Beyond “Populares” and “Optimates”
Political Language in the Late Republic
By (author) M. A. Robb
Hardback (Published)
(July 2010)
ISBN: 9783515096430
6.69 x 9.49 inches
Price: $96.00
In stock
Modern interpretations of the late Roman Republic have been dominated by the twin concepts of ‘populares’ and ‘optimates’, commonly assumed to refer to two antithetical political categories. However, the definition of these groups is much debated: some historians see them as ideological movements or traditions, others as differences of political style and method. This book asks whether this debate may in fact be chasing a mirage. Through a detailed analysis of the usage of the two terms in Cicero and his close contemporaries, it is argued that they carried no clear political meaning. What emerges instead is a political language focused on the elite’s fundamental concerns about internal divisions and the maintenance of aristocratic consensus.
Modern interpretations of the late Roman Republic have been dominated by the twin concepts of ‘populares’ and ‘optimates’, commonly assumed to refer to two antithetical political categories. However, the definition of these groups is much debated: some historians see them as ideological movements or traditions, others as differences of political style and method. This book asks whether this debate may in fact be chasing a mirage. Through a detailed analysis of the usage of the two terms in Cicero and his close contemporaries, it is argued that they carried no clear political meaning. What emerges instead is a political language focused on the elite’s fundamental concerns about internal divisions and the maintenance of aristocratic consensus.
- By (author) M. A. Robb
Other Titles in this Series
Prime forme della storiografia greca
Prospettiva locale e generale nella narrazione storica
Volume 152
Seleukid Royal Women
Creation, Representation and Distortion of Hellenistic Queenship in the Seleukid Empire
Freiheit, Herrschaft, Widerstand
Griechische Erinnerungskultur in der Hohen Kaiserzeit (1.–3. Jahrhundert n. Chr.)
Politische Ordnungskonzeptionen in der attischen Demokratie des vierten Jahrhunderts v. Chr.
Eine vergleichende Untersuchung zum philosophischen und rhetorischen Diskurs
Leges Draconis et Solonis (LegDrSol)
Eine neue Edition der Gesetze Drakons und Solons mit Übersetzung und historischer Einordnung
La corruption à la fin de la République romaine (IIe–Ier s. av. J.-C.)
Aspects politiques et financiers
Sklave der Stadt
Untersuchungen zur offentlichen Sklaverei in den Stadten des Romischen Reiches
Volume 173
The High Command in the Roman Republic
The Principle of the summum imperium auspiciumque from 509 to 19 BCE
Mos maiorum
Untersuchungen zu den Formen der Identitätstiftung und Stabilisierung in der römischen Republik
Das Imperium in Wort und Bild
Römische Darstellungsformen beherrschter Gebiete in Inschriftenmonumenten, Münzprägungen und Literatur
Bauinschriften römischer Kaiser
Untersuchungen zu Inschriftenpraxis und Bautätigkeit in Städten des westlichen Imperium Romanum in der Zeit des Prinzipats
Eid und Außenpolitik
Studien zur religiösen Fundierung der Akzeptanz zwischenstaatlicher Vereinbarungen im vorrömischen Griechenland
Der römische Kaiser und das Land am Nil
Kaiserverehrung und Kaiserkult in Alexandria und Ägypten von Augustus bis Caracalla (30 v. Chr. - 217 n. Chr.)
The Letter of Speusippus to Philip II
Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary. With an Appendix on the Thirty-first Socratic Letter Attributed to Plato
Similar Books
Contesting Labeled Identities
The Sociology of Gentilics in Biblical and Northwest Semitic Literature
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Epigraphic “Shades” from Hellenistic Thrace
Contextualizing Inscriptions in Greek from Thracian Tombs
Epiphanies of the Divine in the Septuagint and the New Testament
Fifth International Symposium of the Corpus Judaeo-Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti (CJHNT), 14-17 May 2015, Nottingham
Gold, Silver and Glass: Power Networks, Cultural Identities, Technology Transfers and Agency across the Old World (7th Century BC – 1st Century AD)
Proceedings of a Conference Held at the British Museum, 16–18 June 2023
Language and Power in the Roman Empire and Early India
Hierarchy, Ambiguity, and the Art of Reading the Signs in Cosmopolitan Cultures
Late Antique villae in the Balkans (3rd–7th c. AD): Current Research Questions and Perspectives
HAEMUS Companion to the Late Antique Balkans 1
Volume 4
Nurturing the Elite
Representations of Drinking, Eating, and Religious Vessels in Palmyrene Funerary Iconography
Volume 13
Roman Copies, Collecting, and Culture in the Bay of Naples and Beyond
Papers in Honor of Eugene J. Dwyer
The Compositional History of the Book of Kings
An Analysis of the Evaluative Frameworks in 1 Kings 14–2 Kings 25
Zooarchaeology of Ancient Greek Sanctuaries in Southwestern Sicily
Faunal Analysis from Selinus and Akragas as Evidence of Differences in the Treatment of Animals for Ritual Purposes
