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The History of the Roman Empire 1911–1960

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Extract

Within the past five decades a great volume of work has advanced our knowledge of the Roman Empire. No single essay can hope to describe this mass in detail or even to consider fully the many cross-currents of opinion. If there is a common tide in recent scholarship, it flows less clearly than did the course of investigation in the nineteenth century. Here I shall try first to single out some of the main forces which have shaped the views of the present and past generations; then shall comment on developments in the utilization of evidence and on shifts in the areas of our principal concern; and finally shall suggest an assessment of the present position of research on the Roman Empire.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Chester G. Starr 1960. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 See also Fifty Years of Classical Scholarship, ed. Platnauer, Maurice (Oxford, 1954Google Scholar), and Guida allo studio della civiltà romana antica, ed. Ussani, Vincenzo, 2 vols. (Naples, 19521953Google Scholar); I have surveyed a number of aspects in the bibliographical essay of Civilization and the Caesars : The Intellectual Revolution in the Roman Empire (Ithaca, 1954)Google Scholar.

2 Moretti, Giuseppe, Ara Pacis Augustae, 2 vols. (Rome, 1948)Google Scholar. For this monument see above, pp. 44 ff.

3 ‘Römische Geschichte, in ganz grossen Linien richtig aufgefasst, ist und bleibt die beste Lehrmeisterin nicht nur für heute, sondern wohl für alle Zeiten’, Mein Kampf, p. 470 of 1939 ed.

4 Frank, Tenney, ‘Race Mixture in the Roman Empire’, American Historical Review, XXI (1916), 689708CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nilsson, M. P., Imperial Rome (New York, 1926)Google Scholar; to give one French example, Jullian, Camille, De la Gaule à la France (Paris, 1922)Google Scholar. The Nordic myths had less room for application in the ‘Mediterranean’ Roman Empire than in early Greece and Rome or in the Middle Ages.

5 For example, the studies on the meanings of such terms as libertas : Kloesel, Hans, Libertas (Diss. Breslau, 1935Google Scholar); Wirszubski, Ch., Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome during the Late Republic and Early Empire (Cambridge, 1950)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Another instance is the investigation of Augustus as a factional leader in von Premerstein, Anton, ‘Vom Werden und Wesen des Prinzipats’, Abhandl. der bayer. Akad. der Wissensch. n.f. xv (1937)Google Scholar.

6 Marx, Karl, Capital I (Chicago, 1909), 367Google Scholar; III, 937; etc.

7 The projected Soviet world history will consider the history of the ancient world largely in terms of the rise, development, and fall of the slave-holding formation’, Journal of World History II (1954), 490Google Scholar.

8 e.g., the opening remarks of Szilagyi, J., ‘Roman Garrisons stationed at the Northern Pannonian-Quad Frontier-Sectors of the Empire’, Acta archaeologica academiae scientiarum Hungaricae II (1953), 189220Google Scholar.

9 The observation of Syme, Ronald, JRS XXXIV (1944), 93Google Scholar, that ‘presumptions based upon the parliamentary theories and practices of the nineteenth century have long been dominant, and die hard, especially in the Anglo-Saxon countries’ could be extended widely.

10 For interpretation of Roman decline in social terms, see also Heitland, W. E., The Roman Fate (Cambridge, 1922)Google Scholar, and subsequent restatements.

11 Last, Hugh, JRS XVI (1926), 121Google Scholar, well distinguished between the enduring value of Soc. and Econ. Hist, of the R. Emp. on the factual level and the far more questionable merits of its conceptual scheme. In calling it ‘the most famous single study‘ of the past half-century, I do not imply it may be termed the most important; here I stand with Last. See also Last's obituary of Rostovtzeff, in JRS XLIII (1953), 133 fGoogle Scholar.

12 e.g., Bardon, Henry, Les empereurs et les lettres latines d'Auguste à Hadrien (Paris, 1940)Google Scholar.

13 Chilver, G. E. F., JRS XLI (1951), 154–55Google Scholar. Are there any true ‘middle classes’ in the Roman Empire, incidentally?

13a For Roman Britain, see below, pp. 173 ff.

14 Rome and China : A Study of Correlations in Historical Events (Berkeley, 1939)Google Scholar. See also Kornemann, Ernst, Weltgeschichte des Mittelmeerraumes von Philipp II von Makedonien bis Muhammed, 2 vols. (Munich, 19481949)Google Scholar, and the brief survey by Wheeler, R. E. M., Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers (London, 1954)Google Scholar.

15 Aymard, André and Auboyer, Jeannine, Rome et son empire (Paris, 1954)Google Scholar.

16 See, e.g., Collingwood, R. G., The Idea of History (Oxford, 1946), 159–64Google Scholar. The tendency of students, especially in the United States, to take Toynbee's views as a pole, with which they must accord or against which they must engage in polemic, is regrettable; Hegel's Philosophy of History has not yet lost its power to stimulate thought.

17 Such studies sometimes give the Roman Empire as little space as did Bury, J. B., History of the Freedom of Thought (London, 1913)Google Scholar; note the recent popular account by an American intellectual historian, Brinton, Crane, Ideas and Men : The Story of Western Thought (New York, 1953)Google Scholar.

18 Into this broad field I cannot enter here. The rise of Christianity is still sundered too widely from the general course of imperial history.

19 e.g., Cumont, Franz, Lux perpetua (Paris, 1949)Google Scholar; Festugière, A. J., La Révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste, 4 vols. (Paris, 19441954)Google Scholar; Nock, A. D., Conversion (London, 1933)Google Scholar. The present state of studies is canvassed by Turchi, Nicola, La religione di Roma antica (Bologna, 1939)Google Scholar. See below, pp. 161 ff.

20 The economic studies of the Empire can be surveyed in Rostovtzeff, Soc. and Econ. Hist, of the R. Emp., ed. 2, 1957, or Heichelheim, Fritz, Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Altertums (Leiden, 1938)Google Scholar, cc. VIII–IX. On the dangers involved in estimating precise economic or social statistics for the Empire, see the recent criticism of the many estimates on the population of Rome by Maier, F. G., ‘Römische Bevölkerungsgeschichte und Inschriftenstatistik’, Historia II (19531954), 318–51Google Scholar.

21 e.g., Forni, Giovanni, Il reclutamento delle legioni da Augusto a Diocleziano (Milan, 1953)Google Scholar; de Laet, S. J., Portorium (Bruges, 1949)Google Scholar; Pflaum, H. G., Les procurateurs équestres sous le haut-empire romain (Paris, 1950)Google Scholar.

22 Pflaum, H. G., Le marbre de Thorigny (Paris, 1948)Google Scholar; note also Durry, M., Éloge funèbre d'une matrone romaine (éloge dit de Turia) (Paris, 1950)Google Scholar.

23 Gagé, J., Res gestae divi Augusti (Paris, 1935)Google Scholar; de Visscher, F., Les édits d'Auguste découverts à Cyrène (Louvain, 1940)Google Scholar.

24 e.g., Der Gnomon des Idios Logos, ed. Seckel, Emil and Schubart, Wilhelm (Berlin, 1919)Google Scholar; Winter, J. G., Life and Letters in the Papyri (Ann Arbor, 1933)Google Scholar; Fink, R. O., Hoey, A. S., Snyder, W. F., ‘The Feriale Duranum’, Yale Classical Studies VII (1940)Google Scholar.

25 Aerial reconnaissance has brought impressive results, both in England and in other areas, when combined with ground research : e.g., Baradez, Jean, Fossatum Africae (Paris, 1949)Google Scholar; Poidebard, A., La trace de Rome dans le désert de Syrie (Paris, 1934)Google Scholar; and the early argument of Crawford, O. G. S., Air-Survey and Archaeology (Southampton, 1924)Google Scholar. An official Aerofototeca has just been established in Italy.

26 Though excavation and publication have necessarily become team projects, it is interesting to observe how important remain the vision and energy of a leader.

27 The continuing appearance of Fasti archaeologici (1946– ) is a welcome guide.

28 Rarely, moreover, do archaeologists criticize faulty techniques of their colleagues as frankly as has Sir Mortimer Wheeler recently, JRS XLVIII (1958), 211–12Google Scholar; as a result, the non-expert may be led astray.

29 e.g., Grant, Michael, From Imperium to Auctoritas (Cambridge, 1946)Google Scholar; Strack, P. L., Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, 3 vols. (Stuttgart, 19311937)Google Scholar; Sutherland, C. H. V., Coinage in Roman Imperial Policy, 31 B.C.—A.D. 68 (London, 1951)Google Scholar and JRS XLIX (1959), 46 ff.

30 One must mention, though with regret, the diatribe by the late Berenson, Bernard, The Arch of Constantine (London, 1954)Google Scholar; for it illustrates well how views on modern art may affect assessments of imperial artistic development.

31 See the bibliographies in Catalogo della Mostra augustea della romanità (Rome, 1939)Google Scholar; and Schober, Arnold, ‘Zur Entstehung und Bedeutung der provinzialrömischen Kunst’, Jahreshefte XXVI (1930), 952Google Scholar.

32 The diverse ways in which artistic monuments can be used for political, religious, or economic information are suggested by Hamberg, Per Gustav, Studies in Roman Imperial Art (Copenhagen, 1945)Google Scholar; Cumont, Franz, Recherches sur le symbolisme funéraire des Romains (Paris, 1942)Google Scholar [Neo-Pythagoreanism still awaits a full study based on all the evidence]; or Noll, Rudolf, Kunst der Römerzeit in Österreich (Salzburg, 1949)Google Scholar.

33 Platnauer, M., Fifty Years of Classical Scholarship (Oxford, 1954)Google Scholar; see also Herescu, Nicolae I., Bibliographie de la littérature latine (Paris, 1943)Google Scholar.

34 As by Lanfranchi, F., Il diritto nei retori romani (Milan, 1938)Google Scholar; Bonner, S. F., Roman Declamation in the Late Republic and Early Empire (Liverpool, 1949)Google Scholar.

35 Among recent studies, see Béranger, J., Recherches sur l'aspect idéologique du Principat (Basel, 1953)Google Scholar; Magdelain, André, Auctoritasprincipis (Paris, 1947)Google Scholar.

36 On the latter topic, see Alexander, William H., ‘Footnotes for a Literary Portrait of Augustus’, Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, ser. 3, XLIII (1949), 1334Google Scholar.

37 Note the complaint of Claudius that his orders with respect to the imperial post had been unable to withstand nequitiae hominum (ILS 214). It is to be hoped that the second edition of Prosopographia imperi Romani (1933–43) will be continued. See also Crook, John, Consilium Principis (Cambridge, 1955)Google Scholar.

38 For activity in Roman law, see Kaser, Max, Das römische Privatrecht I, in Handbuch der Wissenschaft (Munich, 1955)Google Scholar; or the bibliography in Berger, Adolf, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law (Philadelphia, 1953)Google Scholar. The most recent survey of the armed forces is y Peña, M. Marín, Instituciones militares romanas (Madrid, 1956)Google Scholar, with the bibliographies in the re-issues of Parker, H. M. D., The Roman Legions (Cambridge, 1958)Google Scholar and my Roman Imperial Navy (forthcoming). On the economic influence of the armies, see Gren, Erik, Kleinasien und der Ostbalken in der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung der römischen Kaiserzeit (Uppsala, 1941)Google Scholar.

39 Though Altheim, Franz, Die Soldatenkaiser (Frankfurt, 1939)Google Scholar, went much further than did Alföldi.

40 To give but one example, the mass of Libanius’ work has recently served as base for Harmand, Louis, Libanius, Discours sur les patronages (Paris, 1955)Google Scholar; Pack, Roger A., Studies in Libanius and Antiochene Society under Theodosius (Diss. U. of Michigan, 1934)Google Scholar; Petit, Paul, Libanius et la vie municipale à Antioche au IVe siècle après J.-C. (Paris, 1956)Google Scholar reviewed and discussed in JRS XLVII, 236 ff., and Les étudiants de Libanius (Paris, 1957)Google Scholar; and a number of essays.

41 On the other hand, Ernst Stein's virtually complete omission of the intellectual side in Geschichte des spätrömischen Reiches I, 284–476 n. Chr. (Vienna, 1928)Google Scholar left out basic factors.

42 Some explanations are noted by Baynes, Norman H., ‘The Decline of the Roman Power in Western Europe. Some Modern Explanations’, JRS XXXIII (1943), 2935Google Scholar; and by Rostovtzeff, , Soc. and Econ. Hist of the R. Emp. 1 (1957 ed.), 535 ffGoogle Scholar. See also especially Lot, Ferdinand, La fin du monde antique et le début du moyen age (Paris, 1927)Google Scholar; Cambridge Economic History of Europe I (Cambridge, 1942)Google Scholar; Latouche, Robert, Les grandes invasions et la crise d'Occident au Ve siècle (Paris, 1946)Google Scholar.

43 e.g., Otto, Walter, Kulturgeschichte des Altertums (Munich, 1925)Google Scholar; Toynbee, Jocelyn M. C., The Hadrianic School: A Chapter in the History of Greek Art (Cambridge, 1934)Google Scholar. But see Richter, G. M., JRS XLVIII (1958), 10 ffGoogle Scholar.

44 Dessau, Hermann, Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit I–II (Berlin, 19241930)Google Scholar, broke off in-complete, and was not rounded as far as it went; such recent studies as those by Luigi Pareti and the co-operative Storia di Roma are not yet finished and do not entirely meet the need.

45 Burck, Erich, in editing Richard Heinze's Vom Geist des Römertums (Leipzig, 1938)Google Scholar, observes that Heinze was led by World War I and the postwar troubles from an aesthetic consideration of Latin literature to semantic and other studies (p. 278).