DOCSLIB.ORG

Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past 284 | EVE D’AMBRA Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past. Edited by Jenifer Neils and John H. Oakley (New Haven, Yale Univer- sity Press, 2003) 333 pp. $65.00 cloth $40.00 paper Coming of Age in Ancient Greece is the catalog accompanying the exhibi- tion of the same name (originating at the Hood Museum of Art, Dart- mouth College). As an exhibition catalog, however, it goes beyond the narrow conªnes of the genre usually focused only on the works of art, their provenance, and styles. Although most current art-historical and Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/jinh/article-pdf/35/2/284/1696650/0022195041741996.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 archaeological research aims to contextualize its subjects or ªndings, the editors of this volume have also looked to the intellectual history of their venture, the sweeping twentieth-century project to recover the private lives of people in the past (the title consciously echoes Margaret Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa [New York, 1928]; Phillipe Ariès, L’enfant et la vie familale sous l’ancien régime [Paris, 1960], also receives due recognition). The subject of childhood, by necessity, entails discussion of the structures of social life, the family, religion, and the state. Yet scholars of classical antiquity have often lingered on the images of ideal youth—for example, the glorious horseman on the Parthenon frieze—while passing over the grim realities of abandoned newborns, who were fortunate if they were rescued from the dung heaps to be taken as slaves. The edi- tors’ contribution lies in the breadth and depth of their inquiry. The in- clusion of an essay by Jill Korbin on not exclusively contemporary con- cerns, such as the deªnition of childhood and children’s agency, is bold for a ªeld in which interdisciplinary studies tend to range from Greek archaeology to Greek literature. The elegance and familiarity of Greek art encourages modern view- ers to identify with the citizens of the Greek polis and assume a cross sec- tion of basic values, including the raising and care of maidens and ephebes. The selection of artworks—mostly small objects (ªgurines, vases, and toys, along with several larger funerary reliefs and statues) from North American museums—deserves a wider audience. Some vases from European collections ªll in the gaps. The catalog is organized into themes, such as myth, the household, education, play, ritual, and the transition to adulthood, which also ªgure prominently in the volume’s conceptualization of childhood. The essays, however, reveal how re- mote and strange the Greeks could be in the sixth and ªfth centuries b.c.e.: For example, the practice of initiating elite youth into adulthood through homoerotic courtships in the gymnasium and the conºation of marriage and death in girls’ rites of passage run counter to the current orthodoxy of socializing young adults in most Western societies. Written by established scholars in the ªeld (including Mark Golden, Helene Foley, and Alan Shapiro), the essays explore not only family re- lationships and hierarchies but also the myths and rituals that gave shape to the social realities of children from infancy to adolescence. Greek myth, in particular, is rich in the peculiar pathology of families with dis- REVIEWS | 285 tant fathers, frustrated wives, conºicts between generations, and off- spring born directly into adulthood. Several essays move effortlessly be- tween discussions of literary passages and analyses of visual imagery, even when the texts and painted vases offer different views, thus sharpening the thematic discussions and illustrating the point of the methodology. Although focusing mostly on Athens, the authors make comparisons with Sparta (Jeremy Rutter’s essay on the prehistoric Aegean also takes regional variations into account). Coming of Age in Ancient Greece makes a valuable contribution to the Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/jinh/article-pdf/35/2/284/1696650/0022195041741996.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 growing scholarship on children and the family in the classical world. Its insistence on the importance of visual culture—the ªgurative arts as well as the material culture of toys and domestic utensils—is borne out in this handsome and worthy volume. Eve D’Ambra Vassar College Problematics of Military Power: Government, Discipline and the Subject of Vio- lence. By Michael S. Drake (Portland, Oreg., Frank Cass, 2001) 355 pp. $54.50 Drake analyzes state control of violence from the ancient to the premodern periods. He observes four distinct phases—the classical, end- ing with the fall of the Roman empire in the west; the “medieval,” which extends from the Carolingian period the outbreak of the Hun- dred Years’ War, which is the gateway to the late medieval stage of vio- lence; and the modern, which begins with the adventures of the late ªfteenth-century dukes of Burgundy. The ancient world is the period of the hoplite (we shall let pass the point that neither the Roman legionary nor the Macedonian phalangite, the two most successful varieties of infantryman in the ancient world, were hoplites). For Drake, the rise of the hoplite distributed control of violence from an aristocratic elite to a larger population, necessitating a change in the social order that gave greater power to the common peo- ple. At Rome, this move took place through the so-called secessio plebis of 494 b.c. In the late republic, however, recruitment from increasingly lower economic status transformed the army into an instrument of aris- tocratic patronage. The process was completed when Julius Caesar used the authority granted him by the senate to reconstitute the command structure of the army as an independent authority, reforming plebeian military service so that it was subject to his patronage alone, to lay the foundation of the Roman monarchy. Drake explains the fall of the Roman empire in the west as the re- sult of barbarians taking over “its military administration by default through their provision of military service” (81). Thus did they impose a new Germanic order, which, for Drake, is simply deªned as Frankish. One of the keys to understanding this new society is the institution of.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Public Construction, Labor, and Society at Middle Republican Rome, 390-168 B.C
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2012 Men at Work: Public Construction, Labor, and Society at Middle Republican Rome, 390-168 B.C. Seth G. Bernard University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, and the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Bernard, Seth G., "Men at Work: Public Construction, Labor, and Society at Middle Republican Rome, 390-168 B.C." (2012). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 492. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/492 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/492 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Men at Work: Public Construction, Labor, and Society at Middle Republican Rome, 390-168 B.C. Abstract MEN AT WORK: PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION, LABOR, AND SOCIETY AT MID-REPUBLICAN ROME, 390-168 B.C. Seth G. Bernard C. Brian Rose, Supervisor of Dissertation This dissertation investigates how Rome organized and paid for the considerable amount of labor that went into the physical transformation of the Middle Republican city. In particular, it considers the role played by the cost of public construction in the socioeconomic history of the period, here defined as 390 to 168 B.C. During the Middle Republic period, Rome expanded its dominion first over Italy and then over the Mediterranean. As it developed into the political and economic capital of its world, the city itself went through transformative change, recognizable in a great deal of new public infrastructure.
    [Show full text]
  • Due April 15
    UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3sp0w5c4 Author Larsen, Mik Robert Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Mik R Larsen 2015 © Copyright by Mik R Larsen 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire by Mik R Larsen Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Ronald J. Mellor, Chair This dissertation investigates the cultural imagination of Roman elites regarding poverty in their society – how it was defined, how traditional and accepted images of poverty were deployed for rhetorical effect, and in what way elite attitudes toward poverty evolved over the course of the first century and a half under the Empire. It contends that the Roman conception of poverty was as a disordered discourse involving multiple competing definitions which frequently overlapped in practice. It argues that the inherent contradictions in Roman thought about poverty were rarely addressed or acknowledged by authors during this period. The Introduction summarizes scholarly approaches toward Roman perceptions of poverty and offers a set of definitions which describe the variant images of poverty in elite texts. The first chapter addresses poverty’s role in the histories of Livy, and the ways in which his presentation of poverty diverge from his assertion that the loss of paupertas was key to the decline of the Roman state.
    [Show full text]
  • Tribuni Plebis and the End of the Roman Republic
    Promotor Prof. Dr. Andries Johan Zuiderhoek Vakgroep Geschiedenis Decaan Prof. dr. Marc Boone Rector Prof. dr. Anne De Paepe Faculteit Letteren & Wijsbegeerte Loonis Logghe The tribuni plebis and the end of the Roman Republic Proefschrift voorgelegd tot het behalen van de graad van Doctor in Geschiedenis 2016 List of Abbreviations C Clark, Albert Curtis, ed. Q. Asconii Pediani orationum Ciceronis quinque enarratio. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1907. CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, 17 vols. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1853-. F Flemisch, Michael, ed. Grani Liciniani quae supersunt. Leipzig: Teubner, 1904. FGrH Jacoby, Felix, ed. Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, 19 vols. Berlin: Weidmann, 1923-26; Leiden: Brill, 1940-99. ILS Dessau, Hermann, ed. Inscriptiones Latinae Selecae, 3 vols. Berlin: Weidmann, 1892-1916. Inscr. It. Degrassi, Attilio, ed. Inscriptiones Italiae, 13 vols. Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1937-86. MRR Broughton, T. Robert S. The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 3 vols. New York: American Philological Association, 1951- 86. RE Wissowa, Georg et alii, eds. Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, 34 vols., 15 suppls. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 1894-1980. RRC Crawford, Michael H. Roman Republican Coinage, 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974. Stangl Stangl, Thomas, ed. Ciceronis Orationum Scholiastae. Leipzig: Freitag, 1912. v List of Figures Figure 1 Simplified schematic representation of contention ...................................... 38 vii Table of Contents Introduction 1 The tribuni
    [Show full text]
  • LATIJNSE EPIGRAFISCHE POËZIE UIT DE REPUBLIEK Repertorium, Vertaling En Studie
    Vrije Universiteit Brussel Faculteit Letteren En Wijsbegeerte Taal- en Letterkunde: Latijn – Grieks LATIJNSE EPIGRAFISCHE POËZIE UIT DE REPUBLIEK Repertorium, vertaling en studie door Wouter Keuleers Promotor: Prof. Dr. Dorothy Pikhaus Eindverhandeling ingediend tot het behalen van de graad van licentiaat in de taal- en letterkunde: Latijn – Grieks Academiejaar 2002-2003 VOORWOORD De klassieke filologie is een studie die voor een groot deel nog steeds gericht is op een romantisch en een heroïsch ideaal. We lezen Homeros, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Herodotos, Plato en Aristoteles. We lezen Cicero, Caesar, Vergilius, Ovidius, Livius en Ta- citus. We staan in bewondering voor de schitterende prestaties in de filosofie en de weten- schappen van de antieke mens, en hun kunstwerken roepen bij ons het beeld op van een groots verleden. Maar wat leert ons dat over de leefwereld van de kleine man? Mijn interesse voor de Carmina Latina Epigraphica, die uiteindelijk geresulteerd heeft in deze thesis, is ontstaan uit nieuwsgierigheid naar de kleine literatuur en naar de poëzie van de gewone mens uit de Oud- heid. Tevens zou ik hierbij graag mijn dank uitdrukken aan mijn promotor Professor Dorothy Pikhaus, aan wie ik veel verschuldigd ben. Ze heeft me met raad en daad geholpen bij de uitwerking van deze thesis. Haar ervaring, haar adviezen en haar eigen belangstelling voor het onderwerp waren voor mij een grote steun. Haar hulp bij de correcties, haar praktische tips en de tijd die ze er zelf aan besteedde, hebben dit werk in de goede banen geleid. Bovendien mocht ik ook probleemloos gebruik maken van haar eigen literatuur en bibliografie.
    [Show full text]
  • 03-AK2 A130-16 Pieper Layout 1
    RhM 159 (2016) 156–190 MENENIUS AGRIPPA ALS EXEMPLUM FÜR DIE FRÜHE RÖMISCHE BEREDSAMKEIT Eine historische Spurensuche* 1. Menenius Agrippa orator? Menenius Agrippa, der durch seine berühmte Fabel vom Staat als menschlichem Körper das römische Volk mit der Aristokratie versöhnt haben und dadurch das Auseinanderbrechen der frisch entstandenen römischen Republik verhindert haben soll, wurde im 20. Jahrhundert vor allem als demagogischer Redner rezipiert. Er konnte geradezu als Symbol für die politische Dichotomie zwi- schen Kommunismus und Nationalsozialismus eingesetzt werden. So machte auf der einen Seite der marxistische Philosoph Ernst Bloch in einem Essay des Jahres 1936 Menenius Agrippa zu einem Demagogen und „Schwadroneur“. Als Erfinder der Soziallüge fungierte Menenius für Bloch als Sinnbild der Unterdrückung der Arbeiterklasse, wie in der prägnanten Formulierung „der älteste Sozial-Goebbels“ besonders deutlich wird.1 Auf der anderen Seite beschrieb der Publizistikwissenschaftler Emil Dovifat in einem Büchlein mit dem Titel Rede und Redner von 1937 Menenius Agrippa als einen „wahrhaft volkstümliche[n] Redner“, was in Do- vifats Argumentation ein uneingeschränktes Kompliment darstellt: Die Kategorie der Volkstümlichkeit wird zur Grundlage guter Rhetorik stilisiert, die ihren glanzvollen historischen Zielpunkt in Mussolini und Hitler erreicht habe.2 *) Der Artikel geht auf einen Vortrag zurück, den ich beim niederländischen Latinistentag 2014 an der Universität Nijmegen gehalten habe. Dem dortigen Pu- blikum, v.a. Diederik Burgersdijk (Nijmegen) und Rodie Risselada (Amsterdam), danke ich für konstruktive Kritik. Auch der Leidener Arbeitsgruppe Rhetorik bin ich für manche Hinweise dankbar. Stephanos Matthaios (Thessaloniki) hat dan- kenswerterweise den Beitrag gründlich gelesen und viele hilfreiche Verbesserungs- vorschläge gemacht. Meine Forschung wurde ermöglicht durch ein VENI-Stipen- dium der Nederlands Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek.
    [Show full text]
  • 2012 Harvard Certamen Intermediate Division Round One
    2012 HARVARD CERTAMEN INTERMEDIATE DIVISION ROUND ONE 1) Welcome to the Harvard 2012 Invitational Certamen, level two, round one! We hope that you all have a good time in Cambridge. On that subject, please listen to the following passage, written by as if by a grumpy MIT student, and answer in English the questions that follow: Quādam in urbe sunt plūrimae ūniversitātēs. Est magnum flūmen quod per urbem fluit. Sunt iuxtā duae scholae praeclārae, altera artibus līberālibus, altera physicae praestāns. In autumnō, saepe pluit, igitur ibi habitāre discīpulīs nōn placet. Tamen cum ningat, discīpulī gaudeant. Question: Why don’t the students like to live in the city in the fall? IT RAINS OFTEN Bonus 1: Where within the city are thse two schools located? NEAR THE RIVER Bonus 2: According to this hypothetical MIT student, what is the difference between these two well-known schools? ONE EXCELS IN LIBERAL ARTS, THE OTHER IN PHYSICS 2) We all know that Rome is the city of sevel hills. On which did Romulus first found it? PALATINE Bonus 1: On which hill had Remus tried to found his city? AVENTINE Bonus 2: What English word for a place political power might reside is derived from the word “Palatine”? PALACE 3) Translate the following sentence into Latin using the adjective tūtus, -a, -um to mean “safe”: “Do you believe that our soldiers are safe?” CRĒDISNE NOSTRŌS MĪLITĒS TŪTŌS ESSE? Bonus 1: Now translate this sentence: “We never heard that the entire legion had been captured.” NUMQUAM AUDĪVIMUS TŌTAM LEGIŌNEM CAPTAM ESSE. Bonus 2: Translate this sentence using a deponent verb: “I think that the commander of the legion will escape soon.” ARBITROR DUCEM/IMPERATŌREM LEGIŌNIS MOX FUGITŪRUM ESSE.
    [Show full text]
  • Vorlesung Zur Römischen Rechtsgeschichte (29
    Vorlesung zur Römischen Rechtsgeschichte (29. Oktober 2007) Spekulationen über die frühe Geschichte Roms – Anfänge, Königtum und Entstehung der Republik Sérgio Fernandes Fortunato, Ref. jur. Überblick über die Vorlesungsstunde I. Quellenlage und Methoden II. Römische Frühgeschichte 1. Anfänge bis zur Stadtgründung 2. Etruskische Herrschaft und Königtum Verfassung der Königszeit, Königtum, Senat und Volksversammlung 3. Ende der Königsherrschaft und die frühe Republik Ständekämpfe, Verfassung der Republik, Ausdehnung des römischen Einflusses III. Betrachtung der frühen Rechtsquellen 1. Die Trichotomie: ius – fas – lex 2. Erster Überblick zur 12-Tafel-Gesetzgebung 2 Sérgio Fernandes Fortunato, Ref. jur. Quellenlage und Methoden – Aussagen in der Literatur – z „...ungünstige Quellenlage...“ Kaser (1967), S. 19. z „Die Anfänge Roms gehören zu den schlechtbelichteten Provinzen der Alten Geschichte.“ Wieacker, Bd. 1,1 (1988), S. 185. z „Die Anfänge dieser Tibersiedlung sind in sagenhaftes Dunkel gehüllt.“ Waldstein/Rainer (2005), S. 17. z „Der Historiker, der sich mit der Geschichte der frühen römischen Republik beschäftigt, muß sich stets im klaren sein, daß er ein sehr unsicheres Gebiet betritt. Die Quellen, soweit es sich nicht um archäologische handelt, stammen durchweg aus einer späteren Zeit und bieten überdies den historischen Stoff mit Legenden durchsetzt und von Erfindungen entstellt.“ RWerner, Der Beginn der römischen Republik (1963), Vorwort. 3 Sérgio Fernandes Fortunato, Ref. jur. Quellenlage und Methoden – Quellenüberblick – 1. Römische Geschichtsschreibung zur augustinischen Zeiten Titus Livius (59 v.Chr.-17 n.Chr.), Ab urbe condita libri CXLII. z Umfassende römische Geschichte von der Gründung Roms (753 v.Chr.) bis zum Tode des Drusus (9 v.Chr.). z Von ursprünglich 142 Büchern, heute nur Bücher 1-10 und 21-45 erhalten.
    [Show full text]
  • Mystical Rome V 2.0- July Release Morra Universal Cinematic Game System Contents Chapter Eight: Genre: Mystical Rome
    Mystical Rome V 2.0- July Release Morra Universal Cinematic Game System Contents Chapter Eight: Genre: Mystical Rome ................................................................ 4 Mystical Rome Credits .................................................................................... 5 Target Audience ............................................................................................ 5 Rating and Descriptors: R ............................................................................... 5 Mystical Rome Inspiration ............................................................................... 6 Mystical Rome Budget .................................................................................... 7 Mystical Rome Archetypes ............................................................................... 7 Artisan .................................................................................................... 7 Barbarian ................................................................................................. 9 Bureaucrat ..............................................................................................10 Clergy ....................................................................................................11 Criminal ..................................................................................................12 Druid ......................................................................................................13 Gladiator .................................................................................................14
    [Show full text]
  • Der Dezemvirat in Sage Und Geschichte
    I. Der Dezemvirat in Sage und Geschichte. Von Professor Dr. W. Soltau in Zabern (Elsaß). Die Erzählungen von der schlimmen Lage und Ver- schuldung der Plebs, von der römischen Gesandtschaft nach Athen 452 v. Chr., von den guten Gesetzgebern 451, welche das römische Landrecht in X Tafeln zusammenstellten, und weiter von den tyrannischen Dezemvirn, welche, die plebeji- schen Freiheiten nicht achtend, die jungfräuliche Virginia für eine Sklavin eines Klienten des Dezemvirs Appius Clau- dius erklärten und deren Vater sie töten mußte, um sie nicht entehren zu lassen, endlich die zweite secessio plebis und der Sturz des Dezemvirats durch die braven Optimaten Valerius und Horatius. — Das sind Geschichten, das ist keine Geschichte. Alles dieses ist so sehr dem Unglauben moderner Forscher be- gegnet, daß die ganze Gesetzgebung der XII Tafeln von ihnen in eine viel spätere Zeit verlegt, der Dezemvirat als Gebilde der Sage aus der Geschichte verwiesen worden ist. Bekannt ist, daß die ζ. T. geschickten Versuche, dies zu erweisen — namentlich von E. Lambert (l'histoire tra- ditionelle des XII tables), von Ettore Pais (studi storici), J. E. Hoekstra (de decemviri en hun wetgewing) — nicht gelungen sind. Wenn namentlich schon durch Flavius oder bald nach ihm eine Rekonstruktion der älteren römischen Geschichte in der Pontifikalchronik erfolgt ist1), so ist es ausgeschlossen, Soltau, Die Anfänge der römischen Geschichtschreibung 99f. Zeitschrift für Kechtsgesohiohte XXXVIII. Rom. Abt. 1 Brought to you by | New York University Bobst Library Technical Services Authenticated Download Date | 7/7/15 1:30 PM 2 W. Soltau, daß die Hauptepochen der Geschichte der voraufgehenden, zwei Jahrhunderte einfach erfunden sein sollten.1) Die Hauptgründe, welche die genannten Forscher gegen sie vorgebracht haben, sind jedenfalls bereits widerlegt.
    [Show full text]
  • Downloaded from ORCA, Cardiff University's Institutional Repository
    This is an Open Access document downloaded from ORCA, Cardiff University's institutional repository: http://orca.cf.ac.uk/106471/ This is the author’s version of a work that was submitted to / accepted for publication. Citation for final published version: Bradley, Guy 2017. Mobility and secession in the Early Roman Republic. Antichthon 51 , pp. 149- 171. 10.1017/ann.2017.10 file Publishers page: https://doi.org/10.1017/ann.2017.10 <https://doi.org/10.1017/ann.2017.10> Please note: Changes made as a result of publishing processes such as copy-editing, formatting and page numbers may not be reflected in this version. For the definitive version of this publication, please refer to the published source. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite this paper. This version is being made available in accordance with publisher policies. See http://orca.cf.ac.uk/policies.html for usage policies. Copyright and moral rights for publications made available in ORCA are retained by the copyright holders. 1 Mobility and Secession in the Early Roman Republic1 ABSTRACT One consequence of the globalisation of the modern world in recent years has been to focus historical interest on human migration and movement. Sociologists and historians have argued that mobility is much more characteristic of past historical eras than we might expect given our modern nationalistic perspectives. This paper aims to contribute to this subject by surveying some of the evidence for mobility in central Italy, and by examining its implications for early Rome. I will focus primarily on the plebeian movement, which is normally seen in terms of an internal political dispute.
    [Show full text]
  • Shock and Awe: Battles of the Gods in Rome
    L’ARMÉE ROMAINE ET LA RELIGION SOUS LE HAUT-EMPIRE ROMAIN Rassemblés et édités par Catherine Wolff avec la collaboration de Yann Le Bohec Actes du quatrième Congrès de Lyon (26-28 octobre 2006) Lyon, 2009 Diffusion Libraire De Boccard 11, rue Médicis Paris 2 N.B. This pdf of the original manuscript marks page breaks of the published version (pp.225- 267) in bold in double brackets. Efforts to reproduce the layout of the published version have not been successful. 3 Shock And Awe: Battles Of The Gods In Roman Imperial Warfare, Part I Everett L. Wheeler As Titus entered the Temple at Jerusalem in September 70 A.D., Josephus has the later emperor marvel: “With god’s help we waged war. And god was the one who took the Jews down from those fortifications, since what can the hands of men or siege-machines do against those towers?”1 Two centuries later, when bands of Juthungi and Marcomanni threatened Italy, the Historia Augusta records that Aurelian urged the Senate by letter to consult the Sibylline Books: “for it is not inglorious to win when the gods provide aid. Among our ancestors many wars were ended in this way and likewise begun.”2 Scholar in residence, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0103, USA and Adjunct Professor of Latin, Meredith College, Raleigh, NC 27607-5298. 1 Jos. BJ 6.411; cf. 6.399, 401; note also Liv. 26.48.3 on divine aid in Scipio Africanus Maior’s capture of Carthago Nova. The following short titles will be used: Ankersdorfer = H.
    [Show full text]
  • The Making of Plebeian Secessions in Roman Historiography A
    2018 ВЕСТНИК САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА Т. 63. Вып. 3 ИСТОРИЯ ВСЕОБЩАЯ ИСТОРИЯ The Making of Plebeian Secessions in Roman Historiography A. V. Koptev For citation: Koptev A. V. The Making of Plebeian Secessions in Roman Historiography.Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. History, 2018, vol. 63, issue 3, pp. 823–844. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/ spbu02.2018.310 The early two centuries of the Roman Republic were filled with conflicts between the patri- cians and the plebeians. From 494 BC onwards, the Roman plebs used several social crises to force the patrician Senate to satisfy their demands, withdrawing from Rome to a sacred mount. The secessio plebis has been considered in scholarship a revolutionary movement of the people. However, the dissonance between the objectives declared by the plebeians and the obtained results of the secessions suggests that the idea of secessio may have originated in the later republican historiography. The mons sacer to which the plebeians temporary resettled is identified with the Alban Mount rather than with an unknown mountain in the Sabine country. A prototype of the plebeian withdrawal from Rome was the annual celebration of the Feriae Latinae, during which newly elected consuls accompanied by soldiers and large masses of people visited the sanctuaries of Jupiter on the Alban Mount. The pontifical chronicles also recorded withdrawals of plebeians for the establishment of a new settlement or a tribe. The foundation of a tribe or a colony in Latium required a consultation with Jupiter Latiaris on the Alban Mount, but the same act outside Latium did not need an approval of the deity.
    [Show full text]