The Roman Empire may be properly described as a consortium of cities (and not as set of proto national states). From the late Republic and into the Principate, the Roman elite managed the empire through insititutional and personal ties to the communities of the Empire. Especially in the Latin West the emperors encouraged the adoption of the Latin language and urban amenities, and were generous in the award of citizenship. This process, and ‘Romanization’ is a reasonable label, was facilitated by civic patronage. The literary evidence provides a basis for understanding this transformation from subject to citizen and for constructing a higher allegiance to the idea of Rome. We gain a more complete understanding of the process by considering the legal and monumental/epigraphical evidence that guided and encouraged such benefaction and exchange. This book uses all three forms of evidence to provide a deeper understanding of how patrocinium publicum served as a formal vehicle for securing the goodwill of the citizens and subjects of Rome.

In this book, Brenda Longfellow examines one of the features of Roman Imperial cities, the monumental civic fountain. Built in cities throughout the Roman Empire during the first through third centuries AD, these fountains were imposing in size, frequently adorned with grand sculptures, and often placed in highly trafficked areas. Over twenty-five of these urban complexes can be associated with emperors. Dr. Longfellow situates each of these examples within its urban environment and investigates the edifice as a product of an individual patron and a particular historical and geographical context. She also considers the role of civic patronage in fostering a dialogue between imperial and provincial elites with the local urban environment. Tracing the development of the genre across the empire, she illuminates the motives and ideologies of imperial and local benefactors in Rome and the provinces and explores the complex interplay of imperial power, patronage, and the local urban environment.

Cities in the ancient world relied on private generosity to provide many basic amenities. This collection of essays by leading scholars explores the important phenomenon of benefaction and public patronage in Roman Italy.

Alexander Severus' is full of controversy and contradictions. He came to the throne through the brutal murder of his cousin, Elagabalus, and was ultimately assassinated himself. The years between were filled with regular uprisings and rebellions, court intrigue (the Praetorian Guard slew their commander at the Emperor's feet) and foreign invasion. Yet the ancient sources generally present his reign as a golden age of just government, prosperity and religious tolerance Not yet fourteen when he became emperor, Alexander was dominated by his mother, Julia Mammaea and advisors like the historian, Cassius Dio. In the military field, he successfully checked the aggressive Sassanid Persians but some sources see his Persian campaign as a costly failure marked by mutiny and reverses that weakened the army. When Germanic and Sarmatian tribes crossed the Rhine and Danube frontiers in 234, Alexander took the field against them but when he attempted to negotiate to buy time, his soldiers perceived him as weak, assassinated him and replaced him with the soldier Maximinus Thrax. John McHugh reassesses this fascinating emperor in detail.

Contents: I. INSTRUMENTS OF IMPERIAL RULE. ECK, W.: Lateinisch, Griechisch, Germanisch ...? Wie sprach Rom met seinen Untertanen? TALBERT, R.: Rome's provinces as framework for world-view. KOKKINIA, C.: Ruling, inducing, arguing: how to govern (and survive) a Greek province. SLOOTJES, D.: The governor as benefactor in Late Antiquity. LIGT, L. DE: Direct taxation in western Asia Minor under the early Empire. II. CONQUEST AND ITS EFFECTS BIRLEY, A.: Britain 71-105: advance and retrenchment. ROSSUM, J.A.. VAN: The end of the Batavian auxiliaries as 'national' units. COULSTON, J.C.N.: Military identity and personal self-identity in the Roman army. BRUUN, C.: The legend of Decebalus. III. ROMANIZATION AND ITS LIMITS LOMAS, K.: Funerary epigraphy and the impact of Rome in Italy. BINTLIFF, J.L.: Town and chôra of Thespiae in the imperial age. ELTON, H.: Romanization and some Cilician cults. HESBERG, H. VON: Grabmonumente als Zeichen des sozialen Aufstiegs der neuen Eliten in den germanischen Provinzen. HAAN, N. DE: Living like the Romans? Some remarks on domestic architecture in North Africa and Britain. IV. URBAN ELITES AND CIVIC LIFE VRIES, T. DE & W.J. ZWALVE: Roman actuarial science and Ulpian's life expectancy table. KRIECKHAUS, A.: Duae Patriae? C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus zwischen germana patria und urbs. STRUBBE, J.H.M.: Cultic honours for benefactors in Asia Minor. HORSTER, M.: Substitutes for emperors and members of the imperial families as local magistrates. DONDIN-PAYRE, M.: Notables et élites dans les Trois Gaules. BRANCO, M. DI: Entre Amphion et Achille: réalité et mythologie de la défense d'Athènes du IIIe au IVe siècle. NAVARRO CABALLERO, M.: L'élite, les femmes et l'argent dans les provinces hispaniques. HIRSCHMANN, V.: Methodische Überlegungen zu Frauen in antiken Vereinen. HEMELRIJK, E.: Patronage of cities: the role of women.

A complete introduction to the rich cultural legacy of Rome through the study of Roman art ... It includes a discussion of the relevance of Rome to the modern world, a short historical overview, and descriptions of forty-five works of art in the Roman collection organized in three thematic sections: Power and Authority in Roman Portraiture; Myth, Religion, and the Afterlife; and Daily Life in Ancient Rome. This resource also provides lesson plans and classroom activities."--Publisher website.

In its various incarnations, the Roman Empire survived until 1918, when the last two rulers to bear the title "Caesar" (Kaiser Wilhelm in Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia) fell from power. This volume contains the thinking of an international team of twelve scholars who analyze two of the most important changes in political and religious identity brought about by that empire: a change from the Greek kinship- and polis-based system to the territorial system of imperial Rome, and the development of a universal religious consciousness that lasted from the adoption of Christianity in the fourth century to the development of the nation-state in modern times.