[Authors and titles are listed at the end of this review]
Over the centuries, the Roman Empire has stood as a beacon of imperial power across the world, exerting a lasting influence over rulers as diverse as Mehmet II and Mussolini. Consequently, not only did it take Empire studies a considerable amount of self-reflection to contextualize and, as it were, provincialize Roman rule as but one (and not necessarily the most representative) example of imperial formation. Furthermore, confronted with an overwhelming and steadily growing literature on almost every conceivable aspect of life under the principate, the task of producing an impactful, well-informed, and yet manageable synthesis on such a subject has become an increasingly challenging endeavor.
Yet, despite these obstacles, Sven Günther has succeeded in delivering precisely such an overview, which nicely enriches the Empires through the Ages series with a volume clearly conceived around the primary goal of the collection, namely to help interested lay readers to situate historically and culturally the Roman experience within the territories under imperial rule (and beyond), while also singling out a set of parameters (law, economy, the ideology of kingship, military power, to name but a few) that can be used as benchmarks to compare Rome with other imperial formations diachronically across time and synchronically in space. At the same time, the Handbook offers a collection of essays which specialists may profitably consult across the field of Roman studies, offering updated overviews on topics ranging from religion to environmental history and from the logistics of Roman military to the political, cultural, and legal strategies of integration and othering through which Rome defined its world, and what laid beyond it.
Although the volume’s nineteen chapters (bookended by a short introduction and an even briefer but carefully thought-out conclusion, which aims to situate the book within the growing scholarship on comparative Empire studies) are not arranged into clearly defined sections, the Handbook is nevertheless rather clearly structured. After two chapters introducing the vast array of written and material sources, as well as the different methodologies currently deployed to exploit them (by Zhongxiao Wang and Günther), a theoretically sophisticated essay follows (by Maxine Lewis) on the space of Roman imperialism. Much more than a comment on the geographical feature of the orbis Romanus or a reflection on geographical writing under the Caesars, Lewis engages with the “spatial turn”, which originated in the social sciences around the 1980s and has proven fertile ground for scholarly inquiry across the humanities (including Classics), to explore the intentionality of Roman cartographic conceptions and the social, political, and ideological values hidden in apparently rather dry texts such as Ptolemy’s Geography or the Tabula Peutingeriana.[1] Next follow two “political” chapters: the first, by Hendrikus van Wijlick, approaches the question of Rome’s capacity to acquire new territory, to cope with losses, and the extent of its military and symbolic might. Contrary to the still widespread perception of Rome as a military juggernaut that ceaselessly conquered adversarial kingdoms and peoples until it suddenly collapsed under its own weight, van Wijlick emphasizes the challenges faced by the Empire right after its establishment under Augustus. From this standpoint, Trajan’s expansionist drive appears quite exceptional and perhaps more closely related to the princeps’ self-understanding and legitimation needs rather than necessitated by geopolitical requirements. At the same time, actors outside Rome’s territory are given the importance they deserve in shaping the Empire’s policy and its rulers’ military shortcomings: this is particularly so for van Wijlick’s main area of expertise, namely Parthia.[2] Thus, the chapter makes one more contribution towards an entangled history of Rome and the Empires of Īrān, which has long remained a scholarly desideratum and is, however, essential for a truly global history of Afro-Eurasia, or at least of its Western core regions and borderlands.[3] The history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has been written many times, arguably already well before Gibbon. The way chosen by Günther in his second chapter of the volume to address the topic is, at the same time, relatively unorthodox and insightful. His short fiscal history sets for itself the goal of “refining the scheme of rise and fall” (p. 99) by pointing out distinctive regional specificities and the way they affected imperial tax-raising ambitions: such an “on the ground” approach has proven a fruitful strategy in recent Empire studies to counter the tyranny of (often scanty and patchy) literary sources, instead bringing to the forefront the frequently experimental, “trial and error” nature of imperial rule.[4]
The following two chapters (by Marco Vitale and, again, Günther, pp. 135-152) turn to the issue of power, its representation, and the polarizing (in the double sense of a magnetic pole and a divisive character) figure of the emperor(s). They do so from two different, complementary perspectives. On the one hand, Vitale turns to objects, their materiality, and the visual culture of imperial Rome, exploring both their genesis in previous traditions within and beyond the Hellenistic world (with Alexander a firm yet contested reference point). This chapter can be profitably read against the grain of Elisabeth Günther’s essay on the ideology and legitimation strategies of the Roman ruler, which, against the backdrop of the Severan case study, investigates how one imperial dynasty could shape the built, as well as the social, environment of its subjects to spread its vision of the Empire and of itself. On the other hand, Günther focuses on transmitted and excavated sources (literary works such as Suetonius’ Lives and inscriptions) to show how they can be exploited not just to verify – or contradict, or nuance – each other, but rather how they differ structurally, as a means of transmitting information and as a literary genre, de facto enabling scholars to write somewhat different imperial histories.[5] As with Vitale’s and E. Günther’s contributions, S. Günther’s chapter can profitably be coupled with Andreas Klingenberg’s study on the pivotal actors in (and enablers of) Roman imperialism, namely the Empire’s élites.
Of course, as in every Empire, warfare played a crucial role in defining the political, social, economic, and cultural trajectory of the Roman polity: as such, it deserves to be approached as a totalizing human experience, investigating it from different disciplinary subfields and methodological approaches.[6] Two chapters (by Paul Erdkamp and Kee-Hyun Ban) take on this task, the first from the viewpoint of military technology and battle tactics, the other from the social angle, namely exploring how the Roman military could work both as a factor of political integration as well as, for example during the 3rd century CE, as a menace to the political integrity of the polity itself.
Four thematic chapters present a concise but informative and updated overview of key aspects of the social history of the Empire, from its religion(s) and the question of the rise of monotheism(s) against the background of a complex social, cultural, and spiritual makeup (by Wolfgang Spickermann and Gian Franco Chiai) to a series of intriguing economic vignettes (by Patrick Reinard), which the author skillfully deploys to tackle the contentious question of whether or not the Empire can be considered an economic area in the modern sense of the word as well as the issue around the coherence (and even the existence) of an integrated, imperially driven, economic policy.[7] Considering its impact through the ages (in Europe and beyond), Roman law could not be left out of the topics covered by the Handbook, even though, as Constantin Willems stresses in the introduction to his chapter (p. 435), the endeavor looks nearly impossible, especially within the editorial constraints of one single volume.[8] And yet, despite the odds, Willems offers a useful presentation of the main sources for the study of Roman law (with their proper historical contextualization) and, in the chapter’s second part, brief but insightful sketches of the actors within Rome’s legal landscape until the systematization of Justinian (what he calls the “sources of law”: senate, magistrates, jurists, and finally, but arguably most crucially, the emperor himself).
In a twist that aligns with some current scholarly trends (not just in the context of Rome), Philipp Deeg examines selected case studies of imperial crisis management, particularly those related to natural disasters.[9] Besides providing interesting insights on the logistics of state-driven as well as evergetic (private) liberality, Deeg’s paper is notable particularly as it investigates the topic from the standpoint of communication theory and the ways in which imperial responses (or at least the credible promise thereof) contributed simultaneously to strengthening the Caesars’ authority while also potentially exposing it to sudden losses thereof, should help not be repeatedly forthcoming. This all serves to demonstrate how a manifestation of social and economic power from the top could be locally manipulated and turned into a leverage to negotiate privileges and benefits. Finally, as it suits the Empires Through the Ages volumes, one chapter discusses Rome’s reception and its history’s manipulation at the hands of the Fascist regime in Italy in the 20th century (Genevieve Gessert). As it closes with some remarks on the Capitoline She-Wolf and the social life of its replicas, one of which still watches over Ancient History seminars in the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (Changchun, PRC), where the volume’s editor is based, the chapter neatly brings the book full circle, as the introduction opens precisely with the history of how and why one variant of the famous symbol of Rome’s history and, under Mussolini’s rule, of Romanità travelled all the way from the urbs to Jilin Province, in the Chinese Northeast.
There shall certainly be several other syntheses and handbooks on the Roman Empire produced in the years to come. Among the merits of the present one, one that should be emphasized pertains to the editor’s skillful assemblage of established scholars and newer researchers, thus providing the volume with both authority and a breath of fresh air; furthermore, the significant presence of contributors either of non-Western (European and Anglo-American) origin or working outside of the Western academic sphere is undoubtedly a choice to commend, as it offers at times new interpretative angles (without ever giving up on the highest scholarly rigor) on a topic, the Roman Empire, which perhaps for too long some of us thought as exclusively, or even preeminently, ours.
Authors and titles
- Introduction (Sven Günther)
- Written Sources (Zhongxiao Wang)
- Non-Written Sources (Sven Günther)
- Spatial Dimension and Environment (Maxine Lewis)
- Expansion, Territorial Loss, and Reach (Hendrikus A. M. van Wijlick)
- Genesis, Rise, Heydays, Decline, and Collapse (Sven Günther)
- Tradition and Visualization of Roman Imperial Power and Imperium (Marco Vitale)
- Imperial Biographies: Emperors, Commanders, and Co. (Sven Günther)
- Structure of the State, Modes of Government, Administration (Christer Bruun)
- Society and Social Integration, Elites and their Functions (Andreas Klingenberg)
- Army and War (Paul Erdkamp)
- Strategies of Integration against Threats of Disintegration, from a Military Perspective (Kee-Hyun Ban)
- Center and Periphery of Empire: Imperial Policy (François Gauthier)
- Ideology and Strategies of Communication and Legitimation (Elisabeth Günther)
- Religion of the Roman Empire (Wolfgang Spickermann)
- Monotheism(s) and Roman Empire (Gian Franco Chiai)
- Economy and Economic Strategies in the Roman Empire (Patrick Reinard)
- Law (Constantin Willems)
- Crisis Management in the Roman Imperial Age (Philipp Deeg)
- Enacting Empire: Ancient Roman Rituals in Fascist Multimedia (Genevieve Gessert)
- The Roman Empire & Empire Studies: Few & Short Conclusions (Sven Günther)
Notes
[1] For a recent status quaestionis see the contributions collected in the forthcoming (December 2025) edited volume by Giorgia Proietti and Jeremy McInerney on Memory, Space, and Mindscape in Ancient Greece (Leiden: Brill).
[2] See his recent monograph: Rome and the Near Eastern kingdoms and principalities, 44-31 BC: a study of political relations during civil war (Leiden: Brill, 2021).
[3] Cf. the contribution by Jake Nabel, The Arsacids of Rome: misunderstanding in Roman-Parthian relations (Oakland (CA): University of California Press, 2025), addressing the same scholarly needs from the standpoint of political science and cultural history.
[4] Emblematic in this respect are the introductory and concluding chapter of Bleda Düring and Tesse Stek’s edited volume The Archeology of Imperial Landscapes. A Comparative Study of Empires in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean World (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018).
[5] Compare the methodological remarks by Wouter F. M. Henkelman, ‘Daurises’ Last Years: Administrative Profile and Narrative Historiography’, In Achaemenid Studies Today”. Proceedings of the Mid-Term Conference of the Societas Iranologica Europaea held in Naples, 2017, December 11-13, edited by G. P. Basello, P. Callieri, and A. V. Rossi. Naples: “L’Orientale” University Press, 161-188 on the different history that can be written based on literary and epigraphic sources on the example of Achaemenid history (Herodotus viz. the Persepolis Tablets).
[6] As recently attempted for the Īrānian world (Ēlāmites to Sāsānids) by John Hyland and Khodadad Rezakhani in their Brill’s Companion to War in the Ancient Iranian Empires (Leiden: Brill, 2024).
[7] This chapter should be read in dialogue with the pertinent essays in the monumental Handbuch Antike Wirtschaft (De Gruyter, 2023) edited by Sitta von Reden and Kai Ruffing.
[8] Compare the majestic, three volumes Handbuch des Römischen Privatrechts (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023) edited by Ulrike Babusiaux, Christian Baldus, Wolfgang Ernst, Franz-Stefan Meissel, Johannes Platschek und Thomas Rüfner.
[9] Kyle Harper has pursued this research topic rather intensively in recent years: see, e.g., his 2017 monograph The Fate of Rome (Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press), followed by Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History (Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press, 2021) as well as his recent article, co-authored with Frantz Grenet on whether ‘Was the Hephthalite Empire in Central Asia the Cradle of the Justinianic Plague?’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History 56/1 (2025), 1-42.