John Curran

Jerome and the Sham Christians of Rome

This rhetorical question was poseu by Jerome in AD 411 to challenge a young man of good family from Toulouse who was contemplating the responsibilities of monastic life. The old man of Bethlehem wrote on city life with some authority; he had achieved fame and notoriety simultaneously at the court of Pope Damasus in Rome in the 380s.2 And yet, as both men knew well, the moral and physical dangers of the city, the latter resoundingly demonstrated by the Gothic capture of Rome in the previous year, had not prompted the rejection of urban life by western Christians, save by a small and eccentric group of extreme ascetics. Jeromes praise for this group is well known, and his criticism of less committed Christians in Rome is legendary. But when one examines the uniquely vivid testimony of Jeromes letters, one can detect beneath the praise and polemic a vigorous struggle for the support of the citys elite. The social background to the struggle as revealed in Jeromes writings is the subject of this article. What emerges is a complex, contradictory and divided Christian community which Jerome unsuccessfully attempted to influence, a failure that brought final and ignominious exile from Rome.

Philorhomaioi: The Herodian Prism

This paper offers a reconstruction and analysis of the Herodian family as a presence in the city of Rome over more than three generations. The scholarly tendency to view the Herods as an aspect of a broader governmental system overlooks the workings of the particular relationships that elevated the Herods in their own land as well as at the centre of Roman power. Beginning with the foundation of a lasting connection between the Herods and the Julio-Claudians laid by Herod the Great and Augustus, this paper traces the legacy of that connection and its impact on affairs in both Judaea and Rome. The peculiar challenges of retaining status in both Roman and Jewish contexts are assessed and their importance as a vital aspect of our understanding of first-century Judaean politics is established. Examination, finally, of the development of their aspirations and their negotiation of dynastic change shows vividly the processes of ‘Romanisation’ in the context of an elite family.

The Ambitions of Quintus Labienus 'Parthicus' *

Late in 41 or early in 40 BC a force of Parthians embarked upon an unusually vigorous and penetrative irruption into the Roman province of Syria. Prominent among those commanding the Parthians was Q. Labienus who had earlier been sent to the court of the Parthian king by the assassins of Caesar as they made their own preparations for war with the dead dictators supporters. Marooned by the outcome of the battle of Philippi, Labienus became resident at the court of the Parthian king Orodes, returning to Roman territory in the company of the invaders. The force concentrated first on Syria and surrounding territory but by the spring of 40 BC a thrust was made with Labienus at its head into the provinces of Asia Minor. Initially, prominent citizens of the region were left to make their own responses to Labienus but presently a successful Roman counter-attack was mounted under the leadership of P. Ventidius Bassus. The invaders were swiftly defeated but not before Labienus had deployed the striking self-designation ‘Parthicus’. Bassus himself duly triumphed in November 38 BC and became the only non-imperial holder of ‘Parthicus’ as a cognomen.

ius vitae necisque: the politics of killing children

Abstract This paper seeks to challenge the long-standing interpretation of the ius vitae necisque as a formal legal right of Roman fathers. It offers a review and critique of the evidence upon which the claim of ancient origin is founded and highlights the consequent problems in comprehending late Republican and Imperial references to the killing of sons by fathers. An alternative and more satisfactory understanding is to be found in sociological thinking and it is argued that the comprehension of the ius vitae necisque as a formal right is not only invalid but obscures the real significance of its promotion as a political phenomenon in the age of Augustus and the early emperors of Rome.

“To Be or to Be Thought to Be”: The Testimonium Flavianum (again)

Recent research on the textual tradition of Latin versions of the Testimonium Flavianum prompts another enquiry into the original text and the transmission of the famous passage. It is suggested here that the Greek/Latin versions highlight a western/eastern early history of the Testimonium and that in turn directs our attention back to the original circumstances of its composition and publication in the city of Rome in the later years of the first century. Restored to its original historical context, the Testimonium emerges as a carefully crafted attack upon the post-Pauline community of Christ-followers in the city.