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Commodus-Hercules: the People’S Princeps
Commodus-Hercules: The People’s Princeps Olivier Hekster History has not been kind to Lucius Aurelius Commodus. Cassius Dio men tioned how ‘Commodus, taking a respite from his amusement and sports, turned to murder and was killing off the prominent men’, before describing the emperor as ‘superlatively mad’. The author of the fourth-century Histo ria Augusta continued the negative tradition, and summarised Commodus as being, from his earliest childhood onwards, ‘base and dishonourable, and cruel and lewd, and moreover defiled of mouth and debauched’.1 Gibbon was shocked to find that his perfect princeps, Marcus Aurelius, had left his throne to such a debased creature and commented that ‘the monstrous vices of the son have cast a shade on the purity of the father’s virtues’.2 More re cently, the latest edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary summarises Earlier versions of this paper were delivered at the ‘Bristol Myth Colloquium’ (14-16 July 1998) and the seminar Stadtkultur in der römischen Kaiserzeit at the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Rome (24-1-2000). My gratitude to the organisers for inviting me, and to all participants for their comments. Spe cial thanks go to Professors Fergus Millar, Thomas Wiedemann and Wolf Lie- beschuetz, who have kindly read earlier drafts of this article, and to Professor Luuk de Blois and Dr Stephan Mols for their help during the research upon which much of this article is based. Their comments have been of great help, as was the criticism of the editors and readers of SCI. This paper will appear, in alternative form, as part of Ο. -
Imitation of Greatness: Alexander of Macedon and His Influence on Leading Romans
Imitation of Greatness: Alexander of Macedon and His Influence on Leading Romans Thomas W Foster II, McNair Scholar The Pennsylvania State University Mark Munn, Ph.D Head, Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies College of Liberal Arts The Pennsylvania State University Abstract This paper seeks to examine the relationship between greatness and imitation in antiquity. To do so, Alexander the Great will be compared with Romans Julius Caesar and Marcus Aurelius. The question this paper tries to answer concerns leading Romans and the idea of imitating Alexander the Great and how this affected their actions. It draws upon both ancient sources and modern scholarship. It differs from both ancient and modern attempts at comparison in distinct ways, however. This paper contains elements of the following: historiography, biography, military history, political science, character study, religion and socio-cultural traditions. Special attention has been given to the socio-cultural differences of the Greco-Roman world. Comparing multiple eras allows for the establishment of credible commonalities. These commonalities can then be applied to different eras up to and including the modern. Practically, these traits allow us to link these men of antiquity, both explicitly and implicitly. Beginning with Plutarch in the 1st/2nd century CE1, a long historical tradition of comparing great men was established. Plutarch chose to compare Alexander the Great to Julius Caesar. The reasons for such a comparison are quite obvious. Both men conquered swaths of land, changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean and caused many to either love them or plot to kill them. Scholars have assessed this comparison continuously. -
University of Cincinnati
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: 11-09-2006 I, Mark Andrew Atwood, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Arts in: The Department of Classics It is entitled: Trajan’s Column: The Construction of Trajan’s Sepulcher in Urbe This work and its defense approved by: Chair: Peter van Minnen William Johnson Trajan’s Column: The Construction of Trajan’s Sepulcher in Urbe A thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Classics of the College of Arts and Sciences 2006 By MARK ANDREW ATWOOD B.A., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 2004 Committee Chair: Dr. Peter van Minnen Abstract Eutropius (8.5.2) and Dio (69.2.3) record that after Trajan’s death in A.D. 117, his cremated remains were deposited in the pedestal of his column, a fact supported by archeological evidence. The Column of Trajan was located in urbe. Burial in urbe was prohibited except in certain circumstances. Therefore, scholars will not accept the notion that Trajan overtly built his column as his sepulcher. Contrary to this opinion, I argue that Trajan did in fact build his column to serve as his sepulcher. Chapter 1 examines the extensive scholarship on Trajan’s Column. Chapter 2 provides a critical discussion of the relevant Roman laws prohibiting urban burial. Chapter 3 discusses the ritual of burial in urbe as it relates to Trajan. Chapter 4 identifies the architectural precedent for Trajan’s Column and precedent for imperial burials in urbe. -
The Roman Millennium
The Roman Millennium Written by Frank L. Holt Photographs courtesy of Frank L. Holt Collection The earnest crowds that gathered across Christian Europe 1000 years ago for "Y1K" were not the first to mark such an occasion; nor were we the second to do so on January 1, 2000. The original millennial celebration in western calendrical history reverberated across the Roman Empire in "Anno ML AUC"—otherwise known as the year AD 248, according to the later Gregorian calendar, which calculated from the birth of Jesus rather than the founding of rome. Like "Y2K" today, the Roman millennium celebration in 248 was extensive and bureaucratic, laden with official messages of inspiration and private hopes for human progress, but it took place in a world that, to its inhabitants, was far more insecure than ours, and it was masterminded by an emperor of unlikely heritage. Marcus Julius Philippus, who was known as "Philip the Arab," hailed from Arabia Trachonitis, now part of Syria. This, and the fact of his humble birth, brought him scorn from Roman aristocrats who believed, however illogically, that such provinces were inhabited solely by bandits. In fact, we know that Philip and his brother, Caius Julius Priscus, were sons of one Julius Marinus, and they were born in Shahba, a town that still exists today 100 kilometers (62 mi) east of the Sea of Galilee, and which, after Philip's accession, was renamed Philippopolis. Philip was born about 204, in the years of the Severan emperors, and both boys witnessed the growing autocracy and militarism of the Roman Empire as its rulers struggled to meet new dangers. -
ENNIUS' ANNALS Poetry and History
Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48172-4 — Ennius' Annals Edited by Cynthia Damon , Joseph Farrell Frontmatter More Information ENNIUS’ ANNALS Poetry and History In the context of recent challenges to long-standing assumptions about the nature of Ennius’ Annals and the editorial methods appro- priate to the poem’s fragmentary remains, this volume seeks to move Ennian studies forward on three axes: first, a re-evaluation of the literary and historical precedents for and building blocks of Ennius’ poem in order to revise the history of early Latin literature; second, a cross-fertilization of recent critical approaches to the fields of poetry and historiography; third, reflection on the tools and methods that will best serve future literary and historical research on the Annals and its reception. With different approaches to these broad topics, the fourteen papers in this volume illustrate how much can be said about Ennius’ poem and its place in literary history, independent of any commitment to inevitably speculative totalizing interpretations. is a Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an expert in histori- ography and an editor and translator of Latin texts. She has published on Tacitus (Histories [Cambridge, ], Agricola [], Annals []) and Caesar’s Civil War (a monograph, with Will Batstone [], an Oxford Classical Text [], and a Loeb Classical Library edition []). is a Professor in the Department of Classical Studies and M. Mark and Esther K. Watkins Professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an expert on Latin poetry who focuses on epic and related genres. -
Imperial Women and the Evolution of Succession Ideologies in the Third Century
University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School July 2020 Embodying the Empire: Imperial Women and the Evolution of Succession Ideologies in the Third Century Christina Hotalen University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons Scholar Commons Citation Hotalen, Christina, "Embodying the Empire: Imperial Women and the Evolution of Succession Ideologies in the Third Century" (2020). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/8452 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Embodying the Empire: Imperial Women and the Evolution of Succession Ideologies in the Third Century by Christina Hotalen A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Julie Langford, Ph.D. William Murray, Ph.D. Sheramy Bundrick, Ph.D. Matthew King, Ph.D. Alex Imrie, Ph.D. Date of Approval: July 2, 2020 Keywords: Numismatics, Epigraphy, Material Culture, Digital Humanities Copyright © 2020, Christina Hotalen ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is quite an understatement to say that it takes a village to write a dissertation. This was written during a global pandemic, civic unrest, and personal upheavals. However, to quote a dear friend, “non bellum, sed completum est.” I could not have ventured into and finished such a monumental undertaking, and at such a time, without my very own village. -
Sallust's Histories and Triumviral Historiography
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2012 Sallust's Histories and Triumviral Historiography Jennifer Gerrish University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Classics Commons Recommended Citation Gerrish, Jennifer, "Sallust's Histories and Triumviral Historiography" (2012). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 511. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/511 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/511 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sallust's Histories and Triumviral Historiography Abstract This dissertation explores echoes of the triumviral period in Sallust's Histories and demonstrates how, through analogical historiography, Sallust presents himself as a new type of historian whose "exempla" are flawed and morally ambiguous, and who rejects the notion of a triumphant, ascendant Rome perpetuated by the triumvirs. Just as Sallust's unusual prose style is calculated to shake his reader out of complacency and force critical engagement with the reading process, his analogical historiography requires the reader to work through multiple layers of interpretation to reach the core arguments. In the De Legibus, Cicero lamented the lack of great Roman historians, and frequently implied that he might take up the task himself. He had a clear sense of what history ought to be : encomiastic and exemplary, reflecting a conception of Roman history as a triumphant story populated by glorious protagonists. In Sallust's view, however, the novel political circumstances of the triumviral period called for a new type of historiography. To create a portrait of moral clarity is, Sallust suggests, ineffective, because Romans have been too corrupted by ambitio and avaritia to follow the good examples of the past. -
Unreliable Narration in the Historia Augusta*
libellus non tam diserte quam fideliter scriptus? Unreliable Narration in the Historia Augusta* DENNIS PAUSCH Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen I. Introduction “Ask an historian to explain something and they will usually tell you a sto- ry.”1 The general observation behind Geoffrey Roberts’ pointed comment – that every historian, if he wants to communicate historical knowledge beyond mere facts, necessarily depends on narrative means – has stimulated the intense discussion of the so-called ‘linguistic turn’ in the last decades. This paper focuses on the special case of an author, who at first glance presents and explains his story in the traditional mode of historiography – or more precisely of imperial biography –, who at the second sight, however, apparently tells his story in such a way, that the reader is not able to believe in his reports or his explanations. This applies to the so-called Historia Augusta, a collection of the lives of the Roman emperors from Hadrianus to Carinus, whose author retains his self-imposed anonymity to this day.2 Despite this anonymity, a distinctive personality pervades the work, which Syme described as a ‘rogue scholar’, who aims not so much at communicating a fixed interpretation of events, but at entertaining his readers with his version of Roman history of the last cen- ————— * I would like to thank my colleagues in Gießen, especially Vera Binder, Helmut Krasser and Peter von Möllendorff, for their various support during the development of this ar- gument as well as the anonymous referees for their criticism of the first version, which forced me to rethink and specify my thesis. -
UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations
UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Methods of Remembrance: The Images of Septimius Severus Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7zp4t1kt Author Inglis, James Dean Publication Date 2011 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Methods of Remembrance: The Images of Septimius Severus A Thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History by James Dean Inglis June 2011 Thesis Committee: Professor Michele R. Salzman, Chairperson Professor Steven Chrissanthos Professor Randolph Head Copyright by James Dean Inglis 2011 The Thesis of James Dean Inglis is approved ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements The work I have produced in this thesis is the culmination of long hours spent in conversation with many of my colleagues at the University of California Riverside. I owe a special note to Kyle McStay and Colin Whiting, both of whom helped me grapple with the questions arising from my investigations. Their eagerness to support the pursuit of academic knowledge has propelled me to complete this work. Colin's efforts to read the many versions of my conclusion alone are worthy of great appreciation. My colleague from the English department, Claire Nava, may also not be forgotten. I am gratified by her help editing my syntax. I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to Professor Michele Salzman. Her efforts to read, edit, reread, and re-edit my Thesis have opened my eyes to the idiosyncrasies that appear repeatedly in my writing. -
The Religious Legitimation of War in the Reign of Antoninus Pius*
The Religious Legitimation of War in the Reign of Antoninus Pius* André Heller Introduction Antoninus Pius (138–161) reigned twenty-three years, which makes him the lon- gest ruling emperor between Augustus and Constantine the Great. Nowadays, he is almost entirely perceived as a lacklustre figure compared to his predeces- sors and successors, though generally credited as faithful administrator of the Empire, which rejoiced in an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity under his reign. While modern scholarship recognises stagnation or regres- sion in Antoninus’ government, the ancient sources extol his foreign policy via diplomacy which guaranteed the compliance of Rome’s enemies. However, territorial gains in Britain and Germany contradict the opinion of an inactive emperor; even more puzzling are the many war-related themes on Antoninus’ coins. A close examination of the written sources, the reverses of the coins and the distance slabs of the Antonine Wall unveils a complex, though unparal- leled system how the emperor combined his need for military glory with the emphasis on the concept of just war and the invocation of the protective func- tion of the gods for Rome’s prosperity and security. Historical Setting When Trajan died in 117, the Roman Empire had reached its largest territo- rial extent after the conquest of Dacia (101–6), Armenia (114), Northern Mesopotamia (115), and the annexation of the Nabatean Kingdom (106). However, his expansionist policy overstressed the Empire’s resources due to the huge casualties in the Dacian and Parthian wars. Trajan’s successor Hadrian immediately concluded peace with the Parthians, relinquishing the Eastern conquests, as he faced the outbreak of revolts in several regions.1 Hadrian’s non-expansionist attitude, manifest through the building of walls in Britain, Germany, and Africa proconsularis, did not find favour with the senators’ * I wish to thank Krzysztof Ulanowski for inviting me to the conference. -
Robert A. KASTER December 2020 Department of Classics 141 East
Robert A. KASTER December 2020 Department of Classics 141 East Pyne Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544-5264 e-mail: [email protected] http://scholar.princeton.edu/kaster Born 6 February 1948 (New York, NY) Married (22 June 1969), with two children DEGREES A.B. ( ) Dartmouth College June 1969 summa cum laude M.A. Harvard University June 1971 Ph.D. Harvard University June 1975 (Dissertation: ) The Tradition of the Text of the “Aeneid” in the Ninth Century HONORS AND AWARDS Scholastic: Rufus Choate Scholar (Dartmouth College), 1967-69 Phi Beta Kappa, May 1968 Class of 1846 Latin Prize, June 1968 Dartmouth General Fellowship, June 1969 Professional: National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (Category A), 1980-81 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 1991-92 Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit (American Philological Association), for the book , 1991 Guardians of Language President of the American Philological Association, 1996 Visiting Fellow, Oriel College, Oxford University, 1999 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (University Teachers), 2003-04 Visitor, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, 2003-04 Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities at Princeton, 2007 American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (declined), 2008-09 Loeb Classical Library Foundation Fellowship (declined), 2008-09 R. A. Kaster Page 2 Old Dominion Professor, Princeton University Humanities Council, 2008-09 Visiting Scholar, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 2012 Fellow, -
The Scriptores Historiae Augustae with an English Translation
ffl I i I I 1 I I I I i 1 I 1 VOI M I 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I I I 1 1 I I I 1 1 1 I i i Translated i by 1 i DAVID MAGIE 1 1 i i 1 i 1 I or Historia The Scriptores HistoriaeAugustae, of Augusta, is a collection of biographies Roman emperors, heirs, and claimants from Hadrian to Numerianus (AD 117 2 84). The work, which is modelled on Sue- tonius, purports to be written by six dif- ferent authors and quotes documents and public records extensively. Since we pos- sess no continuous account of the emper- ors of the second and third centuries, the Historia Augusta has naturally attracted keen attention. In the last century it has also generated the grayest suspicions. Present opinion holds that the whole is the a ( lived in the work of single author who time of Theodosius) and contains much that is plagiarism and even downright forgerv. O J The Loeb Classical Library edition of the Historia Augusta is in three volumes. NY PUBLIC LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES August t.nii 99023 3 3333 13099 9598 vol .3 MM The New^brk Public Library Aster. Lenox and Tilden Foundations The Branch Libraries MID-MANHATTAN LIBRARY MM 455 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10016 H5 Books and non-print media may be returned to any branch of The New York Public Library. Music scores, orchestral sets and certain materials must be returned to branch from which borrowed. All materials must be returned by the last date stamped on the card.