Athens

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clyde E. Fant ◽  
Mitchell G. Reddish
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Universal Language ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Merchant Class ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
City State ◽  
Peasant Farmers ◽  
The Hill ◽  
The City

In the Mediterranean world, only Rome rivals Athens as a city famed for its antiquities. Ancient travelers came to marvel at its grand temples and civic buildings, just as tourists do today. Wealthy Romans sent their children to Athens to be educated by its philosophers and gain sophistication in the presence of its culture. Democracy, however faltering its first steps, began in this city, and education and the arts flourished in its environment. Even at the height of the Roman Empire, the Western world’s government may have been Roman but its dominant cultural influence was Greek. Latin never spread abroad as a universal language, but Greek did, in its Koine (common) form. By the 4th century B.C.E. this Attic dialect of Plato and the Athenian orators was already in use in countries around the Mediterranean. The monuments of Athens and the treasures of its National Museum still amaze and delight millions of visitors from every nation who come to see this historic cradle of Western culture. A settlement of some significance already existed at Athens in Mycenaean times (1600–1200 B.C.E.). Toward the end of the Dark Ages (1200–750 B.C.E.) the unification of Attica, a territory surrounding Athens of some 1,000 square miles, was accomplished under the Athenians. The resulting city-state was governed by aristocrats constituted as the Council of the Areopagus, named for the hill below the Athenian Acropolis where they commonly met. But only the nobility—defined as the wealthy male landowners—had any vote in the decisions that influenced affairs in the city, a situation increasingly opposed by the rising merchant class and the peasant farmers. The nobles seemed paralyzed by the mounting social tensions, and a class revolution appeared imminent. In 594 B.C.E. the nobles in desperation turned to Solon, also an aristocrat, whom they named as archon (ruler) of the city with virtual dictatorial powers. Solon, however, refused to rule as dictator of the city, instituting instead a series of sweeping reforms that mollified the lower classes without destroying the aristocracy.

Crossing the Pomerium

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Koortbojian
Keyword(s):  
Social Practices ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
Religion And Law ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Military ◽  
The City

The ancient Romans famously distinguished between civic life in Rome and military matters outside the city—a division marked by the pomerium, an abstract religious and legal boundary that was central to the myth of the city's foundation. This book explores, by means of images and texts, how the Romans used social practices and public monuments to assert their capital's distinction from its growing empire, to delimit the proper realms of religion and law from those of war and conquest, and to establish and disseminate so many fundamental Roman institutions across three centuries of imperial rule. The book probes such topics as the appearance in the city of Romans in armor, whether in representation or in life, the role of religious rites on the battlefield, and the military image of Constantine on the arch built in his name. Throughout, the book reveals how, in these instances and others, the ancient ideology of crossing the pomerium reflects the efforts of Romans not only to live up to the ideals they had inherited, but also to reconceive their past and to validate contemporary practices during a time when Rome enjoyed growing dominance in the Mediterranean world. The book explores a problem faced by generations of Romans—how to leave and return to hallowed city ground in the course of building an empire.

Naming religious groups in the late Roman empire

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore S. de Bruyn
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Introductory Essay ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Late Roman

What are scientifically valid and interpretatively meaningful names for adherents of religious cults or traditions in the Mediterranean world of late antiquity? This question lies behind the articles in this issue of Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses, which consider the meaning and validity of five names used in studies of religion in the late Roman empire: "pagans," "Jews," "Christians," "Gnostics" and "Manichaeans." This paper, an introductory essay to the issue, proposes that, when answering this question, one adopt Benson Saler's prototype approach to the categorization of religious groups. It argues, further, that a prototype approach must include etic categories of analysis and that it requires specific and detailed studies of similarities and differences within and between groups.

I. The Fear of the Orient in the Roman Empire

1926 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. Charlesworth
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Roman People ◽  
The Mediterranean

In September of the year 29 B.C. the citizens of Rome saw pass before them one of the most splendid triumphs ever celebrated in their city. In it Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus, the heir and successor of Julius Caesar, now sole master of the Mediterranean world, displayed the spoils he had won from his campaigns in Illyria and Dalmatia, at the battle of Actium, and by the conquest of Egypt. The spectacle must have been gratifying to Roman pride and a fair omen for future security: in the young victor were centred the hopes of the Roman people for external conquest and internal peace. Octavian had now reached the summit of his desires, his word and will appeared all-powerful; yet he was already aware that he was bound to a policy imposed upon him by his own success, and as time went on he became conscious that the very completeness of his victory, though it satisfied immediate demands, presented embarrassing problems for the future. In order to defeat Antony and to secure the necessary support for himself he had utilised a sentiment which had recently grown strong in Rome, and he was now to some extent fettered by the feeling he had aroused. This feeling was a profound fear of the Orient and mistrust of all things Oriental, and Octavian had posed as the champion of Roman manners and institutions, and had thus succeeded in concentrating on himself the enthusiasm of all Italy. He was now committed to this policy; in future years there must be no suspicion of Orientalism whether in government or institutions or religion. And even though Octavian might satisfy his countrymen on this score, he himself found it difficult to throw off the anxiety and embarrassment that the possession of Egypt caused him.

Wandering philosophers in Classical Greece

2000 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 86-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Montiglio
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Western Culture ◽  
Classical Greece ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The World ◽  
The Mediterranean

The wandering philosopher is best known to us as a Romantic ideal that projects one's longing for physical and mental withdrawal. Rousseau's ‘promeneur solitaire’ does not cover great distances to bring a message to the world. His wanderings, most often in the immediate surroundings, rather convey spiritual alienation. But the ‘promeneur solitaire’ is not the only kind of wandering philosopher known in Western culture. Itinerant philosophers existed already in antiquity. During the Roman empire, many sages wandered all over the Mediterranean world. They went about for the sake of intellectual and spiritual enrichment, but essentially to spread their teaching and to intervene in local quarrels as religious consultants. Wandering connoted their ambiguous status in society—both in and out—and thereby enhanced their charisma and endowed them with an aura of superior power.

scholarly journals Subjugated in the Creative Industries: The Fine Arts in Singapore

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Can-Seng Ooi
Keyword(s):  
Fine Arts ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Creative Industries ◽  
Work Place ◽  
Art World ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
City State ◽  
The City

The arts and culture are considered core in a creative industries strategy. But the promotion of the creative industries brings about revised notions of creativity. These revised notions are being applied to the arts. Creativity is now seen to be largely manageable. All individuals are made to believe that they can be creative. Not only that, creativity is seen to be a money spinner. Workers should tap into their creativity and bring about innovations in the work place. Pupils are taught to tap into their creativity and to think outside the box. Such views on creativity galvanize the public and enthuse many people into the creative industries. Such notions of creativity contrast against the fine arts. Regardless, as this paper examines the situation in Singapore, shows that fine artists in the city-state are finding themselves internalizing a market logic and have tied their art practices to economic value. Fine arts practices will not be as lucrative or popular as their counterparts in the other creative businesses; they will remain poor cousins in the creative industries. Essentially, the fine arts are being subjugated in the creative industries and the Singaporean art world is being changed.

scholarly journals From the Light and into the Dark: the Transformation to the Early Middle Ages

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arrush Choudhary
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Rural Life ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
Italian Peninsula ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
Decentralized Governance ◽  
The City ◽  
The Middle Ages

From a historic perspective, the period of Roman rule and the following Middle Ages are polar opposites. For most, the city of Rome and the Western Roman Empire represent a time of advancement for the Mediterranean world while the Middle Ages are viewed as a regression of sorts for Europe. The reasons explaining the underlying cause of this transition from the Western Roman Empire to the Middle Ages are numerous but this paper will specifically focus on the practices started by the Romans themselves and how they contributed to the rise of the Early Middle Ages on the Italian Peninsula. More specifically, economic turmoil and urbanization following the 3rd century crisis in the city of Rome laid the groundwork for social, legislative, and political changes that thread the path to the fundamental characteristics of the Middle Ages. Changing views of the city and the countryside, the construction of latifundia and villas, and the passing of legislation that restricted the rights of laborers, in addition to other transformations in late Rome, all contributed to the decentralized governance, rural life, and serfdom that are characteristic of the Middle Ages. Ultimately, the goal of this paper is to illustrate that despite the major differences that exist between the Roman period and the Middle Ages, the practices of the late Western Roman Empire were often directly carried over into the Middle Ages and, as a result, for one to truly understand the origins of the Middle Ages, it is essential to comprehend the traditions started by the late Romans.

Market Regulation and Transaction Costs in the Roman Empire

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elio Lo Cascio
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Unexpected Result ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
State Of Affairs

The unification of the Mediterranean world under Roman rule brought about the suppression of piracy and the resulting increased safety of seaborne commerce, better circulation of information, the spread of common metrological systems, the creation of a single monetary area, and the diffusion of common legal rules. All this certainly made the definition, protection, and exchange of property rights within the Empire much safer and therefore less expensive. This chapter shows, through the analysis of a series of interventions both at the central and at the local level, documented by juridical, epigraphic, and papyrological evidence, that this state of affairs was not merely the unintended and unexpected result of the political unification of the Mediterranean world, but the product of the role that the political organization of Rome purposely undertook in regulating market transactions, by guaranteeing the rights of all involved parties: producers, tradesmen, and consumers.

scholarly journals Landscape archaeology and urbanism at Meninx: results of geophysical prospection on Jerba (2015)

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 357-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Ritter ◽  
Sami Ben Tahar ◽  
Jörg W. E. Fassbinder ◽  
Lena Lambers
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Urban History ◽  
Landscape Archaeology ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Main Production ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The City ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Geophysical Prospection

This paper presents the results of the geophysical prospection conducted at the site of Meninx (Jerba) in 2015. This was the first step in a Tunisian-German project (a cooperation between the Institut National du Patrimoine, Tunis, and the Institut für Klassische Archäologie der Ludwig-Maximilans-Universität München), the aim of which is to shed light on the urban history of the most important city on the island of Jerba in antiquity.Meninx, situated on the SE shore of the island (fig. 1), was the largest city on Jerba during the Roman Empire and eponymous for the island's name in antiquity. The outstanding importance of this seaport derived from the fact that it was one of the main production centers of purple dye in the Mediterranean. With the earliest secure evidence dating to at least the Hellenistic period, Meninx saw a magnificent expansion in the 2nd and 3rd c. A.D. It was inhabited until the 7th c. when the city was finally abandoned.

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