Hannah Cornwell – författare

Perhaps in defiance of expectations, Roman peace (pax) was a difficult concept that resisted any straightforward definition: not merely denoting the absence or aftermath of war, it consisted of many layers and associations and formed part of a much greater discourse on the nature of power and how Rome saw her place in the world. During the period from 50 BC to AD 75 - covering the collapse of the Republic, the subsequent civil wars, and the dawn of the Principate-the traditional meaning and language of peace came under extreme pressure as pax was co-opted to serve different strands of political discourse. This volume argues for its fundamental centrality in understanding the changing dynamics of the state and the creation of a new political system in the Roman Empire, moving from the debates over the content of the concept in the dying Republic to discussion of its deployment in the legitimization of the Augustan regime, first through the creation of an authorized version controlled by the princeps and then the ultimate crystallization of the pax augusta as the first wholly imperial concept of peace. Examining the nuances in the various meanings, applications, and contexts of Roman discourse on peace allows us valuable insight into the ways in which the dynamics of power were understood and how these were contingent on the political structures of the day. However it also demonstrates that although the idea of peace came to dominate imperial Rome''s self-representation, such discourse was nevertheless only part of a wider discussion on the way in which the Empire conceptualized itself.

Perhaps in defiance of expectations, Roman peace (pax) was a difficult concept that resisted any straightforward definition: not merely denoting the absence or aftermath of war, it consisted of many layers and associations and formed part of a much greater discourse on the nature of power and how Rome saw her place in the world. During the period from 50 BC to AD 75 - covering the collapse of the Republic, the subsequent civil wars, and the dawn of the Principate-the traditional meaning and language of peace came under extreme pressure as pax was co-opted to serve different strands of political discourse. This volume argues for its fundamental centrality in understanding the changing dynamics of the state and the creation of a new political system in the Roman Empire, moving from the debates over the content of the concept in the dying Republic to discussion of its deployment in the legitimization of the Augustan regime, first through the creation of an authorized version controlled by the princeps and then the ultimate crystallization of the pax augusta as the first wholly imperial concept of peace. Examining the nuances in the various meanings, applications, and contexts of Roman discourse on peace allows us valuable insight into the ways in which the dynamics of power were understood and how these were contingent on the political structures of the day. However it also demonstrates that although the idea of peace came to dominate imperial Rome''s self-representation, such discourse was nevertheless only part of a wider discussion on the way in which the Empire conceptualized itself.

Perhaps in defiance of expectations, Roman peace (pax) was a difficult concept that resisted any straightforward definition: not merely denoting the absence or aftermath of war, it consisted of many layers and associations and formed part of a much greater discourse on the nature of power and how Rome saw her place in the world. During the period from 50 BC to AD 75 - covering the collapse of the Republic, the subsequent civil wars, and the dawn of the Principate-the traditional meaning and language of peace came under extreme pressure as pax was co-opted to serve different strands of political discourse. This volume argues for its fundamental centrality in understanding the changing dynamics of the state and the creation of a new political system in the Roman Empire, moving from the debates over the content of the concept in the dying Republic to discussion of its deployment in the legitimization of the Augustan regime, first through the creation of an authorized version controlled by the princeps and then the ultimate crystallization of the pax augusta as the first wholly imperial concept of peace. Examining the nuances in the various meanings, applications, and contexts of Roman discourse on peace allows us valuable insight into the ways in which the dynamics of power were understood and how these were contingent on the political structures of the day. However it also demonstrates that although the idea of peace came to dominate imperial Rome's self-representation, such discourse was nevertheless only part of a wider discussion on the way in which the Empire conceptualized itself.

Offering new and original approaches to the Roman civil wars of 49-30 BCE, the eleven papers presented here for the first time shed light on this crucial moment in the forging of Roman identity. They engage with a variety of problems and topics in political discourse (diplomacy, the concept of libertas, divine paternity); socio-economic structures (allied rulers, military officials, civil war finances, Agrippa’s family); material culture (the coinage of Julius Caesar, the physical remains of Corfinium); and literary commemoration (Sallust on trauma, the lost Histories of Asinius Pollio).The case studies presented here contribute to our understanding of a period that is just as fundamental for our view of the Romans as it was to the Romans themselves. Arguing for the unity of the period in question, the volume deploys a multiplicity of methodologies to analyse how the trauma of armed conflict and the breakdown of accepted socio-cultural models not only mediated the contemporary experience of Roman civil war, but also left a lasting impression upon how Romans viewed the world. Incisive and critical, these contributions by a diverse team of international researchers, both emerging scholars and leaders in their fields, offer a new window into the world of the late Republic and early Principate.

Offering new and original approaches to the Roman civil wars of 49-30 BCE, the eleven papers presented here for the first time shed light on this crucial moment in the forging of Roman identity. They engage with a variety of problems and topics in political discourse (diplomacy, the concept of libertas, divine paternity); socio-economic structures (allied rulers, military officials, civil war finances, Agrippa’s family); material culture (the coinage of Julius Caesar, the physical remains of Corfinium); and literary commemoration (Sallust on trauma, the lost Histories of Asinius Pollio).The case studies presented here contribute to our understanding of a period that is just as fundamental for our view of the Romans as it was to the Romans themselves. Arguing for the unity of the period in question, the volume deploys a multiplicity of methodologies to analyse how the trauma of armed conflict and the breakdown of accepted socio-cultural models not only mediated the contemporary experience of Roman civil war, but also left a lasting impression upon how Romans viewed the world. Incisive and critical, these contributions by a diverse team of international researchers, both emerging scholars and leaders in their fields, offer a new window into the world of the late Republic and early Principate.

Offering new and original approaches to the Roman civil wars of 49-30 BCE, the eleven papers presented here for the first time shed light on this crucial moment in the forging of Roman identity. They engage with a variety of problems and topics in political discourse (diplomacy, the concept of libertas, divine paternity); socio-economic structures (allied rulers, military officials, civil war finances, Agrippa''s family); material culture (the coinage of Julius Caesar, the physical remains of Corfinium); and literary commemoration (Sallust on trauma, the lost Histories of Asinius Pollio). The case studies presented here contribute to our understanding of a period that is just as fundamental for our view of the Romans as it was to the Romans themselves. Arguing for the unity of the period in question, the volume deploys a multiplicity of methodologies to analyse how the trauma of armed conflict and the breakdown of accepted socio-cultural models not only mediated the contemporary experience of Roman civil war, but also left a lasting impression upon how Romans viewed the world. Incisive and critical, these contributions by a diverse team of international researchers, both emerging scholars and leaders in their fields, offer a new window into the world of the late Republic and early Principate.

Offering new and original approaches to the Roman civil wars of 49-30 BCE, the eleven papers presented here for the first time shed light on this crucial moment in the forging of Roman identity. They engage with a variety of problems and topics in political discourse (diplomacy, the concept of libertas, divine paternity); socio-economic structures (allied rulers, military officials, civil war finances, Agrippa''s family); material culture (the coinage of Julius Caesar, the physical remains of Corfinium); and literary commemoration (Sallust on trauma, the lost Histories of Asinius Pollio). The case studies presented here contribute to our understanding of a period that is just as fundamental for our view of the Romans as it was to the Romans themselves. Arguing for the unity of the period in question, the volume deploys a multiplicity of methodologies to analyse how the trauma of armed conflict and the breakdown of accepted socio-cultural models not only mediated the contemporary experience of Roman civil war, but also left a lasting impression upon how Romans viewed the world. Incisive and critical, these contributions by a diverse team of international researchers, both emerging scholars and leaders in their fields, offer a new window into the world of the late Republic and early Principate.

Coins of the best-known Roman revolutionary era allow rival pretenders to speak to us directly. After the deaths of Caesar and Cicero (in 44 and 43 BC) hardly one word has been reliably transmitted to us from even the two most powerful opponents of Octavian: Mark Antony and Sextus Pompeius - except through coinage and the occasional inscription. The coins are an antidote to a widespread fault in modern approaches: the idea, from hindsight, that the Roman Republic was doomed, that the rise of Octavian-Augustus to monarchy was inevitable, and that contemporaries might have sensed as much. Ancient works in other genres skilfully encouraged such hindsight. Augustus in the Res Gestae, and Virgil in Georgics and Aeneid, sought to flatten the history of the period, and largely to efface Octavian''s defeated rivals. But the latter''s coins in precious metal were not easily recovered and suppressed by Authority. They remain for scholars to revalue. In our own age, when public untruthfulness about history is increasingly accepted - or challenged, we may value anew the discipline of searching for other, ancient, voices which ruling discourse has not quite managed to silence. In this book eleven new essays explore the coinage of Rome''s competing dynasts. Julius Caesar''s coins, and those of his `son'' Octavian-Augustus, are studied. But similar and respectful attention is given to the issues of their opponents: Cato the Younger and Q. Metellus Scipio, Mark Antony and Sextus Pompeius, Q. Cornificius and others. A shared aim is to understand mentalities, the forecasts current, in an age of rare insecurity as the superpower of the Mediterranean faced, and slowly recovered from, division and ruin.