The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire

The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire PDF

Author: Arjan Zuiderhoek

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-04-27

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 113947782X

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In the first two centuries AD, the eastern Roman provinces experienced a proliferation of elite public generosity unmatched in their previous or later history. In this study, Arjan Zuiderhoek attempts to answer the question why this should have been so. Focusing on Roman Asia Minor, he argues that the surge in elite public giving was not caused by the weak economic and financial position of the provincial cities, as has often been maintained, but by social and political developments and tensions within the Greek cities created by their integration into the Roman imperial system. As disparities of wealth and power within imperial polis society continued to widen, the exchange of gifts for honours between elite and non-elite citizens proved an excellent political mechanism for deflecting social tensions away from open conflicts towards communal celebrations of shared citizenship and the legitimation of power in the cities.

Communal Dining in the Roman West

Communal Dining in the Roman West PDF

Author: Shanshan Wen

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2022-06-27

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 9004516875

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Communal Dining in in the Roman West explores why the practice of privately sponsored communal dining gained popularity in certain parts of the Western Roman Empire for almost 300 years. This book brings together 350 Latin inscriptions to examine the benefactors and beneficiaries, the geographical and chronological distributions, and the relationship between public and collegial dining practices. It argues that food-related euergetism was a region-specific phenomenon which was rooted in specific social and political cultures in the communities of Italy, Baetica and Africa Proconsularis. The region-specific differences in political cultures and long-term changes in these cultures are key to understanding not only the long persistence of this practice but also its ultimate disappearance.

The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome

The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome PDF

Author: Catharine Edwards

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2002-05-09

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 9780521893893

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The decadence and depravity of the ancient Romans are a commonplace of serious history, popular novels and spectacular films. This book is concerned not with the question of how immoral the ancient Romans were but why the literature they produced is so preoccupied with immorality. The modern image of immoral Rome derives from ancient accounts which are largely critical rather than celebratory. Upper-class Romans habitually accused one another of the most lurid sexual and sumptuary improprieties. Historians and moralists lamented the vices of their contemporaries and mourned for the virtues of a vanished age. Far from being empty commonplaces these assertions constituted a powerful discourse through which Romans negotiated conflicts and tensions in their social and political order. This study proceeds by a detailed examination of a wide range of ancient texts (all of which are translated) exploring the dynamics of their rhetoric, as well as the ends to which they were deployed. Roman moralising discourse, the author suggests, may be seen as especially concerned with the articulation of anxieties about gender, social status and political power. Individual chapters focus on adultery, effeminacy, the immorality of the Roman theatre, luxurious buildings and the dangers of pleasure. This book should appeal to students and scholars of classical literature and ancient history. It will also attract anthropologists and social and cultural historians.

'Bread and Circuses'

'Bread and Circuses' PDF

Author: Tim Cornell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-06-29

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 1134756321

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Cities in the ancient world relied on private generosity to provide many basic amenities. This collection of essays by leading scholars explores the important phenomenon of benefaction and public patronage in Roman Italy.

Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire

Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire PDF

Author: Mary T. Boatwright

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-06-05

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0691187215

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Cities throughout the Roman Empire flourished during the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), a phenomenon that not only strengthened and legitimized Roman dominion over its possessions but also revealed Hadrian as a masterful negotiator of power relationships. In this comprehensive investigation into the vibrant urban life that existed under Hadrian's rule, Mary T. Boatwright focuses on the emperor's direct interactions with Rome's cities, exploring the many benefactions for which he was celebrated on coins and in literary works and inscriptions. Although such evidence is often as imprecise as it is laudatory, its collective analysis, undertaken for the first time together with all other related material, reveals that over 130 cities received at least one benefaction directly from Hadrian. The benefactions, mediated by members of the empire's municipal elite, touched all aspects of urban life; they included imperial patronage of temples and hero tombs, engineering projects, promotion of athletic and cultural competitions, settlement of boundary disputes, and remission of taxes. Even as he manifested imperial benevolence, Hadrian reaffirmed the self-sufficiency and traditions of cities from Spain to Syria, the major exception being his harsh treatment of Jerusalem, which sparked the Third Jewish Revolt. Overall, the assembled evidence points to Hadrian's recognition of imperial munificence to cities as essential to the peace and prosperity of the empire. Boatwright's treatment of Hadrian and Rome's cities is unique in that it encompasses events throughout the empire, drawing insights from archaeology and art history as well as literature, economy, and religion.

Benefactors and the Polis

Benefactors and the Polis PDF

Author: Marc Domingo Gygax

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-02-18

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 1108842054

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Analyses elite public generosity as a structural feature of the polis throughout all periods of ancient Greek history.

The Origin and Meaning of Ekklēsia in the Early Jesus Movement

The Origin and Meaning of Ekklēsia in the Early Jesus Movement PDF

Author: Ralph J. Korner

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-06-06

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 9004344993

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In The Origin and Meaning of Ekklēsia in the Early Jesus Movement, Ralph J. Korner explores the ideological implications of Christ-follower associations self-designating collectively as ekklēsiai. Politically, Korner’s inscriptional research suggests that an association named ekklēsia would have been perceived as a positive, rather than as a counter-imperial, participant within Imperial Greek cities. Socio-religiously, Korner argues that there was no universal ekklēsia to which all first generation Christ-followers belonged; ekklēsia was a permanent group designation used by Paul’s associations. Ethno-religiously, Korner contends that ekklēsia usage by intra muros groups within pluriform Second Temple Judaism problematizes suggestions, not least at the institutional level, that Paul was “parting ways” with Judaism(s), ‘Jewishness’, or Jewish organizational forms.

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