Imperialism, Law, Religion, and Society in the Ancient World: Essays in Honor of William V. Harris

Description

This volume commemorates the 65th birthday of William Vernon Harris (on September 13, 2003), when a group of his former students agreed to honor him with a collection of essays that would represent the wide variety of interests and influences of our advisor and friend. The fifteen papers in fact range chronologically from the first Olympics to late antiquity and discuss various questions of imperialism, law, economy, and religion in the ancient Mediterranean world. The essays share a social historical perspective from which they challenge as many commonly accepted notions in ancient history. The contributors acknowledge their intellectual debt to the formative scholarly acumen of William V. Harris, which adds up to the "tall order" of engaging with his work. Abbreviations Illustrations Preface William V. Harris: the first forty years of scholarship (1965-2005) Religion in context 1. A God of Reäprocity: Torah and Soda/ Relations in an Ancient Mediterranean Society 2. Distinguishing Jemshness in Antiquity 3. Jesus, an Adulteress, and the Development of Early Christian Scripture 4. Constantius II and the First Removal of the Altar of Victory 5. Du lard ou du cochon?’ The Testamentum porcelli as a Jewish Anti-Christian Pamphlet Imperialism and its soldiers 6. Aristocratic Competition, Horses, and the Spolia Opima Once Again 7. An Architecture of Human Heads: Gallic Responses to Roman Power 8. From Conquest to Civilisation: The Rhetoric of Imperialism in the Early Prindpate 9. Soldiers’ Slaves, Dirty Work’ and the Social Status of Roman Soldiers Law and economy in ancient society 10. Veterans, Agriculture, and Monetisation in the Late Roman Republic 11. Country Villas in Roman Central Italy: Reassessing the Evidence 12. The Delicts of the Countryside in Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe 13. Raman Governments and Collegia: A New Appraisal of the Evidence Historiography 14. Imagining Olympia: Hippias of Elis and the First Olympic Victor List 15. A Sense of Change and the Historiography of the Turn from Republic to Empire Afterword Contributors