Jesper Majbom Madsen - Böcker

"Eager to be Roman" is an important investigation into the ways in which the population of Pontus et Bithynia, a Greek province in the northwestern part of Asia Minor (on the southern shore of the Black Sea), engaged culturally with the Roman Empire. Scholars have long presented Greek provincials as highly attached to their Hellenic background and less affected by Rome's influence than Spaniards, Gauls or Britons. More recent studies have acknowledged that some elements of Roman culture and civic life found their way into Greek communities and that members of the Greek elite obtained Roman citizen rights and posts in the imperial administration, though for purely pragmatic reasons. Drawing on a detailed investigation of literary works and epigraphic evidence, Jesper Madsen demonstrates that Greek intellectuals and members of the local elite in this province were in fact keen to identify themselves as Roman, and that imperial connections and Roman culture were prestigious in the eyes of their Greek readers and fellow-citizens.

In 66 BCE, in the woods of Armenia Minor, Pompey the Great defeated Mithridates VI Eupator, making him one of the most successful Roman generals of all time. The victory presented him with the enormous challenge of organizing not only Mithridates' kingdom but also large parts of Anatolia and the Near East that were now placed under Roman rule. Pompey's solution was to found six new cities and to convert two existing communities, Zela, a temple community dedicated to the goddess AnaÏtis, and Amaseia, the former royal residence, into cities as well. There would now be eight city-states, each with the responsibility of administering the territory known to the Romans as Pontus.It has often been argued that in their eastern provinces the Romans based newly founded cities on the model of the Greek city-state and that Roman culture had less influence there than in the West. Jesper Majbom Madsen, however, describes civic development in Roman Pontus as a process by which Roman and Greek elements were introduced simultaneously. He contends that the Pompeian cities were neither traditional Greek poleis nor entirely Roman settlements with Roman laws and legislation; nor were they Greek cities gradually influenced by Roman rule. Instead, they represented a third category, in which a citizen could be an Anatolian, Greek, and Roman at the same time as well as a member of the elite, a priest in the imperial cult and in a cult to Asclepius, a local politician and a member of the Pontic koinon, all without contradiction.Bringing together a wide range of literary, historical, and political sources, From Trophy Towns to City-States examines how Pompey's cities were initially organized, how they developed over time, and how inhabitants in this part of the Roman Empire defined themselves culturally and politically.

This volume offers an introduction to the life and work of the 3rd-century-AD Greco-Roman senator and historian Cassius Dio, whose work, although imperfectly preserved in 80 books, is of fundamental importance to our understanding of Roman history. It is said that Dio is not one of the best ancient historians and his Roman history, due to its sheer size, is often imprecise and superficial in its analysis. It has also been assumed that there was no political agenda behind the work, and that Dio’s principal value to us is as a reliable copyist, who mediated the works of other, and better sources. This introduction to his life and work offers a different picture. Here, Dio is presented through his Greek cultural lens as a politician with a clear vision for how Roman politics and government should be organized. Carefully selected examples will be the starting points for fresh critical analysis of Dio’s work and its legacy, both in antiquity and through to the Enlightenment.The book assumes no familiarity with Cassius Dio, his writing or context. All text will be translated and suggested further reading will point readers towards avenues for more detailed study.

This volume offers an introduction to the life and work of the 3rd-century-AD Greco-Roman senator and historian Cassius Dio, whose work, although imperfectly preserved in 80 books, is of fundamental importance to our understanding of Roman history. It is said that Dio is not one of the best ancient historians and his Roman history, due to its sheer size, is often imprecise and superficial in its analysis. It has also been assumed that there was no political agenda behind the work, and that Dio’s principal value to us is as a reliable copyist, who mediated the works of other, and better sources. This introduction to his life and work offers a different picture. Here, Dio is presented through his Greek cultural lens as a politician with a clear vision for how Roman politics and government should be organized. Carefully selected examples will be the starting points for fresh critical analysis of Dio’s work and its legacy, both in antiquity and through to the Enlightenment.The book assumes no familiarity with Cassius Dio, his writing or context. All text will be translated and suggested further reading will point readers towards avenues for more detailed study.