Rome: An Empire of Many Nations: New Perspectives on Ethnic Diversity and Cultural Identity

Description

The center of gravity in Roman studies has shifted far from the upper echelons of government and administration in Rome or the Emperor's court to the provinces and the individual. The multi-disciplinary studies presented in this volume reflect the turn in Roman history to the identities of ethnic groups and even single individuals who lived in Rome's vast multinational empire. The purpose is less to discover another element in the Roman Empire's “success” in governance than to illuminate the variety of individual experience in its own terms. The chapters here, reflecting a wide spectrum of professional expertise, range across the many cultures, languages, religions and literatures of the Roman Empire, with a special focus on the Jews as a test-case for the larger issues. Cover Half-title page Frontiespiece Title page Copyright page Contents List of Figures List of Contributors Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction Part I Ethnicity and Identity in the Roman Empire 1 From Rome to Constantinople 2 The Imperial Senate: Center of a Multinational Imperium 3 Ethnic Types and Stereotypes in Ancient Latin Idioms 4 Keti, Son of Maswalat: Ethnicity and Empire Part II Culture and Identity in the Roman Empire 5 Roman Reception of the Trojan War 6 Claiming Roman Origins: Greek Cities and the Roman Colonial Pattern 7 Roman Theologies in the Roman Cities of Italy and the Provinces 8 The Involvement of Provincial Cities in the Administration of School Teaching 9 Many Nations, One Night?: Historical Aspects of the Night in the Roman Empire Part III Ethnicity and Identity in the Roman Empire: The Case of the Jews 10 Religious Pluralism in the Roman Empire: Did Judaism Test the Limits of Roman Tolerance? 11 Rome’s Attitude to Jews after the Great Rebellion – Beyond Raison d’état? 12 Between ethnos and populus: The Boundaries of Being a Jew 13 Local Identities of Synagogue Communities in the Roman Empire 14 The Good, the Bad and the Middling: Roman Emperors in Talmudic Literature 15 The Severans and Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi Part IV Iudaea/Palaestina 16 The Roman Legionary Base in Legio-Kefar ‘Othnay – The Evidence from the Small Finds 17 The Camp of the Legion X Fretensis and the Starting Point of Aelia Capitolina Bibliography General Index Index Locorum