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14 results

A Guide to the Geography of Pliny the Elder
  • Edited with Introduction and Notes by Duane W. Roller
  • Published online:
    07 July 2022
    Print publication:
    28 July 2022
  • This is the first thorough English commentary on the geographical books of Pliny the Elder, written in the AD 70s. Pliny's account is the longest in Latin, and represents the geographical knowledge of that era, when the Roman Empire was the dominant force in the Mediterranean world. The work serves both cultural and ideological functions: much of it is topographical, but it also demonstrates the political need to express a geographical basis for the importance of the Roman state. In five books, Pliny covers the entire world as it was known in his era and includes some of the first information on the extremities of the inhabited region, including Scandinavia and the Baltic, eastern Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. The commentary provides a detailed analysis of all the points Pliny raises: his sources, toponyms, and understanding of the place of the earth in the cosmos.

  • 11 - Rome’s Attitude to Jews after the Great Rebellion – Beyond Raison d’état?

  • from Part III - Ethnicity and Identity in the Roman Empire
  • Edited by Jonathan J. Price, Tel-Aviv University, Margalit Finkelberg, Tel-Aviv University, Yuval Shahar, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book:
    Rome: An Empire of Many Nations
    Published online:
    14 April 2022
    Print publication:
    21 April 2022, pp 186-202
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  • Summary

    The chapter argues against an influential thesis according to which Jews and Judaea were treated with extraordinary harshness in the wake of the Great Rebellion, due to the new Flavian dynasty’s political needs. It is argued that Vespasian enjoyed considerable legitimacy at the beginning of his reign; he did not need to base his legitimacy on a continuous ‘war against the Jews’; nothing he did needs to be explained by attributing this motivation to him. The harshness of the treatment endured by the defeated Jews was, fundamentally, “normal’ imperial harshness.

  • 14 - The Good, the Bad and the Middling

  • from Part III - Ethnicity and Identity in the Roman Empire
  • Edited by Jonathan J. Price, Tel-Aviv University, Margalit Finkelberg, Tel-Aviv University, Yuval Shahar, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book:
    Rome: An Empire of Many Nations
    Published online:
    14 April 2022
    Print publication:
    21 April 2022, pp 239-259
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  • Summary

    Talmudic literature, throughout all its chronological phases, relates to various Roman emperors. Nine emperors are mentioned explicitly by name, and among these are six who are especially notable, from three different periods. First, the period of the major Jewish revolts: Vespasian and Titus are mentioned for the War of the Destruction of the Temple, Trajan for the Diaspora revolts and Hadrian for the Bar Kochba Revolt. These are the “wicked” emperors of Talmudic literature, with Hadrian presented as the worst of all. Second, the golden age of relations between Judaea and Rome in the Severan period: “Antoninus,” usually identified with Caracalla, is presented as the “good” emperor par excellence. Finally, in the middle of the scale between the “wicked” and the “good” emperors we find Diocletian, the interesting emperor whose presence is strongly felt, as he was responsible for the development of the whole region.

  • 11 - Rome’s Attitude to Jews after the Great Rebellion – Beyond Raison d’état?

  • from Part III - Ethnicity and Identity in the Roman Empire
  • Edited by Jonathan J. Price, Tel-Aviv University, Margalit Finkelberg, Tel-Aviv University, Yuval Shahar, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book:
    Rome: An Empire of Many Nations
    Published online:
    04 August 2021
    Print publication:
    23 September 2021, pp 186-202

  • Summary

    The chapter argues against an influential thesis according to which Jews and Judaea were treated with extraordinary harshness in the wake of the Great Rebellion, due to the new Flavian dynasty’s political needs. It is argued that Vespasian enjoyed considerable legitimacy at the beginning of his reign; he did not need to base his legitimacy on a continuous ‘war against the Jews’; nothing he did needs to be explained by attributing this motivation to him. The harshness of the treatment endured by the defeated Jews was, fundamentally, “normal’ imperial harshness.

  • 14 - The Good, the Bad and the Middling

  • from Part III - Ethnicity and Identity in the Roman Empire
  • Edited by Jonathan J. Price, Tel-Aviv University, Margalit Finkelberg, Tel-Aviv University, Yuval Shahar, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book:
    Rome: An Empire of Many Nations
    Published online:
    04 August 2021
    Print publication:
    23 September 2021, pp 239-259

  • Summary

    Talmudic literature, throughout all its chronological phases, relates to various Roman emperors. Nine emperors are mentioned explicitly by name, and among these are six who are especially notable, from three different periods. First, the period of the major Jewish revolts: Vespasian and Titus are mentioned for the War of the Destruction of the Temple, Trajan for the Diaspora revolts and Hadrian for the Bar Kochba Revolt. These are the “wicked” emperors of Talmudic literature, with Hadrian presented as the worst of all. Second, the golden age of relations between Judaea and Rome in the Severan period: “Antoninus,” usually identified with Caracalla, is presented as the “good” emperor par excellence. Finally, in the middle of the scale between the “wicked” and the “good” emperors we find Diocletian, the interesting emperor whose presence is strongly felt, as he was responsible for the development of the whole region.

  • A Magnetometry Survey of the Second Augustan Legionary Fortress at Lake Farm, Dorset

  • Dave Stewart, Paul Cheetham, Miles Russell
  • Journal:
    Britannia / Volume 51 / November 2020
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    15 April 2020, pp. 307-317
    Print publication:
    November 2020

  • A magnetometry survey of the Roman fort at Lake Farm, near Wimborne Minster in Dorset, first discovered in 1959, has upgraded the status of this site to a full legionary fortress: a major base of the legio II Augusta during the subjugation of the Durotriges and other tribes of south-west Britain. The interior layout of the fortress was identified for the first time, together with the original road and river connections, extensive areas of extramural activity and evidence for an earlier phase of the site as a marching camp.

  • Spit in Your Eye: The Blind Man of Bethsaida and the Blind Man of Alexandria

  • ERIC EVE
  • Journal:
    New Testament Studies / Volume 54 / Issue 1 / January 2008
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    30 January 2008, pp. 1-17
    Print publication:
    January 2008

  • The account of Vespasian's use of spittle to heal a blind man at Alexandria has long been noted as a parallel to the use of spittle in Mark's healing of the Blind Man of Bethsaida, but little has been made of the temporal proximity of these two stories. Vespasian's healings formed part of the wider Flavian propaganda campaign to legitimate the new claimant to the imperial throne; to many Jewish ears this propaganda would have sounded like a usurpation of traditional messianic hopes. This article argues that Mark introduced spittle into his story of the Blind Man of Bethsaida to create an allusion to the Vespasian story as part of a wider concern to contrast the messiahship of Jesus with such Roman imperial ‘messianism’.

  • Inscriptions from Alchester: Vespasian's Base of the Second Augustan Legion(?)

  • Eberhard W. Sauer
  • Journal:
    Britannia / Volume 36 / November 2005
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    01 March 2010, pp. 101-133
    Print publication:
    November 2005

  • Excavation at Alchester in 2003 revealed an almost complete tombstone of a veteran of the Second Augustan Legion. This provides the first known biography of any person living in pre-medieval Oxfordshire. He is arguably also the earliest legionary veteran attested in Britain. All other tombstones of legionary veterans in Britain come from the main base of their legion or a veterans' colony. Since there is nothing to suggest that Alchester ever became a colony, it must have been the main base of the legio II Augusta and thus Vespasian's base (a case supported by other indications, notably the fortress's foundation date of a.d. 43/44), unless it is the only known exception to the rule.

  • 20 - Greece and Asia Minor

  • from PART IV - ROME, ITALY AND THE PROVINCES
  • Edited by Alan K. Bowman, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge, Dominic Rathbone, King's College London
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    12 October 2000, pp 604-634

  • Summary

    Greece, Asia Minor and the islands came off lightly in the civil wars of 68-70. The Flavians were ready to promote urbanization and restoration. Vespasian's unification of eastern Asia Minor into the northern section of a great command imposed strains. When Trajan himself began campaigning in the East he brought it to an end. Hadrian on his travels did not neglect military matters but in Greece and even in Asia Minor, in spite of the very large number of milestones bearing his name, they were not his primary interest. The literary sources for Hadrian's tours are inadequate and honours were showered on him whether he acted in person or at some distance. But the dates of his visits to Athens as emperor are virtually certain, with the first becoming the beginning of a new era for the city: 124-5, 128-9 and 131-2. The Panhellenion is the most significant benefaction of Hadrian to Athens and the most difficult to interpret.

  • 7 - Provincial administration and finance

  • from PART II - GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION
  • Edited by Alan K. Bowman, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge, Dominic Rathbone, King's College London
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    12 October 2000, pp 266-292

  • Summary

    The basic system of provincial administration had been established by Augustus, and was only slightly modified by his successors. The emperors after Vespasian also made no changes to the Augustan system. Besides the provinces which were under the direct control of the emperor and governed by senatorial legates or equestrian praesidial procurators, there remained the provinces of the Roman people. The transformation of provinces, which had initially been governed by equestrians, represents the most notable change in provincial administration, though this was not a fundamental change. At the end of the reign of Nero, there were twelve such equestrian governorships, although by the time of Marcus Aurelius this figure had gradually been halved. From the Flavian period onwards and with increasing regularity from the beginning of the second century, it seems that it was necessary to consult the governor before proceeding with large building projects, particularly when they were to be financed using the city's funds.

  • 5 - Emperor, Senate and magistrates

  • from PART II - GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION
  • Edited by Alan K. Bowman, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge, Dominic Rathbone, King's College London
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    12 October 2000, pp 214-237

  • Summary

    The relationship between emperor and Senate was always the result of the tension between what the majority of senators thought the emperor should be, and what he really was, or could become: princeps or dominus. Vespasian, for instance, had been a senator for more than thirty years. In Britain the reason for the appointment of a iuridicus was probably the predominantly military duties of the consular legates, at least under Vespasian and Domitian. Only in Italy were things changed to any significant degree, first by Hadrian and later by Marcus Aurelius. Despite the establishment of the eleven regiones by Augustus, Italy had no real territorial subdivisions. Hence it also had no officials who could take on the duties of regional governors, and as a result all the inhabitants of the cities of Italy had recourse only to the magistrates of Rome when they sought judgement on matters outside the competence of the municipal magistrates.

  • 6 - The growth of administrative posts

  • from PART II - GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION
  • Edited by Alan K. Bowman, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge, Dominic Rathbone, King's College London
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    12 October 2000, pp 238-265

  • Summary

    In the light of the problematic nature of the sources and of previous research, any portrayal of the development of administrative posts can only be tentative. In the period from Augustus to the end of Nero's reign, four principal areas developed within the part of the administration entrusted to equestrians, imperial freedmen and slaves: offices around the emperor; positions which were mainly connected with the city of Rome; offices whose responsibilities extended beyond the city of Rome itself; and numerous other administrative posts in Italy. At the start of the reign of Vespasian, one can distinguish with relative certainty about seventy areas of work, with widely differing importance and scope, which were concerned with the administration of the empire alongside the areas entrusted to members of the Senate. While the number of administrative departments in the provinces had increased considerably, from the time of Vespasian onwards, there were only a few new offices created at the heart of the empire.

  • 13i - Roman Africa: Augustus to Vespasian

  • from 13 - The West
    • By C. R. Whittaker, Fellow of Churchill College, and formerly Lecturer in Classics in the University of Cambridge
  • Edited by Alan K. Bowman, University of Oxford, Edward Champlin, Princeton University, New Jersey, Andrew Lintott, University of Oxford
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 February 1996, pp 586-618

  • Summary

    Africa's land and food continued to excite Roman interest. It is hard to believe that the war between Tacfarinas and Rome, which eventually developed in AD 17 and lasted until AD 24 was a serious threat to Roman power in Africa. The emperor Gaius has been credited with two important changes in north Africa: the separation of the army under its legatus from the province of Africa; and the ending of the independent status of Mauretania. Cruel execution of Africans was a reputation gained by Nero's last legionary legate in AD 68. Colonies, communities and corn were the informing principles of Roman imperialism in Africa. The social and political benefits of the Augustan system for the elite had already become apparent in the Julio-Claudian period. Under Tiberius a citizen of Musti, L. Iulius Crassus, reached equestrian status and under Vespasian the first known African consuls, Q. Aurelius Pactumeius Fronto of Cirta and his brother Clemens, were created.

  • 6 - From Nero to Vespasian

  • from PART I - NARRATIVE
  • Edited by Alan K. Bowman, University of Oxford, Edward Champlin, Princeton University, New Jersey, Andrew Lintott, University of Oxford
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 February 1996, pp 256-282

  • Summary

    The Spanish denarii refer to the 'Freedom' and to the 'Life-force of the Roman People', with images of Mars the avenger and a liberty-cap. Perhaps the most interesting issue shows personifications of Spain and Gaul with a Victory between them, and the legend 'Harmony of the Spanish and Gallic Provinces'; the reverse represents the 'Victory of the Roman People' driving in a two-horse chariot. The similarity between C. Iulius Vindex's issues and those of Galba indicates collusion between the two legates after they had withdrawn support from Nero, but it cannot prove that Servius Sulpicius Galba was actively involved in Vindex's conspiracy from the beginning. Tacitus' account naturally has its limitations. It depends upon pro-Flavian traditions and was written with hindsight, with the problems of the reigns of Nerva and Trajan in mind. As censors (AD 72-4), Vespasian and Titus freed the Roman people from the moral stain, and from some of the memories, of civil strife.