Pertinax

Pertinax
Author: Simon Elliott
Publisher: Greenhill Books
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2020-12-19
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 178438528X

The son of a former slave, Pertinax was the Roman Emperor who proved that no matter how lowly your birth, you could rise to the very top through hard work, grit and determination. Born in AD 126, he made a late career change from working as a grammar teacher to a position in the army. As he moved up the ranks and further along the aristocratic cursus honorum, he took on many of the most important postings in the Empire, from senior military roles in fractious Britain, the Marcomannic Wars on the Danube, to the Parthian Wars in the east. He held governorships in key provinces, and later consulships in Rome itself. When Emperor Commodus was assassinated on New Year’s Eve AD 192/193, the Praetorian Guard alighted on Pertinax to become the new Emperor, expecting a pliable puppet who would favour them with great wealth. But Pertinax was nothing of the sort and when he then attempted to reform the Guard, he was assassinated. His death triggered the beginning of the ‘Year of the Five Emperors’ from which Septimius Severus, Pertinax’s former mentoree, became the ultimate victor and founder of the Severan Dynasty. This previously untold story brings a fascinating and important figure out of the shadows. A self made everyman, a man of principle and ambition, a role model respected by his contemporaries who styled himself on his philosophizing predecessor and sometime champion Marcus Aurelius, Pertinax’s remarkable story offers a unique and panoramic insight into the late 2nd century AD Principate Empire.

Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425

Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425
Author: Kyle Harper
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 627
Release: 2011-05-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139504061

Capitalizing on the rich historical record of late antiquity, and employing sophisticated methodologies from social and economic history, this book reinterprets the end of Roman slavery. Kyle Harper challenges traditional interpretations of a transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages, arguing instead that a deep divide runs through 'late antiquity', separating the Roman slave system from its early medieval successors. In the process, he covers the economic, social and institutional dimensions of ancient slavery and presents the most comprehensive analytical treatment of a pre-modern slave system now available. By scouring the late antique record, he has uncovered a wealth of new material, providing fresh insights into the ancient slave system, including slavery's role in agriculture and textile production, its relation to sexual exploitation, and the dynamics of social honor. By demonstrating the vitality of slavery into the later Roman empire, the author shows that Christianity triumphed amidst a genuine slave society.

From Slave to Emperor

From Slave to Emperor
Author: Et Al
Publisher: Blurb
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2018-07-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781388242541

Including the work of professors Tenney Frank, A.M. Duff, Charles Merivale, George La Piana, Theodor Mommsen, and the multiple authors of the Cambridge Ancient History and the Encyclopedia Britannica's Historians' History of the World. Introduction by Arthur Kemp, BA (Pub.Ad., Pol., Sci., Int. Pol.). Although many historians have either ignored the racial factor in the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire, there have been many who recognized race as the critical element in Rome's history. The essay in this book summarizes all the points made by these authors and provides a critically-needed antidote to modern liberal historical interpretations which pretend that race does not exist-and that racial change was the reason for the fall of the Roman Empire. Illustrated, contains full facsimile of Professor Tenney's "Race Mixture in the Roman Empire" as first published in the American Historical Review, July 1916.

Slaves to Rome

Slaves to Rome
Author: Myles Lavan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2013-02-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107311128

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.

Pertinax

Pertinax
Author: Simon Elliott
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020-12-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781784385255

The son of a former slave, Pertinax was the Roman Emperor who proved that no matter how lowly your birth, you could rise to the very top through hard work, grit and determination. Born in AD 126, he made a late career change from working as a grammar teacher to a position in the army. As he moved up the ranks and further along the aristocratic cursus honorum, he took on many of the most important postings in the Empire, from senior military roles in fractious Britain, the Marcomannic Wars on the Danube, to the Parthian Wars in the east. He held governorships in key provinces, and later consulships in Rome itself. When Emperor Commodus was assassinated on New Year's Eve AD 192/193, the Praetorian Guard alighted on Pertinax to become the new Emperor, expecting a pliable puppet who would favour them with great wealth. But Pertinax was nothing of the sort and when he then attempted to reform the Guard, he was assassinated. His death triggered the beginning of the 'Year of the Five Emperors' from which Septimius Severus, Pertinax's former mentoree, became the ultimate victor and founder of the Severan Dynasty.This previously untold story brings a fascinating and important figure out of the shadows. A self made everyman, a man of principle and ambition, a role model respected by his contemporaries who styled himself on his philosophising predecessor and sometime champion Marcus Aurelius, Pertinax's remarkable story offers a unique and panoramic insight into the late 2nd century AD Principate Empire.

Slavery in the Roman Empire

Slavery in the Roman Empire
Author: Barrow
Publisher:
Total Pages: 276
Release: 1998-12
Genre: Rome
ISBN: 9780760700815

"The spade-work of civilizing the world was done in the first two centuries of the Roman Empire, according to author R.H. Barrow, who goes on to remark that this labor-preparing the ground for Western civilization-is Rome's legacy to later generations. "What part did slavery play in this work?" asks the author of this intriguing book. "Was it so immoral, so degrading ... as to hamper the work of Romanization? Or was it even an instrument in that very process, which was being carried forward by many influences?" SLAVERY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE is Barrow's attempt to answer these provocative questions. This is a penetrating and vivid study that traces the process of enslavement to citizenship, and indicates along the way the issues involved for the individual and the Empire. One of the highlights of SLAVERY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE is its description of Roman daily life. Readers are provided with windows into the imperial houses, where slave duties were subdivided with an amazing minuteness; the Roman world of business, where some slaves, often more skilled and knowledgeable than their masters, became rich and took on the roles of agents and contractors; and the organization and administration of townships, which, due to Roman attitudes toward clerical work (that it was beneath a Roman citizen), put slaves in some important and responsible positions. Chapters on how slaves came to Rome, on their work, on their inner and private life, and on manumission and the perpetual struggle to rise from slavery to freedom climax in the chapter, "The mingling of nations." Here, Barrow combines the studies of the first seven chapters and views Roman slavery in the larger context and estimates its effects on the health of the Empire."--Jacket

Freed Slaves and Roman Imperial Culture

Freed Slaves and Roman Imperial Culture
Author: Rose MacLean
Publisher:
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2018-05-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 110714292X

Argues that freed slaves exerted a profound influence on the transformation of Roman values under the Principate.

Christians in Caesar’s Household

Christians in Caesar’s Household
Author: Michael Flexsenhar III
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2020-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 027108409X

In this volume, Michael Flexsenhar III advances the argument that imperial slaves and freedpersons in the Roman Empire were essential to early Christians’ self-conception as a distinct people in the Mediterranean and played a multifaceted role in the making of early Christianity. Scholarship in early Christianity has for centuries viewed Roman emperors’ slaves and freedmen as responsible for ushering Christianity onto the world stage, traditionally using Paul’s allusion to “the saints from Caesar’s household” in Philippians 4:22 as a core literary lens. Merging textual and material evidence with diaspora and memory studies, Flexsenhar expands on this narrative to explore new and more nuanced representations of this group, showing how the long-accepted stories of Christian slaves and freepersons in Caesar’s household should not be taken at face value but should instead be understood within the context of Christian myth- and meaning-making. Flexsenhar analyzes textual and material evidence from the first to the sixth century, spanning Roman Asia, the Aegean rim, Gaul, and the coast of North Africa as well as the imperial capital itself. As a result, this book shows how stories of the emperor’s slaves were integral to key developments in the spread of Christianity, generating origin myths in Rome and establishing a shared history and geography there, differentiating and negotiating assimilation with other groups, and expressing commemorative language, ritual acts, and a material culture. With its thoughtful critical readings of literary and material sources and its fresh analysis of the lived experiences of imperial slaves and freedpersons, Christians in Caesar’s Household is indispensable reading for scholars of early Christianity, the origins of religion, and the Roman Empire.

From Slave to Emperor

From Slave to Emperor
Author: Arthur Kemp
Publisher:
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2013-11-14
Genre:
ISBN: 9781493783595

Including the work of professors Tenney Frank, A.M. Duff, Charles Merivale, George La Piana, Theodor Mommsen, and the multiple authors of the Cambridge Ancient History and the Encyclopedia Britannica's Historians' History of the World. Introduction by Arthur Kemp, BA (Pub.Ad., Pol., Sci., Int. Pol.). Although many historians have either ignored the racial factor in the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire, there have been many who recognized race as the critical element in Rome's history. The essay in this book summarizes all the points made by these authors and provides a critically-needed antidote to modern liberal historical interpretations which pretend that race does not exist-and that racial change was the reason for the fall of the Roman Empire. Illustrated, contains full facsimile of Professor Tenney's "Race Mixture in the Roman Empire" as first published in the American Historical Review, July 1916. Contents Introduction From Slave To Emperor: Famous Historians On The Racial Reasons For The Decline Of The Roman Empire Appendix: "Race Mixture In The Roman Empire" by Professor Tenney Frank Appendix: Race Consciousness In The Roman Empire by Gneisenau Appendix: The Race Problem Of The Roman Empire by Martin P. Nilsson