Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (Classics and Contemporary Thought Book 6)

The Roman empire remains unique. Although Rome claimed to rule the world, it did not. Rather, its uniqueness stems from the culture it created and the loyalty it inspired across an area that stretched from the Tyne to the Euphrates. Moreover, the empire created this culture with a bureaucracy smaller than that of a typical late-twentieth-century research university. In approaching this problem, Clifford Ando does not ask the ever-fashionable question, Why did the Roman empire fall? Rather, he asks, Why did the empire last so long? __Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire__ argues that the longevity of the empire rested not on Roman military power but on a gradually realized consensus that Roman rule was justified. This consensus was itself the product of a complex conversation between the central government and its far-flung peripheries. Ando investigates the mechanisms that sustained this conversation, explores its contribution to the legitimation of Roman power, and reveals as its product the provincial absorption of the forms and content of Roman political and legal discourse. Throughout, his sophisticated and subtle reading is informed by current thinking on social formation by theorists such as Max Weber, Jürgen Habermas, and Pierre Bourdieu. The Roman empire remains unique. Although Rome claimed to rule the world, it did not. Rather, its uniqueness stems from the culture it created and the loyalty it inspired across an area that stretched from the Tyne to the Euphrates. Moreover, the empire created this culture with a bureaucracy smaller than that of a typical late-twentieth-century research university. In approaching this problem, Clifford Ando does not ask the ever-fashionable question, Why did the Roman empire fall? Rather, he asks, Why did the empire last so long?

Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire argues that the longevity of the empire rested not on Roman military power but on a gradually realized consensus that Roman rule was justified. This consensus was itself the product of a complex conversation between the central government and its far-flung peripheries. Ando investigates the mechanisms that sustained this conversation, explores its contribution to the legitimation of Roman power, and reveals as its product the provincial absorption of the forms and content of Roman political and legal discourse. Throughout, his sophisticated and subtle reading is informed by current thinking on social formation by theorists such as Max Weber, Jürgen Habermas, and Pierre Bourdieu. "Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire argues that the longevity of the empire rested not on Roman military power, but on a gradually realized consensus that Roman rule was justified. This consensus was itself the product of a complex conversation between the central government and its far-flung peripheries. Ando investigates the mechanisms that sustained this conversation, explores its contribution to the legitimization of Roman power, and reveals as its product the provincial absorption of the forms and content of Roman political and legal discourse.". "Ando brings to bear a magisterial command of Roman historical sources; he marshals papyrological, numismatic, artistic, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence, as well as historical and literary. Throughout, his sophisticated and subtle reading is informed by current thinking on social formation by theorists such as Max Weber, Jurgen Habermas, and Pierre Bourdieu.". "As he illuminates the relationship between the imperial government and the empire's provinces, Ando deepens our understanding of one of the most striking phenomena in the history of government."--BOOK JACKET. CONTENTS List of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. Introduction: Communis Patria PART 1. ANCIENT AND MODERN CONTEXTS 2. Ideology in the Roman Empire 3. The Roman Achievement in Ancient Thought PART 2. CONSENSUS AND COMMUNICATION 4. The Communicative Actions of the Roman Government 5. Consensus in Theory and Practice 6. The Creation of Consensus 7. Images of Emperor and Empire PART 3. FROM IMPERIUM TO PATRIA 8. Orbis Terrarum and Orbis Romanus 9. The King Is a Body Politick . . . for that a Body Politique Never Dieth 10. Conclusion: Singulare et Unicum Imperium Works Cited General Index Index Locorum This text examines why and how the Roman empire lasted so long. In studying the bureaucracy behind it, the author argues that the longevity of the empire rested not on military power but on a gradually realized consensus that Roman rule was justified