Earlier scholarship saw the worship of Silvanus in Dalmatia from two different perspectives. Firstly, as a continuance of the pre-Roman indigenous cult which became »recognized« as the italic deity Silvanus through the interpretatio Romana, and secondly, as a product of indigenous assimilation in Roman culture. This article reconsiders these opinions from a different perspective, making the point that we deal here with an entirely new cultural practice, rather than the survival of the pre-Roman traditions, or with the assimilation of the indigenous population into the Roman identity. It is argued that the worship of Silvanus was used as an interface for communication and display of identity of different provincial sub-cultural groups in the early imperial times. It was a new, inventive and multifaceted religious practice, which incorporated existing local traditions and visual aesthetics with global symbolics of Silvanus, bringing together distinct societies and including Dalmatian communities into the »global« world of Roman Empire.

Long, Fredrick J. “Ephesians: Paul’s Political Theology in Greco-Roman Political Context.” Pages 255–309 in Christian Origins and Classical Culture: Social and Literary Contexts for the New Testament. Edited by S. E. Porter and A. W. Pitts. The New Testament in its Hellenistic Context. Leiden: Brill, 2012.

A lo largo de sus tres siglos de historia en la época imperial romana, la función principal de la Guardia Pretoriana fue la protección de la figura del emperador allí donde este se encontrara, ya fuera actuando permanentemente como su escolta y guardia personal  en el palacio imperial o como última línea de defensa en el ámbito militar. Pero como cuerpo de élite del ejército romano acantonado en la capital del Imperio también se les encomendó el mantenimiento y, en su caso, restablecimiento del orden allí donde fuera necesario. Así, la Guardia Pretoriana se conformaría como una de las piezas clave en la historia imperial romana como uno de los actores principales no solo a nivel militar sino también a nivel político, papel este último muy alejado de las funciones iniciales para las que fue creada pero que poco a poco fue cobrando especial relevancia tanto por su cercanía a la figura de los sucesivos emperadores como por su acantonamiento en la capital imperial. Consciente de su poder, no fueron pocas las ocasiones en que los pretorianos utilizaron su posición e influencias para dirigir y aprovechar los habituales cambios políticos en la cúspide del poder . Pero, aun siendo menos conocida, no sería menor la importancia bélica que en los campos de batalla protagonizarían los pretorianos en numerosas ocasiones como unidad militar y que a la postre les consagraría como uno de los pilares fundamentales del régimen imperial prácticamente desde su creación, en tiempos de Augusto , hasta su desmantelamiento llevado a cabo por el emperador Majencio.
Como cuerpo de élite del ejército, reconocidos como los mejor entrenados y preparados como demostraron en no pocas ocasiones, y en base a su especial misión recibían una paga superior al del resto de soldados; y su tiempo de servicio era varios años menor, por lo que resultaban ser la envidia del resto de unidades militares y en particular de aquellos que servían en el limes del imperio . Es por ello que trataremos aquí de realizar un estudio esquemático sobre su formación, estructura, actuaciones, etc. con el fin de ahondar en el conocimiento de esta institución muchas veces denostada por algunas de sus intervenciones.

Roma, agosto 70 a.C. In pieno Foro, nel corso di un processo destinato a fare epoca, l’accusatore Marco Tullio Cicerone lancia una fulminante requisitoria, seguita da una tempesta di testimonianze e prove. Tutte vertono sui gravi crimini commessi dall’imputato, Gaio Verre, ex governatore della Sicilia: concussione, peculato, appropriazione indebita, furto, vendita di sentenze, manipolazione di appalti, corruzione elettorale, sequestro di persona, frode, intimidazione, tortura, omicidio. Di fronte, una giuria sempre più attonita; attorno, un pubblico sempre più infiammato.
Si tratta della prima delle Verrine, assurte poi a modello oratorio di ogni tempo. Quale lavoro d’inchiesta aveva reso possibile quella spettacolare accusa, capace d’intrattenere il popolo romano per giorni? Le imputazioni erano reali o si trattò invece di un processo politico?
Seguiamo passo dopo passo Cicerone, instancabile, tenace ma non certo candido raccoglitore di prove e orchestratore di testimonianze.