Epicurus in Rome

The role of Greek thought in the final days of the Roman republic is a topic that has garnered much attention in recent years. This volume of essays, commissioned specially from a distinguished international group of scholars, explores the role and influence of Greek philosophy, specifically Epicureanism, in the late republic. It focuses primarily (although not exclusively) on the works and views of Cicero, premier politician and Roman philosopher of the day, and Lucretius, foremost among the representatives and supporters of Epicureanism at the time. Throughout the volume, the impact of such disparate reception on the part of these leading authors is explored in a way that illuminates the popularity as well as the controversy attached to the followers of Epicurus in Italy, ranging from ethical and political concerns to the understanding of scientific and celestial phenomena.

A Woman to Rule the World: Rome Personified in the Roman Republic

<p>Revitalised by Mussolini in the early twentieth century as a symbol of the ‘New Roman Empire’, Roma has endured a long history of national representation. Traditionally the figure of Roma is on the one side associated by historians with the Roman imperial cult and Augustus, and on the other by Numismatists as the helmeted female figure on the coinage of the Roman Republic. However, these figures are not presently considered one and the same. When describing this figure, Roma is considered a Greek innovation travelling west, which naturally discounts well over two centuries of Roman issued coinage. Roma inaugurated by Hadrian and previously manipulated by Augustus was not simply a Greek import, but a complex Roman idea, which, true to Roman form, incorporated native and foreign elements in shaping an outward looking signifier of Roman identity.</p>

Public Sculpture and Social Practice in the Roman Republic

This chapter examines the production, function, and social use of public sculpture during the Roman Republic (509–27 bce). After an historical introduction, it focuses on the active interaction of plastic arts with the viewer and the different levels of meaning and understanding, surveying the types, subjects, and materials and the intent (honorary, commemorative, votive, funerary, or cult images) of republican sculpture. The state-regulated management of statues in public places—mainly honorary portraiture, which spread from the fourth century bce onward—is also discussed. Space is devoted to the viewing and reception of a portrait, which was a system of visual and material signs. Besides, statues “functioned” in a specific topographical setting. The chapter then discusses the urban scenography for statues along the triumphal route in Rome; the impact of the new Greece-oriented artistic tendencies in marble sculpture and acrolithic cult statues with respect to the conservative perception of the traditional terracotta plastic; and the ideological and religious meaning of the temple coroplastic art, which followed the spread of sacred buildings constructed both in Rome and in Italy.

A Woman to Rule the World: Rome Personified in the Roman Republic

<p>Revitalised by Mussolini in the early twentieth century as a symbol of the ‘New Roman Empire’, Roma has endured a long history of national representation. Traditionally the figure of Roma is on the one side associated by historians with the Roman imperial cult and Augustus, and on the other by Numismatists as the helmeted female figure on the coinage of the Roman Republic. However, these figures are not presently considered one and the same. When describing this figure, Roma is considered a Greek innovation travelling west, which naturally discounts well over two centuries of Roman issued coinage. Roma inaugurated by Hadrian and previously manipulated by Augustus was not simply a Greek import, but a complex Roman idea, which, true to Roman form, incorporated native and foreign elements in shaping an outward looking signifier of Roman identity.</p>

Coin Iconography and Social Practice in the Roman Republic

This chapter focuses on the images on pre-imperial Roman coinage. It provides a brief outline of the typological development of Roman issues between c. 300 bce and the end of the Republic and discusses coin iconography against the background of political and social changes during this period. Furthermore, the contribution tackles several key questions: Who was responsible for the choice of types on the different urban and imperatorial series, from the beginnings of Roman coinage to the age of Augustus? Why was the typological behavior of Roman Republican denarii exceptional among the coinages of the ancient world? Were the images on the coins intelligible to the people using them? Is specific audience targeting in evidence in the Republican series?

Quintilian in the Graeco-Roman Rhetorical Tradition

Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria (c.95 ce) provides a comprehensive statement on education based on the author’s belief that the study of rhetoric was essential both for the growth of the individual and also for serving the welfare of the state through effective leadership that united wisdom with eloquence. Quintilian’s Institutio is often identified exclusively as a work of Roman rhetoric. Viewing the Institutio as uniquely Roman is understandable. In the Institutio, Quintilian often used Cicero—the pre-eminent orator and rhetorician of the Roman Republic—as a model whose career illustrated the best features of Roman rhetoric and citizenship. However, viewing Quintilian’s Institutio as exclusively Roman distorts the influence that Greek rhetoric had on Quintilian’s work. Quintilian, and even his Roman model Cicero, were both influenced by Greek rhetoric, especially the contributions of Isocrates. Quintilian’s Institutio is better understood, and appreciated, as a ratio or system that was built upon a foundation of Hellenic rhetoric and a shining example of the Graeco-Roman rhetorical tradition. This chapter reveals a spectrum of Greek contributions in Quintilian’s Institutio ranging from isolated technical concepts to an overarching philosophy of civic rhetoric predicated on the officia or ‘duties’ of good, virtuous citizens eloquently applying rhetoric for social betterment. Quintilian’s use and command of Greek rhetoric is well demonstrated and his indebtedness to Greek sources for crafting his own ‘Roman’ rhetoric is evident throughout his Institutio.

The Hoard of Celtic Coins from Deutsch Jahrndorf (Austria, 1855)

The Deutsch Jahrndorf (Burgenland, Austria) hoard was discovered in 1855. It contained Bratislava Celtic coinage – gold denominations and silver tetradrachms of the Biatec group. Altogether, 163 coins have been studied either by autopsy or from their earlier publications; originally however, they were surely more numerous. Although the treasure was discovered south of the Danube, 15 km away from the Bratislava oppidum acropolis, there is no doubt about its direct association with this site. Its contents provide a unique insight into the production of gold denominations, both anepigraphic and with the legends BIATEC or BIAT. Silver tetradrachms of the Biatec group include the majority of known die combinations. The Deutsch Jahrndorf hoard represents a unique source for better understanding the Bratislava coin production. Based on our present state of knowledge of the late La Tène chronology, the hoard was probably concealed in the third quarter of the 1st century BC; a more precise date cannot be established. New discoveries of Roman style constructions on the Bratislava oppidum acropolis help us better understand the phenomenon of relations between the Roman Republic and local Celtic elites; the detailed study of the hoard in question contributes to this topic from the numismatic point of view.