The Construction of Authority in Ancient Rome and Byzantium

The Construction of Authority in Ancient Rome and Byzantium: The Rhetoric of Empire

In The Construction of Authority in Ancient Rome and Byzantium, Sarolta Takács examines the role of the Roman emperor, who was the single most important law-giving authority in Roman society. Emperors had to embody the qualities or virtues espoused by Rome's ruling classes. Political rhetoric shaped the ancients’ reality and played a part in the upkeep of their political structures. Takács isolates a reoccurring cultural pattern, a conscious appropriation of symbols and signs (verbal and visual) belonging to the Roman Empire. She suggests that contemporary concepts of “empire” may have Roman precedents, which are reactivations or reuses of well-established ancient patterns. Showing the dialectical interactivity between the constructed past and present, Takács also focuses on the issue of classical legacy through these virtues, which are not simply repeated or adapted cultural patterns but are tools for the legitimization of political power, authority, and even domination of one nation over another.

Sarolta A. Takács is professor of history and founding dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program at Rutgers University. A recipient of fellowships from the Center for Hellenic Studies (Harvard University) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation as well as grants from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and Fondation Hardt, she is the author of Isis and Sarapis in the Roman World and Virgins, Sibyls, and Matrons: Women in Roman Religion.

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Sarolta A. Takács

Rutgers University

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© Sarolta A. Takács 2009

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2009
Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Takács, Sarolta A.
The construction of authority in ancient Rome and Byzantium : the rhetoric of
empire / Sarolta A. Takács.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-87865-4 (hardback)
1. Rome – Politics and government. 2. Byzantine Empire – Politics and
government. 3. Rhetoric, Ancient. I. Title.
JC83.T22 2008
320.937–dc22 2008004828

ISBN 978-0-521-87865-4 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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To My Friends

Inspirations and Psychēs Iatroi

And

To My Teachers

Motivators of Ideas and Questions

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Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Maps	xv
Introduction	xvii
Chapter One   Republican Rome's Rhetorical Pattern of Political Authority	1
Virtual Reality: To Win Fame and Practice Virtue	1
Creation of a Public Image: Rome's Virtuous Man	4
Virtue and Remembrance: The Tomb of the Scipiones	16
Variations on the Theme: Cicero’s Virtuous Roman	24
Pater Patriae: Symbol of Authority and Embodiment of Tradition	32
The Virtuous Father: Gaius Julius Caesar	36
Chapter Two   Empire of Words and Men	40
Augustus's Achievements: A Memory Shaped	40
Horace's Poem 3.2: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori	50
Nero: What an Artist Dies with Me!	55
Vespasian: The Upstart from Reate	62
Trajan: Jupiter on Earth	73
Maximus: Hollywood's Ideal Roman	77
Chapter Three Appropriation of a Pattern	81
Mending the Known World Order	81
A New World Order	89
Constantine, Very Wisely, Seldom Said “No”	94
A Pagan's Last Stand	99
Augustine: The Christian Cicero	107
Claudian's On the Fourth Consulate of Honorius	112
Chapter Four  The Power of Rhetoric	119
The Last Roman Emperor: Justinian	119
The First Byzantine Emperor: Heraclius	127
A View to the West: Charlemagne	134
Back to the East: A Theocratic State?	139
Conclusion	147
Bibliography	155
Ancient Authors	155
Modern Authors	156
Index	165

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Acknowledgments

I benefited greatly from discussions with Professor Phillip Rothwell in the early stages of writing this book. The actual book took shape while I was a Fellow at the Rutgers Center for Historical Research, where, under the directorship of Professors Ann Fabian and Jackson Lears, we explored “The Question of the West.” I am grateful to them and to all the other Fellows who welcomed an ancient historian and helped me rethink many of my assumptions. Thanks goes also to my Rutgers University research assistants, Mr. David Danbeck, Mr. Andrij Fomin, and Ms. Anna Linden Weller, as well as the anonymous readers from the Cambridge University Press. Mr. Paul Blaney for his editorial assistance and Ms. Maureen DeKaser for her unceasing and passionate encouragement as well as her help over many years deserve my deepest gratitude. To all of them, teachers and friends, I dedicate this book.

Rutgers
The State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, NJ
Fall 2007

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