Power and Privilege in Roman Society
Power and Privilege in Roman Society
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How far were appointments in the Roman Empire based on merit? Did experience matter? What difference did social rank make? This innovative study of the Principate examines the career outcomes of senators and knights by social category. Contrasting patterns emerge from a new database of senatorial careers. Although the highest appointments could reflect experience, a clear preference for the more aristocratic senators is also seen. Bias is visible even in the major army commands and in the most senior civilian posts nominally filled by ballot. In equestrian appointments, successes by the less experienced again suggest the power of social advantage. Senatorial recruitment gradually opened up to include many provincials but Italians still kept their hold on the higher social groupings. The book also considers the senatorial career more widely, while a final section examines slave careers and the phenomenon of voluntary slavery.
- Uncovers large-scale social discrimination in senior appointments in the Roman Empire
- Undermines some meritocratic views of Roman promotion policy
- Throws new light on senatorial recruitment policy and its results
Product details
August 2016Adobe eBook Reader
9781316715765
0 pages
0kg
17 b/w illus.
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- Part I. Social Status and Senatorial Success:
- 1. Introduction: the senator
- 2. Social standing and its impact on careers
- 3. The career ladder at Rome
- 4. Service overseas
- 5. Defenders of the empire
- 6. Influx from the provinces
- 7. The chronology of the senatorial evidence
- 8. Career inscriptions and what they leave out
- Part II. Equestrian Perspectives:
- 9. Defining the equites
- 10. The public employment of equites
- 11. The economic involvements of equites
- 12. The devaluation of equestrian rank
- Part III. The Unprivileged:
- 13. Slavery: the background
- 14. Slavery as a career
- Appendixes: Appendix 1. Scoring systems for senators
- Appendix 2. Non-vigintiviri and additional senators
- Appendix 3. The duration of army posts
- Appendix 4. Details of vigintiviri
- Appendix 5. Some senatorial careers
- Appendix 6. Early and late priesthoods
- Appendix 7. Inventory of senators in the database.
