BMCR 2025.01.49

Tradition and power in the Roman Empire: proceedings of the fifteenth workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Nijmegen, 18-20 May 2022)

, , , Tradition and power in the Roman Empire: proceedings of the fifteenth workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Nijmegen, 18-20 May 2022). Impact of empire, 50. Leiden: Brill, 2024. Pp. xiv, 342. ISBN 9789004537453.

Open access

[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]

 

Since 2000, the international network ‘Impact of Empire’, which brings together some 200 ancient historians, philologists, archaeologists and specialists on the Roman Empire, has organised a series of annual workshops. This volume contains the proceedings of the fifteenth workshop held at the Radboud University in Nijmegen in 2022. As mentioned in the introduction, the main purpose of this volume is less to question the impact of Roman power on earlier traditions than to understand how traditions functioned as a means of exercising and legitimising power. However, the two questions are treated almost equally. The scope of the study is deliberately broad, as it aims to encompass the variety and combination of both imperial superstructures (the emperor, the Roman Senate, etc.) and local structures (city councils, regional cults, etc.) that made up the Roman Empire and are referred to as ‘power structures’. It also covers a wide chronological range to explore the links between the Principate and the Republic, as well as the influence of imperial traditions in Late Antiquity. In order to highlight these continuities, the editors have chosen to organise the contributions in chronological order. However, this arrangement leaves much of the work of connecting the papers to the reader. I have therefore deviated from the original chronological order of the book in those places where relevant connections seem to warrant doing so.

The role of tradition in building imperial power is undoubtedly one of the main themes of the volume. Two essays explain how emperors used religious traditions to consolidate their power and gain greater legitimacy. Amber Gartrell (chapter 1) shows that in the individual-based political competition of the Republic, it was common for members of the elite to claim proximity to a deity in order to legitimise their claims to power. Although this tradition continued during the Principate, it was radically transformed by Augustus, who not only made divine legitimacy the exclusive preserve of the princeps, but also increased the number of deities from which he could claim support. Fernando Lozano and Elena Muñiz Grijalvo (chapter 2), who analyse another “imperial monopoly on access to divinity”. At the instigation of the princeps himself and then of his successors, the cultic honours that Greek cities used to bestow on political leaders during the Hellenistic period were gradually reserved exclusively for the emperors and their family. This revision of tradition was perhaps one of the most innovative acts of the new imperial power.

The role played by tradition in integrating members of the Augustan family into existing power structures is explored in three papers. Elena Torregaray Pagola and Toni Ñaco del Hoyo (chapter 3) attempt to establish a link between the representation of Sabine women in Augustan literature and the role played by the leading women of the Augustan household. According to them, Livy’s historical recreation of this founding myth would have presented the Sabine women as mediators. Thus, the women of the imperial household would have followed their example in their efforts to bring peace and harmony to Rome. However, such a parallel is of no real interest without explicit evidence to suggest that the women of the Augustan household used this myth to legitimise their new political and diplomatic role, or that the Sabine exemplum was reworked in order to reflect the actions of Augustan women. Much more convincing is the contribution of Florian Groll (chapter 4), who shows that the representation of the military prowess of the Augustus family drew on both tradition and innovation. During the first part of his political career, Octavian/Augustus mainly followed Republican strategies to advertise his family’s military achievements, such as dedicating artefacts in buildings that already commemorated his ancestors or inviting his younger family members to share in his triumphs. However, the second half of Augustus’ Principate also saw two notable innovations: the inclusion of women in victory celebrations, embodying the military responsibility of the domus Augusta, and Tiberius’ genuflection in the triumph of 12 AD, symbolising the respect due to the princeps. Equally fascinating is Margherita Carucci’s paper (chapter 9) on Trajan’s wife, Plotina. As a provincial, Plotina had to construct her identity around the traditional image of the ideal woman as constructed by the Roman elite in order to make her position as empress acceptable. She embraced the role of the exemplary wife, devoted to her husband and living modestly in his shadow. She was therefore described by ancient Roman authors as the ideal of womanhood. However, while carefully complying with patriarchal norms of female behaviour, Plotina actively participated in her husband’s exercise of imperial power and used her position at the imperial court to innovate traditional power structures.

Turning to the political and judicial role of the Roman emperors, three contributions analyse the ways in which they did or did not maintain past traditions in order to ensure the stability of the empire. In chapter 8, Christer Bruun uses sources such as the Programmata of Pompeii, the Album of Canusium, the Lex Irnitata and the Lex Troesmensium to demonstrate that the imperial monopolisation of a wide range of powers, honours and prerogatives did not end the tradition of elections in the Roman cities. From the reign of Augustus to the end of the Severan era, members of the elite continued to compete for elected office. The people therefore still had some influence over the election of magistrates. Juan Manuel Cortés Copete (chapter 10) also reminds us that Hadrian was keen to allow Greek cities such as Delphi, Hierapolis and Naryca to continue to apply their own laws. Under his reign, some others as Pergamon and Palmyra also felt encouraged to revive their own legal customs. While recognising the political value of ancient local laws, Hadrian incorporated them into the new imperial order to foster legal standards within the empire. Evidence from Athens, Cyrene and other cities also shows that the emperor sometimes acted as a legislator. Elsemiekke Daalder (chapter 12) shows that the unfavourable picture of Caracalla painted by Cassius Dio and Herodian is highly distorted. Although his reign was perceived by the senatorial elite as a break with many imperial traditions, from a legal point of view it was a continuation of previous Antonine legal practice. The use of rescripts continued and even increased, especially in fiscal matters. Lukas De Blois (chapter 13), on the other hand, illustrates how Gallienus was forced by a context of serious crises to opt for new military and administrative solutions. Although they broke with Roman military and administrative traditions, these radical reforms respected the interests of the senators who were not opposed to them. Only later did 4th-century historiographers present these reforms in a negative light. Finally, Francesco Bono (chapter 17) uses the Novels to analyse how traditional institutions were reused by Justinian to build a renewed Empire. Republican institutions such as the Senate and the consuls were restored, although they had lost their original function (Novels 62 and 105). Similarly, the new provincial governors were called praetors or proconsuls (Novels 24 and 25), thus drawing a line of continuity and legitimacy between the Republic and the Empire.

The remaining essays focus on case studies from both the western and eastern parts of the Empire to examine the interaction between the ‘imperial superstructure’ and pre-existing forms of power. The Republican and then the Imperial power sought to replace the previous powers in all the territories it conquered, but, depending on the context, it did so by using or, on the contrary, eradicating the previous structures or traditions in order to strengthen its legitimacy and facilitate its control. In the case of Egypt, Livia Capponi (chapter 5) studies various measures adopted by Augustus at the end of his reign, such as the policy of tolerance and the privileges granted to Jews, Greeks and Egyptian priests that effectively confirmed the existing social divisions within the population of the province. However, these measures also responded to interests of a military and fiscal nature, such as the consolidation of imperial revenues and the strengthening of Roman control over the Egyptian territory. Sven Betjes (chapter 7) also focuses on Augustan work, but in southern Gaul and the Iberian peninsula. The rebuilding and monumentalisation of the Via Augusta and the Via Iulia Augusta, which linked Rome to Gades, while ensuring Rome’s control over the provincial territories, was intended to associate the emperor’s name with the myth of the labours of Hercules. In this way, Augustus seemed to equal or even surpass the achievements of the wandering hero who civilised southern Gaul and Iberia in the course of his travels. Sergio España-Chamorro (chapter 6) shows how Roman power could also ignore local traditions: the modification and adaptation of toponyms, which were an important part of traditional power structures, was a key element of the Roman conquest and the Latinisation of Hispania. The renaming of some places in the province was a disruptive act that transformed the relationship of the people with their territory and their history, causing a profound change in identity. This was particularly true of the colonies, whose new names were linked to the deductores, usually generals or emperors.

Giorgos Mitropoulos (chapter 11) examines the interplay between imperial power, local power and tradition from a different angle, showing how Augustus and then his successors promoted themselves as models to be emulated in order to reinforce their legitimacy. Several case studies (Eurycles of Sparta, Herodes Atticus, Marcus Ulpius Apuleius Eurycles) illustrate how prominent provincials were attracted to the imperial model and sought to imitate it in order to express their power at the local level. Nikolas Hächler (chapter 14) analyses the cases of the Gallic and Palmyrene empires during the so-called crisis of the third century in a similar perspective. The emperors of the Gallic Empire were concerned to appear as legitimate rulers and as the true protectors of the Roman world against invading Germanic forces. By adhering to traditional structures of government and administration, they managed to ensure the stability of their usurped rule. The rulers of the Palmyrene Empire, on the other hand, constructed their legitimacy through an eclectic fusion of governing traditions based on Hellenistic, Roman, Persian and even local models. Finally, although its subject is quite far from that of the book, Johannes Hahn’s contribution (chapter 15) presents an interesting case of continuity between pagan and Christian cultic practices. Focusing on the hinterland of Antioch, he shows how the stylites on their columns embodied a completely new type of ‘high-altitude sanctuary’. Through their ascetic practices, they continued the pagan traditions of the local Syrian population, who considered the mountains sacred because they were home to many deities.

Surprisingly, one has to wait until the very end of the book to read its most significant contribution: Stéphane Benoist’s brilliant essay (chapter 16) thankfully fills the gaps in the introduction by addressing a fundamental question: how did Roman politics understand tradition, transformation and innovation? After a useful and synthetic historiographical overview, the author uses a number of documentary dossiers to demonstrate the positive connotation of the mos maiorum and the consuetudo, which allowed the reconstruction of a collective memory, but also the condemnation of the res novae, associated with the idea of revolution. The Augustan discourse, with the theme of the res publica restituta, perfectly illustrates the dynamic dialectic between tradition and innovation, as it was a balance between the scrupulously preserved heritage of the past and its constant reinvention.

As with many workshop proceedings, the introduction remains very general and does not clearly define the core issues. These shortcomings are reflected in the papers, which often lack coherence and approach the concepts of ‘tradition’ and ‘power structure’ in very different ways. Some of them, although interesting, are linked to the general theme of the volume only by a few introductory or concluding sentences. All in all, although the way in which tradition functioned as a means of exercising and legitimising power in the Roman Empire seems a valuable topic, one might doubt that bringing together such disparate contributions could produce many new ideas about it.

 

Authors and Titles

Sven Betjes and Erika Manders, “Introduction”

Part 1 Tradition in the Formation of the Augustan Empire

  1. Amber Gartrell, “A Divine Right to Rule? The Gods as Legitimators of Power”
  2. Fernando Lozano and Elena Muñiz Grijalvo, “Closing a Highway to Heaven Discontinuities in the Divinisation of Human Beings in Roman Times”
  3. Elena Torregaray Pagola and Toni Ñaco del Hoyo, “Women’s Mediation and Peace Diplomacy. Augustan Women through the Looking Glass”
  4. Florian Groll, “Republican Traditions, Imperial Innovations. The Representation of the Military Prowess of Augustus’ Family”
  5. Livia Capponi, “Augustus and Traditional Structures in Egypt Grand Policies or Ad Hoc Measures?”
  6. Sergio España-Chamorro, “Between Tradition and Innovation. Place Names and the Geography of Power in Late Republican and Early Imperial Hispania”
  7. Sven Betjes, “Paving the Route of Hercules. The Via Augusta and the Via Iulia Augusta and the Appropriation of Roadbound Traditions in the Augustan Age”

Part 2 Tradition and Power in the First and Second Century CE

  1. Christer Bruun, “Municipal Elections in the Roman West during the Principate The Strength of Tradition”
  2. Margherita Carucci, “Plotina and the (Re)Invention of the Tradition of Womanhood”
  3. Juan Manuel Cortés-Copete, “Hadrian: Imperator Nomothetes – Ancient Laws for the Empire”
  4. Giorgos Mitropoulos, “Between Tradition and Change. The Imitatio Principis in the Imperial East”

Part 3 Tradition and Power in the Third and Fourth Century CE

  1. Elsemieke Daalder, “Tradition and Innovation in the Rescript Practice of the Emperor Caracalla”
  2. Lukas de Blois, “The Emperor Gallienus and the Senators. Tradition, Change, and Perception”
  3. Nikolas Hächler, “The Role of Tradition for the Negotiation and Legitimisation of Imperial Rule in the Gallic and Palmyrene Empires”
  4. Johannes Hahn, “Stylites on Pillars versus Sanctuaries on Summits. The Conquest of Traditional Cult Sites by Christian Ascetics in Northern Syria”

Part 4 The longue durée of Tradition and Power in Roman Discourse

  1. Stéphane Benoist, “Mos Maiorum and Res Novae. How Roman Politics Have Conceived Tradition, Transformation, and Innovation, from the Second Century BCE to the Fourth Century CE”

Francesco Bono, “Justinian, the Senate, and the Consuls. A Rhetorical Memory of the Old Constitution”