Roman History

2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-338
Author(s):  
B. M. Levick
Keyword(s):  
Roman History ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Roman Economy ◽  
International Team ◽  
Second Punic War ◽  
Punic Wars

Weighty tomes preponderate, but I put chronology before avoirdupois. First comes a stout Companion to the Punic Wars, edited by Dexter Hoyos. It is part of the book's comforts as a companion and one of its merits to treat not only what is named on the tin – five chapters for the first war, nine for the second, and three for the last half century of Carthage, with one chapter dealing directly with the siege of 148–146 – but other topics that are by no means peripheral. It is a bonus to have Nathan Rosenstein's revisionist views on ‘Italy: Economy and Demography after Hannibal's War’, or rather his demolition of long-held ones: positive arguments are briefly put. Whether Part V, ‘Conclusions’, lives up to its name is another matter: it consists of three papers on the aftermath, including ‘Carthage and Hannibal in Roman and Greek Memory’ (which I wish had been taken further). The editor's international team have satisfactorily marshalled the material in the main sections: ‘Roman Politics and Expansion’ between the first two wars is immediately followed by Hoyos’ own ‘Carthage in Africa and Spain’ during the same period; similarly, ‘Punic Politics, Economy, and Alliances, 218–201’ precedes ‘Roman Economy, Finance, and Politics in the Second Punic War’. Illustrations are not among the comforts of this volume: far from panoramas or even diagrams of famous battles, we have five plain maps.

Rome, Carthage, and Numidia: Diplomatic Favouritism before the Third Punic War

Antichthon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 43-71
Author(s):  
Colin Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Half Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Second Punic War ◽  
Punic Wars ◽  
Territorial Division

ABSTRACTThis article examines Rome’s diplomatic relations with Carthage and Numidia in the period between the Second and Third Punic Wars. Polybius’ suggestion that Rome consistently decided against Carthage in territorial disputes with Numidia in the aftermath of the Second Punic War (Polyb. 31.21.5-6) has often been taken up in explanations of the origins of the Third Punic War. Many ancient and modern accounts accept the implication of a policy of hostility against Carthage, assuming that Rome permitted and even encouraged Masinissa to infringe upon and seize Carthaginian territory. This paper, however, argues that the results of Roman arbitration between Carthage and Numidia do not show a consistent policy intended to undermine Carthage. Rather, Rome sought to maintain the territorial division which was imposed at the end of the Second Punic War throughout the inter-war period; several of its decisions were actually in favour of Carthage. The Third Punic War should not be seen as a culmination of a half-century of Roman hostility towards Carthage.

Capital, Investment, and Innovation in the Roman World

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Roman History ◽  
Roman Economy ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Modern Economic Growth ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Agriculture Water

Investment in capital, both physical and financial, and innovation in its uses are often considered the linchpins of modern economic growth, while credit and credit markets now seem to determine the wealth—as well as the fate—of nations. This book asks whether it always thus, and whether the Roman economy—large, complex, and sophisticated as it was— looked anything like today’s economies in terms of its structural properties. Through consideration of the allocation and uses of capital and credit and the role of innovation in the Roman world, the contributors to this volume go to the heart of the matter. How was capital in its various forms generated, allocated, and employed in the Roman economy? Did the Romans have markets for capital goods and credit? Did investment in capital lead to innovation and productivity growth? The authors consider multiple aspects of capital use in agriculture, water management, trade, and urban production, and of credit provision, finance, and human capital in different periods of Roman history, in Italy and elsewhere in the Roman world. Using many different types of written and archaeological evidence, and employing a range of modern theoretical perspectives and methodologies, the contributors, an international team of historians and archaeologists, have produced the first book-length contribution to focus exclusively on (physical and financial) capital in the Roman world, a volume that is aimed at experts in the field as well as at economic historians and archaeologists specializing in other periods and places.

Ennius

Classics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro La Barbera
Keyword(s):  
The Public ◽  
Roman Literature ◽  
Epic Poem ◽  
Second Punic War ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Latin Epic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Contemporary Reality ◽  
Punic Wars ◽  
Scholarly Production

Quintus Ennius was an author of Latin poetry and prose who lived and wrote between the second half of the 3rd century and the first half of the 2nd century bce (apparently 239–169 bce). He was born in the trilingual Messapian city of Rudiae, where Latin, Greek, and Oscan were spoken concurrently (as apparently did Ennius himself: cf. Gellius, Attic Nights 17.17). Tradition has Ennius follow Cato the Elder to Rome in 204 bce, after meeting him in Sardinia while serving in the army during the Second Punic War. In Rome, Ennius distinguished himself for his literary and scholarly production in Latin, in which he mastered a cultural and linguistic fusion between the Greek tradition and the fledgling Roman literature. All of Ennius’s works have been lost and only fragments of them have been preserved, all indirectly transmitted within the corpora of other authors’ works; we also have references by other authors to works of which we do not have any fragments at all. His first major achievements seem to have come with the public staging of his tragedies, mostly set in Greece and having original Greek tragedies as models (these were called fabulae cothurnatae). He also wrote praetextae, that is, tragedies of Roman setting and subject, but we have fewer fragments for these than we have for the cothurnatae, and only two titles—Ambracia and Sabinae. Even less is known about his comedies, which do not seem to have been held in high consideration (cf. Volcacius Sedigitus’s canon of comedy), and about whose titles and contents very little information has been preserved. Most of the information we still possess regards Ennius’s last and longest work, the Annals, an eighteen-book epic poem that covered the national history of Rome and its wars from the mythological founding of the city until the contemporary reality of the Punic Wars, with the title Annals (Lat. Annales) possibly alluding to the year-by-year approach of the ancient tradition of Roman annalists. Ennius was the first author to choose hexameter, the Greek meter of epic, to compose a Latin epic poem (the former traditional meter being Saturnian), and for this reason was considered the “father” of Latin epic poetry, thus influencing all following authors (Lucretius, Cicero, Virgil, etc.) by whom he was either praised and taken as a model, or more or less fiercely rejected for his “archaic” language and taste in favor of a more modern style. Apart from plays and epic, Ennius also cultivated many other genres in works that are traditionally referred to as Minor Works.

Roman History

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-133
Author(s):  
B. M. Levick
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Roman History ◽  
Demographic Parameters ◽  
Roman Economy ◽  
Turn On ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ecological Parameters ◽  
Roman Italy ◽  
And Migration

A quality not much considered here in the past, how often a work is likely be taken from the shelf, prompts me to put Saskia's Hin'sThe Demography of Roman Italyin first position. For that depends in turn on how reliable, clear, and broad of outlook the chapters are, and where they lead the reader. Though dry and plain it might seem (for all the developing technologies), the subject moves directly towards a hot, polarized topic – ‘the Roman economy’ and its development – with oscillation between extreme positions. It is a particular merit, then, to put forward a fresh view (though previously adumbrated elsewhere) that is not extreme and must be taken seriously. That is where Hin will take historians. But the book is structured in three sections: economic and ecological parameters, demographic parameters (morality, fertility, and migration), and population size. The separate chapters are well supported from a variety of evidence, judiciously treated and well written up. That on climate, with a mildly positive conclusion, needed no apology. If I have a complaint is it about the index: dive into a passage involving ‘Brass modelling’ and you will have to rummage back in the text (111) for hope of identifying it.

Roman History

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-287
Author(s):  
Lucy Grig
Keyword(s):  
Roman Republic ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Political History ◽  
Roman History ◽  
Roman Economy ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
Cultural Turn

This being my first attempt at writing the Roman History subject review, some kind of comment on the nature of the field as illustrated by this issue's crop of books seems appropriate. Firstly, the paucity of books focusing on the period of the Roman Republic is striking, especially if Cicero is taken out of the equation; the Imperial period clearly dominates, though the study of Late Antiquity (in which I must declare an interest) is still clearly on the rise. In terms of subject matter, traditional political history is obviously still largely out of fashion, religion is on a roll and the ‘cultural turn’ continues its rise (again I declare an interest), but the economy is making a late comeback (thanks to the formidable industry of the Oxford Roman Economy Project). This issue's collection offers a healthy mix of genres: biographies, student textbooks/sourcebooks, edited volumes, ‘companions’, and substantial monographs, including both revised PhDs and the reflections of more seasoned scholars, books for specialists and novices alike. I shall be interested to see how the balance of both subject matter and methodology appear in future issues.

Roman Spain

Classics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott De Brestian
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Canary Islands ◽  
International Schools ◽  
Roman History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Second Punic War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Severan Dynasty ◽  
Roman Spain

Spain was one of Rome’s first overseas provinces beyond the Italian islands (Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica) and remained under Roman control for longer than most parts of the Western Empire, with northeastern Spain under at least nominal Roman control until 474 ce. From its earliest days Roman Spain (or Hispania) was divided into two or more provinces, eventually encompassing all of the modern countries of Spain and Portugal (although for convenience, the term “Roman Spain” generally includes both). This article therefore will focus on the mainland territory of those two countries, leaving aside Spain’s Mediterranean and African possessions (Balearic and Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla), which will be treated elsewhere. Traditionally the study of Roman Spain is divided into three chronological periods: the Roman Republic, which extends from Rome’s first dealings in Spain at the start of the Second Punic War to the rise of Augustus as first emperor in 27 bce, although this period is sometimes extended to the end of the Cantabrian Wars in 19 bce, which mark the completion of the Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The Early Empire spans the period from the late 1st century bce to the 3rd century ce. No universally acknowledged date marks the end of this period, although the end of the Severan dynasty in 235 ce or the Frankish invasion of 258 ce is sometimes used; this article employs the former. The Late Empire stretches from the 3rd century to the invasions of 409 ce or the final conquest of Spain by the Visigoths in 474 ce, depending on the region being discussed. Roman Spain has often been somewhat neglected by scholars outside the peninsula, due to the political history of Spain and the lack of a large number of prominent international schools, as are found in Italy and Greece, although the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Madrid and the French-sponsored Casa de Velázquez are important exceptions. The result is that scholars working in other parts of the Roman world are not as acquainted with Roman Spain as its importance in Roman history would otherwise merit.

Roman History

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 318-329
Author(s):  
James Corke-Webster
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Roman History ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Second Punic War ◽  
Military Campaigns ◽  
The Republic

After a focus on social and cultural history in the last issue, this issue's offerings return us to more traditional subjects – political institutions, and historiography. That spring review ended with religion, which is where we start here: an apposite reminder that religion pervades all aspects of the Roman world. It is precisely that principle which undergirds our first book, Dan-el Padilla Peralta's Divine Institutions. Padilla Peralta is interested, at root, in how the Roman state became such through the third and fourth centuries bce. That is a story usually told – in a tradition going back to the ancient historians themselves – via a swashbuckling tale of successive military campaigns. Padilla Peralta, however, sets that anachronistic narrativization aside, and instead builds a careful case that between the siege of Veii and the end of the Second Punic War ‘the Roman state remade and retooled itself into a republic defined and organized around a specific brand of institutionalized ritual practices and commitments’ (1). Specifically, he shows that the construction of temples and the public activities they facilitated were a key mechanism – one as important as warfare – by which the consensus necessary to state formation was generated: the Republic more or less stumbles into a bootstrapping formula that proves to be unusually felicitous: high visibility monumental enterprises are paired with new incentives for human mobility in ways that dramatically and enduringly reorganize the rhythms of civic and communal experience. (17–18) In particular, Padilla Peralta argues that output was greater than input; that the genius – whether accidental or deliberate – of this formula was that it facilitated a confidence game whereby the res publica appeared more capable – via the apparent support of the gods whom its visible piety secured – than was in fact the case.

Greek Historical Influence on Early Roman History

Antichthon ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Matthew Trundle
Keyword(s):  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Roman History ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Greek History ◽  
Punic Wars ◽  
Historical Thought

AbstractThis study employs a comparative approach using Greek models of historical enquiry, especially those of Herodotus, to illustrate how Romans prior to the Punic Wars, and indeed as early as the fifth and fourth centuriesBC, might have developed their own historical consciousness and historical traditions concerning their early past in much the same way as we know the Greeks had done by the fifth centuryBC. What follows is not at all new. Many have identified Roman historical and historiographical roots, connections, and even parallels with Greek history and historians.1What follows reiterates those connections, explicitly by assessing how Herodotus presented his inquiries to his Greek audience, laying the foundations for the discipline ofhistoria, and then by examining specifically the story of the Fabii at the Cremera in Livy, Dionysius and Diodorus. Through this one historical example, I hope to show that the roots of genuine historical thought can be found in the sources of our sources for early Roman traditions. Despite the fact that these traditions appear in works written much later than the events they describe, the nature of the stories preserved in our extant accounts suggests similar historiographical roots and interest as those preserved by Herodotus for the Greeks in the stories he told in hisHistories.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document