by Mary Beard
Chapter 12
Pliny’s exchanges with Trajan in Letters Book 10 provide a linking theme in this chapter. The letters are usefully collected by Wynne Williams in Pliny, Correspondence with Trajan from Bithynia (Epistles X) (Aris and Phillips, 1990) and the underlying ideology discussed by Greg Woolf, ‘Pliny’s province’, in Rome and the Black Sea Region: Domination, Romanisation, Resistance, edited by Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen (Aarhus UP, 2006), and Carlos F. Norena, ‘The social economy of Pliny’s correspondence with Trajan’, American Journal of Philology 128 (2007). They also touch on one of the most controversial topics in all of ancient history: the rise of Christianity. A particularly illuminating short account of this is in Kelly, The Roman Empire (see General); the early sections of Diarmaid MacCullough, A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (Penguin, 2010) are also a sensible starting place. A Companion to the Roman Empire, edited by David S. Potter (Blackwell, 2006), includes several useful essays on the principles, practice and administration of the empire. The essays of Fergus Millar collected in Government, Society, and Culture in the Roman Empire (see Chapter 11) are some of the most important contributions to the subject (including discussion of Pliny and Trajan). Levick, The Government of the Roman Empire (see Chapter 11) offers a vivid glimpse of the rich primary evidence. Martin Goodman’s chapter in Garnsey and Saller, The Roman Empire (see General) considers various forms and locations of resistance to Rome. Greek literature under Rome is the theme of Tim Whitmarsh, Greek Literature and the Roman Empire: The Politics of Imitation (Oxford UP, 2002), likewise Being Greek under Rome: Cultural Identity, the Second Sophistic and the Development of Empire, edited by Simon Goldhill (Cambridge UP, 2001). The title of this chapter is borrowed from Beard, North and Price, Religions of Rome, volume 2 (see General); I have also stressed the idea of becoming Roman, using the title of Greg Woolf’s important study of imperial cultural interactions, Becoming Roman: The Origins of Roman Provincial Civilization in Gaul (Cambridge UP, 1998).
Lucian’s skit on the oracle is titled On the False Prophet, and on Syrian religion On the Syrian Goddess. S. von Schnurbein, ‘Augustus in Germania and his new “town” at Waldgirmes east of the Rhine’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 16 (2003), presents the half-finished town. Strabo’s assessment of the potential of Britain is at Geography 4, 5. The puzzle of Hadrian’s Wall is explored in David J. Breeze and Brian Dobson, Hadrian’s Wall (Penguin, 2000). The quality of provincial government is scrutinised by P. A. Brunt, ‘Charges of provincial maladministration under the early principate’, in Roman Imperial Themes (see Chapter 10); Tiberius’ view is quoted by Cassius Dio, Roman History 57, 10. Stephen Mitchell discusses ‘Requisitioned transport in the Roman Empire’ in the Journal of Roman Studies 66 (1976). The disreputable reasons for Otho’s appointment are alleged by Suetonius, Otho 3. A ‘world full of gods’ is Keith Hopkins’s phrase in his engagingly quirky study of Roman religions, A World Full of Gods: Pagans, Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1999). The infrastructure at Vindolanda is vividly described by Alan K. Bowman, Life and Letters on the Roman Frontier: Vindolanda and Its People (British Museum Press, 1998); the documents are online at http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/. The shoes are discussed by Caroline Van Driel-Murray, ‘Gender in question’, in Theoretical Roman Archaeology: Second Conference Proceedings, edited by P. Rush (Avebury, 1995), which raises the possibility that some might have belonged to adolescent men. A report on the Wroxeter swimming pool is included in G. Webster and P. Woodfield, ‘The old work’, Antiquaries Journal 46 (1966). Martin Millett’s Romanization of Britain: An Essay in Archaeological Interpretation (Cambridge UP, 1990) has been hugely influential in countering old ideas of a top-down approach to ‘Romanisation’; David Mattingly, An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire (Penguin, 2006) is a thorough modern overview. The ‘bilinguals’ of La Graufesenque are discussed in J. N. Adams, Bilingualism and the Latin Language (Cambridge UP, 2003), though Alex Mullen offers alternative views in ‘The language of the potteries’, in Seeing Red, edited by Michael Fulford and Emma Durham (Institute of Classical Studies, 2013). Horace’s slogan is in his Epistles 2, 1; the adjustments for ‘Roman’ display at a ‘Greek’ stadium are described by K. Welch, ‘The stadium at Aphrodisias’, American Journal of Archaeology 102 (1998). The Pantheon: From Antiquity to the Present, edited by Tod A. Marder and Mark Wilson Jones (Cambridge UP, 2015), is an up-to-date study of the temple; the source of the grey granite at Mons Claudianus and associated documents are reviewed in Roger S. Bagnall and Dominic W. Rathbone, Egypt from Alexander to the Copts (British Museum Press, 2004); and the letter on the 50-foot column is discussed by Theodore J. Peña, ‘Evidence for the supplying of stone transport operations’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 2 (1989). The ship from India is the subject of Dominic Rathbone, ‘The Muziris papyrus’, in ‘Alexandrian Studies II in Honour of Mostafa el Abbadi,’ special issue, Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie d’Alexandrie 46 (2000); Zeuxis features in Peter Thonemann, The Maeander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity to Byzantium (Cambridge UP, 2011); and the trade behind Monte Testaccio is the theme of D. J. Mattingly, ‘Oil for export?’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 1 (1988). Roman Diasporas: Archaeological Approaches to Mobility and Diversity in the Roman Empire, edited by Hella Eckhardt (Journal of Roman Archaeology supplement 78, 2011), considers how mobility can be measured; Barates and ‘Queenie’ are discussed by Alex Mullen, ‘Multiple languages, multiple identities’, in Multilingualism in the Graeco-Roman Worlds, edited by Mullen and Patrick James (Cambridge UP, 2012). The best discussion of the numbers of early Christians is Keith Hopkins, ‘Christian number’, Journal of Early Christian Studies 6 (1998); Perpetua’s martyrdom is minutely analysed by Thomas J. Heffernan, The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity (Oxford UP, 2012). Septimius’ treatment of his sister is described at Augustan History (SHA), Septimius Severus 15; Zoilos is discussed in detail in R. R. R. Smith, The Monument of C. Julius Zoilos (von Zabern, 1993).
Epilogue
The number of citizens created by Caracalla is carefully calculated by Myles Lavan, ‘The spread of Roman citizenship’, Past and Present 229 (2016) (I am grateful for the preview). An important appraisal of the Arch of Constantine is Jas Elsner, ‘From the culture of spolia to the cult of relics’, Papers of the British School at Rome 68 (2000). The misunderstanding of ‘senate’ is in Parastaseis, translated by Averil Cameron and Judith Herrin (Brill, 1984), Chapter 43.
TIMELINE
Entries in [square brackets] refer to events in classical Greek history.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has been fun and poignant in the making. It was the brainchild of my friend and editor, the much-missed Peter Carson, who sadly died before seeing a word of it. I can only hope that he would not be disappointed in the result.
SPQR is the work of about fifty years, and there are more people to thank than can be recognised here. I have recently called for help from friends and colleagues in Cambridge and elsewhere: Cliff Ando, Emma Dench, Chris Hallett, William Harris, Geoff Hawthorn, Myles Lavan, Matthew Leigh, Angus Mackinnon, Neville Morley, John North, Robin Osborne, Jonathan Prag, Joyce Reynolds, James Romm, Brian Rose, Malcolm Schofield, Ruth Scurr, Bert Smith, Peter Thonemann, Jerry Toner and Carrie Vout. Other friends, including Manolo Blahnik, Corrie Corfield, Gary Ingham and Sean Spence, Roger Michel and our holiday companions in July 2015 (Frank Darbell and Jay Weissberg, Celina Fox, Fionnuala and Simon Jervis, Anna Somers-Cocks, Jonathan and Teresa Sumption) have cheered me up in different ways. The commenters on my blog (A Don’s Life) have as usual been forthright with constructive criticism as the book progressed. Hannah Price gave expert advice on the bibliography in the final stages; Debbie Whittaker’s organising genius was indispensable all along, as was her eagle eye in spotting errors of typing, fact and logic.
Many institutions have done more than I could ever have hoped to push this project forward: the Classics Faculty in Cambridge (and its
library) has always supported me; Newnham College has tolerated my single-mindedness; the American Academy in Rome generously hosted me for a few weeks’ solid work (my thanks, especially, to Kim Bowes); the Times Literary Supplement has put up with my absences. Steve Kimberley saved the data on my laptop at a crucial moment. I have seen, and learned, a lot by working with the rigorous academic professionals at Lion Television for a series that is related to, though not based on, this book. My thanks go in particular to Richard Bradley, Johnny Crockett, Ben Finney, Craig Hastings, Tim Hodge, Chris Mitchell, Marco Rossi and Caterina Turroni. With them I have had the pleasure of exploring parts of the Roman Empire I would never have dreamt of experiencing firsthand. They have opened my eyes.
My publishers have been, as ever, good to work with – and tolerant of my slowness to deliver. Thanks in the UK must go to Penny Daniel, Frances Ford, Andrew Franklin, Valentina Zanca and all the others at Profile and elsewhere who make these books possible; and that includes Emily Hayward-Whitlock on the media side, Juliana Froggatt, who copy-edited with skill and humour, and Lesley Hodgson who tracked down the pictures. Thanks too to Jonathan Harley and James Alexander for meticulous typesetting and page design. In the US, Bob Weil at Liveright was an editor in the grand old tradition. I am more grateful to him than I can say, and to Peter Miller and Will Menaker. George Lucas at Inkwell has looked after me splendidly in New York.
My family have been incredibly tolerant throughout the writing of SPQR: Robin Cormack, Zoe and Raphael. Love and thanks go to them, with the hope of calmer waters – and more time off – to come. And thanks go especially to Peter Stothard, who has read and advised, fed and watered me, throughout the process of gestation and writing. If this book were dedicated to anyone, it would be to him. From one Peter to another, thank you both.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Endpapers Scene from laundry (VI, 8, 20) at Pompeii, first century CE
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. Photo Dea/G. Nimatallah
Colour plates
1 ‘Cicero Denounces Catiline’ (1889) by Cesare Maccari, Palazzo Madama, Rome. Photo © akg-images/Album/Oronoz
2 ‘Cicero Denounces Catiline’, (c. 1850) by John Leech, from Gilbert Abbott A Beckett, The Comic History of Rome (Bradbury and Evans, 1852). Photo © Posner Library/Carnegie Mellon
3 Top: ‘Rape of the Sabines’, by N. Poussin (1637–8), Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo © akg-images/Erich Lessing. Bottom: ‘Rape of the Sabines’, by P. Picasso (1962), Centre Pompidou. Photo © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2015/Courtesy akg-images
4 ‘Tarquin and Lucretia’, by Titian (1571), Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Photo © Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library/Alamy
5 ‘Ficoroni Cista’, fourth century BCE, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Rome. Photo (top) © akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./G. Nimatallah; (bottom) © akg-images/Nimatallah
6 Tomb painting, third century BCE, from Esquiline hill, Centrale Montemartini, Rome. Photo © The Art Archive/Alamy
7 Scenes from François Tomb, Vulci, fourth century BCE, Torlonia Collection, Rome. Photo courtesy of Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Etruria meridionale
8 The raising of a ship’s ram from the First Punic War, off Sicily. Photo © RPM Nautical Foundation
9 Final panel from the series of ‘The Triumphs of Caesar’ (1484–92) by Andrea Mantegna, Hampton Court Palace, London. Photo Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2015/Bridgeman Images
10 Section of the Column of Marcus Aurelius, Rome. Photo © Realy Easy Star/Tullio Valente/Alamy
11 Wooden panel showing Septimius Severus and family, c. 200 CE, Staatliche Museum, Berlin. Photo © Neues Museum, Berlin
12 Portrait of Livia, first century BCE, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo © Interfoto/Alamy
13 Bronze fitting from Gaius’ ships of Nemi, 37–41 CE, Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo all Terme. Photo © akg-images/Mondadori Portfolio/Sergio Anelli
14 Painting of dining from house (V, 2, 4) at Pompeii, first century CE, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. Photo © akg-images/Erich Lessing
15 ‘Solon of Athens’ from the ‘Bar of the Seven Sages’ Ostia, c. 100 CE. Photo © The Art Archive/Alamy
16 Roman slave collar,? fourth century CE, Museo Nazionale Romano, Terme di Diocleziano. Photo © Photo Scala, Florence, reproduced courtesy of Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali
17 Gold bracelet inscribed from a master to a slave girl, first century CE, from Moregine near Pompeii. After A. Ambrosio et al., Storie da un’eruzione (Exhibition Catalogue, Naples 2003, Electa) p. 470
18 Scenes from laundry (VI, 8, 20) at Pompeii, first century CE Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples. Photos © akg-images/Nimatallah and Museo Archeologico Nazionale Naples
19 Gem, with Octavian/Augustus as Neptune, late first century BCE, said to have been found in Tunisia, now Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA/Anne and Blake Ireland Gallery (Gallery 210A)/Bridgeman Images
20 The ‘Great Cameo of France’, first century, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Photo © akg-images/Album/Joseph Martin
21 Section of ‘Peutinger Table’, thirteenth century CE, probably based on Roman model, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna. Photo © akg-images
Illustrations
1 The Tabularium, Rome. Photo copyright © Rome4all
2 SPQR manhole cover (© rgbdave/Stockimo/Alamy) and street rubbish bin (author’s photograph)
3 Detail from ‘Cicero Denounces Catiline’ (1889) by Cesare Maccari, Palazzo Madama, Rome. Photo © akg-images/Album/Oronoz
4 Roman silver coin 63 BCE, showing voting: (Left © The Trustees of the British Museum; Right © Goldberg Coins & Collectibles Inc.
5 Roman tombstone showing the striking of coins, fourth century CE, Museo Archeologico Nazionale d’Abruzzo, Chieti. Reproduced courtesy of Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali/Alinari Archives, Florence
6 Hungarian protesters, 2012. Photo © Peter Kohalmi/AFP/Getty Images
7 Sculpture of wolf and twins, Musei Capitolini, Rome. Photo © Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy/Bridgeman Images
8 Roman silver coin, 89 BCE, showing King Titus Tatius, and the abduction of two Sabine women. Photo © The Trustees of the British Museum
9 Mosaic showing Romulus and Remus with the wolf, Aldeborough. Photo © Leeds Museums and Art Galleries (City Museum) UK/Bridgeman Images
10 The Bolsena mirror, Museo Nazionale Romano. After Roma, Romolo, Remo (exhibition catalogue Rome, 2000), p. 233
11 Mosaic showing Dido and Aeneas embracing, from Low Ham Roman villa. Photo © Somerset County Museum, Taunton Castle, UK/Bridgeman Images
12 Cremation urn from Etruria, Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Rome. Photo © Photo Scala, Florence – courtesy of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali
13 Reconstruction of remains under the black stone in the Roman Forum. After C. Hülsen, The Roman Forum (Loescher, 1906)
14 Inscribed cippus from Roman Forum. Photo © DEA/A. Dagli Orti/De Agostini/Getty Images
15 ‘The Oath of the Horatii’ (1784) by Jacques-Louis David, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo © akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./G. Dagli Orti
16 Early inscription from Satricum. Photo courtesy of Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma
17 Head of a statue of a Vestal Virgin from Roman Forum. Photo © Lanmas/Alamy
18 The earliest surviving Roman calendar, first century BCE, from Antium, now Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme. After A. Degrassi, Inscriptiones Italiae XIII. 2 (Libreria dello Stato, 1963), pp. 8–9
19 The Roman census from ‘Domitius Ahenobarbus base’, late second century BCE, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo © akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./G. Dagli Orti