De Rebus Antiquis es la publicación electrónica del Programa de Estudios Históricos Grecorromanos (PEHG) del Departamento de Historia de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Católica Argentina. Esta revista ha nacido con el objeto de dar marco institucional para la publicación de todas aquellas investigaciones de especialistas en esta área del conocimiento y gestar así un ámbito de debate en las temáticas y líneas de investigación más novedosas del tema que nos convoca.
Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina. Programa de Estudios Históricos Grecorromanos
SCHULTEN, ADOLF. (2021). El África romana. Edición de Sabino Perea Yébenes. Sevilla: Editorial Renacimiento. ISBN 978-84-18818-49-3, 180 páginas.
El África romana es el cuarto libro de Adolf Schulten (1870-1960) que la Editorial Renacimiento ha publicado desde 2006, en que apareció Tartessos. Contribución a la historia más antigua de Occidente con prólogo de Michael Blech. En 2013, vio la luz Sertorio con prólogo de Francisco Socas y cuatro años después, en 2017, lo hizo Hispania. Geografía, etnología e historia con traducción y edición de Pedro Bosch Gimpera y Miguel Artigas Ferrando.
DE OLIVEIRA SILVA, APARECIDA – CARVALHEIRO PORTO, VAGNER (Orgs.) (2019). Imperadores Romanos. Teresina-SaÁµ Paulo. LABHAN / UFPI –LARP / MAE /USP. ISBN 978-85-60984-68-8, 427 páginas
Los últimos años fueron testigos de un renovado interés sobre el conocimiento de la vida y gobierno de los emperadores romanos del Alto Imperio; o, más precisamente, los denominados “Césares”, ya que en general se incluye la vida de Julio César que antecedió a la instauración del régimen imperial. Esta inquietud ha sido rápidamente capitalizada por el género de la divulgación histórica. Obras de notables historiadores de la talla de José Roldán Hervás y Mary Beard, o de divulgadores como Tom Holland, entre otros, se han hecho eco de este interés. Por esta razón creemos sumamente necesario que la investigación histórica retome algunas líneas de trabajo para plantear nuevos problemas a este viejo tema desde una perspectiva científica. Celebramos entonces la decisión de nuestros colegas de Brasil que han realizado, mediante el presente volumen, un excelente aporte que representa una mirada desde el Cono Sur sobre la cuestión.
The princeps Augustus and his trajectory in Roman power: considerations on his imperium and tribunicia potestas functions (I BCE – I CE)
The actions of the princeps Augustus were accepted insofar as he maintained an appearance in his political trajectory concerning his behavior and respect for traditional values, making them public knowledge, as well as refraining from offending the political course and memory of the oldest citizens of Rome. Thus, it is essential to take into consideration the levels we are analyzing. After all, we detect fissures, innovations and continuities when carrying out a temporal cut, as some mutations can occur slower than others using societal traditions. In research involving a transitional period, such as the Augustan Principate, we must beware of binary opposition relations and, thus, invest in reflexive categories that allow us to obtain a conjunctural view of society. In our conception, two political keys were important for Augustus to ensure his governability: respect for tradition and political-social prestige. In this sense, we will discuss the imperium and tribunicia potestas functions for the augustan legitimacy.
Differences and similarities in the analysis of De Specialibus Legibus de Philo: an interpretation of the prohibition of theft bía kaÁ¬ phanerÁ´s (Spec. IV 2)
The aim of this work is to examine the question of the differences and similarities in the legislative treatment presented by Philo of Alexandria in De Specialibus Legibus, from the debate opened by modern researchers about the sources of the philonic legislation and, especially, to the influence received by the prohibition of the theft bía kaÁ¬ phanerÁ´s in De Specialibus Legibus IV 2. To this purpose, we will try to 1) review scholars’ interpretations of the question of differences and similarities between De Specialibus Legibus and Palestinian traditions and Greco-Roman; 2) study this issue in discussions of the law on the prohibition of theft bía kaÁ¬ phanerÁ´s; 3) propose an interpretation of this law in relation to the problem of tax collection in Roman Egypt by P. Lond. 3 1171 verso (c) and De Specialibus Legibus II 92-95 and III 159-163.
Tangible power: Material displacement and spatial demarcation in Aristophanes’ Brids
An interpretation of Aristophanes’ Birds based on the theoretical approaches of New Materialism allows us to identify the role of numerous significant objects in the practical display of diplomatic encounters and in the consolidation of abstract colonial claims of a polis like Athens through the representation of its physical support. By alerting in general about the goods and their potential in the hands of a protagonist interested in control and possession, the comedy suggests that the visible objects circulating, imagined or built on stage, which are obtained or transferred, kept or destroyed, can help to acknowledge the tangible bases of Athenian imperial power.
A Liberal Reading of the Athenian Freedom: Benjamin Constant, Reader of Plutarch’s Solon
Taking as starting point the appreciation of Constant about the Athenian freedom like herald of modern liberal spirit, the following article makes a series of statements in relation to more specific ways of understanding that appreciation. In this sense, a key figure analyzed here is Solon of Athens (630 – c.”‰560 BC), to whom Constant arrived through Plutarch. The complete argument of the article is set in the Introduction.
This article delves into the relevance of the concept of “total war” as it is applied to the Peloponnesian War. In so doing, it is noticed a lack of consensus among contemporary scholar in regards to what is required for a war to be considered as total. Therefore, I here advance three sufficient and necessary conditions to deem a warlike conflict as total war. My conclusion, on the one hand, is that the Peloponnesian War fulfilled only part of those conditions. On the other, I hold that the tendency among Hellenists is to constantly compare the two World Wars that ravaged the 20th-century. This distorts the analysis and hampers the explanatory capacity of the concept.
According to a general opinion, based on Libanius’Orations, the emperor Julian (361-363 CE) reduced the number and power of the imperial notarii. However, there is no other evidence of a reform concerning the notarii. Furthermore, a prosopographical research suggests that they were ‘special agents’ also under Julian and some of them were promoted by him to the highest offices. The aims of this paper is, therefore, to question the current interpretation, by comparing Libanius’Orations with the other sources on Julian’s court reform. Special attention is also given to Libanius’representation of the imperial court and his use of the word á½‘Ï€Î¿Î³ÏÎ±Ï†Îµá¿–Ï‚ whose meaning can not be limited to the imperial notarii.
Three centuries of Attic Nights as a representation of knowledge (from Luis Carrión to Martin Hertz). Essay of a Cultural History.
The Attic Nights by Aulus Gellius, an outstanding miscellaneous work written in the second Century AD, represents in itself the pleasure of scholarship. The work reaches its golden stage as reading and inspiration in the 16th Century. Our essay investigates the editorial evolution that goes from Luis Carrión, at the end of the 16th Century, to Martin Hertz, at the end of the 19th Century. It is about three centuries of reception of the Attic Nights represented by their main editions (L. Carrio [1585]; J. F. Gronovius [1651]; J. Gronovius [1706] and M. Hertz [1883-1885]). We want to study such editions from four specific copies acquired in the context of the Bibliotheca Gelliana project. From this methodological point of view, our purpose is to analyze such copies according to the way in which each one of them represents Gellius’ work in the context of his time, not only from a strictly philological point of view (the text), but also bibliographic (the edition and the copy).
Copyright (c) 2021 Francisco García Jurado https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
Marinatos, Nanno (2019). La Diosa del Sol y la realeza en la Antigua Creta. Madrid: Machado-
La arqueóloga ateniense Nanno Marinatos, directora del Departamento de Estudios Clásicos de la Universidad de Illinois, consuma con esta obra una destacada carrera como especialista en el mundo cretense y la religión helénica. Traducido por Amaya Bozal, esta obra es, antes que nada, una historia de la religión minoica. El periodo del que se ocupa se sitúa entre 1650 y el 1390 a.C., final del Minoico Medio y Minoico Reciente, y corresponde al apogeo de esa civilización.
García Gual, Carlos. (2016). La muerte de los héroes. Madrid: Turner.
Carlos García Gual (España, 1943) es un escritor, filólogo, crítico y traductor español. Es catedrático de filología griega en la UCM, especialista en antigüedad clásica, mitología, filosofía y literatura. Ha publicado más de cuarenta libros y ha traducido textos clásicos. Entre sus obras, destacan libros como Los orígenes de la novela, Primeras novelas europeas, Epicuro y Diccionario de mitos. Es, además, crítico literario; publica reseñas de libros en diversos medios como El País, Revista de Occidente o Claves de razón práctica. Ha sido galardonado en dos ocasiones con el Premio Nacional de Traducción y es miembro de la RAE.
Toner, Jerry. (2017). Mundo Antiguo. Madrid: Turner
Jerry Toner, actual director del Centro de Estudios Clásicos del Churchill College de la Universidad de Cambridge, es especialista en historia cultural y social de Roma antigua. El autor ha publicado varios libros sobre la materia, en los que ha propuesto mirar dicha historia desde abajo. En otras palabras, poniendo el foco de atención sobre la gente que no pertenecía a la élite. De este modo, el libro que reseñamos aquí, aunque se presente como un trabajo de divulgación, también podríamos considerarlo como una introducción a una serie de temáticas que las teorías postcoloniales han abierto en las investigaciones de la Antigüedad para quienes se inician en los estudios del área guiados por un especialista de primer nivel.
Moreno Leoni, Álvaro M. (2017). Entre Roma y el Mundo Griego. Memoria, autorrepresentación y didáctica del poder en las Historias de Polibio. Córdoba: Brujas.
El título de esta obra nos enfoca en la gran temática: la expansión romana a partir de la narración de un autor griego, Polibio. Para su análisis se vale de tres medios interpretativos: “memoria”, “auto representación” y “didáctica del poder”; que a partir de la lectura de Polibio conducirán a Moreno Leoni a reconocer una dialéctica entre vencedores y vencidos. Para ello, se vale dos conceptos clave que le permiten interpretar las tensiones y alianzas de Roma y los otros: “hegemonía” y “autonomía”. El interés de nuestro autor es dilucidar la dimensión didáctica en la descripción polibiana de estas interacciones político-culturales, con el fin de comprender la construcción de modelos de comportamiento moral y de eficacia entre la potencia hegemónica y los otros.
The intervention of monks in the Riot of Statues, in Antioch (387): An example of monastic mobility
In the History of Monasticism, the references to regular visits that village or town people paid to anchorites and coenobites in order to obtain spiritual guidance or even divine aid in the form of miracle are frequent. In contrast with it, the studies devoted to understanding the reasons for the displacement of the monks and its impact on the rural and urban everyday life are fewer, although such issue constitutes a promising approach regarding the social implications of monasticism, a movement that, even in a context of consolidation of coenobitism, that is to say, the sedentary monastic life, never gave up mobility, movement. In this article, we intend to reflect on the role played by the monks of Mt. Silpius in the Riot of Statues, which took place at Antioch, the metropolis of Syria-Coele, in February 387. Our main goal is to shed light on the relationship between the monks and the population around them, a peculiar characteristic of monasticism in Northern Syria, based on the homilies about the event delivered by John Chrysostom, then the main preacher of the Antiochene congregation.
The Emperor Gratian on the battlefields (A.D. 367-383)
In this article, I analyze the image of the Western Roman Emperor Gratian as a warrior ruler. I hypothesize that the imperial victories were an element of legitimization of the power of this ruler who followed a long Greco-Roman tradition linked to the war. To confirm this assumption, the speeches made by the rhetorician Decimus Magnus Ausonius, Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, the pagan senator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and the strategist Amianus Marcelinus, authors who were close to the emperor, were examined. To the analysis of these written documents, I added the examination of images engraved on two coins minted at the time of Gratian and that today are part of the collection of the Museu Histórico Nacional do Rio de Janeiro.
Augustus: Representations, Representativeness and Otherness in the legitimation of Princeps’ power
Augustus, considered by many to be the first Roman Emperor, is the focus of numerous analyzes, which, in turn, exposes numerous facets of this ruler. This article proposes a brief essay about how discursive images and material creations, such as coins, were fundamental to legitimize the power of this Princeps, his representations and representativeness.
Excluded form citizenship with Pericle’s Law (Plut. Per. 37.3-4): Some reflexions about citizens, foreign people and slaves in Fifht Century BC Athens.
In the year 445, in the middle of Pentecontaetia, an extensive review of citizens was carried out as a result of a wheat donation by Psammetichus from Egypt and as a consequence of the recent Pericles citizenship law (451). In this citizen review it appears that many xenoi fraudulently enrolled in demes and phratries are driven out and sold as slaves. In these pages I explore the possibility, already pointed out by Patterson in 1981, of the fraudulent integration of many lower-class foreigners in the Athenian demos, among thetes, which contributed to increase exponentially -along with the general economic prosperity and the empire- the Athenian population of those years. This led to enabling forms of citizen control that seem to have fallen into disuse during the Peloponnesian War due to the human losses of those years. This occurs in a generalized environment in which marginal / marginalized sectors of the population such as the allied xenoi, metics, atimoi and slaves are similarly perceived in the shared imaginary constructs of Athens.
The portrait of Sabina in the gens Volusia villa between self-celebration and family self-recognition
This paper focuses on the Vibia Sabina’s marble portrait, among the others one founded in the gens Volusia villa at Lucus Feroniae. This portrait has been placed to celebrate the important local event in 106 AD, confirming the ideological role that the suburban mansion played in the history of Volusii Saturnini with an explicit message of self-congratulation and self-knowledge.
FLORENCIO HUBEÑAK: RAMELLI, Ilaria; I cristiani e l´Impero romano. Genova-Milano: Marietti, 2011. LORENA ESTELLER: MARTÍNEZ-PINNA NIETO, Jorge; La monarquía romana arcaica. Barcelona: Publicacions i Edicions, Universitat de Barcelona, 2009. JUAN PABLO ALFARO: RODRÍGUEZ VALCÁRCEL, José Antonio; Calígula. Cuenca: Alderabán, 2010. RODRIGO GONZÁLEZ CÓRDOBA: CHRIST, Karl; Sila. Barcelona: Herder, 2006. JUAN PABLO ALFARO: SYME, Ronald; La Revolución Romana. Barcelona: Crítica, 2010. GRACIELA GOMEZ ASO: DIFABIO, Elbia H. (Comp.); La juventud en la Grecia Antigua. Mendoza:Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional del Cuyo, 2010. JUAN PABLO ALFARO: BAUZÁ, Hugo Francisco (Coord.); Problemas del imaginario en la cultura occidental. Buenos Aires: Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Buenos Aires, 2010.
Paulus Orosius: an interpretation of the christian providential historiography before the fall of Rome in 410
Above the historical studding of the Roman Empire, religious and political life has seen particularly overlapped. The political myth has been fundamental to tack the coming of the central historical facts in the roman way of life. The fall of Rome or the end of the Pars Occidentalis of the Roman Empire have served as historical archetype or political reference for the rest of the empire of the occidental world. This work will be insert in this context, and will intent to give some light to a theme full of historiographical and analytical lines, not only differentes but antagonistic. The centre of the historiographical discord of today will be put in synchrony with that of yesterday, since both pagans like Christians forged during Late Antiquity a myth of the end of cycle that adds a particular fascination to this matter. In this paper I’ll try to interpret de position of the Roman-Christian historian Paulus Orosius, who described his own vision about the facts that preceded and provoke the fall of Rome.
Some considerations about the past, present and future of Europe
The aim of this paper is to tour the various places where ancient classical thought has been approached “Europe” as a concept and reality. First, searching in their testimonies it will discuss how they were building and transforming a geographic awareness of the European territorial space. Second, it will outline the way that was structured the “myth” of Europe as a goddess, for then to see how they structured the “idea” of Europe, affirming fundamentally opposed to Asia and consolidating in the association of continent and Christianity in medieval times. Finally, we analyze the concept as a historical reality, to finally to reflect briefly on the situation of European culture and worldview in the twentieth century until today.
This paper is going to analyze a passage of the Praeceptum deliberativae materiae, a rhetorical text written by Emporius in V/VI century A.D., where Caesar is claimed to be Graecae exercitationis expers; such a so strange definition has its roots in the controversy of the populares against the Hellenization of the nobilitas: from a popularis perspective the real vir Romanus had to prefer the military skill to the rhetorical one, as C.Marius had done, and had to acquire his rhetorical skill in Latin, non in Greek, as the Rhetorica ad Herennium advised. Then being Graecae exercitationis expers was a quality requested to a leader of the populares, as Caesar wanted to be recognized, and we can retrace its origin in the literary propaganda of the Caesarian party, above all in Sallust’s Bellum Iugurthinum and in the Anticato of Caesar himself.
The government of Tiberius and the difficult art of succeed good emperors
In this paper, we propose to analyze the Government of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, the way it was described by Cassius Dio Cocceianus in the work entitled Roman History. Cassius Dio was a senator in the passage from II to III century AD and his narrative arrived in quite fragmented, reconstructed from the Xiphilinus and Zonaras´ excerpts. The authority of the Prince was not hereditary. Thus, it was necessary to rebuild the bonds of amicitia and patronage at the beginning of each government. And this was not an easy task, even for Tiberius who succeeded Emperor Octavius Augustus considered good Princeps.
Political practise in Ancient Rome. Specifity and debate.
In this paper, I will develop some considerations about the politics in the ancient roman world and the recent debate about it. I mean politics as practise; understanding for that whatever is functional to the mechanisms of public life, to the formation of consensus, the exercise of power, the cursus honorum in its several levels, to the processes of make decisions and to the determination of the course of government.
The credibility of Works of Luke (Gospel-Acts) in the context of the Hellenistic Historiography
This collaboration aims to assess the “historicity” of the New Testament texts, those that have traditionally been viewed as presenting a “wrapper” more reliable environment. This task can not be undertaken without a prior insight into the differences that its various texts present, without explaining the different environments in which each tradition was forged, nor the intention of the various genres which was resorted. The work of Luke, consisting in the sum of the third synoptic gospel and the so called Acts of the Apostles, shows the more clearly diachronic perception, from the birth of Jesus to the establishment of christianism in Rome, and accounts for nearly one third of the New Testament text, much more if we consider that for their understanding is necessary to check with the other Synoptic Gospels and the Pauline Letters. The perspective of this study is that of the historian, not of the exegesis, Luke’s work is analyzed as if it were a text from the Hellenistic tradition. A text which has to answer, therefore, to an understandable literary canons for his hypothetical readers, a text wrote in the years of maximum brilliance of the Roma Empire, probably to the end of the first century, in a vague cultural and geographical context but which has to take into account the Palestinians problems after de Jewish war of 67-70 and the background of the religious struggle and theological creativity that, necessary, had to characterize a new religion, still in a formation process, building up and perfecting his definitive signs of identity. In this sense we have to assess the personality of the author and his level of commitment to the religious group which aims to present a semblance; of course, it is necessary to reveal the aim of the text, mediated by the genre and his audience. We must insert the particular information that Luke-Acts provides in a background and, when it was possible, corroborate his information checking with other contemporary sources. From this process we will be able to conclude if the information offered is reliable or not, if it that level of precision is impossible we will at least be able to declare if it is believable or, for the contrary, is artificial.
Cicero: triumph and frustration of an Homo Novus
A biography of Marcus Tulius Cicero through the light of the last studies.
FLORENCIO HUBEÑAK: BAUZÁ, Hugo Francisco; Virgilio y su tiempo. Madrid: Akal, 2008. LORENA ESTELLER: AGUADO GARCÍA, Paloma; Julia Domana. La Emperatriz Romana. Cuenca: Alderabán, 2010. RODRIGO ILLARRAGA: THESLEFF, Holger; Platonic Patterns, A Collection of Studies by Holger Thesleff. Las Vegas: Parmenides Publshing, 2009. FLORENCIO HUBEÑAK: BUCCIANTINI, Massimo, CAMEROTA, Michele e GIUDICE, Franco (a cura di); Il caso Galileo. Una rilettura storica, filosofica, teologica. Firenze: Olschi, 2011. JULIA ALBRIZIO: HALL, Jon; Politeness and Politics in Cicero's Letters. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. FLORENCIA HUBEÑAK: PENNA, Romano; Gesú di Nazareth nelle culture del suo tempo. Alcune aspetti del GesÁ¹ storico. Bologna: EDB, 2012. JUAN PABLO ALFARO: MACKAY, C.S.; El declive de la república romana. De la oligarquía al imperio. Barcelona: Ariel, 2011.
This paper it is discussed the public games held in Rome during the monarchy. Its creation is due to religious causes, related to fertility (Consualia, ludi Taurei) or to war (Equirria, equus October). The religious and politic fulfillment of the games materializes in the ludi Romani, introduced by King Tarquinius Priscus. It is also considered the so called lusus Troiae, equestrian game exclusive for young people, and likewise with an archaic origin.