Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic

Examines how public, political discourse shaped the distribution of power between Senate and People.

Robert Morstein-Marx (Author)

9780521066785, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 May 2008

328 pages, 5 b/w illus. 2 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.48 kg

Review of the hardback: 'After decades of relative neglect the Roman contio has now become the focus of an intense debate about the people's role in Republican politics. This new study by Morstein-Marx represents the fullest and most ambitious treatment of the institution so far. It is a provocative and stimulating work which offers important new insights into the nature of Roman politics. The scholarship is impressive and the analysis often profound.' Journal of Roman Studies

This book highlights the role played by public, political discourse in shaping the distribution of power between Senate and People in the Late Roman Republic. Against the background of the debate between 'oligarchical' and 'democratic' interpretations of Republican politics, Robert Morstein-Marx emphasizes the perpetual negotiation and reproduction of political power through mass communication. The book analyses the ideology of Republican mass oratory and situates its rhetoric fully within the institutional and historical context of the public meetings (contiones) in which these speeches were heard. Examples of contional orations, drawn chiefly from Cicero and Sallust, are subjected to an analysis that is influenced by contemporary political theory and empirical studies of public opinion and the media, rooted in a detailed examination of key events and institutional structures, and illuminated by a vivid sense of the urban space in which the contio was set.

List of figures and maps
Acknowledgements
Note on translations
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Setting the stage
3. Civic knowledge
4. The voice of the people
5. Debate
6. Contional ideology: the invisible 'optimate'
7. Contional ideology: the political drama
8. Conclusion
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Political science & theory [JPA], History of ideas [JFCX], General & world history [HBG]