| Description: |
222 pages, 20 b/w figs, (Yale University Press, 2000). A detailed examination of the
reasons why Roman ideas and Roman things were so readily adopted throughout the ancient
world during Augustus' lifetime (63 BC - AD 14). Arranged geographically, the chapters
explore the spread of Roman civilisation across the East, Africa, Spain and Gaul and show
how each population realised that life would be better and easier if it became Romanised.
The last chapter examines Roman methods of replication, including techniques for copying
statuary, buildings, pottery, roads and town institutions.
From the Inside Flap During
the lifetime of Augustus (from 63 b.c. to a.d. 14), Roman civilization spread at a
remarkable rate throughout the ancient world, influencing such areas as art and
architecture, religion, law, local speech, city design, clothing, and leisure and family
activities. In his newest book, Ramsay MacMullen investigates why the adoption of Roman
ways was so prevalent during this period.Drawing largely on archaeological sources,
MacMullen discovers that during this period more than half a million Roman veterans were
resettled in colonies overseas, and an additional hundred or more urban centers in the
provinces took on normal Italian-Roman town constitutions. Great sums of expendable wealth
came into the hands of ambitious Roman and local notables, some of which was spent in
establishing and advertising Roman ways. MacMullen argues that acculturation of the
ancient world was due not to cultural imperialism on the part of the conquerors but to
eagerness of imitation among the conquered, and that the Romans were able to respond with
surprisingly effective techniques of mass production and standardization.
About the
Author Ramsay MacMullen, Dunham Professor Emeritus of Classics and History at Yale
University, is ceo of PastTimes Press. He is also the author of Christianity and Paganism
in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries, Corruption and the Decline of Rome, Paganism in the
Roman Empire, and Roman Social Relations, all published by Yale University Press. |
