This volume pursues the ambitious goal of representing the complexity of Roman elite identity in a diatopic and diachronic range of variations. Varga rightly points out in the preface that ‘the main objective [of this book] is to create as complex an image as possible of the provincial leaderships and their positions when faced with official state structures’ (p. xvii).
In order to best represent the manifold variations in time and space this volume encompasses, the contributors, most of whom are early career scholars, adopt diverse approaches. In the words of Varga, the book represents ‘a journey through the Roman Empire in time, space and perspective’ (p. xvii), with papers ranging from the second century bc to the fifth century ad and focusing on regions as diverse as Epirus and Britain, Palmyra and Iberia.
The first group of papers deals with the impact of Roman power on local communities in the late Republic and the early Imperial period. The first contribution, ‘Local Elites in West Roman Greece’, challenges the Polybian statement that Perseus’ defeat in 168 bc and the consequent end to Epirote independence caused a rapid depopulation of the area and the end of local institutions (Polyb. Hist. 30.15). With the aid of archaeological and epigraphic evidence, the authors O. Palli, G. Riginos and V. Lamprou argue for the survival of local elites who, together with new Roman settlers, adopted a Roman lifestyle exemplified by the use of Latin and the adoption of the Roman villa. At the same time, they maintained the use of the Greek language in private contexts, therefore creating a unique Graeco-Roman identity.
In ‘Collective mentality and πραότης’ F. Zaccaro uses the semantic shift of πραότης in time to showcase the change in the Roman Empire's collective mentality. In a manner somewhat reminiscent of D. Konstan's Pity Transformed (2001, esp. pp. 75–105), Zaccaro compares the value attributed to the word in oratorical texts dating back to the fourth century bc, where πραότης has a neutral and sometimes even negative value, to the Plutarchean texts, where it is considered a ‘virtue, a requisite for the administrator’ (p. 25).
In ‘Roman state structures and the provincial elite in Republican Iberia’, by B. Lowe, epigraphic evidence, mostly derived from bronze inscriptions, is used to substantiate E. Badian's famous statement that ‘the basis of Roman control over provinces was, in an important sense, not political, but personal’ (Foreign Clientelae [1958], p. 262). Although patronage is explicitly mentioned only in the late Republic and in the early Imperial period, Lowe's take, well supported by the sources, is that Roman magistrates established clientela-based relationships from the second century bc.
Routes and road-building are the main heuristic tools adopted by H. Cornwell in ‘Routes of resistance to integration’, in which she explores the relationship between Roman power and the communities living in the Western Alps. Drawing highly pertinent parallels to contemporary resistance to integration in the same regions (the Italian NO TAV movement), Cornwell shows that road-building through the Alpine region is a sign of acceptance on the part of local kings of their integration within the Roman Empire. On the other hand, the monumentalisation of these roads through arches such as the one at Segusio gave these kings the opportunity to advertise the continuity of local dynastic power.
L. Langerwerf's ‘The futility of revolt’ explores Pausanias’ historiographical narrative of the fall of the Achaean League and the rise of the Naupactians against the Spartans in the seventh and fourth books of his Periegesis. Langerwerf aptly argues that Pausanias, while concerned with the loss of Greek autonomy, established a causal connection between this loss and the lack of unity of the Greek world. Rather than being lamented, Roman victory thus is the necessary outcome, as the Greeks ‘had forgotten how to be free’ (Periegesis 7.17.4).
The second group of papers presents a manifold vision of the identities cohabiting within the boundaries of the Roman Empire in the course of the second and third centuries ad. In ‘Palmyrene elites’ S. Magnani and P. Mior deal with the specific realities of Palmyra in the Antonine period. Relying on archaeological and epigraphic evidence from necropoleis, public and religious buildings, the authors argue that Hadrian's reign – and his visits to Palmyra – represented an important turning point in the process of cultural integration of Palmyrene society within the Roman Empire. The Palmyrene elites adopted the nomenclature of Greek offices and often utilised Graeco-Roman cultural and artistic models, like cults of Greek deities and the erection of temples in Vitruvian style. At the same time, the scant presence, soldiers aside, of Roman citizens before ad 212 and the continued use of the Palmyrene dialect in official documents alongside Greek and (rarely) Latin hint at the maintenance of a strong self-identity by the Palmyrene elites.
Building upon the integration of epigraphic data with the evidence derived from artefacts and architecture, Varga and Rusu-Bolindeț analyse the tropes of the self-representation of Roman power in Dacia. In ‘Provincial landmarks of the official power’ the authors argue that the praetorium consulare in Apulum was quite an impressive centre of power, where imperial and local power were displayed side by side. The inscriptions point to a clear dichotomy in the onomastics, mainly Latin for votive inscriptions offered by higher officials and Thracian for funerary inscriptions of lower-rank soldiers. Archaeological excavations of the area have evidenced a great quantity of office and cultural buildings surrounding the private residence of the consular governor, once again highlighting that in this site Roman and local power coexisted alongside each other, but maintained their distinct identities.
The third group of papers focuses on the changes in the relationship between Roman official power and local elites introduced during Late Antiquity. In ‘Power at the periphery’ R. Collins tackles the transformation in the self-representation of Roman military power in fourth-century ad Britain. Over the course of the century, the praetoria lost their resemblance to the Mediterranean style four-wing courtyard house, once a symbol of the opulence derived from service to Rome throughout the Empire, while high-status household activities and storage facilities lost space to officinae. Together with the near-disappearance of the epigraphic habit on the part of praepositi, these changes seem to hint at a decline in the status and position of the commanding officers. Collins, however, offers here a different, yet complementary, explanation. The loss of space for storage facilities and household space could be connected to an increasing regionalisation, leading to greater independence and self-sufficiency of the praetoria.
The apparent disappearance of the equestrian elite over the course of the fourth century ad is the focus of ‘Administering the Empire’ by M. Bodnaruk. Through the aid of honorary inscriptions, Bodnaruk refutes A. Chastagnol's assumption that the Constantinian restructuring of the imperial aristocracy in ad 326 translated into the disappearance of the ordo equester (MEFRM 100, 199). On the basis of prosopography, Bodnaruk argues that equestrian positions, far from disappearing, were typically included in the imperial careers of the members of the senatorial order.
Finally, in ‘Kinship, conflict and unity among Roman elites in post-Roman Gaul’, L. Dodd addresses the ways in which Roman provincial elites strove to preserve their social, political and economic status during the fifth century ad, especially after ad 476. Even after the end of the Western Roman Empire as a political power, Roman identity relied on kinship to survive. As the careers of the bishops Caesarius and Avitus exemplify, this ‘new’ Roman identity was based on the identity between civitas and family and on the exclusion of everybody else. Roman identity, once derived from the interaction between local identities and Roman official power, now provides the means for the creation of a parochial and hyper-local power.
The value of this volume certainly resides in the multiplicity of voices, topics and approaches it includes. The timespan encompassed by the rich and well-argued contributions shows that the communis patria represented by the Roman Empire went well beyond its political survival. At the same time, while the charged concept of Roman identity is widely applied throughout the contributions, no general, though necessarily partial, definition of it is offered at any point. Moreover, in spite of the wide variety of approaches adopted in this volume, the study of coinage, defined by F. Millar as the ‘the most deliberate of all symbols of public identity’ (The Roman Near East 31 bc–ad 337 [1993], p. 230), is notably absent. Notwithstanding these minor criticisms, this volume is a welcome addition to the field of the study of Roman provincial elites.
