Roman History

The twelfth century was a period of significant development and change in the religious and secular world of Western Europe. One area of transition occurred in depictions of Christ’s crucifixion. In both writing and art, the triumphant living Christ of the early Middle ages, was transformed into the dying, suffering, and yet majestic savior of the twelfth century.  This essay examines images and written sources from the fourth to the twelfth centuries, and seeks to determine how the twelfth century renaissance and reformation—based on the discovery of the individual— influenced this evolution.

Offuscata dal contrasto con gli splendori dell’età greca, l’epoca romana in Sicilia è apparsa per secoli una lunga parentesi di decadimento. Attraverso la testimonianza delle fonti antiche – testi scritti, ma anche monumenti, epigrafi, monete –, rilette alla luce dei più recenti studi, il volume offre, invece, un volto nuovo dell’isola, quello di provincia politicamente periferica, ma socialmente e culturalmente vivace, economicamente promettente e immancabilmente sfruttata.

Obscured by the splendours of the Greek age, the Roman era in Sicily appeared for centuries to be nothing more than a long period of decay. From the testimony of ancient sources (written texts, but also monuments, epigraphs and coins), reread in light of the most recent studies, the book aims to present a new side to the island, which despite being a politically peripheral province, was also socially and culturally vibrant, economically promising and unfailingly exploited.
“Roman Sicily” tells the story of a defeat: after the First and Second Punic Wars, the once free Sicilian cities came under Rome’s rule. The constitutional efficiency and internal cohesion typical of Rome overcame the disunity of the island cities, which were in fact incapable, as Polybius said, of “thinking together” and “acting together”.
Such battles were not limited to the political and military spheres: Sicilians conquered their overlords in turn by means of their culture, art and history as well as through their resources. During the Roman age, Sicily was almost always referred to as a rich land: in men, products, art and culture.
“Roman Sicily” abandons the preconceptions and models imposed by classical historiography in order to hunt down the traces of a past that is still mostly unknown, through a patient and reflective re-reading of the few literary sources and many material remains (monuments, epigraphs and coins). Like the shadow cone, which partly obscures the motif of the mosaic on the cover of this book while at the same time highlighting its colours, Sicily, whose dynamism was eclipsed by the Roman conquest, enjoyed a long period of peace in the course of which important aspects of its potentiality were significantly enhanced.

1. Pyrrhus in Sicily
My book begins by talking about Pyrrhus, king of Epirus: he is the link between the “history of Greek Sicily” and the “history of Roman Sicily”. Some famous and less well-known anecdotes from Pyrrhus’ history are reviewed in light of his expedition to Sicily. While returning to Italy, having given up on conquering the island, he exclaimed: “My friends, what a wrestling ground for Carthaginians and Romans we are leaving behind us!”

2. Hiero II
This chapter reconstructs, from coins, epigraphs and literary and archaeological evidence, the character and rule of the Sicilian monarch who was able to impose himself as a partner on the international scene while renouncing territorial expansion.

3. The First and Second Punic Wars in Sicily
This chapter traces the causes of the outbreaks of both conflicts, their main events, and the most significant archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic remains, in a reinterpretation of literary sources aimed at telling a compelling story.

4. The first Roman province
This chapter deals with some of the most complex topics in the book: Roman administration in Sicily, the institutional status of cities and the tax system, reinterpreted with the experience of a specialist who has studied them for twenty years and taught them for eighteen.

5. City life between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC
At the conclusion of the Punic Wars, life in Sicilian cities achieved renewed splendour, to which the “journey” through the remains of some cities undertaken in this chapter with the aid of literary evidence testifies. Sicily, “Roman” from a merely political perspective, was in reality a melting pot of peoples, cultures and traditions; contact between them had given rise to an “intercultural” society on the island, in which the coexistence and intermingling of the races had brought various benefits, not least of which was that of predisposing the inhabitants to contact (albeit not without attitudes of mistrust and suspicion) with the “new” and “different”.

6. The servile revolts
The Sicilian servile wars are reread in light of the ability of some of Sicily’s inhabitants (freemen as well as slaves) to come together, thus “thinking together” and “acting together”; it was this ability, together with errors of judgement on the Roman side, that would go on to make these revolts famous for centuries.

7. The disputed island
In the 1st century B.C., Sicily became a disputed territory, contested by the main protagonists of Roman history: Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar, Antony and Octavian were concerned with securing control over it and gaining its allegiance, each in different ways, at times militarily, at times by granting Latin law and at others by granting Roman citizenship.

8. The Augustan era
The Augustan era was a time of important transformation for Sicily. The chapter deals, on the one hand, with the difficult issue of institutional change in Sicilian cities and the tax system and, on the other, with the ways in which the territory was exploited and the variety of Sicilian products placed on the Roman market during this time.

9. From Julius-Claudius to the Antonini
This chapter analyses links between the emperors and Sicilian cities, the main historical events that occurred between the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., forms of land use and the variety of cults attested to on the island.

10. A century of continuity and transformations
The Severan age and, in general, the third century A.D., are the focus of this chapter’s investigation. Building interventions on the one hand and some events of political instability on the other, together with the rise of Christianity, give evidence of processes of continuity and transformation.

11. Late antique Sicily
The administrative transformations during the period of the Tetrarchy led to the inclusion of Sicily in the Italic diocese. During this same period certain cities gained importance within the Empire and the island was increasingly chosen as a place of residence by various aristocratic gentes. The barbarian invasions marked the history of the 5th century, but never definitively isolated the island, which boasted strong links with both the Western and Eastern empires.

The paper asks the question what the Romans really meant, when the used the term "barbarian". The evidence shows that the Romans had been often uneasy with this greek word, as in the end they themselves would be Barbarians, too. Further, the paper focuses also on the non-biological (or even "racial") approach of the Romans. Barbarians can become citizens, if they accept Roman paideia and a cultural set of Romanitas. The Dacians and Tracians are used in this context as examples from a rather neglected zone of the Empire.

Looking at Roman society through a traditional elite lens shows women to be silent and passive participants in both social and economic history. This may have been the reality for elite families, but plebeian women would not have had this luxury. This paper will look into the epigraphical evidence of work undertaken by free women, and how their work evolved as their social responsibilities altered. Through this examination, I will also discuss how much income could have been generated through work performed by women, and if gender bias played a role in women's income.

Caillan Davenport y Christopher Mallan han editado un libro necesario sobre Dión Casio en el que las diferentes aportaciones de los investigadores participantes proporcionan un relato integrador y coherente sobre un autor que, al parecer, está de moda a juzgar por los diversos estudios recientes sobre su figura y su obra.

THE CULT OF DIONYSOS IN ASIA MINOR
IN THE ROMAN IMPERIAL AGE

Making his presence, which can be traced long before the Archaic Age, deeply felt mainly in Hellas, Asia Minor and then in Rome throughout the ancient world, Dionysos, depending on the place and time, appears before us sometimes as a god of grape-wine, sometimes as a god of theatre and acting arts and sometimes as a religious power shaped according to the local needs, however, he has generally been a god of nature representing the fertility and abundance. According to the inscriptions, Dionysos was mentioned with many epithetons in Asia Minor of the Roman Imperial Age, and that he was a god of nature bringing abundance-fertility and his many other features can be observed by these epithetons. Depending on the long stated customs, the cult of Dionysos in Asia Minor survived throughout the Roman Imperial Age (especially in the II-III. Century A.D. with festivals, cult associations and structuring, artists (musicians, players, dancers) that served his cult. According to the written records, festivals such as Dionysia, Lēnaia, Anthestēria, Trietēris organized in the name of Dionysos were celebrated. Dance, music and play competitions were made in these festivals maintained by the rich citizens or directors and not commonly known cult rituals were performed. Besides the associations of synodos artists called by different names in different times in the large cities of the west, cult associations broad in scope such as thiasos, speira or cult member groups with large audience in various names were active both in worshipping and these festivals. In order to achieve this, undoubtedly, both artist associations and cult associations had to have a well organized governing structure. Names were given to the cult members according to the task taken. These members also had to pay a membership fee in order to be a member or to continue to be one. Actually, these fees were as important as the epimeletes in the mainta-nance of these associations. In addition, they were supported both mate-rially and spiritually by the Roman emperors or provincial governors. Although the paganic religious activities in the lands of Asia Minor under the control of Rome were left to the free will of the cities, they would not be strong without the respect shown for the cults of the emperors, emperor and the Roman goddess (Dea Roma). The worshipping of Dionysos could only develop with the close relations with the emperors and the Roman Empire. Correspondingly, supporting a paganic cult significant for the people, the Roman Empire gained the sympathy of the people and also kept them loyal to Rome. The deification of the Roman emperors began with General Marcus Antonius, who was wellcomed as “New Dionysos” on his arrival to Ephesos, and continued in the Roman Imperial Age. During this period the associations in Anazarbos, Ankyra, Ephesos, Teōs, Aphrodisias and Sardeis characterised Emperor Hadrianus, Commodus and Caracalla by this epitheton. Thus, they deified them by considering them equal with Dionysos. Dionysos also had common worship with imperial or Dea Roma cult besides the common paganic worship of Zeus and Dēmētēr. Like all other paganic religions, the cult of Dionysos broke down with the strengthening Christianity with which it had opposite doctrines and finally with the acceptance of Christianity as the official religion of the state. However, many features of the Dionysos cult continued to exist in Asia Minor both in Christian features and local cultures and traditions. Today it still continues this effect.

Arkaik Çağ’dan çok daha eskilere götürebildiğimiz varlığını, coğrafi olarak başta Hellas, Küçükasya ve sonraları Roma olmak üzere tüm Antik Çağ coğrafyasında etkin bir şekilde hissettiren Dionysos, yer ve zaman farkına bağlı olarak, bazı yerlerde üzüm-şarap tanrısı, bazılarında tiyatro ve sahne sanatlarının tanrısı, bazılarında ise yerel ihtiyaçlar doğrultusunda şekillendirilmiş dinsel bir güç olarak karşımıza çıkmıştır. Ama genel olarak bereket ve bolluğu temsil eden bir doğa tanrısı kimliğine sahip olmuştur. Yazıtlardan anlaşıldığına göre Roma İmparatorluk Çağı Küçükasyası’ nda birçok epitheton ile anılan Dionysos’un, bolluk-bereket getiren bir doğa tanrısı olduğu ve diğer başka özellikleri gene bu epitheton’larından anlaşılmaktadır. Küçükasya’daki Dionysos kültü Roma İmparatorluk Çağı boyunca (bilhassa M.S. II-III. yüzyılarda), öncesinden gelen bir geleneğe bağlı olarak şenlikleri, kült dernekleri ve yapılanması, kültüne hizmet eden sanatçıları (müzisyenler, oyuncular, dansçılar) ile varlığını sürdürmüştür. Yazılı belgelerden bu dönemde büyük ve zengin kentlerde hâlâ Dionysia, Lēnaia, Anthestēria, Trietēris gibi Dionysos adına tertiplenen şenliklerin kutlandığını; masrafları, epimeletes olarak bildiğimiz kentin zengin vatandaşları ya da yöneticileri tarafından karşılanan bu şenliklerde külte ilişkin dans, müzik ve oyun yarışmaların yapıldığını ve herkesçe bilinmeyen kült ritüellerinin uygulandığını öğrenmekteyiz. Bilhassa batı kesimlerdeki büyük kentlerdeki, farklı dönemlerde farklı isimlerle anılan synodos sanatçı derneklerinin yanında thiasos, speira gibi daha geniş kapsamlı kült dernekleri ya da en yaygını mystai olan çeşitli adlar altında toplanan geniş kitleli kült üye grupları hem tapınımda, hem de bu şenliklerde aktif olmuşlardır. Şüphesiz ki bunu gerçekleştirebilmek adına gerek sanatçı dernekleri gerekse kült dernekleri, iyi organize olmuş bir idari yapılanmaya sahip olmak durumundaydı. Bu derneklerde üstlendikleri görevlere göre adlandırılan kült üyelerinin, üye olabilmeleri veya üyeliklerini sürdü-rebilmeleri için ödemek zorunda oldukları aidatlar da vardı. Esasen bu derneklerin finansmanının karşılanmasında bu aidatlar, en az epimeletes’ ler kadar önemliydi. Ayrıca Roma imparatorlarının ya da eyalet yöneticilerinin hem manevi hem de maddi desteğini alıyorlardı. Zira bu dönemde Roma egemenliği altında bulunan Küçükasya topraklarındaki pagan dinsel yaşam her ne kadar kentlerin özgür iradesine bırakılmışsa da, imparatorlara, imparator ve Roma Tanrıçası (Dea Roma) kültüne gösterilen saygı olmaksızın güçlü kalamazdı. Küçükasya Dionysos tapınımı da, tamamıyla imparatorlar ve Roma İmparatorluğu ile kurulan güçlü bağlar sayesinde gelişebilmiştir. Bununla paralel olarak da Roma İmparatorluğu, halk için önemli olan pagan bir kültü destekleyerek, hem halkın sempatisini kazanmakta, hem de böylece onların Roma’ya olan bağlılığını sürdürmek amacını gütmekteydi. General Marcus Antonius’un Ephesos’a gelişinde “Yeni Dionysos” olarak karşılanmasıyla başlayan Romalı devlet adamlarını tanrılaştırma geleneği, Roma İmparatorluk Çağı’nda da sürmüş; bu dönemde özellikle Anazarbos, Ankyra, Ephesos, Teōs, Aphrodisias ve Sardeis’teki dernekler, İmparator Hadrianus, Commodus ve Caracalla’yı bu sıfatla nitelendirmişler, böylece onları Dionysos ile bir tutarak tanrılaştırmışlardır. İmparatorluk veya Dea Roma kültü ile ortak tapınımı da görülen Dionysos’un Zeus ve Dēmētēr gibi pagan tanrı-tanrıçalarla da ortak tapınımı söz konusudur. Diğer pagan dinler gibi Dionysos kültünün yıkımı da, öğretilerinin birbirine tamamen ters düştüğü Hıristiyanlık dininin güçlenmesiyle ve nihayetinde M.S. 391’de imparatorluğun resmî dini olmasıyla gerçekleşmiştir. Ancak Dionysos kültünün birçok unsuru, Küçükasya topraklarında, gerek Hıristiyanlık unsurlarında gerekse halk kültür ve geleneklerinde yaşamaya devam etmiştir. Bugün de bu etkisini göstermeye devam etmektedir."

SEG 60-1998. Religion. Dionysos: his cult in Asia Minor, Imperial period:
On the basis of archaeological, numismatic, and (mainly) epigraphic attestations, B.Öztürk,Roma imparatorluk çağı Küçükasaysı’nda Dionysos kültü (Istanbul 2010), studies the cult ofΔιόνυσος in Roman Asia Minor. After general remarks about the god, he presents a geographically arranged catalogue of the relevant inscriptions with brief comments (ph. of some texts). On 196-209, Ö. provides a register with explanations of the most important terms found in the inscriptions, and on 210/211 a list of epithets.

This paper examines evidence, both documentary and archaeological, for state interest in Indo-Mediterranean trade via the Red Sea, focusing on the creation of infrastructure to facilitate trade, measures taken to protect trade and traders, and the extent of the state’s interest in the trade principally as a result of customs dues, which it is argued formed a significant and hitherto under-appreciated source of income for the Roman state.

The development of Indo-Mediterranean trade in large volumes via the Red Sea route in the Augustan period was the result of a combination of at least three main factors: (1) the creation of overland routes between the Nile and Red Sea, obviating the need for ships to beat up to the Gulf of Suez against strong northerly winds; (2) the discovery of the use of the monsoon winds, enabling a more direct passage to and from India; and (3) the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman Empire after Actium. The flourishing of this trade for several centuries under the Roman Empire relied on effective protection of these routes.

The first piece of this jigsaw was put in place under Ptolemy II Philadelphus, with the creation of regular overland routes across the Eastern Desert between the Nile and the Red Sea. Crucial to these routes were the watering points or hydreumata created along them, which cannot have functioned without the use of the new saqiyya technology enabling the lifting of water from deep wells in quantities sufficient to feed desert caravans. The invention of the saqiyya machine has been placed by Lewis (1997) in the window 280-220 BC, and may probably be narrowed further to the earlier part of this period. Right-angled gearing was sufficiently well developed by c. 240 BC for Archimedes to use it in his hodometer cart - and probably also was used in automata vehicles in the Grand Procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus in 270 BC. In other words, the components of the technology were there during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus and it is difficult to believe that it was not used on this desert route. Possibly an important motivation for the opening of the overland route between the Nile and the Red Sea was to enable the supply of war elephants from the Sudan, but the routes clearly facilitated commercial traffic with the Red Sea and the souther Arabian peninsula.

With the development of trade with India via the Red Sea, following the discovery of the monsoon winds and the incorporation of Egypt into the large market of the Empire, the Roman system would have intensified the infrastructure on the Ptolemaic route to support increased traffic, with construction of new hydreumata attested by inscriptions. Pliny mentions some road stations; others were added in 76/77by the prefect of Egypt Julius Ursus (O.Ber.II.120). The kykleutikon salary of several 1st- and 2nd-c AD ostraca was for operating this kind of saqqiya device. Forts were also constructed, and caravans were provided with armed escorts for protection against the desert nomads. Although the state’s interest was also motivated by the need to transport of granite and marble from the desert quarries, and of gold from the mines there, there was clearly a strong interest in sustaining these roads as trade routes.

This idea is supported by an examination of Trajanic policy in the region, which included the construction of the Via Nova from Aila to Bosra linking the northern Red Sea with southern Syria; the dredging and rehabilitation of the Clysma canal, and the stationing of a fleet in the Red Sea. Under Hadrian a road linking the ports of the western Red Sea coast facilitated regional communications and supplies between these increasingly important ports. In the mid second century a detatchment of troops (and ships) was stationed on the Farasan islands in the southern Red Sea, well to the south of any Roman land frontier. Their purpose must have been principally to protect trade shipping entering or leaving the Red Sea from piracy off the coast of the Arabian peninsula.

Why did the Roman state go to such lengths to invest in the physical infrastructure for the Red Sea routes, and protection services along them? The answer seems to lie principally in the customs revenue that the state derived from Indo-Mediterranean trade. Customs tariffs across the empire’s frontiers were, at least on the eastern frontiers where we have direct evidence, set at 25% until some time in the early third century, and this may have been the case universally. Strabo, writing about why Augustus did not bother to invade Britain, stresses the high revenue derived from customs dues on cross-Channel trade, which exceed the likely revenue from tribute exacted under direct rule, once the costs of enforcing that rule are deducted (Strabo, Geography, 2.5.8 and 4.5.3). The second-century Muziris papyrus values the (part-)cargo of the ship Hermapollon, in from Muziris, at nearly HS 7 million after deduction of tax, implying that the state received some HS 2.2 million from this one cargo alone. If there were only 100 such cargoes per year (a century earlier, Strabo speaks of 120 ships per year leaving Myos Hormos for India), the customs revenues from the imports alone would amount to one-third of Duncan-Jones’ estimate for the military budget of the Empire. To this must be added the export customs dues, and also the customs dues on onwards transport of much of these goods to other provinces (usually at 2.5%). It looks as if the total state revenue for the empire may have been significantly underestimated by not taking due account of the revenues from trade, especially Indo-Mediterranean trade. This in turn makes it much easier to understand the state’s ability to fund large-scale civic building projects to a level not matched again until the rise of nation states in 19th-century Europe (see debate between Scheidel and Wilson in JRA 2009).

But there were other reasons too for the state’s interest in supporting and sustaining this trade. In his rescript to the Senate in AD 22, Tiberius refused the Senate’s request to reiterate the sumptuary laws, citing as one of several reasons the fact that the real concern to the state was not controlling table luxuries, but supplying Rome with grain; much comes from Egypt, which is also the source of many luxury goods which provide profit for the grain traders (Tacitus, Annals 3.52-55). In other words, facilitating the eastern luxury trade was in indirect way of ensuring the grain supply to Rome by incentivising the participation of private shippers. The anecdote about Augustus and the Alexandrian shippers at Puteoli (Suetonius) may be seen in a similar light.

Moreover, Alan Bowman has recently argued that the imperial house was directly involved in the trade between Egypt and India (Bowman 2010). Eivind Seeland’s forthcoming analysis of donations to Churches in Rome of eastern spices and incense from estates in Egypt traces some of these back to imperial domains (Seeland forthcoming).

But some time between AD 174 and 227, the quarter-tax on external trade was reduced to a one-eighth tax (12.5%), the octava. If the eastern trade was so important to the Roman state, why halve the customs dues, especially at a time of intense fiscal pressure? The most reasonable explanation seems to be that the reduction was an acknowledgement by the state of its inability to maintain previous levels of protection for shipping and caravans, and this was a measure intended to compensate traders for increased transaction costs along these routes as a result. We hear of Blemmye raids on the Eastern Desert in the fourth and fifth centuries, and the shift in late antiquity towards more northerly ports in the Red Sea may also be connected with the increasing instability of the desert routes

I membri del collegio di Nemesiaci oggetti di richiamo imperiale in un
provvedimento del 412 nel Codice Teodosiano sono figure di controversa interpretazione nella storia degli studi. Per comprendere le attività da essi svolte e come queste potessero configurarsi come un servizio pubblico, si analizzano gli aspetti del culto di Nemesi in età imperiale e in particolar modo il collegamento della dea con gli spettacoli anfiteatrali. Si esaminano poi le poche testimonianze epigrafiche e letterarie relative ai Nemesiaci e il loro frequente collegamento con Diana e la caccia. Infine, si propone di leggere il provvedimento sui Nemesiaci nel quadro della politica imperiale di controllo dei giochi pubblici tra IV e V secolo d.C.

Oratory and Roman Historiography in Nicolas Caussin’s Eloquentiae Sacrae et Humanae Parallela (1619) - This paper focusses on the Jesuit Nicholas Caussin’s ‘Eloquentiae Sacrae et Humanae Parallela’ (1619), with a particular analysis of some chapters of ‘De veteri eloquentia’ Book I. In this context we find a gallery of the most illustrious Greek and Roman orators which offers the opportunity to evaluate the author’s method of selecting, classifying and understanding the ancient texts with a marked attention to historiography. In addition to the use of a chronological order, an acknowledgment of Cicero’s authority and stylistic supremacy along with citations from his ‘Brutus’, Caussin’s section regarding Roman orators shows his ability to understand the role of eloquence in the overall political context of ancient Rome, as well as his interest in the figure and works of the historian Sallust. Focalizing on this latter aspect, the second part of the paper underlines how by including the text of the contio attributed by Sallust to the general Gaius Marius, in Book XIII of his ‘Eloquentiae Sacrae et Humanae Parallela’ Caussin added glosses not limited to the rhetorical aspects of the speech. In particular we see how his point of view as a Jesuit contributes to his vision of the general Marius, as a virtuous citizen also embodying values relating to a wisdom of Senecan ascendancy and to a Christian perspective. In this sense, Caussin’s glosses on the ‘contio’ attributed by Sallust to Gaius Marius appear quite different from those composed a half century earlier by Remigio Nannini, who included the same text in his ‘Orationi militari’ highlighting its social-political significance.

The discussion on the spread of convivial luxury involving key figures of late Republican Rome reported in a passage of the 3rd book of the Saturnalia gives the opportunity to notice that around the end of the 4th century CE and the beginning of the 5th, Roman past history could be evaluated not merely through an idealized view, but also in order to censure some specific customs of the Republican period and to compare them with contemporary ones. In this light, in addition to stating the use of records from the pontifical archives as well as offering useful data from an historic-economic viewpoint, the exchange of opinions attributed to the two Albini brothers by Macrobius in this section of his work, allows us to suppose that through his antiquarian approach the author also meant to defend aristocratic ethics and probably reject the criticism about sumptuous trends which characterized banquets of the pagan élites in Late Antiquity.

The collecting of a corpus of the coinage minted under emperor Probus (276-282 AD) allows to identify, besides Cyzicus, Antiochia and Tripolis, a 4th oriental mint. It takes from Tripolis and Antiochia bust types, reverse types and officinae marks, but is stylistically quite apart and strikes money in 6 officinae as Tripolis mints with 2 officinae and Antiochia in 9. Its existence (280-281 AD) is strictly linked to the usurpation of Saturninus in the East : the imperial army needed fresh coinage to fight the usurper, and the mint of Antiochia had fallen in his hands.

Romalıların diğer devletlerle ve toplumlarla ilişkilerini yoğun olarak
savaş şekillendirmiştir, ancak efsanevi kuruluş dönemlerinden
beri diplomasinin de Roma tarihinde önemli bir rolü vardır. İlk dönemlerden
itibaren birtakım ilkeler ve prosedürler etrafında oluşturulan
diplomasi anlayışı, Romalıların geleneklerini sürdürme konusundaki
hassasiyetlerine uyumlu bir şekilde yüzyıllar içinde şekil
değiştirerek evrim geçirmiş, zaman içinde gerek Roma devletinde
gerekse çevresel faktörlerde meydana gelen değişiklikler diplomasi
faaliyeti ve prosedürlerinde tecrübeye dayalı, sağlam bir birikim
meydana getirmiştir. Bu yazıda henüz yerel bir güçken dahi, tedricen
gelişen askeri ve ekonomik imkânlarına dayalı bir güç diplomasisi
anlayışını benimseyip daima sürdüren Roma’nın diplomatik
faaliyetleri mercek altına alınacaktır.

This contribution analyses the first of three speeches that according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Ant. Rom. 4, 71-75), L. Junius Brutus pronounced after the violence suffered by Lucretia, causing the expulsion of the Tarquins. In this circumstance, he spoke in reply to his fellow citizens who had been asked to decide which of the three forms of government they considered best between monarchy, aristocracy and democracy and they had expressed their preference for democracy. In the passage, according to the arguments the historian attributed to him, Brutus suggested a political model where the powers belonging to the monarchic model were transferred to a magistracy as consulship which was double and time-defined, and had to cooperate with the senate and whose decisions would be subject to ratification by the people. On the whole, his discourse seems to reflect the wish for an institutional reorganisation inspired by the theory of mixed constitution, able to preserve the positive aspects of the monarchic model while correcting its defects and on the other hand reconciling the competencies of the monarchic model and the democratic model. Bearing in mind the years in which Dionysius composed his work, we may suppose that through the fiction of the first oratio delivered by Brutus, the historian was trying to give some advice to Octavian Augustus, who meanwhile continued to obtain renewals of his consular office but took care to “transfer the res publica from his own dominion back to the authority of the Senate and the Roman People”, encouraging him to guarantee a form of government able to create harmonious relations between the different state powers.

Focusing on a digression included in Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ Roman Antiquities concerning the practice of manumission in Rome during the reign of the king Servius Tullius, this contribution aims to clarify the meaning of the historian’s disapproval of the Roman elite’s tendency to free slaves in their will as an expression of social ostentation, which was increasing in the first decades of the Augustan Principate, and also that of his proposal to scrutinize ex-slaves with the same censorial review used for senators and equestrians. In this light, beyond any interpretation as a rhetorical exercise on the decline of moral habits, the passage can be read as it relates to the debate that flourished until limits governing testamentary manumission were introduced by the Lex Fufia (2 BCE). In particular, considering the Roman Antiquities’ time of composition (ca 7 BCE), we may suppose that Dionysius was offering advice on the subject to specific figures such as his protector, the jurist Aelius Tubero , as well as Octavian Augustus

This paper examines the references to slavery within Pliny's Letters. Examining so called 'invisible' Romans can be challenging yet within a single text a wide variety of information can be extracted. What is revealed is a complex social hierarchy where the perception of slavery and slaves can vary widely.

Bu kitap, Pontos Kralı Mithradates VI Eupator Dionysos’un biyografisidir. 2003 yılında Akdeniz Üniversitesi, Eskiçağ Dilleri ve Kültürleri Bölümü’nde tamamladığım Mithradates VI Eupator ve Roma başlıklı doktora tezimin dört senelik yorucu; fakat keyifli bir çalışma sonucunda kitaplaşmış biçimidir. Kitabın amacı, şimdiye kadar ihmal edilen Pontos Kralı Mithradates VI Eupator Dionysos’un Küçük Asya ve Roma’ya karşı uyguladığı politikayı ve sonuçlarını, Anadolu’lu bakış açısıyla yeniden değerlendirmektir. Bunu yaparken, krala ve İÖ. I. yüzyıl Küçük Asya tarihine ilişkin antik kaynaklar, epigrafik belgeler, nümismatik buluntular ile arkeolojik kalıntılar ele alınmış; son zamanlarda ele geçen yeni veriler, modern literatür eşliğinde tekrar dikkatle incelenerek çok yönlü bir sentezle analiz edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Çalışmaya gerek tez gerekse kitap aşamasında birçok kişinin yardımı olmuştur. Bunların başında, tez danışmanım Prof. Dr. Sencer Şahin gelmektedir. Onun bu çalışma üzerinde görünmeden var olan etkisi yadsınamaz ve ilgi ve desteği olmaksızın ne tez ne de kitap bu şekli alabilirdi. Prof. Şahin, beni bu araştırma sırasında serbest bırakmakla birlikte, onunla yaptığımız konsültasyonlar çalışmanın şekillenmesinde önemli rol oynamıştır. Çalışmanın çeşitli aşamalarında Mithradates VI Eupator üzerine çalışmış ve halen çalışmakta olan Sevilla Üniversitesi’nden Asst. Prof. Luis Ballestor Pastor, Moskova Bilimler Akademisi’nden Asst. Prof. Sergey Saprykin, Aarhus Üniversitesi’nden (Doktora) Jakob Munk Højte ve Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi’nden Yrd. Doç. Dr. Deniz Burcu Arıkan Erciyas’a, yaptığımız yararlı görüşmeler ve konuya ilişkin literatür yardımlarından ötürü teşekkürü bir borç bilirim. Ayrıca kitaplık çalışmaları ve manuskrinin gözden geçirilmesinde sırasında, Köln Üniversitesi’nden Prof. Dr. Peter Mittag, Akdeniz Üniversitesi’nden Prof. Dr. Mustafa Adak, Dr. Burak Takmer, Nihal Tüner (Doktora), Şükrü Özüdoğru (Doktora), Fatih Onur (Doktora), Nuray Gökalp (Doktora), E. N. Akdoğu Arca (Doktora), Gökhan Tiryaki (Doktora), Ömer Uzunel (Yüksek Lisans) ile eşim Dr. Mette Marie Hald Arslan’ın önemli yardımları olmuştur. Türk araştırmacıların bilimsel çalışmalarını teşvik eden ve destekleyen, Türk Amerikan İlmi Araştırmaları Derneği’nin tarafıma verdiği Ilse Böhlund ve George Hanfmann Burs’u, bu eserin yayına hazırlanmasını sağlamıştır. Böylelikle 6 ay süreyle Sheffield ve Exeter Üniversiteleri’nde çalışma olanağım olmuştur. Bu süre zarfında; Sevilla, Paris ve Köln’e giderek çeşitli bilim adamlarıyla konsültasyon yapma, müzeleri ziyaret etme ve kütüphanelerden yararlanma imkanı buldum. Sheffield Üniversitesi’nden Prof. Dr. John Barrett’ın üniversitenin her çeşit imkanından yararlanmamı sağlaması ve Exeter Üniversitesi’nden Prof. Dr. Stephen Mitchell’ın konuya ilişkin değerlendirmeleri ile esin verici görüşleri, kitabın şekillenmesinde önemli rol oynamıştır. Bununla birlikte, kitaptaki her çeşit hatadan tümüyle yazar sorumludur. Son olarak, bu kitabın basılmasına yaptığı katkılardan dolayı Dumankaya Holding yönetim kurulu üyesi Uğur Dumankaya’ya teşekkürü bir borç bilirim.

Antalya 2007
Murat Arslan

The paper examines the upsurge of piracy in the last century of the Roman Republic, to underline its impact on politics. Analysing the testimonials about the period after 105 BC, we can appreciate that as well as interfering in the wars against Mithridates, the fight against the pirates who were also infesting the western Mediterranean, gained a meaningful role in the political agenda. Some prominent figures on the public scene engaged by the institutions to solve the problem, exploited it to gain extraordinary powers that would take on a different meaning depending on the circumstances and their personalities, as shown by Pompey’s command of 67 BC. He took advantage of his skill to dissimulate his ambitions and the auctoritas he enjoyed, to obtain a position that, despite modern historiography’s difficulty with establishing its juridical limits, was the first step in his quest to rise to absolute power. This continued not only the following year with the new command that the Lex Manilia granted him, but also in the next decade when Pompey consolidated his position, taking advantage of the financial difficulties linked to the shortage of food supplies, not unlike those caused previously by the pirates’ incursions. All of this is witnessed on the one hand by Cicero, whose opinion of this figure became gradually more negative in the period from 66-49 BC, on the other by Imperial Age historiography. Centuries afterwards the latter was able to perceive and underline more and more explicitly the subversive novelty of the extraordinary command given to Pompey to eradicate piracy, bringing out its major role in the process leading to the decline of the Republican institutions and the creation of the Principality.

Besides showing a strong interest in ancient Rome and its institutions, 15th century historiography gives a special place to the theme of the Western Roman Empire’s decline. In this light, some sections of the Laudatio Florentinae urbis and the Historiae Florentini populi by Leonardo Bruni as well as of the Decades by Biondo Flavio deserve mention. Unlike Bruni’s works, where the first cause of Rome’s decline was identified in the rejection of the republican model and the exercise of freedom that had embodied its foundations, Biondo’s treatises reveal the inclination to focus from a more structured perspective on the process which led to the end of ancient Rome’s Empire, without looking for a univocal cause. In general, beyond some parallel points of view between the two authors, such as, among others, a positive evaluation of Theodosius’ reign and the idea that, thanks to Rome’s decline, the conditions that allowed other cities in the Italian peninsula to later increase autonomously were created, Biondo’s considerations more particularly show a longue durée historiographical approach and the tendency to perceive Late Antiquity as an important transition phase as well as to remark the meaningfulness of some crucial historical episodes which characterized it.

This volume offers a comprehensive survey of Roman villas in Italy and the Mediterranean provinces of the Roman Empire, from their origins to the collapse of the Empire. The architecture of villas could be humble or grand, and sometimes luxurious. Villas were most often farms where wine, olive oil, cereals, and manufactured goods, among other products, were produced. They were also venues for hospitality, conversation, and thinking on pagan, and ultimately Christian, themes. Villas spread as the Empire grew. Like towns and cities, they became the means of power and assimilation, just as infrastructure, such as aqueducts and bridges, was transforming the Mediterranean into a Roman sea. The distinctive Roman/Italian villa type was transferred to the provinces, resulting in Mediterranean-wide culture of rural dwelling and work that further unified the Empire.

The references to the cult of Vesta included in numerous excerpts of Seneca the Elder’s collection of Controversiae offer a proof of the technical competence of declaimers in recalling the conditions prescribed by pontifical law for being admitted and kept in this priesthood, of which we are informed by the antiquarian tradition. Furthermore, these passages, which also show the importance recognized from an ethical viewpoint to values such as castitas and pudicitia in the time of Augustus and Tiberius, can be interpreted in light of some special episodes and dispositions stated by the historiographical tradition which reveal their interest in promoting and consolidating the cult of the Goddess Vesta protector of Rome’s Empire. Beyond the scholastic practice, the same interest is equally shared in the literary sphere by Seneca the Elder, as we can understand from the quotations within his work of excerpts from Controversiae dealing with Vestals

The paper focuses on Tacitus’ account of the speech made by Claudius in 48 CE in favour of the admission of the primores of ‘long-haired’ Gaul to the senate, examining arguments used by the historian to clarify the reactions to their request and the reasoning adopted by the emperor to convince the senators to accept it. Besides expressing awareness of the efficacy of the criteria used by Romans to create a supranational imperial order, the passage shows Tacitus’ ability to highlight the political meaningfulness of Claudius’ intervention, making it a model worthy of surviving and being mentioned many centuries later in modern culture. In this vein, the second part of the paper analyzes some 16th and early 17th century references to the emperor’s speech in authors such as Justus Lipsius, Scipione Ammirato, Jean Bodin, Traiano Boccalini, Hugo Grotius. Within their works, also dedicated to examining the birth, development and decline of States, we see that besides recalling an episode occurring many centuries before, some key-intellectuals made utilized the story into a valid exemplum to promote a model of efficacious government favouring integration as a means of consolidating modern states.

Analysis of some sections of Remigio Nannini's anthologies of historiographical speeches (Venice, Giolito 1557; 1560; 1561), with special reference to the orations taken from Cassius Dio’s ‘Roman History’, in order to show the tendency of the Dominican Compiler to revitalize their meaning and to interpret their content in the light of the political context of late Cinquecento Florence.

Collection of contributions on the phenomenon of Piracy in the ancient Mediterranean World, with special reference to its development in the Roman Period as well as to some aspects of its evolution from the Middle Ages to the Present, in order to ascertain its impact on the political agendas and the legal systems of different periods.

Tios (Zonguldak-Filyos) kentteki arkeolojik kazılar 2007 senesinden beri Karadeniz Ereğli Müzesi adına, sırasıyla Prof. Dr. Sümer Atasoy ve Doç. Dr. Şahin Yıldırım’ın bilimsel danışmanlıklarıyla akropolis, antik liman, tiyatro ve nekropolis alanlarında yürütülmüş ve bölge tarihinin güncellenmesine olanak veren önemli buluşlara sahne olmuştur. Arkeolojik çalışmalara paralel olarak yürütülen epigrafik araştırmalar da kentten günümüze ulaşmış Hellenistik ve Roma dönemlerine ait mezar taşlarını, onurlandırma heykel kaidelerini, adakları, miltaşlarını, ticari ağırlıklarını ve diğer türlerdeki yazıtlı buluntuları gün yüzüne çıkarmıştır.

Bu buluntular arasından beyaz mermerden silindir bir onurlandırma heykel kaidesinin üzerindeki yazıtının ise sadece bu kentin değil aynı zamanda Anadolu’nun Roma tarihi açısından önem arz ettiği anlaşılmıştır. Zira antik literatürde sadece ünlü yazar Nikaialı Cassius Dio’nun (MS yak. 150-235) Roma tarihini kaleme aldığı eserinde (Rhomaika, 79.39.5) adı geçen Roma İmparatorluğu’nun Pontus-Bithynia Eyaleti Valisi Caecilius Aristo, bu unvanıyla ilk defa bu yazıtta belgelenmiş oldu. Yazıtın çevirisi şöyledir:

Tiosluların pek görkemli/gösterişli kenti, legatus Augusti propraetore (imparatorun praetor mertebesindeki elçisi) Caecilius Aristo’nun yönetim döneminde... (şu kişi/kişileri onurlandırdı)

Bilinen tarihe göre, Roma İmparatorluğu’nun iç savaşlarla çalkalandığı bir dönemde Roma İmparatoru Caracalla’yı, kendisinin tertiplediği bir suikastla (MS 08.04.217) öldürtmeyi başaran Macrinus imparator olmayı başarmıştı. Ancak bu kez kendisi Iulia Maesa’nın himayesinde olan torunu Varius Avitus’a yani namı diğer Elagabalus’a karşı Antiokheia’daki savaşı kaybetmiştir. Bir seneden biraz fazla tahtta kalabilmiş devrik imparator Macrinus bunun üzerine gizli bir şekilde Roma’ya gitmeye ve Senato ile halkı ikna ederek iktidarını yeniden elde etmeyi amaçlamıştır. Böylece kılık değiştirerek Kilikia, Kappadokia, Galatia ve Bithynia bölgeleri üzerinden Eribolon’daki (İhsaniye) limana ulaşmış buradan Kalkhedon’a varmıştır. İşte Cassius Dio tam da bu noktada Macrinus’un, Vali Caecilius Aristo’nun korkusundan (Eyalet Başkenti) Nikomedeia’ya girmeye çekindiğini belirtmiştir. Dolayısıyla, Dio’nun MS 08.06.218’den kısa bir süre sonrasını kayda geçen bu cümlesi, bugüne kadar Aristo’nun o dönemde bölge valisi olduğunun dolaylı yoldan belgesiydi. Ancak şimdi Tios’ta ortaya çıkan bu yazıtla, önceki kariyerinin ufak bir kısmı Roma’daki birkaç belgeden tanınan Caecilius Aristo’nun hem adı hem de eyalet valiliği doğrulanmış oldu.

Lykia Bölgesi, Anadolu'nun, güneybatıda Akdeniz'e uzandığı Teke Yanmadası'nda yer alır. Bölgenin kuzeydoğusunda Pamphylia, kuzeyinde Phrygia ve Pisidia, batısında ise Karia Bölgeleri bulunmaktadır. Lykia doğu-batı yönünde 120; kuzey-güney yönünde 60 km'dir ve böylelikle 5083 km2 alana yayılmıştır. I Dağlık bir bölge olan Lykia'nın en yüksek dağı güneydeki 3086 metrelik Kızlar Sivrisi ile Beydağlan'dır. Lykia'nın iç kısımlannın en karakteristik coğrafik özelliği, kuşbakışıyla, bölgenin büyük bir kısmını kapsayan bir atnalı ile karşılaştınlabilecek büyük dağ sıralandır.2 Bölgenin merkezindeki büyük dağ sıralannın yanında, bunlardan derin vadilerle aynlmış dağlık alanlar vardır. Lykia Bölgesi'nin topoğrafyasında dağlar kadar nehirler de belirleyici bir öneme sahiptir.3 Bunlar, doğudan batıya doğru Alakır Çayı (Gagas?), Limyros (Göksu), Arykandos (Başgöz-Aykırıçay), Myros (Demre Çayı) ve Ksanthos'tur (Eşen Çayı). Bu nehirlerden en önemlisi olan Ksanthos, Antik Dönem'de Lykia kültürünün merkezi konumundaydı. Bölgenin yerleşimi, bu dağlar ve nehirlerin oluşturduğu vadiler ile nehirlerin sahilde oluşturduklan alüvyon ovalarda yoğunluk kazanmaktadır. Sahil yerleşiminde aynca, denizyolu ulaşımının kolaylığı ve deniz aşın ticaret de rol oynamıştır. Lykia'daki doğallimanlar bu yüzden önemlidir.

Die Wirtschaft der antiken Welt steht zunehmend im Mittelpunkt des Interesses der althistorischen Forschung. Obwohl seit Jahrzehnten vor allem um die quantitative wie qualitative Beurteilung des Handels in der Antike erbittert gerungen wird, wird in der Forschungsliteratur häufig nicht scharf zwischen Handel und Distribution differenziert. Um die Auswertung des antiken Quellenmaterials aus dem Mittelmeerraum mit dem aus dem Vorderen Orient zu verbinden, fand im April 2013 in Marburg eine interdisziplinäre Tagung statt, die sich der Thematik am Beispiel des Handels und der Distribution von Textilien vom 2. Jahrtausend v.Chr. bis ins frühe 2. Jahrtausend n.Chr. widmete.
Textilien eignen sich in besonderer Weise dazu, Einblicke in die Funktionsweise des antiken Warenaustauschs zu erhalten. Zwar gibt es bereits in vielen Disziplinen Forschungen zu Handel und Distribution von Textilien, aber diese werden häufig über die jeweiligen Fächergrenzen hinaus nicht wahrgenommen. Der zur Tagung gehörige Sammelband vereint daher Analysen internationaler Expertinnen und Experten aus unterschiedlichen Fachdisziplinen: Alte Geschichte, Altorientalistik, Archäologie, Textilforschung und Naturwissenschaften bilden den analytisch-methodischen Rahmen. Gerade der neuere Ansatz, dokumentarische Quellen mit archäologischen Funden und naturwissenschaftlichen Analysemethoden zu verknüpfen, erlaubt einen tief greifenden Einblick in die Funktionsweise antiker Warendistribution, der Auskunft über das „Wer?“, das „Wie?“ und das „Warum?“ gleichermaßen gibt. Überlegungen zu Absatz- und Beschaffungsmärkten, Warenpreisen und involvierten Akteuren (Institutionen) geben zudem entscheidende Informationen über den Warenaustausch im engeren Sinne hinaus.

Following on from articles in JRA 6 (1993) and 20 (2007) this paper develops additional arguments in favour of a Hadrianic date for the frieze on Trajan's Column, placing the installation of his tomb at the foot of the Column and the building of a temple for him as Divus Nerva Trajan within the context of Hadrian's imperial succession and the latest archaeological discoveries in the area NE of the Column.

The paper focuses on the interpretation of Roman Italy and its geographical borders in the Early Modern period, with particular attention to its rebirth in Biondo Flavio’s work - Key words: Italia romana, historical borders, regiones, Augustus, Pliny the Younger, Decretum Rubiconis, Alpine districts, Augusta Praetoria,  tropaeum Alpium, La Turbie, Aquileia, Histria, river Formio,  Tridentum.