JACT Teachers’ Notes AH4 / F394 – Roman History Option 3. Ruling the Roman Empire AD 14-117 Teachers’ notes by Penelope J. Goodman and Zahra Newby Contents: 1. BOOKS AND RESOURCES General works 2 More specialist volumes 3 2. INTRODUCTION TO THE SOURCES Suetonius 6 Pliny the Younger 7 LACTOR 8 – Inscriptions of the Roman Empire 9 LACTOR 15 – Dio: the Julio-Claudians 10 LACTOR 18 – The High Tide of Empire 12 3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The empire 14 The emperor and the principate 15 4. THEMATIC NOTES 4.1 MECHANISMS OF GOVERNMENT The emperor and the provinces 20 Provincial taxation 21 Senators in government and administration 22 Equestrians in government and administration 27 Imperial freedmen in government and administration 28 Local government 29 The role of the army 31 Frontier and defence policies 32 4.2 PROVINCIAL RESPONSES TO ROMAN RULE The issue of ‘Romanisation’ 34 Provincial rebellions 37 Displays of loyalty 39 4.3 LIFE IN THE PROVINCES Regional identities 42 Economics 44 The image of the emperor 46 The imperial cult 48 - 1 - JACT Teachers’ Notes 1. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Only secondary material is covered here – for primary sources, see Introduction to the Sources, below p. 6. General works: Garnsey P. & Saller, R. The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture (Duckworth, 1987) This is a standard study of the workings of the Roman empire, divided into four sections on administration, the economy, society and religion. It is useful, but the thinking now seems slightly outdated – the authors place more emphasis on the Roman state as a dominant and even coercive power in effecting cultural change in the provinces than most scholars do today. Nonetheless there is some helpful material on the agricultural basis of the empire’s economy, and the workings of social class in the Roman world. This book has an entry on Google books (here: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uvcBZUzn82QC), but it does not seem to be possible to read any of it online. Goodman, M. The Roman World 44BC-AD180 (Routledge, 1997) A good, solid overview of the Roman empire during the core period covered in this module. This book is explicitly aimed at new-comers to the subject, and does a good job of covering the material from the ground up. The emphasis is on the operations of the Roman state and the individuals involved in the government of the empire, so that it will mainly be useful for the fourth bullet-point on the module specification – i.e. the government and administration of the empire, including senators, equestrians and the army. But it also includes useful chapters on the extent to which the empire was politically, economically or culturally unified (chs. 13-15), provincial reactions to Roman rule (ch. 16), case-studies of individual provinces (chs. 20-28) and religion (chs. 29-31). The thinking on cultural issues is not as sophisticated as Woolf 1998, but it is perfectly sound and should equip students to perform strongly on this module. Much of the book is available on Google books here: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MZ37ALMZZakC. Huskinson, J. ed. Experiencing Rome. Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman Empire (Routledge, 2000) This is an excellent and very accessible book aimed at Open University students. It is a multi-authored collection of chapters on themes such as Roman and provincial identities, Romanisation, resistance, religion, urbanism, and elite cultures. The relevance of the themes covered and the level at which they are treated make it a very useful secondary text for this module. Quite a lot of it (including a table of contents) is on Google books, here: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6p8H9HUeYrsC. I would particularly recommend chapter 1 by Janet Huskinson for getting to grips with the general issue of how the Roman state interacted with the empire and what sort of cultural - 2 - JACT Teachers’ Notes exchanges occurred between them in both directions, and chapter 9 by James Rives for understanding the religious practices of the Roman empire, including the imperial cult. More specialist volumes: These are likely to be of use primarily to teachers who wish to explore certain aspects of the topic in more depth. Romanisation and Cultural change: Hingley, R. Globalizing Roman Culture: unity, diversity and empire (Routledge: London and New York, 2005). A fresh, up-to-date and wide-ranging look at issues of cultural change in the Roman empire. Hingley reviews past interpretations of cultural change, spells out their limitations, and draws together current thinking on issues of culture, identity and their expression in the Roman world. He emphasises the flexible, changing nature of both Roman and local identities, and considers how we can make sense of both the uniformity and the diversity visible within the Roman empire. Specific topics addressed include ways of defining and articulating elite culture, education, cities and pottery. Woolf, G. Becoming Roman. The Origins of Provincial Civilisation in Gaul (Cambridge University Press, 1998) This monograph represents some of the most sophisticated current thinking on the issue of the relationship between Rome and provincial populations, via the specific case- study of Gaul. The opening chapter (‘On Romanisation’) is a particularly helpful account of scholarly debates around the issue of cultural change in the Roman empire, including discussion of what ‘culture’ actually is, whether we can identify a distinctly ‘Roman’ culture, and how we can go about exploring cultural change. As discussions of such issues go, it is fairly clear and accessible, but it may still be hard going for A-level students. Other useful chapters include ‘Urbanising the Gauls’, which discusses the change from the village culture of pre-Roman Gaul to the urbanised culture which developed under Rome; ‘Consuming Rome’, which looks at the adoption of new material goods in Roman Gaul and considers their cultural significance; and ‘Keeping faith?’, which explores changes in religious practices. Early on in the book, pp. 40-47 address the specifically economic impact of Roman rule on the region of Gaul (i.e. material which will be useful for bullet-point 2 on the module specification). Significant parts of this book are on Google books, here: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GjNaT7FMohwC Scott, S. and Webster, J. eds. Roman Imperialism and Provincial Art (Cambridge University Press, 2003) A multi-authored collection of chapters, which together take a very sophisticated approach to the creation of art in the provinces of the Roman empire, and its cultural significance. There is plenty of up-to-date scholarly debate here, but it is pitched at an primarily academic audience, and is likely to be quite difficult for A-level students to get - 3 - JACT Teachers’ Notes to grips with. The focus of the volume on art will also mean (as for Macready & Thompson 1987) that, while it can certainly provide added value for this module, it is not a top priority. A table of contents and the opening chapter are available here: http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/05926/sample/9780521805926ws.pdf. Regional Studies: Alcock, S. E. ed. The Early Roman Empire in the East (Oxbow, 1997) Like the volume by Blagg and Millett (see below) this is a collection of papers on various aspects of the cultural life of the eastern Roman empire which is likely to be of more use to teachers than students. On issue of ‘Romanisation’ see particularly Woolf’s paper which looks at the extent to which Roman rule affected the development and role of cities in the east, following on from Hellenistic developments, and compares this with the urbanisation of the Western empire under Roman rule. Issues of identity and tacit resistance to Roman rule are explored in the papers by Elsner (on religious identities, esp the role of the Ephesian Artemis) and Braund (on Hellenism in the Black Coast area). Rose’s paper on imperial portraits is useful for exploring the imperial image in the east. Blagg, T. F. C. & Millett, M. eds. The Early Roman Empire in the West (Oxbow, 1990) This is a multi-authored collection of chapters on the subject of Roman relations with the western part of the empire. Like most such collections, it includes some strong chapters and some weak ones; and also some which are very relevant to this module and some which are not. Most of the material of relevance to this module is aimed very much at established experts, and may thus be difficult for A-level students to follow. In any case, it also tends to represent quite out-of-date thinking – particularly the assumption that there was ever such a thing as a single, static and easily-identifiable ‘Roman’ culture, whose impact can easily be traced in the provinces (see notes below p. 34 on The issue of ‘Romanisation’ for the problems with this). The most useful chapters are probably: 12. ‘Urban munificence and the growth of urban consciousness in Spain’. This discusses the issues involved in using inscriptions as evidence, and focuses on the experiences of provincials living under Roman rule, and their own reasons for adopting the Roman practice of paying for urban public buildings. It will be valuable for countering the common misconception that ‘the Romans’ marched into the provinces and built cities for the grateful inhabitants. 14. ‘For better or worse? Towards an assessment of the economic and social consequences of the Roman conquest of Gaul’. This is one of the few works to focus directly on the social and economic consequences of incorporation into the empire - i.e. the second bullet-point on the module specification. Otherwise, though, the rest of this book is probably best left alone.