A tall order : writing the social history of the ancient world ; essays in honor of William V. Harris

This volume commemorates the 65th birthday of William Vernon Harris (on September 13, 2003), when a group of his former students agreed to honor him with a collection of essays that would represent the wide variety of interests and influences of our advisor and friend. The fifteen papers in fact range chronologically from the first Olympics to late antiquity and discuss various questions of imperialism, law, economy, and religion in the ancient Mediterranean world. The essays share a social historical perspective from which they challenge as many commonly accepted notions in ancient history. The contributors acknowledge their intellectual debt to the formative scholarly acumen of William V. Harris, which adds up to the "tall order" of engaging with his work. Frontmatter......Page 1 Contents......Page 5 Abbreviations......Page 7 Illustrations......Page 9 Preface......Page 11 William V. Harris: The first forty years of scholarship (1965-2005)......Page 13 A God of Reciprocity: Torah and Social Relations in an Ancient Mediterranean Society......Page 25 Distinguishing Jewishness in Antiquity......Page 59 Jesus, an Adulteress, and the Development of Christian Scripture......Page 81 Constantius II and the First Removal of the Altar of Victory......Page 107 ‘Du lard ou du cochon’? The Τestamentum Ρorcelli as a Jewish Anti-Christian Pamphlet......Page 129 Aristocratic Competition, Horses, and the Spolia Opima Once Again......Page 165 An Architecture of Human Heads: Gallic Responses to Roman Power......Page 181 Soldiers’ Slaves, ‘Dirty Work’, and the Social Status of Roman Soldiers......Page 223 Veterans, Agriculture, and Monetization in the Late Roman Republic......Page 247 Country Villas in Roman Central Italy: Reassessing the Evidence......Page 259 The Delicts of the Countryside in Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe......Page 281 Local Governments and Collegia: A New Appraisal of the Evidence......Page 303 Imagining Olympia: Hippias of Elis and the First Olympic Victor List......Page 335 A Sense of Change and the Historiography of the Turn from Republic to Empire......Page 373 Afterword......Page 393 Contributors......Page 395 Edited By Jean-jacques Aubert And Zsuzsanna Várhelyi. 'william V. Harris : The First Forty Years Of Scholarship (1965-2005)' : P. [xv]-xxiv. Includes Bibliographical References.