2nd Edition

The Roman World 44 BC-AD 180

By Martin Goodman Copyright 2012
    432 Pages
    by Routledge

    432 Pages
    by Routledge

    The Roman World 44 BC – AD 180 deals with the transformation of the Mediterranean regions, northern Europe and the Near East by the military autocrats who ruled Rome during this period. The book traces the impact of imperial politics on life in the city of Rome itself and in the rest of the empire, arguing that, despite long periods of apparent peace, this was a society controlled as much by fear of state violence as by consent.

    Martin Goodman examines the reliance of Roman emperors on a huge military establishment and the threat of force. He analyses the extent to which the empire functioned as a single political, economic and cultural unit and discusses, region by region, how much the various indigenous cultures and societies were affected by Roman rule. The book has a long section devoted to the momentous religious changes in this period, which witnessed the popularity and spread of a series of elective cults and the emergence of rabbinic Judaism and Christianity from the complex world of first-century Judaea. This book provides a critical assessment of the significance of Roman rule for inhabitants of the empire, and introduces readers to many of the main issues currently faced by historians of the early empire.

    This new edition, incorporating the finds of recent scholarship, includes a fuller narrative history, expanded sections on the history of women and slaves and on cultural life in the city of Rome, many new illustrations, an updated section of bibliographical notes, and other improvements designed to make the volume as useful as possible to students as well as the general reader.

    Part 1: Introduction  1. Sources and problems  2. The Roman world in 50 BC  Part 2: Elite politics  3. The political language of Rome  4. Caesar to Augustus, 50 BC-AD 14  5. Julio-Claudians, AD 14-68  6. Civil war and Flavians, AD 68–96  7. Nerva to Marcus Aurelius, AD 96–180  Part 3: The state  8. Military autocracy  9. The operation of the state in Rome  10. The operation of the state in the provinces  11. The army in society  12. The image of the emperor  13. The extent of political unity  14. The extent of economic unity  15. The extent of cultural unity  Part 4: Society  16. Reactions to imperial rule  17. The city of Rome: Social organization  18. The city of Rome: Culture and life  19. Italy and Sicily  20. The Iberian Peninsula and the islands of the western Mediterranean  21. Gaul and Britain  22. The Rhineland and the Balkans  23. Greece and the Aegean coast  24. Central and eastern Turkey  25. The northern Levant and Mesopotamia  26. The southern Levant  27. Egypt  28. North Africa  Part 5: Humans and gods  29. Religion  30. Judaism  31. Christianity  Part 6: Epilogue  32. Severans to Constantine

    Biography

    Martin Goodman is Professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford. He is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He has written numerous books, including The Ruling Class of Judaea (1987) and Rome and Jerusalem: the clash of ancient civilizations (2007).

    'Goodman has written an ambitious and wide-ranging book which attempts to provide a coherent synoptic account of the political, social, religious and, to a lesser extent, economic history of Rome and its empire...Goodman has written a book with a particular vision of the Roman Empire which will provide much for professional historians to debate and ponder upon. Undergraduates will welcome his direct, clear and evocative style.' - Journal of Hellenic Studies