Roman Political Culture Seven Studies of the Senate and City Councils of Italy from the First to the Sixth Century AD

by Tacoma, Laurens E.

• ISBN13: 9780198850809
• ISBN10: 0198850808
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2020-05-18
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Author Biography

Laurens E. Tacoma, Lecturer in Ancient History, Leiden University

Laurens E. Tacoma is Lecturer in Ancient History at Leiden University. His research and teaching interests centre on the field of Roman social history and he has published on the urban elites of Roman Egypt, social and economic relations, Roman migration and mobility, and Roman political culture.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
List of Tables
0. Introduction
1. The End of Politics
2. Beyond Politics
3. The Hole at the Centre
4. The Concept of Political Culture
5. Researching Roman Political Culture
6. Seven Major Characteristics
1. Debating Space
1. The View from Heaven
2. Divus Claudius
3. Undeifying Claudius
4. 'To See Everyone in Toga'
5. Claudius the Stranger
6. Debating Debates
2. The Constraints of Patronage
1. Beyond Democracy
2. The Programmata
3. The Rules of the Game
4. The Supporters
5. The Candidates
6. Inscribing Competition
3. Making Fun of Elections
1. Election Jokes
2. Canvassing in Pliny
3. Locating the Present in the Ciceronian Past
4. Voting, Past and Present
5. The Emperor in the Curia
6. Texts with a Straight Face
4. Shouting Down the Dead
1. Speaking in Capitals
2. Claiming Authenticity
3. Commodus the Madman
4. Battle Stories
5. Acclaiming Anomy
6. The Dynamics of Damnatio
5. The Economy of Favours
1. Constantine's Rescript to Hispellum
2. Petition and Response
3. Defining the City
4. Urban Hierarchies
5. Social Expectations
6. Draining Resources
1. Draining the Pontine Marshes
2. Cassiodorus' Variae
3. Cassiodorus and Theoderic
4. Senate and Ruler
5. The Inscriptions from the Via Appia
6. Change and Transformation
7. Scripting Politics
1. A Council Meeting in Reate
2. Documentary Practices
3. The Dynamics of Wealth
4. Elite Formation
5. Participatory Ritual
6. The End of Roman Political Culture
8. Conclusion
1. Intersections
2. Tracking Change
3. Outer Boundaries
4. Pervasiveness
5. Alternative Discourses
6. Explaining Institutional Longevity
Endmatter
Bibliography
Index of Sources
1. Literary
2. Epigraphical
3. Papyrological
4. Legal
Index of Subjects