Slaves to Rome
Paradigms of Empire in Roman Culture

This book examines how the experience of living with slavery shaped the way that the Roman elite thought about empire.

Myles Lavan (Author)

9781107026018, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 February 2013

304 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.7 cm, 0.5 kg

This study in the language of Roman imperialism provides a provocative new perspective on the Roman imperial project. It highlights the prominence of the language of mastery and slavery in Roman descriptions of the conquest and subjection of the provinces. More broadly, it explores how Roman writers turn to paradigmatic modes of dependency familiar from everyday life - not just slavery but also clientage and childhood - in order to describe their authority over, and responsibilities to, the subject population of the provinces. It traces the relative importance of these different models for the imperial project across almost three centuries of Latin literature, from the middle of the first century BCE to the beginning of the third century CE.

Introduction
1. Romans and allies
2. Masters of the world
3. Empire and slavery in Tacitus
4. Benefactors
5. Patrons and protectors
6. Addressing the allies
Afterword.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]