A Social and Cultural History of Republican Rome. Группа авторов. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Группа авторов
Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited
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Жанр произведения: История
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781118359501
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first surviving stone amphitheater, but at that time Rome itself had none of these buildings. The smaller the sample size, the harder it is to know what might be typical; with a larger data set – a collection of cities or many acres of countryside – archaeologists are able to compare data across sites and look for general patterns that are true across the spectrum.

       Inscriptions

      Just as with archaeology, the less impressive inscriptions often have a greater impact on our understanding of Roman society. Two types in particular stand out: dedications (usually to one or more divinities) and burial epitaphs, both of which give us insight into the behavior of the non-elites that would otherwise be missing. Dedications can help us understand actual rather than idealized religious behavior, showing us to which gods people expressed their gratitude and for what purposes. On occasion they present a picture that never would have been evident from the literary sources. For instance, the literary sources pay little attention to the god Faunus, but his popularity is attested by numerous dedications far beyond anything we would have imagined from the literary evidence. That discovery forces us to ask both what made Faunus so popular, and with whom, and why he did not attract the attention of the elites. It thus raises new questions for the historian: a history of religious behavior at Rome simply cannot be written without inscriptional evidence.

      In a similar fashion burial epitaphs can tell us a great deal about Roman life among both the elite and non-elite. We are fortunate to possess some epitaphs of famous Romans known from the literary sources, such as members of the Scipiones who conquered Carthage. These materials not only deepen the understanding gained from the literary sources but also allow us to see how the family members wished to be perceived. Ordinary Romans also wanted to be commemorated after death and we can look at their tombstones to compare their practices to the elite and ask in what ways they shared in a common understanding of death, the afterlife, or even family relationships. In addition to these monuments, we have large numbers of simpler tombstones bearing minimal text but which attest to the desire of the lower classes to leave a memorial behind even with their limited resources. The large number of tombstones allows us to ask questions about which members felt a duty to erect a monument and which family members they felt they needed to remember. We can also explore the language and images used on these tombstones to understand the nature of relationships within the family or the values that ordinary Romans held dear. These inscriptions often offer an intimate look into the lives of Romans that cannot be matched by other sources.

       Coins

      Figure 1.6 Silver denarius, minted 43 or 42 BCE.

      In 2011, a Roman coin, similar to the one shown in Figure 1.6, sold for over $500,000 at auction in Long Beach, California. What could make an old chunk of silver so valuable?

      This coin provides a unique view into the debate among Roman politicians in the years following the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE. When Brutus and Cassius led a group of senators to kill Caesar in the Senate house, was it an act of unwarranted murder or the legitimate removal of a would-be tyrant? Did it undermine the foundations of a civil society or was it necessary to protect the Roman state? The coin reveals the argument for the latter.

      On the obverse, or front of the coin, we find the head of Brutus, identified by the abbreviation BRUT IMP, or Brutus Imperator. Around the lower left side of the coin we find the name L. (for Lucius) Plaetorius Cestianus. This coin was thus minted by Plaetorius, a middling Roman politician who clearly supported Brutus, whom he identifies as a successful military general; at this point in Roman history imperator had not yet come to mean “emperor.” The family of Plaetorius is known to have minted coins during this period, and here Plaetorius uses his position to advocate for a political cause.

      We