Official Power and Local Elites in the Roman Provinces

Rada Varga, Viorica Rusu-Bolindeț, Rada Varga, Viorica Rusu-Bolindeț

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780367880699
  9781472457318
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317086130
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

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

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Figures
• Notes on contributors
• Preface
• 1 Local elites in West Roman Greece: The evidence from Thesprotia and Preveza
• 2 Collective mentality and praόthV (praotēs): Ruling classes in the Eastern provinces in literature, linguistics and epigraphy. A “vademecum” for the politician
• 3 Roman state structures and the provincial elite in Republican Iberia
• 4 Routes of resistance to integration: Alpine reactions to Roman power
• 5 The futility of revolt: Pausanias on local myths of freedom and rebellion
• 6 Palmyrene elites: Aspects of self-representation and integration in Hadrian's age
• 7 Provincial landmarks of the official power: The praetorium consularis of Apulum
• 8 Power at the periphery: Military authority in transition in late Roman Britain
• 9 Administering the Empire: The unmaking of an equestrian elite in the 4th century CE
• 10 Kinship, conflict and unity among Roman elites in post-Roman Gaul: The contrasting experiences of Caesarius and Avitus
• Index