Official Power and Local Elites in the Roman Provinces

Presenting a new and revealing overview of the ruling classes of the Roman Empire, this volume explores aspects of the relations between the official state structures of Rome and local provincial elites. The central objective of the volume is to present as complex a picture as possible of the provincial leaderships and their many and varied responses to the official state structures. The perspectives from which issues are approached by the contributors are as multiple as the realities of the Roman world: from historical and epigraphic studies to research of philological and linguistic interpretations, and from architectural analyses to direct interpretations of the material culture. While some local potentates took pride in their relationship with Rome and their use of Latin, exhibiting their allegiances publically as well as privately, others preferred to keep this display solely for public manifestation. These complex and complementary pieces of research provide an in-depth image of the power mechanisms within the Roman state. The chronological span of the volume is from Rome's Republican conquest of Greece to the changing world of the 4th and 5th centuries AD, when a new ecclesiastical elite began to emerge.

Autorentext

Rada Varga is Junior Researcher at Babe -Bolyai University, Romania, and holds a PhD in Ancient History (awarded in 2012, summa cum laude). Her scholarly interests are focused on Roman social history, epigraphy and demography. She has a particular interest in digital epigraphy and ancient population reconstruction/prosopography.

Viorica Rusu-Bolinde is Senior Researcher at the National History Museum of Transylvania, Romania. She holds a PhD in Ancient History (awarded in 2001) and her main scholarly interests are centred on the economic life of the Lower Danube provinces. Her book Ceramica romana de la Napoca received the Romanian Academy's Excellence Prize in 2007.

Inhalt

List of figuresNotes on contributorsPrefaceI. Local elites in West Roman Greece: the evidence from?Thesprotia and Preveza (Ourania Palli, Georgios Riginos, Vasiliki Lamprou)I.1. The historical contextI. 2. The passage to Roman rule and the composition of local elitesI. 3. The spread of villa culture in Western EpirusI. 4. The testimony of grave architectureI. 5. DiscussionI. 6. ReferencesII. Collective mentality and ???????: ruling classes in the Eastern provinces in literature, linguistics and epigraphy. A vademecum for the politician. (Francesca Zaccaro)II. 1. A turning point for the Roman Empire's collective mentality: between first and 2nd century BCII. 2. ??????? before Empire: the case of oratory ageII. 3. The imperial shift: the case of Plutarch's writings as a vedemecum of the politicianII. 4. The politician between city and familyII. 5. ReferencesIII. Roman State Structures and the Provincial Elite in Republican Iberia (Benedict Lowe)III. 1. Magistrates as patronsIII. 2. Patrons and communitiesIII. 3. The granting of citizenshipIII. 4. HospitiumIII. 5. ConclusionsIII. 6. ReferencesIV. Routes of Resistance to Integration: Alpine Reactions to Roman Power (Hannah Cornwell)IV. 1. Introductory ideasIV. 2. The Geopolitics of the Western AlpsIV. 3. Routes and road-buildingIV. 4. Resistance and integration in the Cottian AlpsIV. 5. ConclusionsIV. 6. ReferencesV. The Futility of Revolt: Pausanias on local myths of freedom and rebellion (Lydia Langerwerf)V. 1. Pausanias Periegetes?V. 2. The Fall of the Achaean LeagueV. 3. The Rise of the