Tradition and Power in the Roman Empire

Dr. Sven Betjes is lecturer and researcher of Ancient History at Radboud University Nijmegen. He has published articles on ideological expressions of Roman emperors, and takes a particular interest in numismatics and ancient roads. Prof.dr. Olivier Hekster is Professor of Ancient History at Radboud University Nijmegen and chair of the Impact of Empire network. He has published widely on the role of ideology in ancient Rome, with a particular focus on Roman emperorship. Dr. Erika Manders is Assistant Professor of Ancient History at Radboud University Nijmegen. She has published a monograph and articles on political culture and religion in the Roman Empire, with particular interest in coins and religious policies of Roman emperors. Contributors are: Stéphane Benoist, Sven Betjes, Lukas De Blois, Francesco Bono, Christer Bruun, Livia Capponi, Margherita Carucci, Juan Manuel Cortés Copete, Elsemieke Daalder, Sergio España-Chamorro, Amber Gartrell, Florian Groll, Nikolas Hächler, Johannes Hahn, Fernando Lozano, Erika Manders, Giorgos Mitropoulos, Elena Muñiz Grijalvo, Toni Ñaco del Hoyo, Elena Torregaray Pagola.

List of Figures and Maps



Notes on Contributors



Introduction

 Sven Betjes and Erika Manders



Part 1: Tradition in the Formation of the Augustan Empire

1 A Divine Right to Rule? The Gods as Legitimators of Power

 Amber Gartrell



2 Closing a Highway to Heaven

Discontinuities in the Divinisation of Human Beings in Roman Times

 Fernando Lozano and Elena Muñiz Grijalvo



3 Women’s Mediation and Peace Diplomacy

Augustan Women through the Looking Glass

 Elena Torregaray Pagola and Toni Ñaco Del Hoyo



4 Republican Traditions, Imperial Innovations

The Representation of the Military Prowess of Augustus’ Family

 Florian Groll



5 Augustus and Traditional Structures in Egypt

Grand Policies or Ad Hoc Measures?

 Livia Capponi



6 Between Tradition and Innovation

Place Names and the Geography of Power in Late Republican and Early Imperial Hispania

 Sergio España-Chamorro



7 Paving the Route of Hercules

The Via Augusta and the Via Iulia Augusta and the Appropriation of Road-Bound Traditions in the Augustan Age

 Sven Betjes



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

8 Municipal Elections in the Roman West during the Principate

The Strength of Tradition

 Christer Bruun



9 Plotina and the (Re)Invention of the Tradition of Womanhood

 Margherita Carucci



10 Hadrian: Imperator Nomothetes – Ancient Laws for the Empire

 Juan Manuel Cortés-Copete



11 Between Tradition and Change

The Imitatio Principis in the Imperial East

 Giorgios Mitropoulos



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

12 Tradition and Innovation in the Rescript Practice of the Emperor Caracalla

 Elsemieke Daalder



13 The Emperor Gallienus and the Senators

Tradition, Change, and Perception

 Lukas de Blois



14 The Role of Tradition for the Negotiation and Legitimization of Imperial Rule in the Gallic and Palmyrene Empires

 Nikolas Hächler



15 Stylites on Pillars versus Sanctuaries on Summits

The Conquest of Traditional Cult Sites by Christian Ascetics in Northern Syria

 Johannes Hahn



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

16 Mos maiorum and res novae

How Roman Politics Have Conceived Tradition, Transformation, and Innovation, from the Second Century BCE to the Fourth Century CE

 Stéphane Benoist



17 Justinian, the Senate and the Consuls

A Rhetorical Memory of the Old Constitution

 Francesco Bono



Index