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The political, economic and social transformations of the so-called 'Crisis of the Third Century' appear to have combined to form a watershed moment in the history of the Roman empire, if not western civilisation in general. In particular, the period's dramatic coinage debasement has been roughly, if not at times self-evidently, correlated with catastrophic economic consequences, most notably price inflation. Apart from the numismatic evidence, the dearth of empirical data has not dissuaded scholars from pursuing quantitative studies of the period. These efforts often rely heavily on positivism in general and the models and assumptions of neoclassical economics more specifically. However, positivism as a rule produces conclusions which are never proven and correlations without firm causal relationships. Thus ancient economic historians are engaged in a seemingly perpetual debate over both the causes and effects of a third-century crisis. This thesis argues that quantification is both unhelpful and impossible in this particular case. Instead, a comparative approach is employed which, rather than comparing historical periods, contrasts the factual with the counter-factual. In questioning why price inflation did not immediately follow third- century debasements, quantity theory is reconstructed as an apodictic counter-factual proposition. In contrast to the predictive aims of neoclassical economics, this approach embraces the clear dissonance between reality and its theoretical alternative, narrowing the analysis to the differences exposed in quantity theory's inapplicability. What emerges is a picture of the third-century monetary economy which is considerably different than previously thought. Recent assumptions which correspond to a narrative of 'crisis' or even 'decline' are questioned, including the breakdown of a monetary monopoly, legal coinage ratios and a pro-growth 'monetary policy.' In fact, such elements may never have been present and the changes in the third century were the result of tensions due to a monetary system which was normally localised, disconnected and plural.

I examine how religion is presented in the Annals of Tacitus, and how it resonates with and adds complexity to the larger themes of the historian’s narrative. Memory is essential to understanding the place of religion in the narrative, for Tacitus constructs a picture of a Rome with ‘religious amnesia.’ The Annals are populated with characters, both emperors and their subjects, who fail to maintain the traditional religious practices of their forebears by neglecting prodigies and omens, committing impious murders, and even participating in the destruction of Rome’s sacred buildings. Alongside this forgetfulness of traditional religious practice runs the construction of a new memory – that of the deified Augustus – which leads to the veneration of living emperors in terms appropriate to gods. This religious narrative resonates with and illuminates Tacitean observations on the nature of power in imperial Rome. Furthermore, tracing the prominence of religious memory in the text improves our understanding of how Tacitus thinks about the past, and particularly how he thinks about the role of the historian in shaping memory for his readers. I consider various religious categories and their function in Tacitus’ writings, and how his characters interact with them: calendars (do Tacitus’ Romans preserve or change the traditional scheduling of festivals?), architecture (what determines the building of or alterations to temples and other religious monuments?), liturgy (do they worship in the same ways their ancestors did?), and images (how do they treat cult statues?). I analyze the patterns of behaviour, both in terms of ritual practice and in how Tacitus’ characters think about and interpret the supernatural, and consider how Rome’s religious past features in these patterns. The thesis is structured according to the reigns of individual emperors. Four chapters chart Tiberius’ accession, Germanicus’ death, its aftermath, and Sejanus’ rise to power; one chapter examines the religious antiquarian Claudius; and the final chapter analyzes Nero’s impieties and their consequences.

This thesis is a new edition of the Preface and Books 1-8 of Pseudo-Arcadius’ Epitome of Herodian’s Περὶ καθολικῆς προσῳδίας. It includes an introduction, critical apparatus, apparatus of parallel passages and notes on the text, and is intended as a contribution to modern Herodianic studies. Most of our knowledge of Greek accentuation is due to Herodian’s lost Περὶ καθολικῆς προσῳδίας. The main sources for this work, an epitome misattributed to Arcadius and another by John Philoponus, do not have modern critical editions. Lentz’s only collected edition of Herodian’s works (1867-70) is difficult to work with, because Lentz attempts to reconstruct Herodian’s work rather than to lay out the surviving evidence. The new critical edition of Pseudo-Arcadius’ Epitome is a response to the need for new and separate editions of the sources for the Περὶ καθολικῆς προσῳδίας. A new edition of this text is important because the previous two editions (Barker 1820, Schmidt 1860) have many weaknesses; neither editor examined all the surviving manuscripts, and they did not read the manuscripts themselves but used copies made by other people. My new examination of all the surviving manuscripts, excepting some very late and uncontroversially derivative manuscripts, comes to a new conclusion about their interrelations. The two manuscripts which I am the first to employ turn out to be the only non-derivative manuscripts, and therefore by far the most important. They enable us to improve the text significantly. My introduction includes a substantial new evaluation of the interpolated or doubtful sections in the epitome, whose study is impeded by confusion as to their date and relationships to other works. It also discusses the authorship of this epitome, and its grammatical terminology and concepts. Another innovation is the apparatus of parallel passages. The collection of other texts that have derived material from Herodian shows the extent of Herodian’s influence on later grammatical texts. The parallel passages, as witnesses to Herodian’s text in some form, often enable us to correct the text of Pseudo-Arcadius’ Epitome. A further contribution of my thesis consists of the commentary, which discusses corrupt passages, features of the text that have never been explained before, and places where specific details of the epitomator’s methods can be identified. The commentary also provides argumentation supporting decisions taken in editing the text, and other helpful information for the understanding of the text.

This thesis considers the geographical and chronological forms of ‘mirroring’ that offer a way of reading 'Annals' 1-6. It looks at how Tacitus’ depictions of non-Romans reflect back on Rome, and at the echoes of Rome’s past and future that can be discerned within his description of Tiberius’ principate. After an introduction that discusses key thematic and methodological questions, Chapter 1 shows that Tiberius’ accession and the Pannonian and German mutinies described in 'Annals' 1 echo Tacitus’ account in 'Histories' 1 of events of AD 69. Moreover, when the Romans attempt to conquer Germany, the Germans’ resistance to this and to other efforts to rule them shows up Roman responses to civil war and autocracy. Chapter 2 begins by examining potential similarities between Roman and both Parthian and Armenian history, and then focuses on Germanicus’ voyage in the east, recounted in 'Annals' 2. His actions associate him with many late republican and early imperial Roman figures, which suggests that there are continuities between those two eras. Chapter 3 extends this theme by discussing the echoes of Sallust and Caesar in the central books of the Tiberian hexad. Intertexts with Sallust’s 'Bellum Catilinae' especially hint that earlier civil conflicts are about to be replayed in some form, as the appearance of Sejanus, the ‘new Catiline’, confirms. Chapter 4 further considers Tacitus’ inferences about the overlap between republican and imperial history, and then examines anti-Roman revolts in 'Annals' 2, 3 and 4. Foreign rebels’ relative success in attempting to reclaim their freedom correlates with their distance from Rome, and this has clear implications for the status of Roman 'libertas' under Tiberius. Finally, the outbreak of ‘civil war within the principate’, and indeed within the imperial house, is analysed. Chapter 5 traces the continuation of this ‘civil war’, and proposes that the last book of the Tiberian hexad again looks directly to 69, as well as to the excesses of other Julio-Claudians. It also considers Tacitus’ account of Roman intervention in Parthia: this episode confirms imperial Rome’s propensity for autocracy and civil war. There follows a short conclusion in which some speculation is offered about how some of the themes discussed in this thesis with reference to the Tiberian hexad may have been represented in the lost central books of the 'Annals'.

Cette recherche concerne donc la figure d' Antonin le Pieux et les dispositions prises directement en conséquence à son auctoritas, afin d'identifier le Leitmotiv de l'empire de l'empereur. Mon enquête s'agit de mettre en évidence les choix politiques impériaux, pour ensuite identifier les principes et les lignes directrices à travers l'analyse des mandata principum, des rescrits, des lettres de l'empereur aux gouverneurs, des témoignages et des formes de correspondance. Le parcours se compose de quatre chapitres. Le premier dessine un cadre diachronique et historique des étapes les plus importantes de la province d'Asie, en mettant en évidence surtout l'histoire politico-administrative. Le deuxième chapitre analyse les aspects institutionnels qui ont permis de mettre au point, dans une perspective qualitative et quantitative, les relations entre Antonin le Pieux et la province d'Asie, principalement selon un ordre chronologique. Le troisième chapitre est dédié à l'étude prosopographique du personnel administratif de la province d'Asie et à la rédaction des Fastes, dans le but de donner une chronologie des gouverneurs, utile à définir un cadre du système politique, des relations et des intérêts entre les membres de l'ordo sénatorial. Le quatrième chapitre est dédié à l'étude du système conventuel. Les exemples étudiés ont donc mis en valeur le fait que Antonin, grâce à son expérience en tant que proconsul en Asie, a mieux géré l'organisation du système conventuel, ce qui lui a permis de augmenter le nombre des chefs-lieux, dans l'intérêt des cités émergentes en Phrygie, surtout en ce qui concerne le système administratif et économique. / This research concerns the figure of Antonius Pius and the dispositions which are directly taken accordingly to his auctoritas, in order to identify the Leitmotiv of his empire. The aim of this research is to highlight the imperial political choices and, through the analysis of mandata principum, rescripts, letters from the emperor to governors, testimonies and forms of correspondence, to identify the principles and guidelines of his politics. The monograph consists of four chapters. The first chapter is devoted to a historical excursus, which is useful to have a preliminary historical view of the province of Asia, with particular attention to the political and administrative aspects. The second chapter focuses the institutional aspects in the relationship between Antoninus Pius and the province of Asia, from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. The third chapter is dedicated to a prosopographical study of the administrative staff of the province of Asia, useful to define a framework of the political system, relations and interests within the members of the Senate and the imperial family. The fourth chapter is devoted to the study of the conventual system : the evidences highlight how Antonin, thanks to his experience as a proconsul in Asia, managed a better organization of the conventual system, probably increasing the number of the capitals.