A Culture of Civil War?

bellum civile and Political Communication in Late Republican Rome

edited by Henning Borm, Ulrich Gotter and Wolfgang Havener

Book cover: A Culture of Civil War?

Extent: 370 pages

Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag

Subjects: Classical Studies, Social Sciences 

Series: Heidelberger Althistorische Beitrage und epigraphische Studien

Series volume number: 65

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(June 2023)

ISBN: 9783515134019

6.65 x 9.45 inches

Price: $88.00

In stock

The civil wars of the first century BCE disrupted Roman society, which in turn was a major cause of the destabilisation of the political system. While this has of course long been recognised, the cultural dimension of the disintegration of the res publica demands equal attention. The present volume aims for an analysis of the more implicit, yet fundamental effects which the increasingly militarised conflict had on Roman society, starting with the assumption that the radical dynamics and intrinsic brutality constituted a completely new experience for contemporaries. To solve this problem, Romans of the late Republican period devised multiple strategies for coping with the phenomenon of civil war. While some turned to narrative patterns deployed by the Greeks who had been accustomed to civil conflict for centuries, the bella civilia also influenced many other aspects of cultural life. The latent fear of permanent civil strife thus became a source of innovation on multiple levels which (re-)shaped Roman collective imaginary. The resulting structures and developments constituted a highly elaborate and comprehensive “culture of civil war”.

  • Edited by Henning Börm
  • Edited by Ulrich Gotter
  • Edited by Wolfgang Havener