Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen

Urban life and local politics in Roman Bithynia : the small world of Dion Chrysostomos

Most studies of Roman local administration focus on the formal structures of power: provincial laws, imperial edicts, urban institutions and magistracies. This book explores the interplay of formal politics with informal factors such as social prejudice, parochialism and personal rivalries in the cities of northwestern Asia Minor from the first to the fifth centuries AD. Through a detailed analysis of the municipal speeches and career of the philosopher-politician Dion Chrysostomos, we gain new insights into the petty conflicts and lofty ambitions of an ancient provincial small-town politician and those around him.

Herodian on Greek and Roman failings

This chapter examines the Herodian as a Greek intellectual living and writing within the Roman Empire. Herodians ideal society appears to be one where able men can make a career for themselves, provided they perform their tasks capably, mind their business and do not let themselves be led astray by excessive ambition. Time and again, Herodian has been compared to his near-contemporary Dio Cassius, and invariably to the latters advantage. As an educated Greek of the late second century, Herodian was familiar not only with the literature of the Classical period but also with the leading writers of the Second Sophistic, such as Dio Chrysostom. Romans of course had their failings as well. If urban rivalry was a Greek weakness, the deplorable habit of murdering emperors seems a typically Roman one. Herodian devotes a good deal of space to the campaigns of Alexander. Keywords: Alexander; Greek failings; Herodian; imperial murder; Roman failings; urban rivalry

Thracians in the Roman Imperial Navy

The Roman fleets of the imperial period were crewed by provincials, not by Italians. Of the sailors and soldiers whose names and geographical origin are attested epigraphically (on military diplomas or epitaphs) almost 15 per cent claim a Thracian origin; and among these, the majority identify themselves as Bessi, a tribe in the mountains of southern Thrace that is not known to have had a tradition of seafaring. The explanations proposed by earlier research include Theodor Mommsen’s contention that Bessi was used as a synonym for Thracians in general, and Jerzy Kolendo’s suggestion that these people were recruited from a colony of displaced Bessi with maritime traditions. This article proposes that the presence of Bessi in the navy was a by-product of the creation of new Black Sea fleets in the first century AD.

Trade, Strategy and Communications on the Roman North-East Frontier

The reorganisation of Pontos that Pompey carried out after defeating Mithradates VI Eupator has traditionally been seen as an example of enlightened Roman policy towards the provincials, which included the introduction of civic self-government and the promotion of commercial life. These goals Pompey attempted to achieve by establishing five urban communities along an existing east-west artery known as the “Pontic road”. A closer examination of the textual evidence and the actual remains of the “Pontic Road”, however, indicate that the road had not been a trade route of any significance before the Roman conquest and that the motives behind Pompey’s dispositions were of a strategic, rather than of a commercial nature. Öz: Mithradates VI Eupator’un yenilgiye uğratılmasının ardından Pompeius tarafından Pontos’un yeniden düzenlenmesi, eyaletlerdeki kent otonomluğuna müdahale ve ticari yaşamın tesisi hususundaki Roma Politikasını aydınlatması bakımından örnek teşkil etmektedir. Pompeius, “Pontos yolu” olarak bilinen ve doğu-batı istikametinde hâlihazırda bulunan anayol üzerine beş kent kurarak söz konusu amaçları hayata geçirmeye çalışmıştır. Daha detaylı bakıldığında yazılı kaynaklar ve “Pontos yolu”nun kalıntıları söz konusu yolun Roma işgalinden önce ticari bir güzergâh olmadığını ve Pompeius’un düzenlemelerinin de ticari olmaktan ziyade stratejik olduğunu göstermektedir.

Strabo and Ptolemy on the Geography of Western Cyprus

Though very different in style, Strabos and Ptolemys descriptions of Western Cyprus have a number of points in common which indicate the use of a common source. A critical reading of both descrip...