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Roman History: Imperial, 31 BCE–284 CE (Classics)

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  1. Introduction
  2. The history of the Roman Empire is the history of one of the largest and most enduring multiethnic states in the history of the world, making it an area of study that continues to have great relevance to the modern world. Principal areas of investigation for those drawn to the study of the Roman Empire include the development of institutions needed to govern such a state, the behavior of those institutions, the dialogue of cultures within the empire (especially issues of assimilation, resistance, and evolution between dominant and subaltern groups), and the relationship between Rome and its neighbors. It is also a period that saw significant developments in art, literature, and the history of thought, shaping the heritage of classical Antiquity that has survived through the Middle Ages to help shape the Western tradition of rational thought. It is also a very colorful period, whose leading figures, ranging from Marcus Aurelius and Jesus of Nazareth to Nero and Commodus, continue to excite great interest for their own sake.
  3.  
  4. General Overviews
  5. Volumes 10–12 of the second edition of the Cambridge Ancient History (Bowman, et al. 1996–2006) cover the period between the death of Cicero and the accession of Constantine. The standard is generally very high, but Volume 11 sets an overall standard of excellence, especially in its treatment of issues connected with institutional and social history. There are two one-volume histories that cover the period: Goodman 1997, for the 1st and 2nd centuries, and Potter 2004 for the 3rd and 4th. Kelly 2006 offers a very good, very short introduction; Wolff 2003 a somewhat longer one. For somewhat more detail, Potter 2009 and Boatwright, et al. 2004 offer somewhat different takes on the subject. Potter 2006 offers introductions to the state of research in many areas that are geared to the nonspecialist.
  6.  
  7. Boatwright, Mary T., Daniel J. Gargola, and Richard J. A. Talbert. 2004. The Romans: From village to empire. New York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press
  8.  
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  10.  
  11. A very good, lucid survey of Roman history from the earliest times to the time of Constantine, paying significant attention to the sources.
  12.  
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  14.  
  15.  
  16. Bowman, A. K., A. Cameron, E. J. Champlin, E. J. Garnsel, A. J. Lintott, and D. Rathbone, eds. 1996–2006. The Cambridge ancient history. Vols. 10–12. New York and Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
  17.  
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  19.  
  20. Each of the three volumes opens with a narrative section (43 BCE–69 CE for Volume 10, The Augustan Empire; 70 CE–192 CE for Volume 11, The High Empire; and 193 CE–337 CE for Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire) followed by chapters on the administration, thematic and regional discussions of developments in the imperial periods, and surveys of culture and society. Chapters draw upon the full range of available evidence and scholarship at the time that they were written.
  21.  
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  23.  
  24.  
  25. Goodman, Martin. 1997. The Roman world, 44 BC–AD 180. London and New York: Routledge
  26.  
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  28.  
  29. Goodman offers a narrative of the Roman Empire over the period in question, followed by a series of chapters offering regional and institutional studies.
  30.  
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  32.  
  33.  
  34. Jacques, François, and John Scheid. 1990–1998. Rome et l’integration de l’Empire: 44 av. J.-C.–260 ap. J.-C. 2 vols. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France
  35.  
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  37.  
  38. Volume 1, Les structures de l’empire romain, treats the political structures of the empire, looking at such topics as the position of the emperor, the role of the emperor in the state, religion, the army, provincial administration, the status of persons and communities, the economy, and society. Volume 2, Approches régionales du Haut-Empire romain 44 av. J-C.–260 ap, consists of a series of regional studies. Volume 1 is in its seventh edition as of 2010 (first edition, 1990); volume 2 appeared in 1998.
  39.  
  40. Find this resource:
  41.  
  42.  
  43. Kelly, Christopher. 2006. The Roman Empire: A very short introduction. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press
  44.  
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  46.  
  47. Kelly treats the period from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, examining the empire’s political, religious, cultural, and social structures as well as the techniques of government. The book also considers the depiction of the Roman Empire in the modern world.
  48.  
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  50.  
  51.  
  52. Potter, David S. 2004. The Roman Empire at bay: AD 180–395. New York: Routledge
  53.  
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  55.  
  56. Potter offers a narrative overview of the period from 180 to 395 with extensive bibliography. The narrative looks to link political, social, and intellectual history to provide a balanced picture of the Roman world.
  57.  
  58. Find this resource:
  59.  
  60.  
  61. Potter, David S. 2006. A companion to the Roman Empire. Malden, MA: Blackwell
  62.  
  63. DOI: 10.1002/9780470996942Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  64.  
  65. The thirty chapters in this volume offer readable introductions to many topics ranging from the administration of the empire to spectacle, leisure, family life, food, thought, and religion.
  66.  
  67. Find this resource:
  68.  
  69.  
  70. Potter, David. 2009. Ancient Rome: A new history. New York: Thames & Hudson.
  71.  
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  73.  
  74. A broad (and lavishly illustrated) account of Roman history from the foundation of the city to the Arab conquest that draws on much recent scholarship.
  75.  
  76. Find this resource:
  77.  
  78.  
  79. Wolff, Greg, ed. 2003. The Cambridge illustrated history of the Roman world. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  80.  
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  82.  
  83. A lavishly illustrated and readily accessible introduction to the Roman world with chapters that offer lucid introductions to the structures of power, the city of Rome, religion, and intellectual history.
  84.  
  85. Find this resource:
  86.  
  87.  
  88. Reference works
  89. The specialist will still find a great deal of value in the old Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE), which is by no means replaced by Cancik and Schneider 1996–2003 (conveniently in the process of English translation as of 2010 as Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World). The latest supplement of the old Realencyclopädie actually dates to 1980, so the work should not be seen as simply reflecting the wisdom of the late 19th through early 20th centuries (Pauly, et al. 1894–1980). Those seeking rapid guidance on individual points should turn to either the Oxford Classical Dictionary (Goldberg 2016) or to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome (Gagarin 2010), which also offers numerous thematic articles. The massive series Temporini and Haase 1972 provides a venue for extensive survey articles on all aspects of the ancient world. Prosopography has long played an important role in the historiography of the imperial period, and for that the great revision of Klebs, et al. 1897–1898 is now complete in Groag, et al. 1933—through the letter S. Rüpke 2008 collects the evidence for membership in cult association at Rome and is an invaluable survey of the religious connections of the Roman elite. For anyone trying to find any place in the Roman world, Talbert 2000 is a crucial guide.
  90.  
  91. Cancik, Hubert, and Helmuth Schneider, eds. 1996–2003. Der neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike; Das klassische Altertum und seine Rezeptionsgeschichte. Stuttgart: Metzler.
  92.  
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  94.  
  95. An updated version of the classic RE in eighteen volumes; though still a valuable resource, articles tend to be shorter and the coverage is less comprehensive. A significant variation from the old Pauly is the decision to include extensive treatment of the classical tradition in five of the eighteen volumes. Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopedia of the Ancient World (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2006) is an English translation.
  96.  
  97. Find this resource:
  98.  
  99.  
  100. Gagarin, Michael. 2010. The Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Greece and Rome. 7 vols. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  101.  
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  103.  
  104. A large-scale guide to classical Antiquity with longer thematic articles as well as articles on specific subjects. Articles include reference to current scholarship and guide readers to areas of contemporary discourse.
  105.  
  106. Find this resource:
  107.  
  108.  
  109. Groag, Edmund, et al. 1933–. Prosopographia Imperii Romani. Berlin and Leipzig: de Gruyter.
  110.  
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  112.  
  113. Collective biography of the ruling elite of the Roman Empire from the battle of Actium to the accession of Diocletian in 284 CE. The detailed entries are an invaluable resource. First volume (A–B) appeared in 1933, Volume 2 (C) in 1936, Volume 3 (D–F) in 1943, Volume 4.1 (G) in 1951; 4.2 (H) in 1958; Volume 4.3 (I) in 1966; Volume 5.1 (L) in 1970; Volume 5.2 (M) in 1983; Volume 5.3 (N–O) in 1987; Volume 6 (P) in 1988, Volume 7.1 (Q–R) in 1999, and Volume 7.2 (S) in 2006.
  114.  
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  116.  
  117.  
  118. Goldberg, Sander, ed. 2016. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Digital ed. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  119.  
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  121.  
  122. A useful first resource for people seeking information about classical Antiquity with useful bibliography and references. A invaluable compendium of basic information; the articles tend to be shorter than those in Gagarin 2010. Originally published in 2003, in Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3d ed. (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press).
  123.  
  124. Find this resource:
  125.  
  126.  
  127. Klebs, Elimar, Hermann Dessau, and Paul von Rhoden. 1897–1898. Prosopographia Imperii Romani saec. I. II. III. Berlin: Reimer.
  128.  
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  130.  
  131. The first edition of the Prosopographia Imperii Romani, in three volumes, the first edited by Klebs, the second by Dessau, and the third by Dessau and von Rhoden, now very much out of date (though still needed for the end of the alphabet).
  132.  
  133. Find this resource:
  134.  
  135.  
  136. Pauly, A., G. Wissowa, W. Kroll, K. Mittelhaus, K. Ziegler, and K. Witte, eds. 1894–1980. Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft: Neue Bearbeitung. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler.
  137.  
  138. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  139.  
  140. RE (as this encyclopedia of more than one hundred volumes is also known) remains the classic resource for information on all areas of antiquity. Articles on areas where there is significant archaeological or documentary evidence tend to be badly out of date, but articles where the bulk of the source material is derived through the manuscript tradition tend still to be very helpful.
  141.  
  142. Find this resource:
  143.  
  144.  
  145. Rüpke, Jörg. 2008. Fasti sacerdotum: A prosopography of pagan, Jewish, and Christian religious officials in the city of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499. Translated by David M. B. Richardson. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  146.  
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  148.  
  149. The book is exactly what it says it is: a list of elite participants in the cults of Rome with an immensely useful discussion of just what those cults were and the tasks that people performed.
  150.  
  151. Find this resource:
  152.  
  153.  
  154. Talbert, Richard J. A. 2000. Barrington atlas of the Greek and Roman world. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  155.  
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  157.  
  158. The excellent indices make the superb maps that were drawn for this atlas readily accessible. The atlas is a crucial aid for every historian of antiquity.
  159.  
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  161.  
  162.  
  163. Temporini, Hildegard, and Wolfgand Haase. 1972–. Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter.
  164.  
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  166.  
  167. Originally conceived as a Festschrift for Joseph Vogt, the series now seeks to treat all aspects of the Roman world, and the reception of the classical tradition through the Middle Ages. The project is divided into four series: the Republic; the imperial series (in six parts: Political History, Law, Religion, Language and Literature, Philosophy and Sciences, and Culture); the third series will cover late Antiquityantiquity; the fourth will be an index. A survey is provided online.
  168.  
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  170.  
  171.  
  172. Sources
  173. The sources for Roman imperial history are more diverse and plentiful than those for any previous period of antiquity, and include great numbers of documents as well as works of literature and material culture. The ability to combine material, literary, documentary, and archaeological evidence is a necessary condition for study of the ancient world, and that requires a sound knowledge of the rules governing different categories of evidence. The essays in Crawford 1983 are all very useful introductions to their respective areas, and there are useful chapters devoted to the sources in Potter 2006. The many excellent works on individual areas of the tradition are cited in the relevant sections of this bibliography.
  174.  
  175. Crawford, Michael H. 1983. Sources for ancient history. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  176.  
  177. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511622229Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  178.  
  179. Chapters include “Literature,” “Epigraphy,” “Numismatics,” and “Archaeology,” all by senior scholars with excellent insights.
  180.  
  181. Find this resource:
  182.  
  183.  
  184. Potter, David S. 2006. A companion to the Roman Empire. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  185.  
  186. DOI: 10.1002/9780470996942Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  187.  
  188. This volume includes chapters on literary sources, documents, epigraphy, archaeology, and numismatics by leading practitioners.
  189.  
  190. Find this resource:
  191.  
  192.  
  193. Documentary Sources
  194. One of the challenges and rewards of the imperial period is the centrality of the documentary record. The challenge stems from the fact that documents are published in a wide variety of specialist publications, and the texts themselves are very often damaged, and from the fact that the publication practices of epigraphists, who work with inscriptions, and papyrologists (who work not just with papyri but also with writing on other perishable materials) are such that there can be no single summary of all recent publications. The amount of material is sufficiently great that the annual summaries of new publications in different areas (invaluable both for drawing disparate publications together and for the insights of their editors) tend to lag years behind initial publication. The reward is quite simply that documents draw us into direct contact with the experience of life in the ancient world. This flow of fresh information constantly renews the study of antiquity as thousands of lines of previously unknown Greek or Latin are routinely published every year. Given the diversity of places in which documents are published the website of the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents is a crucial resource not least because, unlike so many websites, which remain unchanged after they are set up, the staff of the Centre ensure that their list is up to date.
  195.  
  196. Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents.
  197.  
  198. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  199.  
  200. The Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents was established in 1995 to provide a focus for the study of ancient documents within Oxford. Since about 2005 it has become a research center of international importance sponsoring important projects and conferences. The web page is an invaluable resource for those seeking information about the study of ancient documents.
  201.  
  202. Find this resource:
  203.  
  204.  
  205. Epigraphy
  206. Thanks to its empire-wide sweep, epigraphy adds more, annually, to our knowledge of antiquity than any other area. L’Année épigraphique (AE) fills the need for an annual review of new publications in Latin (albeit in a less than systematic way at first) and of Greek inscriptions that are directly connected with Roman history. The two publications that review newly discovered or reedited Greek inscriptions are the Bulletin épigraphique (BE), which appears as a regular section in the Revue des études grecques (REG) and the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (SEG), which began publication in 1923. The publication of SEG was interrupted in 1971, and resumed, with a new editorial team in 1979 (beginning with publications from 1976 to 1977). All three of the epigraphic reviews lag somewhat further behind the publications that they index, but provide more extensive discussion than do the papyrological indices (and print new texts). The major collection for Latin inscriptions is the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) set in motion by Theodor Mommsen in 1843. The situation for Greek epigraphy is more complex given the need to work with regional collections of documents. Those looking for details of collections other than CIL should consult the resources available through the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents or discussions in standard handbooks such as the invaluable Bérard, et al. 2000 with its periodic supplements.
  207.  
  208. Collections
  209. There are several extremely helpful collections of documents. Three of the earliest, Dessau 1892–1916, Dittenberger 1903, and Dittenberger 1915–1924, remain extremely valuable in large part because of the excellent judgment of the editors in handling texts. For any student of imperial administration Oliver 1989 is now essential, while the important early collection of documents in Bruns and Gradenwitz 1908 is supplemented by the extensive collection of translations in Coleman-Norton, et al. 1961.
  210.  
  211. Bruns, Carl G., and Otto Gradenwitz. 1909. Fontes iuris Romani Antiqui. 7th ed. Tübingen, Germany: C. B Mohr.
  212.  
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  214.  
  215. Invaluable collection of documents reflecting the operation of public law in the Roman world (not all are inscriptions). Abbreviated as FIR7.
  216.  
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  218.  
  219.  
  220. Coleman-Norton, Paul Robinson, Frank Card Bourne, and Alan Chester Johnson. 1961. Ancient Roman statutes: A translation with introduction, commentary, glossary, and index. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
  221.  
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  223.  
  224. A very useful collection of translations of documents relating to imperial administration and legal procedure.
  225.  
  226. Find this resource:
  227.  
  228.  
  229. Dessau, Hermann. 1892–1916. Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae. 3 vols in 5 parts. Berlin: Weidmann.
  230.  
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  232.  
  233. Selection of Latin inscriptions derived from CIL with some Greek inscriptions at the end of Volume 3. The selection is intended to illustrate the range of subjects for which Latin inscriptions provide important evidence. Dessau’s notes offer excellent guidance to issues connected with the texts he has selected.
  234.  
  235. Find this resource:
  236.  
  237.  
  238. Dittenberger, Wilhelm. 1903. Orientis graeci inscriptiones selectae. Leipzig: S. Hirzel.
  239.  
  240. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  241.  
  242. Selection of inscriptions of the Hellenistic and Roman periods from the areas that came under Greek control in the wake of Alexander’s conquests, extending into the Roman imperial period.
  243.  
  244. Find this resource:
  245.  
  246.  
  247. Dittenberger, Wilhelm. 1915–1924. Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum. Leipzig: S. Herzelium.
  248.  
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  250.  
  251. The fourth edition of this classic selection of Greek inscriptions from earliest times to the Roman imperial period was completed after Dittenberger’s death; as is also the case with the preceding collection, the notes offer invaluable insight into the language of the texts.
  252.  
  253. Find this resource:
  254.  
  255.  
  256. Oliver, James H. 1989. Greek constitutions of early Roman emperors from inscriptions and papyri. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Association.
  257.  
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  259.  
  260. Invaluable collection of epigraphic and papyrological communications from Roman emperors to their subjects. It is now supplemented by the list of texts in the appendix to Burton 2002 (cited under The Structure of Provincial Administration).
  261.  
  262. Find this resource:
  263.  
  264.  
  265. Handbooks and Introductions
  266. Robert 1961 is a superb introduction to the methods of epigraphy, while Bodel 2001 offers an accessible summary that properly stresses subelite culture. McLean 2011 is an invaluable English-language guide to Greek epigraphy as a whole. Gordon 1983 is useful on the Latin side because it illustrates all the texts that it analyzes with excellent photographs. The standard handbook for Latin epigraphy is now Lassère 2007. Every serious student of the Roman Empire who wishes to understand the contributions of epigraphy to the subject must engage with the work of Louis Robert. Perusal of the papers collected in Robert 2007 offers a good starting point for this engagement.
  267.  
  268. Bérard, François, Denis Feissel, and Pierre Petitmengin, et al. 2000. Guide de l’épigraphiste: Bibliographie choisie des épigraphies antiques et médiévales. 3d ed. Paris: Editions Rue d’Ulm.
  269.  
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  271.  
  272. An extremely useful bibliographic guide to the epigraphy of the classical world, with periodic online updates. In chapter 9 there is extensive discussion of “peripheral epigraphies” ranging from the Bronze Age to the early Medieval period (including Iranian texts and those in Semitic languages). For the updates through 2010, see the ENS website.
  273.  
  274. Find this resource:
  275.  
  276.  
  277. Bodel, John P. 2001. Epigraphic evidence: Ancient history from inscriptions. London and New York: Routledge.
  278.  
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  280.  
  281. A helpful introduction to the uses of inscriptions with a welcome stress on the value of epigraphic evidence for understanding subelite culture.
  282.  
  283. Find this resource:
  284.  
  285.  
  286. Gordon, Arthur E. 1983. Illustrated introduction to Latin epigraphy. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  287.  
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  289.  
  290. A very helpful introduction to all periods of Latin epigraphy. The limited number of texts that are discussed are discussed well with excellent photographs.
  291.  
  292. Find this resource:
  293.  
  294.  
  295. Lassère, Jean-Marie 2007 Manuel d’épigraphie Romaine. Paris: Picard.
  296.  
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  298.  
  299. This massive two-volume work now offers the most comprehensive introduction to Latin epigraphy, including individual studies of many texts with ample illustration. The book is divided into three sections; the first deals with the individual, then the city, and finally the state.
  300.  
  301. Find this resource:
  302.  
  303.  
  304. McLean, Bradley H. 2011. An introduction to Greek epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman periods from Alexander the Great down to the reign of Constantine (323 B.C.–A.D. 337). Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  305.  
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  307.  
  308. An extremely handy introduction to the world of Greek epigraphy, giving up-to-date information about corpora as of the time of publication and sound guidance to the use of inscriptions in many areas.
  309.  
  310. Find this resource:
  311.  
  312.  
  313. Robert, Louis. 1961. L’Epigraphie. In L’histoire et ses methods. Edited by Charles Samaran, 453–497. Encyclopédie de la Pléiade 11. Paris: Gallimard.
  314.  
  315. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  316.  
  317. Introduction to epigraphic method and to the diverse contributions of epigraphy in all areas of ancient studies. The discussion of techniques, especially of what constitutes responsible restoration of a text, is essential reading. The article is reprinted in Robert 2007 as well as in volume 5 of the author’s seven-volume Opera Minora Selecta.
  318.  
  319. Find this resource:
  320.  
  321.  
  322. Robert, Louis. 2007. Choix d’écrits. Edited by Denis Rousset, Philippe Gauthier, and Ivana Savalli-Lestrade. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
  323.  
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  325.  
  326. Select masterpieces by the master of Greek epigraphy, and excellent introduction to Robert’s comprehensive approach to the analysis of texts.
  327.  
  328. Find this resource:
  329.  
  330.  
  331. Papyrology
  332. The basic review of papyrological publications is the Bibliographie Papyrologique (BP), prepared under the auspices of the Centre de Papyrologie et d’Épigraphie grecque de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles. BP covers publications since 1930; a CD-ROM covering the first seventy-five years was issued in 2008, and electronic updates are issued on a quarterly basis to subscribing institutions (or individuals). The Berichtigungsliste der griechischen Papyrusurkunden aus Ägypten, which began publication in 1922, tracks corrections made to papyri that have already been published. The Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten reprints official documents first published in journals rather than in standard papyrological series that are known either for the place of origin for the papyri (e.g., the P.Oxy for papyri discovered at Oxyrhynchus) or the collection that houses them (e.g., P.Mich. for papyri that reside in the collection at the University of Michigan). Turner 1980 is a superb introduction to papyri in a brief compass, while Parsons 2007 is a wonderfully eloquent account of life in the city that is one of the most important sources of published papyri. Youtie 1963 likewise offers the methodological reflection of one of the great masters of the craft. Bagnall 2009 is now a basic introduction to the work of papyrology. Scholars interested in the discoveries of carbonized papyri at Herculaneum should consult the website of the Friends of Herculaneum. There is also a basic bibliographical guide available through the papyrus collection of the University of Michigan. Papyri.info offers important access to many projects, while The Advanced Papyrological Information System (APIS) offers immediate access to the Greek texts of a vast number of papyri. Those interested in literary papyri should consult the Leuven Database of Ancient Books.
  333.  
  334. Bagnall, Roger S. 2009. The Oxford handbook of papyrology. New York and Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
  335.  
  336. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  337.  
  338. A wide-ranging account of the discipline including chapters on the history of the discipline, the proper handling of papyri, the language of papyri, proper editorial techniques, using papyri for historical purposes, and important issues such as the evidence that papyri offer for the nature of ancient education, the cultural history of ancient Egypt, and the contribution of papyrological evidence to the history of religion.
  339.  
  340. Find this resource:
  341.  
  342.  
  343. Parsons, P. J. 2007. The city of the sharp-nosed fish: Everyday life in the Nile Valley. London: Phoenix.
  344.  
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  346.  
  347. Although not strictly speaking a handbook, this splendid account of the history of papyrology within the general field of Egyptology and a lucid exploration of life in the city of Oxyrhynchus based on papyrus documents. Readers will have a chance to see how papyri are used to recreate history of many sorts.
  348.  
  349. Find this resource:
  350.  
  351.  
  352. Turner, Eric G. 1980. Greek papyri: An introduction. Oxford: Clarendon.
  353.  
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  355.  
  356. Discusses the history of papyrology, the nature of papyrus as a writing material, the way that texts should be edited, the owners of papyri, the principal types of documents and the contribution of papyrology to our knowledge of Greek literature, with a further chapter on the principal editions of papyri.
  357.  
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  359.  
  360.  
  361. Youtie, H. C. 1963. “Papyrologist, artificer of fact.” Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies 4:19–32.
  362.  
  363. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  364.  
  365. Fundamental discussion of the editing of documentary papyri.
  366.  
  367. Find this resource:
  368.  
  369.  
  370. Literary Sources
  371. The literary sources for Roman history are vast, and even the most extensive modern collections of texts—the Budé series, which includes the Greek or Latin text with a French translation and notes, or the German Teubner series—do not have everything. To gain some impression of what is available it is best to consult a standard history of Greek or Latin literature such as Conte 1999 or Easterling and Knox 1985—vastly better than it cousin on the Latin side Kenny and Clausen 1982 when it comes to the imperial period. Potter 1999 looks at issues in the writing of Roman history from diverse literary texts.
  372.  
  373. Conte, Gian Biago 1999. Latin literature: A history. Translated by Joseph B. Solodow. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
  374.  
  375. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  376.  
  377. An updated English edition of the author’s earlier history in Italian, a generally excellent and wide ranging introduction to all periods of Latin literature.
  378.  
  379. Find this resource:
  380.  
  381.  
  382. Easterling, P. E., and B. M. W. Knox. 1985. The Cambridge history of classical literature. Vol. 1, Greek Literature. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  383.  
  384. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  385.  
  386. A generally useful volume with excellent discussions of the Greek literature of the Roman Empire.
  387.  
  388. Find this resource:
  389.  
  390.  
  391. Kenney, E. J., and W. V. Clausen 1982. The Cambridge history of classical literature. Vol. 2, Latin Literature. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  392.  
  393. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  394.  
  395. Good on earlier periods of Latin literature and mainstream topics, but weaker on the post-Augustan period, omitting, among other things, technical writers and all legal writing.
  396.  
  397. Find this resource:
  398.  
  399.  
  400. Potter, David S. 1999. Literary texts and the Roman historian. London and New York: Routledge.
  401.  
  402. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  403.  
  404. Discussion of the process of writing ancient history from literary sources that is not limited to historians (though they do figure heavily in the discussion) in an effort to place the formal histories of the period in the broader context of literary production and modern approaches to historiography.
  405.  
  406. Find this resource:
  407.  
  408.  
  409. Imperial Historiography
  410. For an introduction to the major Latin historians of the imperial period, Mellor 1999 is a good introduction, although the situation is somewhat more complex for the Greek historians, for which a comprehensive survey of the sort offered by Mellor is lacking. For surveys of general issues see the trenchant comments in Dench 2009 and Lendon 2009. Gowing 2005 is an insightful study of the way that historiography fits into the broader Roman consciousness of the past.
  411.  
  412. Dench, Emma. 2009. The Roman historians and twentieth-century approaches to Roman history. In The Cambridge companion to the Roman historians. Edited by Andrew Feldherr, 394–406. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  413.  
  414. DOI: 10.1017/CCOL9780521854535Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  415.  
  416. A balanced and fair-minded discussion of the notion that there is an implicit division between history and rhetoric, showing how recent approaches that combine sensitivity to theme and content in historians have advanced the discipline.
  417.  
  418. Find this resource:
  419.  
  420.  
  421. Gowing, Alain M. 2005. Empire and memory: The representation of the Roman Republic in imperial culture. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  422.  
  423. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511610592Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  424.  
  425. A lucid and intriguing study of the memory of the Republic in the early imperial period, combining the study of poets and historians with a subtle injection of scholarship on social memory.
  426.  
  427. Find this resource:
  428.  
  429.  
  430. Lendon, J. E. 2009. Historians without history: Against Roman historiography. In The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians. Edited by Andrew Feldherr, 41–61. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  431.  
  432. DOI: 10.1017/CCOL9780521854535Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  433.  
  434. An impressively polemical review of the view that somehow the need to write well means that historians of antiquity were not constrained to report facts as best they could.
  435.  
  436. Find this resource:
  437.  
  438.  
  439. Mellor, Ronald. 1999. The Roman historians. London and New York: Routledge.
  440.  
  441. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  442.  
  443. An introduction to the major historians writing in Latin, giving a balanced appreciation of their work in a way that is readily accessible to people coming to the subject for the first time.
  444.  
  445. Find this resource:
  446.  
  447.  
  448. Historians Other Than Tacitus
  449. There are three writers who fall into this category in that they cover more than a single reign or dynasty: Cassius Dio, Herodian, and Suetonius (the problematic Historia Augusta, a collection of imperial biographies for the 2nd and 3rd centuries is in a different class from these authors, as all of them do offer comment on contemporary events). The classic study of Cassius Dio, a crucial source and immensely knowledgeable personality, remains that of Millar 1964, though there is much added in Gowing 1992 (which also offers important insight into the work of Appian, an imperial author whose account of the civil wars is extremely important). Herodian lacks a significant book-length treatment. Wallace-Hadrill 1984 and Baldwin 1983 are valuable introductions to Suetonius. Rajak 1984 remains a valuable introduction to Josephus, on whom see also now the valuable collection of essays in Edmondson, et al. 2005. The Historia Augusta, important for the 2nd and 3rd centuries, is also a field of study unto itself.
  450.  
  451. Baldwin, Barry. 1983. Suetonius, the biographer of the Caesars. Philadelphia: Coronet.
  452.  
  453. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  454.  
  455. An expansive study of Suetonius’s biographical work beginning with a valuable analysis of Suetonius’s career, followed by an analysis of the development of the genre of biography at Rome. Subsequent chapters treat Suetonius’s works, with an extensive final chapter on his style
  456.  
  457. Find this resource:
  458.  
  459.  
  460. Edmondson, Jonathan, Steve Mason, and John Rives. 2005. Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
  461.  
  462. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  463.  
  464. A wide-ranging collection of essays that places Josephus’s career and literary production in the context of his times, including important discussions about provincial elites at Rome, monuments to the destruction of Jerusalem in Flavian Rome, the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, and Josephus’s qualities as a writer.
  465.  
  466. Find this resource:
  467.  
  468.  
  469. Gowing, Alain M. 1992. The triumviral narratives of Appian and Cassius Dio. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  470.  
  471. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  472.  
  473. An excellent account of the way that the tradition about the Roman civil wars was transmitted to the Greek historians Appian and Dio in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and how they shaped the story in response to the time of their own writing.
  474.  
  475. Find this resource:
  476.  
  477.  
  478. Millar, Fergus. 1964. A study of Cassius Dio. Oxford: Clarendon.
  479.  
  480. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  481.  
  482. A remarkably resilient study of Dio both as a man of the Severan age (the section on Dio’s history of his own time has stood the test of time exceptionally well) and of Dio’s approach to Roman history of the past.
  483.  
  484. Find this resource:
  485.  
  486.  
  487. Rajak, Tessa. 1984. Josephus, the historian and his society. Philadelphia: Fortress.
  488.  
  489. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  490.  
  491. Long the starting point for the study of Josephus through the Jewish War rather than his other writings, a very strong account of the historian against the background of 1st-century CE Palestine, showing how Josephus was an upper-class moderate caught up in events beyond his control, blaming members of the “lower orders” for the revolt.
  492.  
  493. Find this resource:
  494.  
  495.  
  496. Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. 1984. Suetonius: The scholar and his Caesars. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  497.  
  498. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  499.  
  500. Sets Suetonius’s career in context and then his literary production in context—the stress on the antiquarian approach to recording material is extremely useful as Wallace-Hadrill shows how the characteristics of Suetonian biography are evident in other works of an “antiquarian” nature.
  501.  
  502. Find this resource:
  503.  
  504.  
  505. Tacitus
  506. Tacitus rates his own section as his view of imperial history has had a massive impact on subsequent study of the subject. The classic study of any Roman historian is still Syme 1958 for Tacitus, around whom debate about the qualities of Roman historiography has swirled, on which see now the trenchant summary in Lendon 2009 and Dench 2009 (both cited under Imperial Historiography). Ash 1999 and Haynes 2003 offer excellent analyses of Tacitean thought in the Histories, while McCulloch 1984 offers important insights into significant Tacitean themes in the Annales.
  507.  
  508. Ash, Rhiannon. 1999. Ordering anarchy: Armies and leaders in Tacitus’ Histories. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  509.  
  510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511.  
  512. An important examination of the way that Tacitus portrays emotions in the army and group psychology in the civil war of 69 CE. Ash looks first at groups—Galba’s supporters and those of Otho, Flavians Vitellians, and then at individuals—Galba and Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian and his sons, and Antonius Primus. The book is an important example of a “literary” treatment of Tacitus that is also very good “history.”
  513.  
  514. Find this resource:
  515.  
  516.  
  517. Haynes, Holly. 2003. The history of make-believe: Tacitus on imperial Rome. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  518.  
  519. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  520.  
  521. The book itself is divided into five chapters; the first introduces the notion that Tacitus is deeply interested in the way that fiction passes for fact in the Roman world (Haynes calls this the fingere/credere dichotomy). The next three chapters deal with Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. In the final chapter Haynes considers the rebellion of the Germanic tribes on the Rhine that arose out of the confusion of the civil war. All in all, the book is a very effective reading of the Histories.
  522.  
  523. Find this resource:
  524.  
  525.  
  526. McCulloch, Harold Y., Jr. 1984. Narrative cause in the Annals of Tacitus. Königstein im Taunus, Germany: Hain.
  527.  
  528. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  529.  
  530. An impressive analysis, well ahead of its time, of how Tacitus stresses the role of rumor and innuendo in shaping decision making throughout his history.
  531.  
  532. Find this resource:
  533.  
  534.  
  535. Syme, Ronald. 1958. Tacitus. Oxford: Clarendon.
  536.  
  537. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  538.  
  539. The seminal study of the greatest historian of the Roman world with a carefully constructed argument about the development of Roman historical writing in the early imperial period.
  540.  
  541. Find this resource:
  542.  
  543.  
  544. The Historia Augusta
  545. Written by a single author in the late 4th century, the Historia Augusta purports to be the product of six different writers in the early 4th century. The material offered in this work varies from fantasy to decent summary of the writing of earlier writers. Thus what the author says can neither be accepted nor rejected out of hand. There is a very clear summary of the issues in Syme 1980 and Birley’s work cited under The High Empire (to 235 CE), while Chastagnol 1994 is an invaluable guide for individual lives.
  546.  
  547. Chastagnol, André. 1994. Histoire auguste: Les empereurs romains des IIe et IIIe siècles. Paris: R. Laffont.
  548.  
  549. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  550.  
  551. Text with French translation and commentary for the Historia Augusta, easily the best introduction now available to the complete work.
  552.  
  553. Find this resource:
  554.  
  555.  
  556. Syme, Ronald. 1980. Controversy abating and credulity curbed? London Review of Books (September): 4–17.
  557.  
  558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  559.  
  560. Reprinted in The Historia Augusta Papers. A very clear statement of issues connected with the Historia Augusta by a scholar who made a lasting contribution to the understanding of that work.
  561.  
  562. Find this resource:
  563.  
  564.  
  565. Fragmentary Historians
  566. Many ancient historians are known to us only through quotations in other ancient authors. The situation for the fragmentary historians is more complex as those who write in Greek can be accessed through Jacoby 1923–, though Dexippus now has his own independent treatment in Martin 2006, and Janiszewski 2006 offers a very good general discussion of the fragmentary Greek historians of the imperial period. Latin historians must still be accessed through Peter 1906.
  567.  
  568. Jacoby, Felix. 1923–. Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.
  569.  
  570. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  571.  
  572. Jacoby’s classic collection, unfinished at the time of his death, consists of three volumes in fifteen parts (now available on CD-ROM as well as in print form). In 1998–1999 several fascicles of Volume 4, covering biography and antiquarian literature, appeared along with detailed indices to the whole work; the projected Volume 5 on historical geography is a work in progress, as is the work of a new editorial team aiming to bring out a new edition (online). For project details see the website.
  573.  
  574. Find this resource:
  575.  
  576.  
  577. Janiszewski, Pawel. 2006. The missing link: Greek pagan historiography in the second half of the third century and in the fourth century AD. Translated by Dorota Dzierzbicka. Warsaw: Warsaw Univ.
  578.  
  579. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  580.  
  581. A very useful discussion of a wide range of authors known only from fragments, especially useful for the 3rd century and filling in what often seems a large gap between the end of Herodian and the time of Ammianus (or Eusebius).
  582.  
  583. Find this resource:
  584.  
  585.  
  586. Martin, Gunther. 2006. Dexipp von Athen: Edition, Übersetzung und begleitende Studien. Tübingen, Germany: Narr.
  587.  
  588. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  589.  
  590. Important not simply for the new edition of the fragments, but also for the exploration of the meaning of Dexippus’s work, showing how Dexippus uses the traditions of Greek rhetoric to underscore the distinctions between the civilization of the empire, represented by the emperors, and the barbarism of their opponents
  591.  
  592. Find this resource:
  593.  
  594.  
  595. Peter, Hermann. 1906. Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae. Stuttgart: Teubner.
  596.  
  597. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  598.  
  599. The fragments of Latin historians of the imperial period are contained in the second volume of Peter’s collection. The first volume, with Republican historians, was in press at the time of Peter’s death on 16 February 1914.
  600.  
  601. Find this resource:
  602.  
  603.  
  604. Numismatic Sources
  605. The study of ancient coinage adds a great deal to the study of antiquity especially in the areas of economic history, art history, local history, religion, and imperial propaganda. For coins produced by imperial mints, the most important resource is the series Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), now ten volumes (Volumes 2, 4, and 5 are in multiple parts). For local coinage—that is to say coins produced by cities for their own use, the recent Roman Provincial Coinage (RPC), which aims to produce a standard typology of the provincial coinage of the Roman Empire from its beginning in 44 BCE to its end in 296/297 CE, is crucial, though only in the early stages. Burnett 1987 is a useful introduction. Information on the progress of this project is available through the website. When this project is complete those interested will no longer need to have recourse to older resources like the twenty-seven-volume Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum, which, though immensely useful, is still limited to the collection of one (admittedly great) museum and is an advance on earlier reference works such as Head 1887. Auction houses will still occasionally offer coins that are not in any major reference work; there is a useful survey of coins that have been sold at auction online. The best introduction to the role that coins play in ancient history is offered by Howgego 1995. For technical aspects of numismatics, Grierson 1975 is still an immensely useful introduction. Numismatic Literature is the American Numismatic Society’s annotated bibliography of published work in all fields of numismatics.
  606.  
  607. Burnett, Andrew. 1987. Coinage in the Roman world. London: Seaby.
  608.  
  609. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  610.  
  611. A user-friendly introduction to all manner of coinage in the Roman world, with ample illustration.
  612.  
  613. Find this resource:
  614.  
  615.  
  616. Grierson, Philip. 1975. Numismatics. London and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  617.  
  618. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  619.  
  620. A very helpful introduction to the technical aspect of numismatics, discussing coin types, how to make an ancient coin, the use of hoard evidence, dating, metrology, and mint output.
  621.  
  622. Find this resource:
  623.  
  624.  
  625. Head, Barclay. 1887. Historia Numorum: A manual of Greek numismatics. Oxford: Clarendon.
  626.  
  627. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  628.  
  629. A digital version of this book is available online. Important summary of Greek numismatics (obviously dated but still useful).
  630.  
  631. Find this resource:
  632.  
  633.  
  634. Howgego, Christopher. 1995. Ancient history from coins. London and New York: Routledge.
  635.  
  636. DOI: 10.4324/9780203306147Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  637.  
  638. Concise, but extremely well informed, examination of the contributions that numismatics can make to ancient history in general, looking at what money is, at minting, the use of coinage in empires, coin types and politics, circulation, and crises.
  639.  
  640. Find this resource:
  641.  
  642.  
  643. Archaeology
  644. The study of Roman archaeology has long focused on art and architecture, though, in recent years, important projects have opened up or sharpened the focus for many other areas of study (it should be noted that there were very important projects well away from readily accessible urban sites much earlier in the 20th century, e.g., at Karanis and Dura Europus, and that excavations at Pompeii began in 1748. The contribution of archaeology to the study of cultural interaction, the economy, and the army is noted in the relevant sections below, and the whole area of “regional study” is driven by archaeology. People wishing to keep abreast of developments in the field can make use of the websites Dyabola or Zenon Dai and also summaries in the main journals for areas that interest them (e.g., annual surveys in the Journal of Hellenic Studies for Greece, Britannia for Britain, etc.) or “discipline-wide” journals such as the American Journal of Archaeology, the Journal of Roman Archaeology or the Revue Archéologique. There is a very good summary of the relevance of Roman material culture to the study of ancient history in Ward-Perkins 2005. It seemed best to include the majority of works based on field archaeology under the topics where their contribution to broader debates is most obvious. Books such as Zanker 1988 (cited under The Image of Augustus) have, for instance, exercised immense influence over the development of the scholarship in these areas. For introductions to the art-historical/architectural study of the Roman Empire see Kleiner 1992 for sculpture and Kleiner 2010 more generally, and Ward-Perkins 1992 for architecture. Wilson-Jones 2003 is useful for technical aspects of how buildings were constructed, while Clarke 1992 is very important for the use of the space within a house. For ancient appreciation of art see Clarke 2003, Elsner 2007, and Stewart 2008.
  645.  
  646. Clarke, John R. 1992. The houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C.–A.D. 250: Ritual, space, and decoration. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  647.  
  648. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  649.  
  650. The first chapter deals with the relationship between space and the rituals carried on in an aristocratic household (e.g., the reception of clients or the laying out of a body), the different sorts of houses for the upper class, their imitation by members of the middle class, and the lack of spatial articulation in the housing of the less fortunate. The second chapter outlines styles of decoration, while the next six chapters examine the development of decoration in more detail.
  651.  
  652. Find this resource:
  653.  
  654.  
  655. Clarke, John R. 2003. Art in the lives of ordinary Romans: Visual representation and non-elite viewers in Italy, 100 B.C.–A.D. 315. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  656.  
  657. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  658.  
  659. Clarke looks at three questions—“who paid for it,” “who made it,” and “who looked at it”—to explore the production and appreciation of art across class lines. He opens with the visual message implicit in depictions of the emperor engaging in religion and conquest, then suggests that the “instruction by analogy” of earlier imperial art gives way to direct address. He examines ordinary people’s depiction of themselves at work and in religious activity before discussing art in the context of spectacle, taverns, and death, showing how “ordinary people” portray themselves in private.
  660.  
  661. Find this resource:
  662.  
  663.  
  664. Elsner, Jaś. 2007. Roman eyes: Visuality and subjectivity in art and text. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  665.  
  666. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  667.  
  668. Important discussion of naturalism, the quality that encourages the viewer to think that the world of the art work is the same as his/her world, in Roman art. Elsner opens with literature that is concerned with art. In the second section, he looks at topics such as “Viewing and Decadence,” in Petronius, and, in “Viewing and Resistence,” argues that buildings such as the Mithraeum, the Christian House, and the synagogue at Dura Europus show how “peripheral” Romans resisted the dominant culture of the center. He is also interested in the transition from pagan to Christian viewing.
  669.  
  670. Find this resource:
  671.  
  672.  
  673. Kleiner, Diana E. E. 1992. Roman sculpture. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  674.  
  675. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  676.  
  677. Examination of all aspects of Roman sculpture, public and private. The book divides sculpture into ten periods from the Republic and the age of Augustus through the time of Constantine. Each chapter includes discussion of portraits, state reliefs, and provincial and private works of art with extensive bibliography.
  678.  
  679. Find this resource:
  680.  
  681.  
  682. Kleiner, Fred S. 2010. A history of Roman art. Boston: Wadsworth.
  683.  
  684. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  685.  
  686. Standard introduction to the history of Roman art from the foundation of the city to the reign of Constantine. For the imperial period Kleiner follows a period-by-period (e.g., Augustus followed by the Julio-Claudians, chapters on Trajan and Hadrian followed by the Antonine Age and the Severans) progression down to the 3rd century with additional treatments of funerary art, Pompeii and Herculaneum, Ostia, Lepcis and the eastern provinces, the Augustan period, and the west.
  687.  
  688. Find this resource:
  689.  
  690.  
  691. Stewart, Peter. 2008. The social history of Roman Art. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  692.  
  693. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  694.  
  695. A very useful guide to issues in the study of Roman art, looking at artists, patrons, and audiences. The book focuses primarily on larger scale art, sculptures, and painting, but looks as well at “minor arts.” In Stewart’s view the social history of art accommodates both those whose interests tend to the manufacture and commissioning art and those who are interested in reception.
  696.  
  697. Find this resource:
  698.  
  699.  
  700. Ward-Perkins, Bryan. 2005. The fall of Rome: And the end of civilization. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
  701.  
  702. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  703.  
  704. Despite the fact that this book falls outside the period covered in this bibliography, it is still an important book for those interested in the overall contribution of archaeology to historical studies. In discussing decline, Ward-Perkins has to discuss the issue of what is being declined from and thus looks at “comfort,” the physical result of the sophistication of the Roman imperial system.
  705.  
  706. Find this resource:
  707.  
  708.  
  709. Ward-Perkins, J. B. 1992. Roman imperial architecture. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  710.  
  711. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  712.  
  713. A solid introduction to the topic looking at developments over time (e.g., with chapters on architecture during the early empire or from Hadrian to Alexander Severus) with further discussions of Ostia, Italy as a whole, domestic architecture, Gaul, Greece, Asia, Minor, Greece, the Near East, and North Africa.
  714.  
  715. Find this resource:
  716.  
  717.  
  718. Wilson-Jones, Mark Wilson. 2003. Principles of Roman architecture. Rev. ed. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  719.  
  720. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  721.  
  722. Wilson-Jones looks in the first part of the book at Vitruvius and the basics of design (e.g., ground rules, columns, etc.), and in the second part at specific buildings—Trajan’s column and the Pantheon.
  723.  
  724. Find this resource:
  725.  
  726.  
  727. The Augustan Age
  728. The Augustan age is the formative age of the Roman imperial regime, and has long been the object of intense study in many aspects (it is also a period of enormous creativity in literature and the arts). For this reason it seems best to divide this bibliography into two parts: The Development of the Augustan Regime and The Image of Augustus. Galinsky 1996, Galinsky 2005, and Toher and Raaflaub 1990 offer very useful introductions to the history and culture of the Augustan age.
  729.  
  730. Galinsky, Karl. 1996. Augustan culture: An interpretative introduction. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  731.  
  732. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  733.  
  734. The book opens with a study of the concept of auctoritas, looking at literary and artistic evidence, then moves on to a discussion of the concept of the restoration of the Republic, art, architecture, literature, and religion in an effort to draw out general characteristics of the age.
  735.  
  736. Find this resource:
  737.  
  738.  
  739. Galinsky, Karl. 2005. The Cambridge companion to the Age of Augustus. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  740.  
  741. DOI: 10.1017/CCOL0521807964Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  742.  
  743. Topics include political history, social and intellectual change, the impact of the emperor on society, art, literature, and the impact of the Augustan regime on one particular client state—that of Herod the Great.
  744.  
  745. Find this resource:
  746.  
  747.  
  748. Toher, Mark, and Kurt A. Raaflaub. 1990. Between republic and empire: Interpretations of Augustus and his principate. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  749.  
  750. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  751.  
  752. A valuable collection of essays examining the legacy of the Roman Revolution, especially useful in that a number of essays are by German scholars and reflect traditions of scholarship quite distinct from those of English-language scholarship at that time.
  753.  
  754. Find this resource:
  755.  
  756.  
  757. The Development of the Augustan Regime
  758. The fundamental study of the rise of Augustus and, indeed, of the imperial system as a whole remains Syme 2002. Toher and Raaflaub 1990 is an important discussion of Syme’s legacy, as well as a good overall introduction to a wide range of other topics, while Syme 1986 updates some of the conclusions in his earlier work. For the rise of Augustus see now Sumi 2005, Gurval 1996, and Osgood 2006. For the construction of the imperial regime see Hurlet 1997 and Rowe 2002
  759.  
  760. Gurval, Robert Alan. 1996. Actium and Augustus: The politics and emotions of civil war. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  761.  
  762. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  763.  
  764. A careful examination of contemporary views of the battle of Actium and its immediate political and social consequences, combining literary and archaeological evidence. Beginning with official celebration and public commemoration of the victory, he then moves on to other questions such as the role of the battle in the developing ideology of the regime.
  765.  
  766. Find this resource:
  767.  
  768.  
  769. Hurlet, Frédéric. 1997. Les collègues du prince sous Auguste et Tibère: De la légalité républicaine à la légitimité dynastique. Rome: Ecole Française de Rome.
  770.  
  771. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  772.  
  773. Pathbreaking study of the emergence of the concept of an imperial house and dynastic succession in the Augustan age, a thorough analysis of both textual and archaeological (chiefly art historical) evidence.
  774.  
  775. Find this resource:
  776.  
  777.  
  778. Osgood, Josiah. 2006. Caesar’s legacy: Civil war and the emergence of the Roman Empire. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  779.  
  780. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  781.  
  782. A detailed and sensitive narrative of the triumviral period, looking at the literary production of the period in the context of contemporary politics—central to his study is the ability to look at the events of this era as not leading inevitably to the Augustan victory at Actium.
  783.  
  784. Find this resource:
  785.  
  786.  
  787. Rowe, Greg. 2002. Princes and political cultures: The new Tiberian senatorial decrees. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  788.  
  789. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  790.  
  791. An extremely important study of the structure of the late Augustan regime drawing upon recently published documents to examine the dialogue between the emperor and his subjects about the nature of imperial power.
  792.  
  793. Find this resource:
  794.  
  795.  
  796. Sumi, Geoffrey F. 2005. Ceremony and power: Performing politics in Rome between republic and empire. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  797.  
  798. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  799.  
  800. Powerful study of the role of popular politics in the aftermath of the assassination of Caesar as the future Augustus (and his supporters) outmaneuvered Antony and the assassins of Caesar in the public sphere to establish his position on the Roman political scene.
  801.  
  802. Find this resource:
  803.  
  804.  
  805. Syme, Ronald. 1986. The Augustan aristocracy. Oxford: Clarendon.
  806.  
  807. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  808.  
  809. What happened to the governing class of the Roman Republic in the post-Augustan age. Syme offers a series of detailed prosopographical studies analyzing the fate of the great families of the Republic under the new regime; in places contentious points in Syme 2002 are subtly emended.
  810.  
  811. Find this resource:
  812.  
  813.  
  814. Syme, Ronald. 2002. The Roman revolution. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  815.  
  816. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  817.  
  818. Arguably the most influential book on Roman history published in the 20th century. Originally published in 1939 (Oxford: Clarendon). A brilliant narrative is combined with a powerful interpretive model to show how Augustus the revolutionary came to power as the leader of a faction within the Roman state, overcoming other factions along the way, making the Augustan regime the culmination of the factional disputes that had dominated the politics of the late Republic.
  819.  
  820. Find this resource:
  821.  
  822.  
  823. The Image of Augustus
  824. The image of Augustus is one of the most fruitful areas of recent study, sparked by the important work of Zanker 1988, which is crucial on aspects of visual culture, though there are some important qualifications in Kuttner 1995. Milnor 2005 takes a fresh look at the impact of the Augustan regime in the domestic sphere. Cooley 2009 is now the fundamental study of Augustus’s summary of his achievements, the Res Gestae, while Powell and Smith 2010 deals with the emperor’s earlier work. Lobur 2008 is an extremely sensitive reading of the reception of imperial ideology in literary texts.
  825.  
  826. Cooley, Alison E. 2009. Res Gestae Divi Augusti: Text, translation, and commentary. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  827.  
  828. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  829.  
  830. An excellent, user-friendly edition and commentary on Augustus’s discussion of his own accomplishments, this book is an invaluable resource for scholarship concerning the reign as a whole and displays sound judgment on scholarly issues throughout.
  831.  
  832. Find this resource:
  833.  
  834.  
  835. Kuttner, Ann L. 1995. Dynasty and empire in the Age of Augustus: The case of the Boscoreale Cups. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  836.  
  837. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  838.  
  839. Beginning with a close analysis of triumphal scenes on silver dinner cups found at Boscoreale in Italy, this illuminating book broadens into a splendid study of the development of Augustan representation from that of earlier periods.
  840.  
  841. Find this resource:
  842.  
  843.  
  844. Lobur, John Alexander. 2008. Consensus, concordia, and the formation of Roman imperial identity. New York: Routledge.
  845.  
  846. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  847.  
  848. A sensitive reading of the development of imperial ideology, with fresh examination of the importance of the concepts of consensus and concordia, and the ultimate violation of those ideals in the proscriptions. The book includes important discussions of the contemporary authors Velleius Paterculus, Seneca the Elder, and Valerius Maximus.
  849.  
  850. Find this resource:
  851.  
  852.  
  853. Milnor, Kristina. 2005. Gender domesticity and the age of Augustus. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  854.  
  855. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  856.  
  857. An immensely important book that defies ready summary, showing how concepts of public and private space were altered in the course of the Julio-Claudian period, and how the imperial domus transformed concepts about the proper relationship between public and private life.
  858.  
  859. Find this resource:
  860.  
  861.  
  862. Powell, Anton, and Christopher Smith. 2009. The lost memoirs of Augustus. Swansea, UK: Classical Press of Wales.
  863.  
  864. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  865.  
  866. A collection of essays on Augustus’s Memoirs with a new edition of the fragments, and essays on various aspects of autobiographical writing at Rome (including those of Sulla).
  867.  
  868. Find this resource:
  869.  
  870.  
  871. Zanker, Paul. 1988. The power of images in the age of Augustus. Translated by Alan Shapiro. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  872.  
  873. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  874.  
  875. Zanker’s eloquent analysis of the evolution of imperial ideology from the triumviral period through the death of Augustus is the inspiration for much subsequent study of the Augustan regime, moving away from the tendency in studies influenced by Syme 2002 (cited under The Development of the Augustan Regime) to play down the importance of public opinion in Roman politics, and showing how it is necessary to see the message of the Augustan age as being one that developed consistently over time.
  876.  
  877. Find this resource:
  878.  
  879.  
  880. The Julio-Claudians
  881. The Julio-Claudian period, running from the death of Augustus in 14 CE through the death of Nero in 68 CE, saw the formation of the particular Roman style of imperial administration, and the development of a new governing class, as well as the growth of new provincial societies with their own connections to Rome. Hence the division of this section into two parts, one being the Lives of the Caesars, the other being particular studies of subjects. Many of the most important topics in social, economic, and administrative history are also treated in works to be found in the sections of the bibliography on the emperor and governing classes, administrative history (see Provincial Administration) and regional history (see Regional Studies).
  882.  
  883. The Lives of the Caesars
  884. The study of the Julio-Claudian age (and subsequent periods) is dominated by biographies of the emperors (and arguably has been since the publication of Suetonius’s Lives of the Caesars). The concentration of evidence around the lives and personalities of individual emperors still makes the imperial biography a useful tool for the exploration of major issues. At their best these books are broad-based studies of the period in which the emperor lived and of the structures that supported his power. There are quite different pictures of Tiberius in Levick 1999 and Seager 2005 that break away from earlier tendencies to simply challenge (or accept) the very negative picture in Tacitus. So too do books like Barrett 1990, Levick 1990, Champlin 2003, and Griffin 2000.
  885.  
  886. Barrett, Anthony A. 1990. Caligula: The corruption of power. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  887.  
  888. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  889.  
  890. Argues that Caligula, contrary to the view of the sources, was capable of ruling the empire—although Caligula was high-strung and nervous, he in fact alienated only a few members of the senate, though most came to dislike him for his interest in playing to the ground rather than to themselves. A strength of the book is the treatment of the archaeological evidence including the palace, the Gaianum, the bridge at the Bay of Naples, and numismatic evidence.
  891.  
  892. Find this resource:
  893.  
  894.  
  895. Champlin, Edward. 2003. Nero. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.
  896.  
  897. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  898.  
  899. Not so much a biography of Nero as an evocation of the Neronian age with excellent treatments of Nero the actor and life in the court. An attractive feature of Champlin’s handling of the sources is to use them (in chapter 2) as a guide to the way that the tradition known to us came together in the (now lost) sources of Tacitus, Dio, and Suetonius.
  900.  
  901. Find this resource:
  902.  
  903.  
  904. Griffin, Miriam T. 2000. Nero: The end of a dynasty. London: Routledge.
  905.  
  906. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  907.  
  908. A sober examination of the life of Nero, whose eccentricities are less in focus here than in Champlin’s account. The second half of the book focuses on broader issues such as the succession, finance, philhellenism, and the military image of the emperor.
  909.  
  910. Find this resource:
  911.  
  912.  
  913. Levick, Barbara 1990. Claudius. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
  914.  
  915. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  916.  
  917. Levick considers institutions and processes rather than concentrating on the old question of whether or not Claudius was really an intelligent man who took an active role in running the empire. Instead, she offers informed discussions of, for example, how women could exercise power at court, the conduct of courtiers, relations between the emperor and the people of Rome, or what constituted a policy.
  918.  
  919. Find this resource:
  920.  
  921.  
  922. Levick, Barbara. 1999. Tiberius the politician. 2d ed. London and New York: Routledge.
  923.  
  924. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  925.  
  926. As the title suggests, Levick presents Tiberius as a politician, in this case a politician with a distinctively late-Republican agenda of advancing the claims of his family to power, as he manipulates patronage and friendship to form a “governing party.”
  927.  
  928. Find this resource:
  929.  
  930.  
  931. Seager, Robin. 2005. Tiberius. 2d ed. Oxford: Blackwell.
  932.  
  933. DOI: 10.1002/9780470773871Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  934.  
  935. Despite Tiberius’s innate traditionalism, and willingness to favor men from older families, Tiberius’s fears for his own security and willingness to listen to those who could exploit those fears weakened and demoralized the governing class. Seager is very interested in the interplay between the personality of the ruler and his subjects—his willingness to submit to the domination of another (Augustus) in his early years was replayed as he allowed Sejanus to dominate him for much of his reign.
  936.  
  937. Find this resource:
  938.  
  939.  
  940. Individual Studies
  941. Perhaps the most important development in this period stems from the publication of the crucial document concerning the trial of Piso in 20 CE, published in Eck, et al. 1996. Also significant in recent years have been studies of the important women of the period with Ginsburg 2006, Kokkinos 2002, Barrett 1999, and Barrett 2004 and the more synthetic treatment in Severy 2003. Griffin 1976 offers an important look at the history of ideas and their linkage with politics. Brunt 1961 is a crucial study of the structures of the regime under stress,
  942.  
  943. Barrett, Anthony A. 1999. Agrippina: Sex, power, and politics in the early empire. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  944.  
  945. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  946.  
  947. Looks at Agrippina in terms of a woman’s career: as a daughter, sister, niece, wife, and mother, before discussing her demise. The chapter on the daughter is largely concerned with the politics of Tiberius’s reign; the chapter on the “sister” is largely concerned with Caligula. The chapters on the niece, wife, and mother examine the ways in which adult women achieved power in the court.
  948.  
  949. Find this resource:
  950.  
  951.  
  952. Barrett, Anthony A. 2004. Livia: First lady of imperial Rome. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  953.  
  954. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  955.  
  956. Divides into two parts; the first offers a narrative of Livia’s life—her family, marital history, the emergence of the position of empress after Actium, and her role in the reign of Tiberius. The second half of the book is devoted to the public roles of Livia, beginning with “the private Livia” and continuing with her role as the wife and mother of emperors, and as an influential person both in Rome and the provinces.
  957.  
  958. Find this resource:
  959.  
  960.  
  961. Brunt, P. A. 1961. The revolt of Vindex and the fall of Nero. Latomus 18:531–559.
  962.  
  963. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  964.  
  965. Profoundly important study of the revolt that brought Nero down, arguing that discontent with his regime was not limited to the imperial upper class but spread throughout the empire. Reprinted in Brunt 1990 (pp. 9–32).
  966.  
  967. Find this resource:
  968.  
  969.  
  970. Brunt, P. A. 1990. Roman imperial themes. Oxford: Clarendon.
  971.  
  972. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  973.  
  974. Collection of essays by one of the truly great ancient historians of the 20th century. Brunt updated the essays that he selected for this volume with additional notes, which are, in many cases, extensive.
  975.  
  976. Find this resource:
  977.  
  978.  
  979. Eck, Werner, Antonio Caballos, and Fernando Fernández. 1996. Das Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre. Munich: C. H. Beck.
  980.  
  981. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  982.  
  983. First publication of the immensely important account of the trial of Piso in 20 CE. The detailed commentary explicates the institutions of the Tiberian period as well as the narrative, comparing what appears in here with the account of these events in Tacitus.
  984.  
  985. Find this resource:
  986.  
  987.  
  988. Ginsburg, Judith. 2006. Representing Agrippina: Constructions of female power in the early Roman Empire. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  989.  
  990. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  991.  
  992. Ginsburg looked at three aspects of Agrippina the Younger—her representation in literary sources, her appearance in imperial art ranging from coinage to sculpture (and her assimilation to Demeter in the Greek provinces), and then how various stereotypes were used to describe her, ranging from the murderous mother-in-law and barbarian queen to nymphomaniac.
  993.  
  994. Find this resource:
  995.  
  996.  
  997. Griffin, Miriam T. 1976. Seneca: A philosopher in politics. Oxford: Clarendon.
  998.  
  999. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1000.  
  1001. A detailed examination of the life and work of Seneca, giving equal attention to his philosophical works and to his political career, which is placed in an extremely rich context.
  1002.  
  1003. Find this resource:
  1004.  
  1005.  
  1006. Kokkinos, Nikos. 2002. Antonia Augusta: Portrait of a great Roman lady. London: Libri.
  1007.  
  1008. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1009.  
  1010. An important book and a model for studies of ill-attested imperial personages—noting that while we may not be able to know a great deal about such a person as a human being, it is possible to know how such a person was seen in the Roman world. Kokkinos looks at images of Antonia in inscriptions, papyri, coins, sculpture, minor arts, and architecture. The papyri reveal something of the extent of her holdings in Egypt (possibly assigned to her by Augustus from the property of her father, Mark Antony) and their subsequent disposition
  1011.  
  1012. Find this resource:
  1013.  
  1014.  
  1015. Severy, Beth. 2003. Augustus and the family at the birth of the Roman Empire. New York: Routledge.
  1016.  
  1017. DOI: 10.4324/9780203211434Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1018.  
  1019. Examines the change of political system from one dominated by competing families to one in which the domination of a single family was institutionalized. Severy notes that in the decade and a half after Actium, Augustus advertized the restoration of the Republic as the primary justification for his regime in an all-male sphere. After 17 BCE, Augustus turned to imagery derived from the family, managing the state as Roman aristocrats managed their households. The later Augustan and Tiberian periods see a great increase in the display of imperial women and senatorial wives, influencing self-display by women of provincial elites.
  1020.  
  1021. Find this resource:
  1022.  
  1023.  
  1024. The High Empire (to 235 CE)
  1025. The period generally known as the High Empire (the period during which Rome reached the highest extent of its power) opened with the overthrow of Nero in 68 CE, and continued through a period of civil war in 69 CE before the first of the new dynasties, the Flavian, was established. This was also the period of the Jewish revolt that ended with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the fall of Masada. For the Jewish revolt see under Regional Studies; for the revolt in Germany see the seminal study in Brunt 1960. This section of the bibliography therefore divides between studies of 69 CE and studies of the more stable system that emerged in the aftermath of the civil wars under the Flavians and Antonines, and then, after another period of civil war, the Severans.
  1026.  
  1027. 69 CE
  1028. For the year 69 there are now important studies of Tacitus’s history; see Ash 1999 and Haynes 2003 (both cited under Tacitus), in addition to commentaries on Tacitus’s commentaries such as Chilver 1979, Chilver 1985, Wellesley 1972, Damon 2003, and Ash 2007. Wellesley 2000 is also a useful overall introduction to the events of 69 CE, as is Morgan 2006.
  1029.  
  1030. Ash, Rhiannon. 2007. Tacitus: Histories Book II. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  1031.  
  1032. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1033.  
  1034. This commentary is very good on both Tacitus’s language and on the circumstances of the civil war, treating, in this case, the civil war between Otho and Vitellius.
  1035.  
  1036. Find this resource:
  1037.  
  1038.  
  1039. Brunt, P. A. 1960. Tacitus and the Batavian revolt. Latomus 19:495–517.
  1040.  
  1041. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1042.  
  1043. A careful analysis of Tacitus’s account of the Batavian revolt showing how the revolt was transformed from a civil war between the legions and auxiliaries in Germany into a full-blown revolt against Rome. Reprinted in Brunt 1990 (cited under Individual Studies), pp. 33–52.
  1044.  
  1045. Find this resource:
  1046.  
  1047.  
  1048. Chilver, G. E. F. 1979. A historical commentary on Tacitus’ Histories I and II. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1049.  
  1050. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1051.  
  1052. The word “historical” in the title is the key here; Chilver is not as interested in Tacitus’s style as the authors of other commentaries listed here, but the discussion of the historical background in the extensive introduction is very good, as are the individual analyses in the notes.
  1053.  
  1054. Find this resource:
  1055.  
  1056.  
  1057. Chilver, G. E. F. 1985. A historical commentary on Tacitus’ Histories IV and V. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1058.  
  1059. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1060.  
  1061. Chilver died in 1982 with the manuscript incomplete. The volume was seen through the press by G. B. Townend. Like its predecessor it does not spend much time on issues of style, but it is also an excellent analysis of Tacitus’s handling of the revolt on the Rhine, with a thorough introduction.
  1062.  
  1063. Find this resource:
  1064.  
  1065.  
  1066. Damon, Cynthia. 2003. Tacitus: Histories Book I. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  1067.  
  1068. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1069.  
  1070. Not only an excellent and sensitive introduction to Tacitus’s style, but also a very good guide to the sources for the early months of 69 CE (with a useful appendix comparing various versions of events).
  1071.  
  1072. Find this resource:
  1073.  
  1074.  
  1075. Morgan, Gwyn. 2006. 69 A.D.: The year of four emperors. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
  1076.  
  1077. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1078.  
  1079. Detailed account of the events surrounding the death of Nero and the victory of Vespasian, based on a fresh reading of the sources that tend to favor Tacitus while arguing that his picture of military psychology needs to be rethought; also argues that Vitellius did not anticipate being proclaimed emperor and rapidly realized that he was out of his depths. Also contains very useful appendices on the army in 69 CE.
  1080.  
  1081. Find this resource:
  1082.  
  1083.  
  1084. Wellesley, Kenneth. 1972. Cornelius Tacitus: The Histories Book III. Sydney: Sydney Univ. Press.
  1085.  
  1086. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1087.  
  1088. Very good on Tacitus’s style as well as on the content of the book, which tells the tale of Vespasian’s war against Vitellius.
  1089.  
  1090. Find this resource:
  1091.  
  1092.  
  1093. Wellesley, Kenneth. 2000. Year of the four emperors. 3d ed. London and New York: Routledge.
  1094.  
  1095. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1096.  
  1097. Long the standard introduction to the subject; a very clear account of the civil war year.
  1098.  
  1099. Find this resource:
  1100.  
  1101.  
  1102. The Flavians and Antonines
  1103. Imperial biographies remain important introductions for the next century, including Levick 1999, Bennett 2001, Birley 1997, and Birley 2000. Marcus’s northern wars are notably illuminated by Kovács 2009. Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations offer a path into the period, and there are fine introductions in Rutherford 1989 and Brunt 1974. For the reign of Commodus see now Hekster 2002. Boatwright 1987 is important as a study of the impact of an individual emperor on the city of Rome.
  1104.  
  1105. Bennett, Julian. 2001. Trajan: Optimus Princeps. 2d ed. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press.
  1106.  
  1107. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1108.  
  1109. Bennett begins in the Flavian period, looking at the development of the governing class, into which context he fits the family of Trajan before discussing the reign of Domitian, the succession, and public ideology. Treatment of the Dacian and Parthian Wars is balanced with discussion of Trajan’s administrative style, arguing that he was as autocratic as Domitian but had a more agreeable personal manner.
  1110.  
  1111. Find this resource:
  1112.  
  1113.  
  1114. Birley, Anthony R. 1997. Hadrian: The restless emperor. New York and London: Routledge.
  1115.  
  1116. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1117.  
  1118. Standard biography of Hadrian, beginning with Hadrian’s childhood in Rome and career under Trajan, with the result that the book also offers a significant evaluation of the actions of Trajan. Birley agrees with the tradition in the sources that there was widespread opposition to the notion that Hadrian would succeed Trajan and sees the succession as essentially a coup d’état. There is extensive discussion of imperial frontier policy, and of Hadrian’s impact on the empire.
  1119.  
  1120. Find this resource:
  1121.  
  1122.  
  1123. Birley, Anthony R. 2000. Marcus Aurelius: A biography. 2d ed. London: Routledge.
  1124.  
  1125. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1126.  
  1127. Standard biography of Marcus Aurelius, which ranges well beyond the emperor to explore the Antonine age as a whole, and a basic starting point for anyone interested in the period. The discussion of the sources in Appendix 1 is very helpful for the period as a whole.
  1128.  
  1129. Find this resource:
  1130.  
  1131.  
  1132. Boatwright, Mary Taliaferro. 1987. Hadrian and the city of Rome. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  1133.  
  1134. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1135.  
  1136. An area-by-area examination of Rome in the time of Hadrian, beginning with an overview of the way that Hadrian participated in the transformation of the city during his reign. Beginning with the Campus Martius and imperial fora, she moves on to the Forum Romanum and the imperial residences, including the Villa Adriana at Tivoli, before concluding with the mausoleum and the Pons Aelius as well as a survey of problematic buildings.
  1137.  
  1138. Find this resource:
  1139.  
  1140.  
  1141. Brunt. 1974. Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations. Journal of Roman Studies 64:1–20.
  1142.  
  1143. DOI: 10.2307/299256Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1144.  
  1145. Close reading of the imperial office as it appears in Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations, showing how various passages reflect the political realities of Marcus’s time and Marcus’s own personality. A brilliant work of humanistic scholarship.
  1146.  
  1147. Find this resource:
  1148.  
  1149.  
  1150. Hekster, Olivier. 2002. Commodus: An emperor at the crossroads. Amsterdam: Glieben.
  1151.  
  1152. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1153.  
  1154. Seeks to answer questions about Commodus by dividing the man from the image, by writing a book that treats first the record of the reign that appears in the narrative sources, and then by following the record of the reign that emerges from the study of material culture. Hekster’s thesis is that the dichotomy between Commodus’s inherited authority as the son of Marcus Aurelius and his dubious reception by the governing elite explains the course of Commodus’s thirteen-year rule.
  1155.  
  1156. Find this resource:
  1157.  
  1158.  
  1159. Kovács, Péter. 2009. Marcus Aurelius’ rain miracle and the Marcomannic wars. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill.
  1160.  
  1161. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004166394.i-302Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1162.  
  1163. Extremely well executed study not simply of the traditions connection with the “Rain Miracle,” but of Marcus’s northern wars as a whole. Issues connected with the ideology of the regime and its reception in subsequent years are handled with as much aplomb as those such as Marcus’s unwillingness to engage in significant annexation north of the Danube.
  1164.  
  1165. Find this resource:
  1166.  
  1167.  
  1168. Levick, B. M. 1999. Vespasian. New York and London: Routledge.
  1169.  
  1170. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1171.  
  1172. An excellent discussion of Vespasian that is not uncritical, but still sees that Vespasian’s great virtue was steadiness, and that it was this that allowed him to restore confidence in the imperial project.
  1173.  
  1174. Find this resource:
  1175.  
  1176.  
  1177. Rutherford, R. B. 1989. The meditations of Marcus Aurelius: A study. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  1178.  
  1179. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1180.  
  1181. A careful reading of the Meditations that uses the evidence of the Meditations to examine Marcus’s intellectual formation. Two chapters treat the problem of the first book, showing that here the emperor was attempting to create an ethical self-portrait; another examines selected topics in the context of ancient thought, while another chapter treats Marcus’s thoughts on the supernatural. The final chapter compares the religious thought of Marcus with that of Epictetus.
  1182.  
  1183. Find this resource:
  1184.  
  1185.  
  1186. The Severans
  1187. Birley 1999 is an excellent introduction to the career of Severus and his age as a whole, while Rubin 1980 is a crucially important study of the discourse of the regime. For the late Severan period, Millar 1964 (cited under Historians Other than Tacitus) is still very useful (see Imperial Historiography); Frey 1989 is valuable for making sense of Elagabalus.
  1188.  
  1189. Birley, Anthony R. 1999. Septimius Severus: The African emperor. London: Routlege.
  1190.  
  1191. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1192.  
  1193. Standard treatment, beginning with a very good treatment of his North African background and the circumstances of his early career making the important point that, despite his dependence upon control of the army to secure his regime he was not, per se, a “military” man.
  1194.  
  1195. Find this resource:
  1196.  
  1197.  
  1198. Frey, Martin. 1989. Untersuchungen zur Religion und zur Religionspolitik des Kaisers Elagabal. Stuttgart: F. Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden.
  1199.  
  1200. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1201.  
  1202. Important study of the religious aspects of Elagabalus’s regime which is, in effect, an account of Elagabalus’s relationship with the city of Rome. The value of this book is Frey’s examination of the reign without bogging down in discussion of the emperor’s eccentricities.
  1203.  
  1204. Find this resource:
  1205.  
  1206.  
  1207. Rubin, Z. 1980. Civil-war propaganda and historiography. Brussels: Latomus.
  1208.  
  1209. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1210.  
  1211. This original examination of the traditions that appear in the sources for the Severan civil wars traces the impact of imperial propaganda on the authors. The many insights offered here remain immensely important for the study of not only the civil wars but for the study of the manufacture of the imperial image as seen by the emperor’s subjects.
  1212.  
  1213. Find this resource:
  1214.  
  1215.  
  1216. The 3rd Century (235 CE–284 CE)
  1217. Loriot 1975 is an important starting point for the first part of this period, and Christol 1986 (see The Emperor and Governing Classes) is very important for the development of the governing class. Syme 1971 offers a number of important detailed studies of the period, and Potter 1990 examines the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle, one of the few contemporary narratives for this period. Peachin 1990 is an important resource for chronology. For the events of 238 CE Dietz 1990 remains a crucial guide. Drinkwater 1987 and König 1981 are valuable for the Gallic separatist regime of the 260s and early 270s, and compliment each other’s approaches. Drinkwater 2007 is extremely important for the development of German tribes in this period. Potter (under General Overviews) offers a general narrative for the whole period. MacMullen 1976 is an original and challenging analysis of the period.
  1218.  
  1219. Dietz, Karlheinz. 1990. Senatus contra principem: Untersuchungen zur senatorischen Opposition gegen Kaiser Maximinus Thrax. Munich: Beck.
  1220.  
  1221. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1222.  
  1223. Dietz sets out earlier scholarship on the civil war of 238 and then analyzes the evidence in the context of a detailed study of the prosopography of the governing class.
  1224.  
  1225. Find this resource:
  1226.  
  1227.  
  1228. Drinkwater, J. 1987. The Gallic Empire: Separatism and community in the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire, A.D. 260–274. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden.
  1229.  
  1230. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1231.  
  1232. Detailed examination of the literary evidence for the Gallic regime with implications for understanding the period that go beyond the immediate topic.
  1233.  
  1234. Find this resource:
  1235.  
  1236.  
  1237. Drinkwater, John F. 2007. The Alamanni and Rome, 213–496 (Caracalla to Clovis). Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  1238.  
  1239. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199295685.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1240.  
  1241. An extremely important book about the interaction between Rome and the tribes north of the Rhine, especially the confederation that emerged in the early 3rd century in southern Germany and proved a thorn in the side of the Romans thereafter. The book not only raises important issues about the Germans but also offers a fresh perspective on the way that Rome dealt with its neighbors
  1242.  
  1243. Find this resource:
  1244.  
  1245.  
  1246. König, Ingemar. 1981. Die gallischen Usurpatoren von Postumus bis Tetricus. Munich: Beck.
  1247.  
  1248. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1249.  
  1250. A very good, clear study of the Gallic regime, more heavily focused on documentary sources than Drinkwater 1987.
  1251.  
  1252. Find this resource:
  1253.  
  1254.  
  1255. Loriot, X. 1975. Les premières années de la grande crise du IIIe siècle: De l’avènement de Maximin le Thrace (235) à la mort de Gordien III (244). Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 2.2: 657–787.
  1256.  
  1257. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1258.  
  1259. Loriot’s careful discussion of the evidence for these years is the starting point for subsequent studies of the era.
  1260.  
  1261. Find this resource:
  1262.  
  1263.  
  1264. MacMullen, Ramsay. 1976. Roman government’s response to crisis, AD 235–337. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  1265.  
  1266. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1267.  
  1268. An extremely important book examining Roman responses to mid-3rd-century problems in terms of the training of government officials, noting that acquisition of literary skills (characteristic of officials in the 2nd century) crowded out other skills more useful in dealing with rapid change. Military failure displaced senators from high command, enabling the selection of officials from a broader pool. An important consequence of the crisis was the erosion of the economic power of the middling landholder.
  1269.  
  1270. Find this resource:
  1271.  
  1272.  
  1273. Peachin, Michael. 1990. Roman imperial titulature and chronology, A.D. 235–284. Amserdam: Gieben.
  1274.  
  1275. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1276.  
  1277. Invaluable collection of evidence for the chronology of the 3rd century, collecting documentary evidence for imperial titles.
  1278.  
  1279. Find this resource:
  1280.  
  1281.  
  1282. Potter, D. S. 1990. Prophecy and history in the crisis of the Roman Empire: A historical commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1283.  
  1284. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1285.  
  1286. A detailed commentary with a new text and translation of the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle, which is a confection of oracular texts written in the eastern provinces during the course of the 3rd century. The commentary also offers extensive discussions of the chronology of the period from 244 to 270, and the sources and the reception of imperial propaganda.
  1287.  
  1288. Find this resource:
  1289.  
  1290.  
  1291. Syme, Ronald. 1971. Emperors and biography: Studies in the “Historia Augusta.” Oxford: Clarendon.
  1292.  
  1293. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1294.  
  1295. In many ways the first modern account of the mid-3rd century in English which, despite the focus on the Historia Augusta, succeeds in illuminating many issues from the late Severan period through the reign of Probus.
  1296.  
  1297. Find this resource:
  1298.  
  1299.  
  1300. The Emperor and Governing Classes
  1301. The studies in this section are concerned with the structure of the governing classes of the Roman Empire, the different career paths open to men who sought to serve the state, and the ways in which different groups dealt with each other. Imperial administration was constantly evolving so that it involved people from different social classes and different parts of the empire. The emperor himself was at times a highly competent administrator, at times utterly incompetent, but the system was sufficiently robust that it could continue to function. The inclusion of administrators of widely diverse backgrounds—socially and culturally—served to strengthen the institutions of the state, even as the tensions between different groups might, at times, cause significant stress.
  1302.  
  1303. The Emperor in the Roman World
  1304. The fundamental study of the emperor in the Roman world is Millar 1992. Spawforth 2007 is an important addition to Millar with its focus on the development of court societies and can usefully be read alongside it, while Millar 1966, Millar 1967, and Millar 1981 are very useful summaries of the main contentions of Millar 1992. Brunt 1977 offer a careful reading of the inscription giving a partial list of the powers granted to Vespasian at the beginning of his reign as a way of defining the position of the princeps within the state. Halfmann 1986 offers important insight into the way that the emperor dealt with his provincial subjects.
  1305.  
  1306. Brunt, P. A. 1977. Lex de imperio Vespasiani. Journal of Roman Studies 67:95–111.
  1307.  
  1308. DOI: 10.2307/299922Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1309.  
  1310. Fundamental (if not uncontroversial) study of legislation conferring power on individual emperors, considering how and when such laws came to be passed in the course of the 1st century CE.
  1311.  
  1312. Find this resource:
  1313.  
  1314.  
  1315. Halfmann, Helmut. 1986. Itinera principum: Geschichte und Typologie der Kaiserreisen im römischen Reich. Stuttgart: F. Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden
  1316.  
  1317. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1318.  
  1319. Detailed analysis of imperial journeys in the first three centuries CE; a very important guide to the way the imperial office developed away from the static regime of the Julio-Claudian period.
  1320.  
  1321. Find this resource:
  1322.  
  1323.  
  1324. Millar, F. 1966. The emperor, the senate and the provinces. Journal of Roman Studies 56:156–166.
  1325.  
  1326. DOI: 10.2307/300142Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1327.  
  1328. A clear examination of the structures of government in the Roman Empire, demolishing the earlier view that there was a functional distinction between senatorial and imperial provinces.
  1329.  
  1330. Find this resource:
  1331.  
  1332.  
  1333. Millar, F. 1967. Emperors at work. Journal of Roman Studies 57:1–9.
  1334.  
  1335. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1336.  
  1337. A concise exposition of the model of government by petition and response. Also included in Millar 2003 (pp. 1–9).
  1338.  
  1339. Find this resource:
  1340.  
  1341.  
  1342. Millar, Fergus. 1981. Roman Empire and its neighbors. 2d ed. London: Duckworth
  1343.  
  1344. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1345.  
  1346. A prelude to Millar’s later work, this is an exceptionally useful volume as Millar sets out his approach to the institutional history of the empire and the history of regions within the empire.
  1347.  
  1348. Find this resource:
  1349.  
  1350.  
  1351. Millar, F. 1982. Emperors, frontiers, and foreign relations, 31 BC to AD 378. Britannia 13:1–23.
  1352.  
  1353. DOI: 10.2307/526487Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1354.  
  1355. This paper fleshes out the picture of the emperor’s activities with respect to foreign affairs, showing that the parameters of imperial decision making were set by the quality (poor) of the available information, difficulties in communication, and the cultural presuppositions of imperial culture. Also included in Millar 2003 (pp. 160–194).
  1356.  
  1357. Find this resource:
  1358.  
  1359.  
  1360. Millar, Fergus. 1992. The emperor in the Roman world. 2d ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Pres.
  1361.  
  1362. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1363.  
  1364. Monumentally important examination of the government of the Roman Empire with implications for the study of imperial government in all areas of premodern history. Millar expounds the model of government by petition and response that he had proposed in Millar 1967, collecting vast quantities of evidence for the emperor’s dealings with subjects of all sorts. Specific exploration of the role of the emperor in foreign affairs is left to Millar 1982.
  1365.  
  1366. Find this resource:
  1367.  
  1368.  
  1369. Millar, Fergus. 2003. Rome, the Greek world, and the East. Vol. 2, Government, society, and culture in the Roman Empire. Edited by Hannah M. Cotton and Guy M. Rogers. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press.
  1370.  
  1371. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1372.  
  1373. A collection of Millar’s major contributions on the history and administration of the Roman Empire.
  1374.  
  1375. Find this resource:
  1376.  
  1377.  
  1378. Spawforth, A. J. S., ed. 2007. The court and court society in ancient monarchies. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  1379.  
  1380. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511482939Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1381.  
  1382. A collection of essays exploring the application of Norbet Elias’s sociological studies of early-modern court societies to the ancient world; notable for Roman historians are articles by J. Patterson on the early empire and Rowland Smith on the later empire.
  1383.  
  1384. Find this resource:
  1385.  
  1386.  
  1387. The Senate and Equestrian Orders
  1388. Talbert 1984 is fundamental for the study of the senate as an institution, while prosopographical studies such as Halfmann 1979, Leunissen 1989, Christol 1986 and Dietz 1990—see The 3rd Century (235 CE–284 CE)—are extremely valuable for the changing membership. Demougin 1988 is critical for institutional aspects of the equestrian order, while Pflaum 1950 and Pflaum 1960–1961 are critical for the development of equestrian administrative positions, though not uncontroversial, see Saller 1982 and Eck in Bowman, et al. 1996–2006, Volume 11 (under General Overviews) for different perspectives. Eck 1984 is foundational for examination of senatorial self-image.
  1389.  
  1390. Christol, M. 1986. Essai sur l’évolution des carrières sénatoriales dans la seconde moitié du IIIe siècle ap. J.C. Paris: Nouvelles Éditions Latines.
  1391.  
  1392. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1393.  
  1394. An important study of the development of the senatorial order in the course of the 3rd century as the ranks below consul increasingly became local rather than imperial offices, but also demonstrating the continuing importance of the most powerful members of the order to emperors who were not themselves of senatorial extraction.
  1395.  
  1396. Find this resource:
  1397.  
  1398.  
  1399. Demougin, Ségolène. 1988. L’ordre équestre sous les Julio-Claudiens. Rome: Ecole Française de Rome.
  1400.  
  1401. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1402.  
  1403. An immense study of the equestrian order, showing that the effect of the emergence of the principate was to deprive the ordo equestris of its political role, reducing it to one that was purely social. The order maintained an aristocratic milieu that was sufficiently open to allow the integration of local elites into the imperial hierarchy. Individual topics include the formal definition of the order in the post-Augustan period, the military role of equestrians (and the social status of primipilares), the judicial functions of the order, social distinctions within the order, and a catalogue of equestrians of the Julio-Claudian era.
  1404.  
  1405. Find this resource:
  1406.  
  1407.  
  1408. Eck, W. 1984. Senatorial self-representation: Developments in the Augustan period. Paper presented at a colloquium held at Wolfson College, Oxford, April 1983. In Caesar Augustus: Seven aspects. Edited by Fergus Millar and Erich Segal, 129–168. Oxford and New York: Clarendon.
  1409.  
  1410. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1411.  
  1412. Brilliant examination of the transformation of senatorial self-representation in the Augustan age, looking at the ways that senators adjusted their public images in response to the Augustan regime, and its monumental construction.
  1413.  
  1414. Find this resource:
  1415.  
  1416.  
  1417. Halfmann, H. 1979. Die Senatoren aus dem östlichen Teil des Imperium Romanum bis zum Ende des 2. Jh. N. Chr. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
  1418.  
  1419. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1420.  
  1421. A detailed and immensely useful study of the rise of eastern senators into the ranks of the Roman senate, showing that the movement was by no means uniform from region to region in the Roman east.
  1422.  
  1423. Find this resource:
  1424.  
  1425.  
  1426. Leunissen, P. 1989. Konsuln und Konsulare in der Zeit Commodus bis Severus Alexander (180–235 n. Chr.): Prosopographische Untersuchungen zur senatorischen Elite im römischen Kaiserreich. Amsterdam: J. C. Gieben.
  1427.  
  1428. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1429.  
  1430. Detailed study of the consuls of the late Antonine and Severan periods providing the material needed to study the development of the governing class in this period, showing not only the prevalence of “new men” in the senate at this time, but also that they more often came from Africa and the eastern provinces rather than the “European” provinces
  1431.  
  1432. Find this resource:
  1433.  
  1434.  
  1435. Pflaum, H. G. 1950. Les procurateurs équestres sous le haut-empire romain. Paris: A. Maisonneuve.
  1436.  
  1437. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1438.  
  1439. This is the foundational structure of the civilian administration of the Roman Empire, tracing the increase in posts from the Julio-Claudian period into the 3rd century. Pflaum argues that there was a definite career path and that merit would have been the primary determinant in the success of a career. Although a great deal of information has come to light since this volume was published, it remains extremely valuable.
  1440.  
  1441. Find this resource:
  1442.  
  1443.  
  1444. Pflaum, H. G. 1960–1961. Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain. Paris: P. Geuthner.
  1445.  
  1446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1447.  
  1448. Four volumes in the original publication, with a supplement published in 1982. Collection of evidence for imperial procurators in imperial service; entries begin with the texts relevant to a career followed by discussion of the career. Despite criticisms of Pflaum’s belief in a strict career path, these volumes are essential for understanding the civil administration of the Roman Empire.
  1449.  
  1450. Find this resource:
  1451.  
  1452.  
  1453. Saller, Richard P. 1982. Personal patronage under the early empire. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  1454.  
  1455. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511583612Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1456.  
  1457. An exploration of the role of patronage in imperial administration, challenging the view of Pflaum that seniority and merit played a significant role in the advancement of an official (especially equestrian) career. The emperor used senators and equestrians to distribute his beneficia throughout the empire, thus establishing personal links with local aristocracies with which he had no personal contact.
  1458.  
  1459. Find this resource:
  1460.  
  1461.  
  1462. Talbert, Richard J. A. 1984. The senate of imperial Rome. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  1463.  
  1464. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1465.  
  1466. A splendid book looking at the working of the senate as an institution in the imperial period, providing solutions to many conundra in earlier scholarship and elucidating what had often seemed significant opacities in the history of the empire.
  1467.  
  1468. Find this resource:
  1469.  
  1470.  
  1471. Social Relations
  1472. MacMullen 1992 offers interesting insight into upper-class opposition to the imperial regime, though it must be read in light of Brunt 1975. Roller 2001 and Lendon 1997 offer somewhat different but significant analyses of relationships between aristocrats and emperors, exploring the clash between the value system of the traditional aristocracy and that of an imperial aristocracy that needed to deal with an imperial court.
  1473.  
  1474. Brunt, P. A. 1975. Stoicism and the principate. Papers of the British School at Rome 43:7–35.
  1475.  
  1476. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1477.  
  1478. A careful examination of what it meant to be a Stoic in the principate showing that Stoic beliefs were by no means incompatible with loyalty to the imperial regime. The best expression of the view to which Brunt is responding appears in MacMullen 1992.
  1479.  
  1480. Find this resource:
  1481.  
  1482.  
  1483. Lendon, J. E. 1997. Empire of honour: The art of government in the Roman world. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1484.  
  1485. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1486.  
  1487. An eloquently original study of imperial culture, examining the role of honor (and slights to honor) in aristocratic culture, and the role of the emperor as the source of honor.
  1488.  
  1489. Find this resource:
  1490.  
  1491.  
  1492. MacMullen, Ramsay. 1992. Enemies of the Roman order: Treason, unrest, and alienation in the empire. London and New York: Routledge.
  1493.  
  1494. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1495.  
  1496. Originally published in 1966 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press). An original examination of malcontents within the empire, looking at the “Stoic” opposition to emperors, then at specific types that could be seen as “anti-establishment” including philosophers, magicians, and astrologers, before examining the causes of urban unrest and “outsiders” or rural resisters of authority—a book well ahead of its time that repays careful attention.
  1497.  
  1498. Find this resource:
  1499.  
  1500.  
  1501. Roller, Matthew B. 2001. Constructing autocracy: Aristocrats and emperors in Julio-Claudian Rome. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  1502.  
  1503. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1504.  
  1505. An exploration of techniques employed by members of the Roman aristocracy to deal with the emergent culture of an imperial court. The opening chapters explore differing approaches in Lucan and Seneca, the one seeing the salvation of the aristocracy in Stoic ethics, the other suggesting that endlessly repeating irreconcilable discourse was characteristic of the new system. The second half of the book examines the emperor’s authority, stressing models of gift exchange and the imagery of master-slave, father-son relationships.
  1506.  
  1507. Find this resource:
  1508.  
  1509.  
  1510. Provincial Administration
  1511. This section is divided into three parts. The first concerns the structure of provincial administration—just what the empire tried to do, and what was seen to be the mission of government. A very important feature of this area is also the study of imperial finance. The second area, imperial administrators and administrative behaviors, is the development of imperial officialdom—what sort of people held office and what experiences qualified them to hold those offices. It is also concerned with the issue of how well they did their job. The third area is concerned with the ideology of administration, or how the imperial system justified its existence and advertised its benefits to its subjects.
  1512.  
  1513. The Structure of Provincial Administration
  1514. The study of provincial administration is crucial for the question of how Roman the Roman Empire was. The actual administrative structure (as is shown above all by Burton 1975) that was linked to the governor was very small (Thomasson 1972–1990 is a vital guide to the identity of these officials), but, as Burton 1979 and Eck’s chapters in Bowman, et al. 1996–2006 (cited under General Overviews) have shown, to look simply at the governor is to miss the vast mass of imperial officials attached to imperial properties in the provinces (and procurators or their servants) and engaging in special tasks in the cities of the empire, usually in response to crisis. Hence the very great importance of understanding the tax structure of the empire not simply as the point at which most subjects had contact with imperial officials—almost all of whom were fellow provincials by birth. The work of Neesen 1980, Brunt 1981, Brunt 1990, Alpers 1995, and Cottier, et al. 2008 is of great value in setting out the actual working of the system.
  1515.  
  1516. Alpers, Michael. 1995. Das nachrepublikanische Finanzsystem: Fiscus und Fisci in der frühen Kaiserzeit. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter.
  1517.  
  1518. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1519.  
  1520. A lucid account of the development of the imperial fiscus. Alpers begins with discussion of Seneca, De Beneficitis 7.6.3, as evidence for the fiscus Caesaris. After a chronological analysis, ending in the Flavian period, in which he shows that the notion that the fiscus was institutionalized under the Flavians may be overstated, he discusses the gradual emergence of an imperial fiscus from the provincial fisci of the late Republic (which received and dispersed state revenues) and their combination with earlier fisci that received monies owed directly to the emperor.
  1521.  
  1522. Find this resource:
  1523.  
  1524.  
  1525. Brunt, P. A. 1981. The revenues of Rome. Journal of Roman Studies 71:161–162.
  1526.  
  1527. DOI: 10.2307/299505Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1528.  
  1529. Initially a long review article of Neesen 1980, this paper represents the most coherent account in English of the land and head taxes in the Roman Empire, while also engaging with the thesis of A. H. M. Jones that overtaxation played a significant role in the empire’s demise. Reprinted in Brunt 1990 (cited under Individual Studies), pp. 324–346, with additional material (pp. 531–540).
  1530.  
  1531. Find this resource:
  1532.  
  1533.  
  1534. Brunt, P. A. 1990. Publicans in the principate. In Roman imperial themes. By P. A. Brunt, 354–432. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1535.  
  1536. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1537.  
  1538. A new study included in Brunt’s volume largely devoted to updated papers published in other places that examines the continuing role of equestrian corporations in the collection of money taxes in the Roman Empire.
  1539.  
  1540. Find this resource:
  1541.  
  1542.  
  1543. Burton, G. P. 1975. Proconsuls, assizes, and the administration of justice. Journal of Roman Studies 65:92–106.
  1544.  
  1545. DOI: 10.2307/370065Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1546.  
  1547. Fundamental description of the way that governors performed their legal functions within their provinces, demonstrating the importance of the assize districts in a province.
  1548.  
  1549. Find this resource:
  1550.  
  1551.  
  1552. Burton, G. P. 1979. The curator rei publicae: Towards a reappraisal. Chiron 9:465–487.
  1553.  
  1554. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1555.  
  1556. An important study of proactive imperial government showing that curatores were imperial officials appointed to oversee the financial administration of civic communities, including the rental of civic lands, the prevention of the misuse of public funds, and the protection of specific funds from peculation and malversation. Though appointed by the emperor, the curator possessed powers of decision and judgment that transcended the rights of communities.
  1557.  
  1558. Find this resource:
  1559.  
  1560.  
  1561. Burton, G. P. 2002. The Roman imperial state (AD 14–235): Evidence and reality. Chiron 32:249–280.
  1562.  
  1563. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1564.  
  1565. Burton argues that we need to locate the reactive features of the imperial government within the context, not systematically reported in our extant evidence, of a state that also had the ambition and the power both to creative normative regulations that were binding on its subjects and to extract a continuous flow of surplus resources.
  1566.  
  1567. Find this resource:
  1568.  
  1569.  
  1570. Cottier, M., M. H. Crawford, C. V. Crowther, J.-L. Ferrary, B. M. Levick, O. Salomies, and M. Wörrle, eds. 2008. The customs law of Asia. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  1571.  
  1572. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1573.  
  1574. Definitive publication of the 155-line Neronian customs law found at Ephesus. Accompanying essays include important studies of the dissemination of information in the Roman Empire, the tax structure, and the development of the province of Asia.
  1575.  
  1576. Find this resource:
  1577.  
  1578.  
  1579. Neesen, Lutz. 1980. Untersuchungen zu den direkten Staatsabgaben der romischen Kaiserzeit: (27 v. Chr.–284 n. Chr.). Bonn, Germany: Habelt.
  1580.  
  1581. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1582.  
  1583. Brunt’s long and excellent discussion of this lucid and well-organized book (Brunt 1981) is no substitute for reading the book itself, which is something that anyone seeking to understand the Roman tax system outside of Egypt (and to some degree even within Egypt) will need to do.
  1584.  
  1585. Find this resource:
  1586.  
  1587.  
  1588. Thomasson, Bengt. 1972–1990. Laterculi Praesidum. Gothenburg, Sweden: Radius.
  1589.  
  1590. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1591.  
  1592. An invaluable list of known provincial administrators in the first three centuries CE.
  1593.  
  1594. Find this resource:
  1595.  
  1596.  
  1597. Imperial Administrators and Administrative Behaviors
  1598. A crucial topic in the study of the Roman Empire (and an issue discussed with more than passing vehemence in authors such as Tacitus) is that of the honesty and overall conduct of officials (e.g., general levels of brutality), on which see Brunt 1961, MacMullen 1986, and Garnsey 1970. The issue of conduct is linked with the issue of competence: did Roman administrators pursue paths that would lend them special skills in the areas in which they were employed? The issue is complicated by the vast differences in experience of governors, the rather different tasks that they might be assigned, and the simple fact that “management experience” is not task-specific in the upper echelons of any administrative group. Birley 1954 proposed one model for men with specialized military ability, challenged by Campbell 1975—the two articles represent different poles of the dispute; Birley 1981 offers a very important discussion of the development of administrative careers in the first three centuries CE. Brunt 1975, while seeming to offer arguments that would favor the view of Campbell 1975, could be read either way.
  1599.  
  1600. Birley, E. 1954. Senators in the emperors’ service. Proceedings of the British Academy 39:197–214.
  1601.  
  1602. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1603.  
  1604. Controversial but immensely stimulating study of career patterns in the imperial senate (drawing upon methods that the author had used to analyze promotion patterns in the German army during World War II). Birley holds that a select group of senators were identified at an early stage in their careers and pushed forward into the most important commands.
  1605.  
  1606. Find this resource:
  1607.  
  1608.  
  1609. Birley, Anthony R. 1981. The Fasti of Roman Britain. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1610.  
  1611. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1612.  
  1613. The opening section of this book offers a detailed and invaluable summary of senatorial careers during the imperial period, showing how the number of offices expanded over time with the growth of postpraetorian and postconsular careers. The bulk of the book is concerned with the careers of individuals who served in Britain (which includes a number of very important people).
  1614.  
  1615. Find this resource:
  1616.  
  1617.  
  1618. Brunt, P. A. 1961. Charges of provincial maladministration under the early principate. Historia 10:189–227.
  1619.  
  1620. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1621.  
  1622. Argues that the imperial administration made some improvements in the standard of government, but basically tolerated a high degree of corruption on the part of its its officials, asking, “Given the prevalence of corruption at all times, can it ever have been of benefit to the subjects that the central government extended its own responsibilities?” Reprinted in Brunt 1990 (cited under Individual Studies), pp. 53–95.
  1623.  
  1624. Find this resource:
  1625.  
  1626.  
  1627. Brunt, P. A. 1975. The administrators of Roman Egypt. Journal of Roman Studies 75:124–147.
  1628.  
  1629. DOI: 10.2307/370067Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1630.  
  1631. Argues that while previous experience in Egypt appears to have been a desirable quality in a prefect of Egypt in the Julio-Claudian period, it was rare thereafter. Reprinted in Brunt 1990 (cited under Individual Studies), pp. 215–254.
  1632.  
  1633. Find this resource:
  1634.  
  1635.  
  1636. Campbell, B. 1975. Who were the viri militares? Journal of Roman Studies 65:11–31.
  1637.  
  1638. DOI: 10.2307/370060Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1639.  
  1640. A very important, if very skeptical, discussion of the view, adumbrated by E. Birley and R. Syme, that there were some select few senators who were identified at a very early stage in their careers for especially important commands.
  1641.  
  1642. Find this resource:
  1643.  
  1644.  
  1645. Garnsey, Peter. 1970. Social status and legal privilege in the Roman Empire. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1646.  
  1647. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1648.  
  1649. Important study of de iure and de facto legal discrimination in the Roman Empire. De facto discrimination was not officially recognized even though it would arise from the fact that lower-class defendants were judged by high-status individuals who were prejudiced against them, while de iure discrimination is built into the legal code. These forms of discrimination stem from the connection between legal privilege and the dignitas that derived from wealth, the substitution of monarchy for oligarchy, which led to changes in legal institutions, and the devaluation of citizenship.
  1650.  
  1651. Find this resource:
  1652.  
  1653.  
  1654. MacMullen, Ramsay. 1986. Judicial savagery in the Roman Empire. Chiron 16:43–62.
  1655.  
  1656. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1657.  
  1658. An important examination of the increase in brutality in the administration of justice as even the protections once awarded to Roman citizens were eroded in the course of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, suggesting that this was, in part, a sign of the widening gulf between imperial agents and their subjects over time, and an increasing tendency to define rights in terms of shared culture and the increasing use of the cognitio procedure.
  1659.  
  1660. Find this resource:
  1661.  
  1662.  
  1663. The Ideology of Administration
  1664. Ando 2000 is the crucial work on the spread of the imperial ideal in the provinces, while Potter 1994 offers suggestions on the way that imperial communication was read, as does Noreña 2001. The imperial cult provided an important vehicle, outside of the structures provided by the legal and tax structures of the administration for communication between subject and emperor. Fishwick 1987, Fishwick 1991–1992, Fishwick 2002–2004, and Price 1984 offer important studies, albeit with very different styles of this institution.
  1665.  
  1666. Ando, Clifford. 2000. Imperial ideology and provincial loyalty in the Roman Empire. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  1667.  
  1668. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1669.  
  1670. A powerfully argued and richly conceived study of the way that a sense of community was constructed in the Roman Empire in the first four centuries CE showing that the longevity of the empire depended not so much upon military might as on the consensus amongst the leaders of provincial society that Roman rule was a good thing.
  1671.  
  1672. Find this resource:
  1673.  
  1674.  
  1675. Fishwick, Duncan. 1987. The imperial cult in the Latin West: Studies in the ruler cult of the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Vol. 1, in two parts. Leiden and New York: Brill.
  1676.  
  1677. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1678.  
  1679. The first volume opens with an account of isotheoi timai in the Hellenistic world, and continues through a discussion of the honors for Caesar to look at the development of the cult in the western provinces between the time of Augustus and the Severans, showing that Augustus established cults in “barbarian provinces of the west,” and that Vespasian extended provincial cults into more established provinces such as Baetica, Gallia Narbonensis, and the newer Mauretania.
  1680.  
  1681. Find this resource:
  1682.  
  1683.  
  1684. Fishwick, D. 1991–1992. The imperial cult in the Latin West: Studies in the ruler cult of the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Vol. 2, in two parts. Leiden, The Netherlands, and New York: Brill.
  1685.  
  1686. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1687.  
  1688. Volume 2 discusses the form in which cult was offered (e.g. to the genius and numen of the emperor).
  1689.  
  1690. Find this resource:
  1691.  
  1692.  
  1693. Fishwick, D. 2002–2004. The imperial cult in the Latin West: Studies in the ruler cult of the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Vol. 3, in four parts. Leiden, The Netherlands, and New York: Brill.
  1694.  
  1695. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1696.  
  1697. Volume 3.1 returns to a chronological discussion of the cult in the western provinces, extended to Diocletian; 3.2 deals with provincial priesthoods in the west from Augustus to the 3rd century. Volume 3.3 deals with the provincial centers of the cult and the regalia of priests, calendars of festivals, rites dedications, games, and the nature of the cult.
  1698.  
  1699. Find this resource:
  1700.  
  1701.  
  1702. Noreña, Carlos F. 2001. The communication of the emperor’s virtues. Journal of Roman Studies 91:146–168.
  1703.  
  1704. DOI: 10.2307/3184774Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1705.  
  1706. A sophisticated investigation of imperial coinage concentrating on reverse types that advertise the emperor’s virtues, showing that six virtues are most typical (all interestingly applicable the civil side of the regime), which are aequitas, pietas, virtus, liberalitas, providentia, and pudicitia, though some change over time—e.g., how liberalitas is transformed from being a personal quality of the emperor to “administrative shorthand” for handouts.
  1707.  
  1708. Find this resource:
  1709.  
  1710.  
  1711. Potter, David 1994. Prophets and emperors: Human and divine authority from Augustus to Theodosius. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
  1712.  
  1713. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1714.  
  1715. Looks at the place of prophecy in the structure of ancient religion (showing how prophecy represented an “active” mechanism for change) and then at how prophetic texts reflect the constructions of imperial power advertised through public media.
  1716.  
  1717. Find this resource:
  1718.  
  1719.  
  1720. Price, S. R. F. 1984. Rituals and power: The Roman imperial cult in Asia Minor. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  1721.  
  1722. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1723.  
  1724. Immensely original and trend-setting study of the imperial cult in Asia Minor marked by superb command of the primary material and an incisive command of relevant anthropological literature, providing a model for the fruitful engagement between ancient history and the social sciences.
  1725.  
  1726. Find this resource:
  1727.  
  1728.  
  1729. Regional Studies
  1730. The crucial question of what difference the Roman Empire made to the people who fell under Roman rule is best studied on a regional basis, and the many regional studies of recent years have answered the question in many different ways, reflecting the different experiences of the provinces in question. Depending upon the region, or even subregion—the experiences of Judea, Syria, and Egypt were arguable very different from each other—the answers to the question range from the negative, stressing the violence of the occupation and exploitation of the population, to very positive, stressing the assimilation of the elite into the imperial governing class and the enhancement of urban culture. After a survey of general discussions of Romanization, this section will divide regionally into Western Europe, The Greek World and North Africa.
  1731.  
  1732. The Meaning of “Romanization”
  1733. The traditional term used to describe the process of acculturation to Roman rule is Romanization, which is now recognized to be a very slippery concept, impossible of exact definition. In the work of some scholars, the Roman attitude toward conquered peoples has been variously answered with the traditional approach stressing the spread of citizenship as exemplified in Sherwin-White 1973, a classic study (originally published 1939), or by looking more broadly at the way that Roman sense of identity was tied to the openness of the community, a point well studied in Dench 2005. The spirited debate about the relationship of Greek culture to Roman, stimulated by Bowersock 1969 and Bowie 1970, should now be read in the context of Veyne 2005, which offers a model for change over time. Boatwright 2002 looks at the way an individual emperor might influence the process; Woolf 1998 (see under Western Europe) is also a very important contribution to the overall discussion. Revell 2009 looks at the issue from a number of perspectives that serve to illuminate the diversity of “Roman” experiences. The diversity of regional experiences under Rome has, perhaps, made it plain that looking for a single definition of Romanization or “Roman-ness” is unlikely to yield satisfactory results.
  1734.  
  1735. Boatwright, Mary T. 2002. Hadrian and the cities of the Roman Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  1736.  
  1737. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1738.  
  1739. Hadrian fostered Greco-Roman urban development; Boatwright looks as well at the concept of Romanization as the interaction between Romans and their subjects, which provided a stimulus for the constant modification of dominant and subordinate culture. Topics include changes in civic status, imperial interventions in local government, actions that altered civic statuses with respect to others, support for new building (with case studies of three such places), and new cities.
  1740.  
  1741. Find this resource:
  1742.  
  1743.  
  1744. Bowersock, G. W. 1969. Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1745.  
  1746. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1747.  
  1748. Bowersock studies the integration of Greek intellectuals into the imperial regime, showing that command of Greek culture opened a path to imperial preferment for rhetoricians and other cultural figures (including the physician Galen). Bowersock shows that appreciation of Greek culture was important for Romans as well as Greeks and that celebration of the cultural past by Greeks need not be seen as covert opposition to Roman rule.
  1749.  
  1750. Find this resource:
  1751.  
  1752.  
  1753. Bowie, E. 1970. Greeks and their past in the Second Sophistic. Past and Present 46:3–41.
  1754.  
  1755. DOI: 10.1093/past/46.1.3Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1756.  
  1757. Bowie argues that that Greek intellectuals exalted the past in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE as a way of creating an identity for themselves that validated the achievement of their ancestors, and as a way of resisting Roman domination.
  1758.  
  1759. Find this resource:
  1760.  
  1761.  
  1762. Dench, E. 2005. Romulus’ Asylum: Roman identities from the age of Alexander to the age of Hadrian. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  1763.  
  1764. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1765.  
  1766. A fascinating and sophisticated exploration of the Roman identity, looking at the various ways, juridical and cultural, in which the Romans defined themselves and thus the nature of their community. The demonstration that there was no single or uniform method of describing who or what was Roman is an important contribution to discussions of Romanization.
  1767.  
  1768. Find this resource:
  1769.  
  1770.  
  1771. Revell, Louise. 2009. Roman imperialism and local identities. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  1772.  
  1773. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1774.  
  1775. Significant theoretical examination of the lived experience of being Roman in different aspects and the point that the lived experience of Romanization was participation in a discourse rather than a series of absolutes. Revell especially employs religious and public inscriptions from Spain and Britain to explore similarities and differences.
  1776.  
  1777. Find this resource:
  1778.  
  1779.  
  1780. Sherwin-White, A. N. 1973. The Roman citizenship. 2d ed. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1781.  
  1782. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1783.  
  1784. Updated version of the classic study of the development of the Roman community that first appeared in 1939. Sherwin-White is primarily interested in the changing juridical definitions of membership in the Roman community, and this book remains a very good place to go for basic information.
  1785.  
  1786. Find this resource:
  1787.  
  1788.  
  1789. Veyne, Paul Damien. 2005. L’identité grecques contre et avec Rome: “collaboration” et vocation supérieure. In L’empire gréco-romain. By Paul Damien Veyne, 163–257. Paris: Editions du Seuil
  1790.  
  1791. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1792.  
  1793. Veyne traces the evolution of Greek thought about Rome from the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century CE, showing how Greeks came to accommodate Roman rule. Greeks always preserved a sense of their own superiority and difference, while at the same time, Roman willingness to accommodate Greek pride in their past brought the two peoples together.
  1794.  
  1795. Find this resource:
  1796.  
  1797.  
  1798. Western Europe
  1799. The divergence of approaches to the question of the impact of Rome in western Europe is well exemplified by important studies of Britain, Gaul, and Spain in Mattingly 2006, Woolf 1998, Drinkwater 1983, Richardson 1996, and Haley 2003. For the German provinces see King 1990, and Freeden and Schnurbein 2003 is a useful starting point for the limes in Germany.
  1800.  
  1801. Drinkwater, J. F. 1983. Roman Gaul: The three provinces, 58 BC–AD 260. London and Canberra: Croom Helm.
  1802.  
  1803. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1804.  
  1805. Survey of the development of the region conquered by Julius Caesar from the period of that conquest to the mid-3rd century, looking at, among other things, the issue of Romanization, the development the German provinces as protection for those of Gaul, the role of the army, the nature of urbanization, and life in the countryside.
  1806.  
  1807. Find this resource:
  1808.  
  1809.  
  1810. Freeden, Uta, and Siegmar Schnurbein. 2003. Spuren der Jahrtausende: Archäologie und Geschichte in Deutschland. Stuttgart: Theiss.
  1811.  
  1812. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1813.  
  1814. Although covering the archaeology of Germany from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages, this admirably illustrated volume offers a good summary of archaeological work relevant to Roman Germany on pp. 244–295 with bibliography on pp. 507–508. It is especially valuable because of its treatment of finds on both sides of the frontier.
  1815.  
  1816. Find this resource:
  1817.  
  1818.  
  1819. Haley, Evan W. 2003. Baetica Felix: People and prosperity in southern Spain from Caesar to Septimius Severus. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
  1820.  
  1821. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1822.  
  1823. Thorough summary of archaeological survey in Baetica, documenting the growth of a “middle class” of local people who became wealthy as a result of the export of agricultural produce to Rome but were not members of the imperial elite.
  1824.  
  1825. Find this resource:
  1826.  
  1827.  
  1828. King, Anthony. 1990. Roman Gaul and Germany. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  1829.  
  1830. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1831.  
  1832. A good general introduction beginning with the Greek colonization at Massilia and extending to the end of Roman imperial control and the emergence of barbarian successor states.
  1833.  
  1834. Find this resource:
  1835.  
  1836.  
  1837. Mattingly, David J. 2006. An imperial possession: Britain in the Roman Empire, 54 BC–AD 409. London: Allen Lane.
  1838.  
  1839. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1840.  
  1841. Lucid and vigorous account of the Roman occupation of Britain, with a radically different angle than earlier studies that stressed how “Roman” Britain was—Mattingly’s Britain is Celtic and a Roman military zone. The book is divided into three thematic sections—on the military, civil, and rural communities—while the final section looks at the diversity of British responses to Roman rule and argues that the end of Roman Britain stemmed from the long-term resistance to Roman ways.
  1842.  
  1843. Find this resource:
  1844.  
  1845.  
  1846. Richardson, J. S. 1996. The Romans in Spain. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
  1847.  
  1848. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1849.  
  1850. Discussion of Roman Spain ranging from the Punic Wars to the decline of Roman rule in the 5th century. The fourth chapter deals with the Augustan and Julio-Claudian period, the fifth with the Flavians and High Empire (with a clear discussion of the citizenship versus the ius Latii and explication of the significance of the major Flavian municipal law, the lex Irnitana), followed by a discussion of the 3rd century and then a more extensive discussion of the later empire.
  1851.  
  1852. Find this resource:
  1853.  
  1854.  
  1855. Woolf, Greg. 1998. Becoming Roman: The origins of provincial civilization in Gaul. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  1856.  
  1857. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511518614Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1858.  
  1859. A first-rate discussion not simply of the Roman impact on Gaul in the High Empire, but also a fundamentally important discussion of the concept of Romanization, looking at what the concept might actually mean for a Roman (who would not recognize the word), the process of urbanization, the culture of the countryside, and the complex evidence of cult.
  1860.  
  1861. Find this resource:
  1862.  
  1863.  
  1864. The Greek World
  1865. For the Near East, Magie 1950 remains a useful resource for the Roman province of Asia, though Marek 2010 is now the starting point for those with German for the Roman lands in what is now Turkey, though for Anatolia specifically, Mitchell 1993–1994 remains a model for any regional study, with its impeccable command of the epigraphic, literary, and archaeological evidence. South of the Taurus, Sartre 2005 is an invaluable guide (though the French rather than English edition needs to be consulted by those who have an interest in research). Millar 1993 is unrivalled for its reach and sophistication of analysis in the Near East as a whole, while for Palestine in particular Schürer 1973–1987 is an invaluable resource. Bowersock 1983 is one of the first modern regional studies (and still one of the best) in that it incorporates archaeological evidence with that of literature and from documentary sources with rare skill. For Egypt, Bowman 1996 remains a readily accessible starting point, while Lewis 1999 is also immensely useful.
  1866.  
  1867. Bowersock, G. W. 1983. Roman Arabia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
  1868.  
  1869. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1870.  
  1871. Traces the development of the area that largely covers modern Jordan and southern Syria from the arrival of the Nabatean peoples to the development of an independent kingdom, which ultimately became a Roman province. Offers crucial insight into the extension of Greek culture into the Semitic world and the importance of Greek culture in creating a discourse between peoples of different regions.
  1872.  
  1873. Find this resource:
  1874.  
  1875.  
  1876. Bowman, Alan K. 1996. Egypt after the pharaohs 332 BC–AD 642: From Alexander to the Arab conquest. Rev. ed. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  1877.  
  1878. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1879.  
  1880. After discussing the population and peculiar ecology of Egypt (and the comparison of ancient with early modern surplus), Bowman gives a rapid summary of the ruling powers from the Ptolemies to the Arab Conquest. Subsequent chapters look at the interaction between state and subject, poverty and prosperity, the relationship between Egyptians and Greeks, religion, and, in the final chapter, the city of Alexandria.
  1881.  
  1882. Find this resource:
  1883.  
  1884.  
  1885. Lewis, N. P. 1999. Life in Egypt under Roman rule. 2d ed. Atlanta: Scholars Press.
  1886.  
  1887. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1888.  
  1889. Lewis draws upon his profound command of papyrological evidence from Egypt to offer a wide-ranging introduction to the lives of people living in the Nile valley under Roman rule, an excellent example of the way that papyri can be used to write social history.
  1890.  
  1891. Find this resource:
  1892.  
  1893.  
  1894. Magie, David. 1950. Roman rule in Asia Minor to the end of the third century after Christ. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  1895.  
  1896. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1897.  
  1898. Although now made outdated by a vast quantity of new information, this classic study running from the Roman acceptance of the inheritance of Attalus to the 3rd century contains massive amounts of useful material, especially in the notes.
  1899.  
  1900. Find this resource:
  1901.  
  1902.  
  1903. Marek, Christian. 2010. Geschichte Kleinasiens in der Antike. Munich: C. H. Beck.
  1904.  
  1905. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1906.  
  1907. Marek (with the assistance of Peter Frei for the earliest periods) treats the history of Asia Minor from the Neolithic period through the Arab Conquest. The book includes appendices that contain lists of rulers of all sorts and Roman imperial governors. It offers what is now the most useful introduction to the history of the region (those skilled at reading German will find that it is written in a very clear style).
  1908.  
  1909. Find this resource:
  1910.  
  1911.  
  1912. Millar, Fergus. 1993. The Roman Near East: 31 BC–AD 337. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
  1913.  
  1914. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1915.  
  1916. The first section of the book discusses the rise of Roman power in the region from Actium to Constantine; the second part deals with regions and communities with each chapter devoted to a specific region. Millar’s exceptional command of detail makes this an immensely nuanced study of regional identity.
  1917.  
  1918. Find this resource:
  1919.  
  1920.  
  1921. Mitchell, S. 1993–1994. Anatolia. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon.
  1922.  
  1923. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1924.  
  1925. The first volume treats the history of Anatolia from the Celtic invasion of the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE; the second volume is concerned with the history of religion in the area from the 1st century to the early Byzantine periods. Mitchell’s numerous insights in every area discussed make this book essential reading.
  1926.  
  1927. Find this resource:
  1928.  
  1929.  
  1930. Sartre, M. 2005. The Middle East under Rome. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.
  1931.  
  1932. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1933.  
  1934. English translation of the author’s much more extensive (both in terms of chronological range and scholarly apparatus) D’Alexandre à Zénobie: Histoire du Levant antique, IVe siècle avant J.-C.-IIIe siècle après J.-C (Paris: Fayard, 2001). The first four chapters of the English version offer a narrative from the foundation of the Roman province to the time of Hadrian, followed by seven chapters including provincial structures, religion, and urban and rural life.
  1935.  
  1936. Find this resource:
  1937.  
  1938.  
  1939. Schürer, Emil. 1973–1987. The history of the Jewish People in the age of Jesus Christ. 3 vols. in 4 parts. Edited by Géza Vermès, Fergus Millar, and Martin Goodman. Edinburgh: Clark.
  1940.  
  1941. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1942.  
  1943. The “new Schürer” is a thoroughly revised and updated version of the classic early-20th-century history by a group of superior scholars. For anyone seeking information about the troubled history of Roman dealings with the Jewish people from the time of Pompey through Hadrian, as well as about the spread of Judaism outside of Palestine and Jewish literature, this work is an essential starting point.
  1944.  
  1945. Find this resource:
  1946.  
  1947.  
  1948. North Africa
  1949. North Africa was one of the crucial regions of the Roman Empire, providing an imperial dynasty (the Severans) and the economic support without which Rome could not have existed. One of the earliest regional studies to stress the importance of resistance to Romanization is Benabou 1976 (still well worth reading), though Cherry 1998 is the logical starting point for those interested in Roman territories north of the Sahara, while Mattingly 1994 is a crucial project based on a survey that illuminates Roman impact on the indigenous population. Ørsted, et al. 1995–2000 is an important survey for the region south of Carthage, while Raven 1993; Barker, et al. 1996; Mattingly, et al. 2003; and Mattingly, et al. 2007 are crucial studies of the transformation of marginal zones. Mattingly 1994 is a persistently useful introduction to Tripolitania, while Mattingly and Hitchner 1995 offers a valuable overview across all of North Africa.
  1950.  
  1951. Barker, Graeme, D. Gilbertson, B. Jones, and David Mattingly, eds. 1996. Farming the desert: The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey. 2 vols. Paris: UNESCO Publishing.
  1952.  
  1953. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1954.  
  1955. This extensive survey of the Libyan pre-desert complements work such as that in Kehoe 1988 (see Farming) by providing evidence on the ground of the expansion of Roman-style agriculture into marginal land, a process that becomes especially visible in the 2nd century CE.
  1956.  
  1957. Find this resource:
  1958.  
  1959.  
  1960. Bénabou, Marcel. 1976. Résistance africaine à la romanisation. Paris: F. Maspero.
  1961.  
  1962. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1963.  
  1964. An immensely original book at the time of its publication in that it sought not to examine the success of Romanization, but rather the efforts of indigenous peoples in North Africa to retain their own culture, offering some very useful insights into Roman methods of integrating tribal chieftains into the regime.
  1965.  
  1966. Find this resource:
  1967.  
  1968.  
  1969. Cherry, David. 1998. Frontier and society in Roman North Africa. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  1970.  
  1971. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1972.  
  1973. An important study of the Roman occupation of the semi-desert frontier zone of North Africa. Cherry draws an important distinction between the evidence for the adaptation of Roman habits by members of the local elite and the minimal adaptation by the rural classes. He also offers a useful discussion of the evolution of the military zone in the Sahara.
  1974.  
  1975. Find this resource:
  1976.  
  1977.  
  1978. Mattingly, David J. 1994. Tripolitania. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  1979.  
  1980. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1981.  
  1982. This study of Tripolitania opens with discussion of geography and indigenous peoples and then at the arrival of the Romans. Two chapters treat the development and archaeology of the frontier, followed by a study of major urban sites, economy, and culture. The book concludes with four chapters on the region in late Antiquity.
  1983.  
  1984. Find this resource:
  1985.  
  1986.  
  1987. Mattingly, D. J., ed. 2003. The archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 1, Synthesis. London: Society for Libyan Studies.
  1988.  
  1989. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1990.  
  1991. An extremely important investigation of the Sahara, looking at the development of a region just beyond Roman control. The publication as a whole casts new light upon the culture of the Garamantes, whom the Romans generally regarded as menacing and obnoxious.
  1992.  
  1993. Find this resource:
  1994.  
  1995.  
  1996. Mattingly, D. J., ed. 2007. The archaeology of Fazzan. Vol. 2, Site gazetteer, pottery and other survey finds. Society for Libyan Studies Monograph 7. London: Society for Libyan Studies.
  1997.  
  1998. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1999.  
  2000. This volume provides the data that support the conclusions drawn in Mattingly 2003 and is an invaluable example of the value of intensive field survey.
  2001.  
  2002. Find this resource:
  2003.  
  2004.  
  2005. Mattingly, D. J., and R. B. Hitchner. 1995. Roman North Africa: An archaeological review. Journal of Roman Studies 85:165–213.
  2006.  
  2007. DOI: 10.2307/301062Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2008.  
  2009. A detailed and useful review of archaeological work in North Africa from the pre-Roman period to the Arab Conquest, useful not simply for the survey of work (and research tools) but also for the wide-ranging engagement with issues such as Romanization, techniques for the study of rural areas, and economic growth.
  2010.  
  2011. Find this resource:
  2012.  
  2013.  
  2014. Ørsted, P., J. Carlsen, and Leila Ladjimi Sebaï, and Habib Ben Hassen. 1995–2000. Africa proconsularis: Regional studies in the Segermes Valley of Northern Tunisia. Vol. 3, Historical conclusions. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus Univ. Press.
  2015.  
  2016. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2017.  
  2018. Contains the historical conclusions of a well-designed survey relating agricultural productivity in the territory of a municipium to the municipium itself. The conclusions offer some extremely suggestive figures for rural productivity, noting the distinction between large properties with high profit margins and smaller properties within the same region. In total the valley produced a modest surplus, “and Italic/Roman structure introduced from outside was able to organize” the potential for surplus productivity into reality.
  2019.  
  2020. Find this resource:
  2021.  
  2022.  
  2023. Raven, Susan. 1993. Rome in Africa. 3d ed. London and New York: Routledge.
  2024.  
  2025. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2026.  
  2027. Opening with an account of the ecology of North Africa, the first several chapters deal with the history of Carthage before the Roman conquest, followed by two chapters on the establishment of Roman rule, followed by chapters that focus on the development of cities in the Roman period before examining the movement of individuals from Africa into the Roman elite (including Septimius Severus). Concludes with five chapters on the rise of Christianity and the fortunes of Vandal Africa.
  2028.  
  2029. Find this resource:
  2030.  
  2031.  
  2032. Economy
  2033. For a comprehensive introduction to current thinking about the Roman economy, see the Roman section of Scheidel, et al. 2007. Readers interested in the history of the subject should compare the structure of this volume with Frank 1939–1940 (section four has four regional studies, though they are divided into “frontier zones,” “the western provinces,” etc.).
  2034.  
  2035. Frank, T., ed. 1939–1940. An economic survey of ancient Rome. 6 vols. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
  2036.  
  2037. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2038.  
  2039. The sixth volume contains an index. Volume 1 treats Rome and Italy of the Republic; Volume 2 deals with Roman Egypt to the reign of Diocletian (a most impressive collection of sources); Volume 3 treats Britain, Spain, Sicily, and Gaul; Volume 4 includes Africa, Syria, Greece, and Asia Minor; while Volume 5 handles Rome and Italy of the empire. The style is marked by a general absence of engagement with economic theory, but the collection of evidence is still impressive.
  2040.  
  2041. Find this resource:
  2042.  
  2043.  
  2044. Scheidel, Walter, Ian Morris, and Richard P. Saller. 2007. The Cambridge economic history of the Greco-Roman world. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2045.  
  2046. DOI: 10.1017/CHOL9780521780537Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2047.  
  2048. Sections six and seven (out of eight) deal directly with the Roman Empire, while other sections treat determinants of economic performance with chapters on ecology, demography, household and gender, law and economic institutions, and technology. In the Roman section the division of chapters between production, distribution, and consumption is an important step forward.
  2049.  
  2050. Find this resource:
  2051.  
  2052.  
  2053. Issues
  2054. The long-standing and increasingly sterile debate between “primitive” and “modernist” interpretations of the Roman imperial economy seems at last to have been overtaken by less ideological analyses. The essence of the “modernist” view may be traced to the fundamental study Rostovtzeff 1998, which saw cities as the engines of economic development in the Roman Empire. The ability of cities to promote a reasonable lifestyle for their inhabitants (and possibly spread those values outward) was based on commercial enterprise and opposed to the more primitive value system of the peasants whose power stemmed from their presence in the army, whose leaders, from Severus onward, acted against the interests of the commercial classes to preserve a regime based on military force. The primitivist vision derived from Finley 1985 took as its principle the lack of technological development, which limited productivity from the land, and the lack of rational economic thought among members of the ruling class who were not interested in maximizing profits. Archaeologists have tended to revised versions of the “modernist” since their evidence revealed levels of trade that would seem implausible under the “primitivist” model, while primitivists noted that the evidence for trade was not quantifiable; see Greene 1986 especially. The advent of field surveys has made it possible to examine issues of economic development in ways that were simply not possible when Rostovtzeff and Finley wrote; see, for example, Hitchner 2005; it should also be noted that the most sophisticated contributions on the side of expansion have come from scholars who specialize in North Africa, a point well made in Mattingly and Hitchner 1995 (see North Africa). Current thinking which stems from Hopkins 1980 and, most importantly, Wickham 2005, as well as Horden and Purcell 2000, shows that the Roman economy might best be viewed as a group of regional economies linked together by the imperial tax system and that regional exchange was promoted by the imperial government.
  2055.  
  2056. Finley, M. I. 1985. The ancient economy. 2d ed. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  2057.  
  2058. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2059.  
  2060. In Finley’s view, “technical progress, economic growth, productivity, even efficiency have not been significant goals since the beginning of time.” He proceeds to argue that ancient states did not think “economically” in that there was no drive to capital formation or technological improvement. This book has shaped most of the debate since its initial publication in 1973.
  2061.  
  2062. Find this resource:
  2063.  
  2064.  
  2065. Greene, Kevin. 1986. The archaeology of the Roman economy. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  2066.  
  2067. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2068.  
  2069. A very useful book, and well ahead of its time in asserting the importance of field archaeology for the study of the Roman economy, which is used to attack Finley’s “primitivist” model. A very useful introduction to areas and methods that have become very influential since the publication of the book.
  2070.  
  2071. Find this resource:
  2072.  
  2073.  
  2074. Hitchner, R. B. 2005. “The Advantages of Wealth and Luxury”: The Case for Economic Growth in the Roman Empire. In The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models. Edited by Joseph Gilbert Manning and Ian Morris, 207–222. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.
  2075.  
  2076. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2077.  
  2078. Hitchner suggests that two characteristics of economic growth in the imperial period were that it was not universal, that there were periods of stagnation as well as expansion, and that growth evolved from the central part of the empire to the periphery.
  2079.  
  2080. Find this resource:
  2081.  
  2082.  
  2083. Hopkins, K. 1980. Taxes and trade in the Roman Empire (200 BC–AD 400). Journal of Roman Studies 70:101–125.
  2084.  
  2085. DOI: 10.2307/299558Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2086.  
  2087. Immensely important article that proposed seeing the Roman Empire as being divided into three zones—an external ring of tax-importing frontier provinces, an inner ring of tax-exporting provinces, and a central zone consisting of Rome and Italy that was highly consumptive.
  2088.  
  2089. Find this resource:
  2090.  
  2091.  
  2092. Horden, Peregrine, and Nicholas Purcell. 2000. The corrupting sea: A study of Mediterranean history. Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  2093.  
  2094. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2095.  
  2096. A very important book that stepped away from then-current debates about the ancient economy to bring discussion into line with work in other areas of premodern historical writing. Looking at the Mediterranean as a whole and stressing regional diversity, systems of transport, and ecology, it does not tell a simple story, but offers important analysis of many subjects.
  2097.  
  2098. Find this resource:
  2099.  
  2100.  
  2101. Rostovtzeff, M. I. 1998. The social and economic history of the Roman Empire. 2d ed. Edited by P. M. Fraser. Oxford: Clarendon.
  2102.  
  2103. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2104.  
  2105. One of the true classics of historical writing about the ancient world (originally published 1957); Rostovtzeff believed that there was a fundamental distinction between the culture of the cities and that of the peasants in the countryside. Although his view that the army was the political tool of the vengeful peasantry is not reasonable, his view that the culture that we identify as “classical” was the product of the urban population of the empire remains crucially important. So too does his view that increased trade, brought about by imperial peace, enhanced the overall economic life of the empire.
  2106.  
  2107. Find this resource:
  2108.  
  2109.  
  2110. Wickham, Chris. 2005. Framing the early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400–800. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  2111.  
  2112. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2113.  
  2114. Although technically concerned with “late Antiquity,” Wickham opens with an important survey of the economy of the Roman Empire prior to the progressive political collapses of the 5th and 7th centuries, showing how the imperial tax system created trade networks that linked economically and socially distinctive zones of the empire together. Wickham’s sensitivity to the differences between areas in the empire is crucial for his analysis of the failure of imperial government and the construction of successor states in each area.
  2115.  
  2116. Find this resource:
  2117.  
  2118.  
  2119. Farming
  2120. Careful study of documents relating to the way people actually farmed has provided important insight into the functioning of the rural economy. The most important evidence is provided by Roman agricultural writers and by papyri that reveal the day-to-day management of estates. For this there are the very different studies of evidence from Egypt in Kehoe 1992 and Rathbone 1991. Kehoe 1988 is a crucial study of imperial policy to encourage cultivation of marginal land (without always obtaining the desired result).
  2121.  
  2122. Kehoe, Dennis P. 1988. The economics of agriculture on Roman imperial estates in North Africa. Göttingen, Germany: Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht.
  2123.  
  2124. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2125.  
  2126. Starting with the appeal of peasants in the Saltus Buritanus against the oppressive behavior of the leaseholder of the imperial estate upon which they worked, Kehoe shows how Roman law worked to encourage the development of marginal land.
  2127.  
  2128. Find this resource:
  2129.  
  2130.  
  2131. Kehoe, Dennis P. 1992. Management and investment on estates in Roman Egypt during the Early Empire. Bonn, Germany: R. Habelt
  2132.  
  2133. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2134.  
  2135. Powerfully argued alternative to Rathbone 1991 in which Kehoe uses evidence from papyrus archives to show that Roman aristocrats were essentially risk adverse, preferring to invest in estates that were spread over a wide area to alleviate the impact of severe loss in any one location, making extensive use of tenancy, shifting managerial, labor, and capital costs to tenants even if this meant a diminution of profit. Risk aversion was important to investors more concerned with maintaining their status than with the maximization of profit.
  2136.  
  2137. Find this resource:
  2138.  
  2139.  
  2140. Rathbone, Dominic. 1991. Economic rationalism and rural society in third-century AD Egypt: The Heroninos archive and the Appianus estate. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2141.  
  2142. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2143.  
  2144. Reconstruction of the economic activity of an estate in Egypt based upon the archive of a man named Herminos, the manager of the estate belonging to the family of Aurelius Appianus in the 3rd century CE, arguing that the rigorous control of costs evident in the sophisticated accounting system indicates a high level of rationality in the management of the estate.
  2145.  
  2146. Find this resource:
  2147.  
  2148.  
  2149. Demographic and Structural Studies
  2150. Important contributions to understanding specific areas of the economy—not least being the range of wages and prices as well as the circulation of money––abound in the work of Richard Duncan-Jones, especially Duncan-Jones 1982 and Duncan-Jones 1994. Morley 1996 is very good on the economic impact of the city of Rome. Efforts to understand the size and scale of the Roman economy depend on an understanding of demography, for which Bagnall and Frier 1994 is the most important contribution, along with Frier 2000 and Frier 2010. Scheidel 2000 contributes comparison between other premodern regimes with that of antiquity, which supports the views of Frier. The crucial study of the size and scope of the Roman economy is Goldsmith 1987, whose conclusions are essentially confirmed by Scheidel and Friesen 2009.
  2151.  
  2152. Bagnall, Robert S., and Bruce W. Frier. 1994. The demography of Roman Egypt. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2153.  
  2154. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511584053Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2155.  
  2156. Demographic study based on data obtained from Egyptian census returns. Chapters deal with the nature of the documents, for which a catalogue is provided, followed by analysis of household structure, fertility, mortality, and marriage patterns.
  2157.  
  2158. Find this resource:
  2159.  
  2160.  
  2161. Duncan-Jones, Richard 1982. The economy of the Roman Empire. 2d ed. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2162.  
  2163. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2164.  
  2165. If you want to know what things cost in the Roman world, or what it meant to be rich, or how many slaves people owned, you need this book; although a classic “positivist” study of economic issues (e.g., one that collects data to frame questions), it has long been a crucial reference work.
  2166.  
  2167. Find this resource:
  2168.  
  2169.  
  2170. Duncan-Jones, Richard. 1994. Money and government in the Roman Empire. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2171.  
  2172. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511552632Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2173.  
  2174. The first section of the book looks at broad themes in the imperial economy, including the imperial budget (a somewhat different picture than that offered in Goldsmith 1987), tax cycles, surplus and deficit, and inflation. The rest of the book deals with technical issues in the production of coinage.
  2175.  
  2176. Find this resource:
  2177.  
  2178.  
  2179. Frier, B. W. 2000. Demography. In The Cambridge ancient history. Vol. 11, The high empire, A.D. 70–192. Edited by Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, and Dominic Rathbone, 827–854. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2180.  
  2181. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2182.  
  2183. Survey of the principles of demographic analysis and application of those principles to the population of the Roman Empire; a somewhat more technical treatment of the subject than Frier 2010, and one that was written many years before Bagnall and Frier 1994.
  2184.  
  2185. Find this resource:
  2186.  
  2187.  
  2188. Frier, B. W. 2010. Roman demography. In Life, death and entertainment in the Roman Empire. Edited by D. S. Potter and D. J. Mattingly, 85–109. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  2189.  
  2190. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2191.  
  2192. Clear exposition of the demographic regime of the Roman Empire, setting out the regimes of fertility and mortality and the issue of the carrying capacity of the land, and looking at the total population of the empire; this article draws upon research completed in Bagnall and Frier 1994.
  2193.  
  2194. Find this resource:
  2195.  
  2196.  
  2197. Goldsmith, Raymond W. 1987. Premodern financial systems: A historical comparative study. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2198.  
  2199. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2200.  
  2201. The chapter on Rome in the Augustan age offers an extremely lucid series of principles for determining the size and scope of the Roman economy and the role of the government within that economy. Goldsmith’s approach to the imperial budget, measuring income and expenditure, establishes parameters that are largely confirmed in more recent work.
  2202.  
  2203. Find this resource:
  2204.  
  2205.  
  2206. Morley, Neville. 1996. Metropolis and hinterland: The city of Rome and the Italian economy 200 BC–AD 200. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2207.  
  2208. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511518584Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2209.  
  2210. Morley looks at the impact of Rome as an imperial capital and the largest city (by far) in the ancient Mediterranean on the economy of Italy as a whole, showing that Rome became the driving force in the development of the Italian economy as a whole, encouraging economic growth.
  2211.  
  2212. Find this resource:
  2213.  
  2214.  
  2215. Scheidel, Walter. 2000. Debating Roman demography. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill.
  2216.  
  2217. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2218.  
  2219. Collection of essays analyzing the progress of demographic studies for the Roman Empire in a long first chapter followed by individual chapters on specific issues such as the seasonal birthing cycle of Roman women, the size of the Roman population, and the issue of overpopulation.
  2220.  
  2221. Find this resource:
  2222.  
  2223.  
  2224. Scheidel, W., and S. J. Friesen. 2009. The size of the economy and the distribution of income in the Roman Empire. Journal of Roman Studies 99:61–91.
  2225.  
  2226. DOI: 10.3815/007543509789745223Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2227.  
  2228. Various estimates of the gross domestic product of the Roman Empire suggest that it was close to 20 billion sesterces per year. The authors suggest that 20 percent of this was controlled by the top 1.5 percent of the population, and another 20 percent by the next 10 percent.
  2229.  
  2230. Find this resource:
  2231.  
  2232.  
  2233. Social History
  2234. Social history is a vast category encompassing the study of all manner of human interactions. The list of topics here cannot be seen as anything other than suggestive. When it comes to issues connected with family structures some familiarity with demography is now a necessity, and the starting point is Bagnall and Frier 1994 under Demographic and Structural Studies. The essays in Giardina 1993 continue to offer a valuable introduction into the different lives of Roman people according to class, while many of the essays in MacMullen 1990 are crucial contributions to ongoing debates. The essays in Potter and Mattingly 2010 offer starting points for examination of a number of areas including the family, demography, gender identity, public entertainment, and slavery.
  2235.  
  2236. Giardina, Andrea. 1993. The Romans. Translated by Lydia G. Cochrane. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
  2237.  
  2238. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2239.  
  2240. Contains essays on slaves, freedmen, peasants, craftsmen, merchants, the poor, and bandits, as well as member of the elite such as priests, jurists, and even soldiers. It is also valuable as an introduction to Continental approaches to these topics.
  2241.  
  2242. Find this resource:
  2243.  
  2244.  
  2245. MacMullen, Ramsay. 1990. Changes in the Roman Empire: Essays in the ordinary. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  2246.  
  2247. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2248.  
  2249. A valuable collection of essays on a wide variety of topics, under the headings of historical method, acculturation, arts and language, religion and thought, sex and gender, social relations, and groups and strata.
  2250.  
  2251. Find this resource:
  2252.  
  2253.  
  2254. Potter, D. S., and D. J. Mattingly, eds. 2010. Life, death and entertainment in the Roman Empire. 2d ed. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  2255.  
  2256. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2257.  
  2258. This second edition includes Hopkins’s article on the Life of Aesop as well as translations (with some commentary) of crucial documents relating to public entertainment, such as recently discovered letters of Hadrian on the rights of performers and the schedule of the festival cycle and the decree of the senate of 177 CE setting costs for public combats.
  2259.  
  2260. Find this resource:
  2261.  
  2262.  
  2263. Slavery and Interpersonal Relations
  2264. Ste. Croix 1981 is an astonishing achievement that actually has as much to say about the Roman world as the classical Greek world, and is invaluable for those seeking to understand the theoretical underpinnings of a great deal of other work. Bradley 1994 is a very useful introduction to slavery, while Hopkins 1993 is a brilliant evocation of the lives of slaves. Morgan 2007 offers new ways of looking at other “moralizing” texts to grasp the Roman sense of the acceptable. Carroll 2006, in a very different way, shows new ways of reading the evidence of tombstones to understand the lives of people outside the imperial elite.
  2265.  
  2266. Bradley, Keith. 1994. Slavery and society at Rome. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2267.  
  2268. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2269.  
  2270. An important introduction, treating the question of whether Rome can be considered a slave society with considerable sophistication, and then issues such as the supply of slaves, the nature of slave labor, the quality of life as a slave, and the ways that slaves could resist their masters. There are chapters on Christian acceptance of slavery and the absence of any significant “liberalization” in Roman attitudes toward slavery. The final chapter discusses the experience of slavery.
  2271.  
  2272. Find this resource:
  2273.  
  2274.  
  2275. Carroll, Maureen. 2006. Spirits of the dead: Roman funerary commemoration in Western Europe. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  2276.  
  2277. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2278.  
  2279. A lucid and sophisticated study of the ways that inscribed tombstones illuminate the lives of the living. Beginning with an analysis of the sorts of things that appear on tombstones, Carroll moves on to look at the contribution of their evidence to various areas; especially important are the chapters on family structures, population movement, and social mobility.
  2280.  
  2281. Find this resource:
  2282.  
  2283.  
  2284. Hopkins, K. 1993. Novel evidence for Roman slavery. Past and Present 138:3–27.
  2285.  
  2286. DOI: 10.1093/past/138.1.3Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2287.  
  2288. Hopkins exploits the anonymous Life of Aesop as an example of slave wisdom, exploring not only relations between masters and slaves with penetrating and sympathetic understanding, but also the structure of knowledge and the way that “wisdom” was passed on about how to deal with difficult situations, showing how storytelling helped people understand the world around them. This paper has relevance to many areas of ancient history.
  2289.  
  2290. Find this resource:
  2291.  
  2292.  
  2293. Morgan, Teresa. 2007. Popular morality in the early Roman Empire. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2294.  
  2295. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511597398Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2296.  
  2297. Examination of the way that Romans used exemplary stories to illustrate the moral principles which they felt to be important. Morgan shows significant overlap (in terms of vocabulary) between philosophical doctrine and popular wisdom and how popular wisdom depicted human life as physically, socially, and morally prone to failure; that courage, justice, wisdom, and moderation were generally good qualities, while benevolence, piety, and truthfulness mark good characters; anger, envy, violence, greed, and superstition tend to be attributed to bad characters.
  2298.  
  2299. Find this resource:
  2300.  
  2301.  
  2302. Ste. Croix, G. E. M. de. 1981. The class struggle in the ancient Greek world from the Archaic age to the Arab conquests. London: Duckworth.
  2303.  
  2304. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2305.  
  2306. The introduction discusses the relevance of Marxist thought for understanding the ancient world. The second chapter explores the concepts of class and exploitation relating Marxist thought to classical political philosophy while offering a clear discussion of surplus value. Chapter 3 discusses property and the propertied, including discussion of slavery and other forms of unfree labor. Chapter 6 deals with the rise of Rome. Chapter 7 looks at the ideology of domination and the victims of the class struggle, while chapter 8 deals with the decline of the empire.
  2307.  
  2308. Find this resource:
  2309.  
  2310.  
  2311. The Army
  2312. Studies involving the army, the central institution of the Roman state, appear in a number of forms including analyses of imperial strategy, discussions of organization, and of the nature of battle.
  2313.  
  2314. Grand Strategy
  2315. Discussions of strategy take their direction from Luttwak 1976 and the response of Millar. Isaac 1992 offers powerful support for Millar’s view, as, in a different way, does Whittaker 1994. Isaac and Whittaker base their analysis on evidence from the provinces looking inward; Luttwak looked from Rome outward, as does Potter 1996, an approach that also finds some recent support in the essays by Thorne and Wheeler in Erdkamp 2007. Mattern 1999 is an invaluable addition, looking at the conceptual framework of Roman foreign relations.
  2316.  
  2317. Erdkamp, Paul, ed. 2007. A companion to the Roman Army. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  2318.  
  2319. DOI: 10.1002/9780470996577Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2320.  
  2321. Has articles treating both the Republic and the empire, those on imperial frontiers in the west and east (by Thorne and Wheeler) address the issue of central planning.
  2322.  
  2323. Find this resource:
  2324.  
  2325.  
  2326. Isaac, Benjamin. 1992. The limits of empire: The Roman army in the East. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon.
  2327.  
  2328. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2329.  
  2330. A powerfully argued alternative to Luttwak 1976, asserting that no Roman source formulates clear-cut aims that this strategy was intended to achieve. The primary drivers of policymaking were the emperor’s desire to protect his position and gain glory; evidence on the ground suggests that Roman planners did not have access to good maps when organizing their frontier, and physical structures do not seem to have played a significant role when frontiers were threatened.
  2331.  
  2332. Find this resource:
  2333.  
  2334.  
  2335. Luttwak, Edward N. 1976. The grand strategy of the Roman Empire: From the first century A.D. to the third. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
  2336.  
  2337. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2338.  
  2339. Luttwak sees three phases in the development of imperial policy. The first depended upon mobile armies and client states. The second period, from the Flavians to the Severans, involved “scientific defense,” with less dependence on client states and greater reliance on set defensive lines. A new strategy, defense in depth, was adopted as a result of the breakdowns of the 3rd century, involving multiple defensive points and border forces intended to hold up an enemy until central reserves could arrive.
  2340.  
  2341. Find this resource:
  2342.  
  2343.  
  2344. Mattern, Susan P. 1999. Rome and the enemy: Imperial strategy in the principate. Berkeley and London: Univ. of California Press.
  2345.  
  2346. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2347.  
  2348. Mattern examines the way that the emperors negotiated the dichotomy between the ideology of conquest, and the constraints imposed by economic limitations, Roman decision making, and the military establishment, showing that the coherence in Roman responses, and central control over governors, did not necessarily add up to a “grand strategy.” Mattern argues for a coherent system of values dictating tendencies in response to an external threat, including the need to terrorize neighbors or to buy their cooperation.
  2349.  
  2350. Find this resource:
  2351.  
  2352.  
  2353. Potter, D. S. 1996. Emperors, their borders and their neighbours. In The Roman army in the east. Edited by David L. Kennedy, 49–68. Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplement 18. Ann Arbor, MI: Journal of Roman Archaeology.
  2354.  
  2355. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2356.  
  2357. A discussion of imperial policy making, stressing the very visible (in our sources) mechanisms through which policy was shaped.
  2358.  
  2359. Find this resource:
  2360.  
  2361.  
  2362. Whittaker, C. R. 1994. Frontiers of the Roman Empire: A social and economic study. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
  2363.  
  2364. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2365.  
  2366. An eloquent examination of the frontier zones of the empire, noting the difference between a frontier line that separates and differentiates and a zone that unites and integrates. The Roman success in establishing frontier zones at the limit of operational zones for their 1st-century armies undermined the empire by bringing prosperity to underdeveloped lands whose people could not have been a threat. It was the development of peoples beyond the frontier lines that spelled the end for Roman-controlled frontier zones in the 4th century.
  2367.  
  2368. Find this resource:
  2369.  
  2370.  
  2371. Military Structures
  2372. Lendon 2005 is a splendidly vigorous study of the Roman army in battle (albeit more on the Republic and later empire), as is Goldsworthy 1996. For the organization of the army Le Bohec 1994 is a very good introduction. All aspects of the military structure of the empire are treated in Volume 2 of Sabin, et al. 2008.
  2373.  
  2374. Campbell, J. B. 1984. The emperor and the Roman army, 31 BC–AD 235. Oxford: Clarendon.
  2375.  
  2376. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2377.  
  2378. The best book on the army as an instrument of imperial politics, Campbell’s volume is divided into five parts. The first treats the emperor’s association with the army and finance; the second handles the legal status of soldiers. Part 3 is concerned with senior officers, while Part 4 is concerned directly with the army in politics (especially in the Severan age).
  2379.  
  2380. Find this resource:
  2381.  
  2382.  
  2383. Goldsworthy, Adrian Keith. 1996. The Roman army at war 100 BC–AD 200. Oxford: Clarendon.
  2384.  
  2385. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2386.  
  2387. Goldsworthy is concerned with the Roman army in action from the end of the time of Marius to that of Septimius Severus. He discusses the organization of the army, the enemies of Rome, and recruitment of auxiliary units, and then breaks down his discussion of the army in action from the strategic level to that of the infantryman with chapters on the campaign, the general’s battle, the unit’s battle, and the individual’s battle.
  2388.  
  2389. Find this resource:
  2390.  
  2391.  
  2392. Le Bohec, Yann. 1994. The imperial Roman army. London: B. T. Batsford.
  2393.  
  2394. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2395.  
  2396. Very good introduction to the institutional structures of the Roman army, divided into three sections. These are the organization of the army, the activities of the army (e.g., training tactics and strategy), and the role of the army in the empire.
  2397.  
  2398. Find this resource:
  2399.  
  2400.  
  2401. Lendon, J. E. 2005. Soldiers and ghosts: A history of battle in classical antiquity. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  2402.  
  2403. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2404.  
  2405. A thoroughly engaging and beautifully written exploration of warfare from the early years of the city-state to the later Roman Empire. Lendon concentrates on the role of tradition in shaping attitudes to battle. The book focuses on a series of vignettes; for the imperial period these include the Jewish revolt under Nero, with two 4th-century encounters—Julian’s battle at Strasbourg and his invasion of Persia at the end.
  2406.  
  2407. Find this resource:
  2408.  
  2409.  
  2410. Sabin, Philip, Hans van Wees, and Michael Whitby, eds. 2008. The Cambridge history of Greek and Roman warfare. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2411.  
  2412. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2413.  
  2414. Volume 2 is concerned with the period from the late Republic through the late empire, dividing the period into two parts, Late Republic-Principate and the Later Roman Empire. Each section has six chapters (with the same titles): international relations, military forces, war, battle, warfare and the state, and war and society. Chapters are all solid introductions to their areas. Whitby’s chapter on the literary sources in Volume 1 is important for anyone interested in ancient historiography.
  2415.  
  2416. Find this resource:
  2417.  
  2418.  
  2419. The Army and the Empire
  2420. For the economic impact of the army MacMullen 1984a offers fundamental methodology for assessing the total cost, while Speidel 1992 is crucial on the salary scale. MacMullen 1984b is likewise key on the social aspect of the military, as is Phang 2008. Pollard 2000 is an important study of the impact of the army on Syria. The extremely important documents found at Vindolanda, illustrating life in a Roman frontier post, are readily accessible through Vindolanda Tablets Online; other documents are collected in Fink 1971. For the emperor and the army see Campbell 1984 (cited under Military Structures).
  2421.  
  2422. Fink, Robert O. 1971. Roman military records on papyrus. Cleveland, OH: American Philological Society.
  2423.  
  2424. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2425.  
  2426. A vital reference work for the Roman army; texts are all equipped with translations and commentaries.
  2427.  
  2428. Find this resource:
  2429.  
  2430.  
  2431. MacMullen, R. 1984a. The Roman emperor’s army costs. Latomus 43:571–580.
  2432.  
  2433. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2434.  
  2435. The method used by MacMullen (looking at the number of “base-pay” units in the army—officers being multiple “base-pay” units) is crucial for studies of the economic impact of the army and should be used with Speidel 1992.
  2436.  
  2437. Find this resource:
  2438.  
  2439.  
  2440. MacMullen, R. 1984b. The legion as society. Historia 33:440–456.
  2441.  
  2442. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2443.  
  2444. Thoughtful examination of the legion as the focus of a soldier’s life from the Republic to the empire. Reprinted in MacMullen 1990 (cited under Social History).
  2445.  
  2446. Find this resource:
  2447.  
  2448.  
  2449. Phang, Sara Elise. 2008 Roman military service: Ideologies of discipline in the late Republic and early principate. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2450.  
  2451. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511497872Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2452.  
  2453. Phang’s definition of disciplina goes well beyond simple military discipline, which does get its chapter, to look at the army’s training in areas that include combat and unit solidarity either on campaign or in times of peace. There is an extensive discussion of the army as a labor force when not at war.
  2454.  
  2455. Find this resource:
  2456.  
  2457.  
  2458. Pollard, Nigel. 2000. Soldiers, cities, and civilians in Roman Syria. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
  2459.  
  2460. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2461.  
  2462. A very important study of the Roman army in Syria, opening with a narrative of the development of military bases that points out differences between the east and west (not the least being that the army turned cities into camps while in the west cities developed around camps). In the second section Pollard looks at formal and informal interactions between soldiers and civilians, and in the third section at the role of the army in the economic development of Syria.
  2463.  
  2464. Find this resource:
  2465.  
  2466.  
  2467. Speidel, M. A. 1992. Roman army pay scales. Journal of Roman Studies 82:87–106.
  2468.  
  2469. DOI: 10.2307/301286Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2470.  
  2471. Fundamental study of what legionaries and auxiliaries were paid over time.
  2472.  
  2473. Find this resource:
  2474.  
  2475.  
  2476. Religion
  2477. The study of religion in the Roman Empire is an important aspect of the study of acculturation (much evidence for indigenous belief survives in the form of religious dedications), but it is also centrally connected with the study of the way that two modern world religions—Judaism and Christianity––developed in the Roman Empire. There are superb examples of both sorts of study in Mitchell 1993–1994 (cited under The Greek World) and among the works of Louis Robert (such as Robert 2007, cited under Handbooks and Introductions). Schürer 1973–1987 (cited under The Greek World) is extremely important for the study of Judaism. Rüpke 2008 (cited under Reference Books) is a vitally important resource for official cults at Rome.
  2478.  
  2479. Pagans
  2480. For a summary of pagan cult see MacMullen 1981, and, more recently, Rives 2006. Important studies of non-Greco-Roman cults include Derks 1998 for the Celtic world, Beck 2006 for Mithraism, and Frankfurter 1998 for Egypt. Fowden 1986 (like Festugière 1944) deals with the Greek writing attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (a Hellenization of the Egyptian God Thoth), and, especially in Festugière’s work, the link between “high-brow” and “middle-brow” thought. Price’s chapter in Beard, et al. 1998 breaks away from the Romo-centrality of the volume and covers the empire as a whole; the collection of sources in Volume 2 is also very useful.
  2481.  
  2482. Beard, Mary, John North, and Simon Price. 1998. Religions of Rome. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2483.  
  2484. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2485.  
  2486. This book reprints two chapters from the Cambridge Ancient History, and an original contribution by Price that treats the whole empire in the imperial period. The second volume is a well-organized sourcebook (again by Price).
  2487.  
  2488. Find this resource:
  2489.  
  2490.  
  2491. Beck, Roger. 2006. The religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire: Mysteries of the unconquered sun. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  2492.  
  2493. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2494.  
  2495. Analysis of the cult of Mithras from the ground up, stressing that the mysteries constituted a system of “likenesses, underthoughts, and intiations” that allowed the initiate to appreciate the gifts of Mithras. Beck then examines previous views, the issue of Mithraic iconography, the question of doctrine, and the symbolic system of the mysteries. The initiate understands the fundamental principles: God Sun Invincible Mithras and the harmony of tension in opposition, which he understands in various domains and modes.
  2496.  
  2497. Find this resource:
  2498.  
  2499.  
  2500. Derks, Ton. 1998. Gods, temples, and ritual practices: The transformation of religious ideas and values in Roman Gaul. Amsterdam: Amsterdam Univ. Press.
  2501.  
  2502. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2503.  
  2504. A highly sophisticated study of the interplay between the traditions of Celtic religion in the wake of the Roman occupation of northwestern Gaul, showing how regional cultures were preserved through the postconquest period and showing how in this case “Romanization” preserved indigenous cults, giving indigenous practices new iconographic, architectural, and institutional expression.
  2505.  
  2506. Find this resource:
  2507.  
  2508.  
  2509. Fowden, Garth. 1986. The Egyptian Hermes: A historical approach to the late pagan mind. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2510.  
  2511. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2512.  
  2513. A user-friendly discussion of the Hermetic corpus dealing with important issues such as the intersection between Greek and non-Greek cults, making the point that the authors of “Greek interpretations” of Egyptian texts were Egyptians trying to explain themselves to a Greek audience. The discussion of paideia in the Hermetic corpus (as Hermes is depicted as a sort of tutor working with a less than brilliant student) is especially interesting in the context of the dissemination of elite thought.
  2514.  
  2515. Find this resource:
  2516.  
  2517.  
  2518. Frankfurter, David. 1998. Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and resistance. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  2519.  
  2520. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2521.  
  2522. A very important study of cultural interaction as Egyptian priests use Greek thought to “internationalize” their cults, while, at the same time, retaining important indigenous features. The main theme is the way that an ancient culture could maintain itself even as it changed.
  2523.  
  2524. Find this resource:
  2525.  
  2526.  
  2527. MacMullen, Ramsay. 1981. Paganism in the Roman Empire. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  2528.  
  2529. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2530.  
  2531. Divides the exploration of paganism into the perceptible and the debatable. In the perceptible section he looks at dedications (which gods get the most), and then the crowds that visited temples, the special things they could encounter, and the staff of temples. Like Lane Fox (see Lane Fox 1987, cited under Pagans and Christians), MacMullen exploits the work of Louis Robert to paint a picture of a vibrant religious life. In the section on the debatable he looks at magic denial of gods, the tendency to prefer the obvious to the arcane, ways in which the divine world was seen, conversion, and the rise of mystery cults.
  2532.  
  2533. Find this resource:
  2534.  
  2535.  
  2536. Rives, James B. 2006. Religion in the Roman Empire. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  2537.  
  2538. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2539.  
  2540. Accessible introduction to the religion of the empire that is very well informed by the latest research. An important aspect of Rives’s work is his interest in looking at religion within a community and then at developments in the empire as a whole. Discussion of the way that cults enabled marginal groups to assert their significance is very good, as is the discussion of the way that the divine world made possible interactions between different peoples.
  2541.  
  2542. Find this resource:
  2543.  
  2544.  
  2545. Pagans and Christians
  2546. For the interplay between pagan and Christian practices see Lane Fox 1987 and MacMullen 1984. Two classic studies that help inform discussions are those of Nock 1933, Festugière 1944, Festugière 1949, Festugière 1953, and Festugière 1954, while Nock 1972 offers much that remains important.
  2547.  
  2548. Festugière, A. J. 1944. La révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste. Vol. 1, L’astrologie et les sciences occulte. Paris: Lecoffre.
  2549.  
  2550. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2551.  
  2552. Massive study of the intersection between philosophy and revelation in the imperial period. Volume 1 deals with astrology and the occult sciences with important discussions of “eastern wisdom” in the Roman world and visions of god and the character of Hermes-Thoth, and popular astrology in the Hermetic corpus. The extensive study (and collection of texts) on “instruction” literature in chapter 9 is an important resource, along with the collection of evidence in chapter 3, for any analysis of ancient thinking about divine revelation.
  2553.  
  2554. Find this resource:
  2555.  
  2556.  
  2557. Festugière, A. J. 1949. La révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste. Vol. 2, Le dieu cosmique. Paris: Lecoffre.
  2558.  
  2559. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2560.  
  2561. Volume 2 looks at “popular philosophy,” in connection with the nature of god, beginning with an analysis of the Hermetic corpus and then looking at the sources for these ideas from Plato and Aristotle through Stoicism, eclecticism, and the work of Philo.
  2562.  
  2563. Find this resource:
  2564.  
  2565.  
  2566. Festugière, A. J. 1953. La révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste. Vol. 3, Les doctrines de l’âme. Paris: Lecoffre.
  2567.  
  2568. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2569.  
  2570. The approach is initially similar to that in Volume 2 (Festugière 1949), beginning with discussion of the Hermetic corpus and then moving on to look at the sources, but the studies of the movement of the soul and eschatology deal more directly with similarities between passages in the Hermetic corpus and those in both Christian and pagan thought. Appendices translate Iamblichus’s On the Soul and Porphyry’s Concerning the Manner in which the Embryo Receives the Soul.
  2571.  
  2572. Find this resource:
  2573.  
  2574.  
  2575. Festugière, A. J. 1954. La révélation d’Hermès Trismégiste. Vol. 4, Le dieu inconnue et la gnose. Paris: Lecoffre.
  2576.  
  2577. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2578.  
  2579. Volume 4 deals with notions of the transcendent god and the way that humans can come to know that god, drawing upon a vast range of material from Platonic philosophy to the magical papyri.
  2580.  
  2581. Find this resource:
  2582.  
  2583.  
  2584. Lane Fox, Robin 1987. Pagans and Christians. New York: Knopf.
  2585.  
  2586. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2587.  
  2588. Draws upon the work of Louis Robert to paint a vital picture of pagan society in the 1st–3rd centuries CE, showing the persistent vitality of civic cult and the importance of festivals and of direct contact with the gods through oracles. Lane Fox demolishes the earlier view that Christianity and other “mystery religions” came to the fore because the civic cult was no longer satisfying the needs of the people of the empire; rather, he shows that the conversion of Constantine was a key moment of change and that the Christian experience was often very similar to that of the pagans, and tended to be driven by “over-achievers” on the fringes.
  2589.  
  2590. Find this resource:
  2591.  
  2592.  
  2593. MacMullen, Ramsay. 1984. Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100–400. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale Univ. Press.
  2594.  
  2595. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2596.  
  2597. Largely a reaction to what MacMullen sees as the elitist tinge to the vision of conversion that appears in Nock 1933. He stresses the importance of the conversion of Constantine for changing the religious balance of power, allowing Christians much greater freedom to spread their message—especially miracle stories—to a broader audience.
  2598.  
  2599. Find this resource:
  2600.  
  2601.  
  2602. Nock, A. D. 1933. Conversion: The old and the new in religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo. London: Oxford Univ. Press.
  2603.  
  2604. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2605.  
  2606. Nock’s study of conversion has remained extremely influential—and extremely Christian, indeed expressly Augustinian—in the assertion that conversion must involve absolute adherence to a new faith. Nock holds that true conversion was impossible within the framework of classical paganism (though it was within the framework of philosophy). The strength of the book arises from Nock’s command of the evidence for classical cult and philosophy, as well as his study of the ways they attracted followers. In Nock’s view, Christianity succeeded in part because it was able to adopt aspects from other religious movements.
  2607.  
  2608. Find this resource:
  2609.  
  2610.  
  2611. Nock, A. D. 1972. Essays on religion and the ancient world. Edited by Z. Stewart. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
  2612.  
  2613. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  2614.  
  2615. Many of the articles contained in these two volumes remain critically important, and ranging from those that study the engagement of Greek and non-Greek cults to the imperial cult, oracles, astrology, and the religious calendar of the Roman army.
  2616.  
  2617. Find this resource:
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