This dissertation investigates the life, writings, and reception of Marcus Tullius Tiro, a Roman freedman who had formerly been enslaved to Cicero. Its five chapters employ literary and historical approaches to analyze extant sources and to discern what they are able to tell us about Tiro. Chapter one offers a literary reading of Ad familiares 16 that demonstrates how this book of letters tells a story of Tiro’s rise from enslavement to becoming a successful Roman citizen. This analysis of Ad familiares 16 suggests that its letters present a curated portrait of Tiro, which may skew the reliability of this book as a straightforward historical source. Chapter two therefore turns to comparative evidence, particularly Epistulae ad Atticum, in order to establish a clearer understanding of the labor and status of Tiro, as well as other enslaved and freed people connected with Cicero’s household. Chapter three then moves beyond Ciceronian sources in order to study Tiro as an author and scholar in his own right. By analyzing fragments and testimonia of Tiro’s writings, the chapter contextualizes Tiro’s work in the intellectual culture of the first century BCE and suggests how Tiro used authorship as a means of self-fashioning. The final two chapters of the dissertation investigate Tiro’s afterlives in antiquity and in later historical periods. Chapter four provides a detailed analysis of Tiro’s reception in the writings of ancient authors, showing how Tiro became a symbolic figure in the classical tradition. Chapter five then presents case studies that explore Tiro’s afterlives in a selection of sources from the fourteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Taken together, these five chapters construct a multifaceted account of Tiro and his legacy.

This research examines how, when and why the Romans assigned and defined the tasks of preparing and commanding fleets during the Republic. In doing so, it brings new evidence to bear on the wider debates about the nature of the prouincia and the institutional and administrative development of the Roman empire. The communis opinio is that a prouincia originally represented a functional “sphere of operation” that was allotted or assigned to a magistrate and that it only later developed a geographical meaning with territorial connotations through the process of “provincialisation.” This research challenges that view through an analysis of the evidence for the definition, assignment and practical use of the prouincia classis and other prouinciae connected with the command of fleets. Drawing upon and analysing the lists of administrative arrangements to be found in the “annalistic” sections of the surviving books of Livy’s History, it argues that prouinciae were defined in specific geographical and functional terms long before the development of permanent territorial empire. This offers a new perspective which points to and elucidates the flexible use of the prouincia as a means of separating magistrates and promagistrates in space or by function in space. It argues that the rationale for this was to limit conflicts between commanders over command and triumphal rights. By combining evidence from a wide range of sources after the loss of Livy’s History from 167, the research shows that the above rationale for demarcating prouinciae still applied in the first century B.C. However, it also demonstrates that there were significant changes with the assignment of vast Mediterranean-wide naval prouinciae in the first half of the first century B.C. It argues that the definition of these prouinciae was made possible by the development of a singular collective Mediterranean-wide ora maritima, which was brought about by the Romans’ increasing “acknowledgement of empire.” The negative political and institutional implications of these developments are also assessed. Finally, in discussing the above, this research also provides new insights into the role and auctoritas of the Senate, the function and freedom of magistrates, and the Romans’ conceptualisation of their empire.

Cette étude explore dans une perspective comparative la présentation historique et l’interprétation philosophique de la décadence de la res publica chez Salluste et Tite Live. Dans la première partie, il est montré que Salluste et Tite-Live sont les premiers auteurs à avoir choisi comme thème central de leur récit le progrès et la décadence d’une cité. À travers un examen précis des étapes de la décadence chez les deux auteurs, nous remarquons que Tite-Live apporte constamment des corrections à la théorie de Salluste. Le schéma d’aucun des deux historiens ne se conforme à une vision cyclique ou linéaire du temps. La représentation biologique de la cité montre aussi que les hommes sont les seuls responsables pour la maladie de la décadence. Or, la reprise du progrès, selon une conception cyclique et la guérison du corps de l’État sont évoquées comme perspectives seulement par Tite-Live. La deuxième partie est consacrée aux causes de la maladie de la décadence, et la troisième à la guérison de la res publica. Trois facteurs sont examinés en détail : les facteurs « divins », le metus hostilis et la nature humaine. Tite-Live renverse l’analyse de plus en plus pessimiste de Salluste, et réintroduit l’homme en tant que facteur principal de l’histoire et comme responsable de la décadence. Dans la troisième partie, leur vision différente de l’avenir de Rome est mise en lumière, à travers l’étude de la position politique et de la fonction exemplaire de l’œuvre des deux historiens. Il en ressort que Tite-Live adopte les catégories sallustéennes d’analyse, mais conçoit sa propre présentation et interprétation de la décadence en réponse à son devancier, dont il renverse les théories. / This study explores in a comparative perspective the historical presentation and the philosophical interpretation of the decadence of the res publica in Sallust and Livy. In the first part, it is shown that Sallust and Livy are the first authors who have chosen the progress and decline of a State as the central theme of their works. Through a precise examination of the stages of decadence in both writers, we observe that Livy constantly proposes corrections to Sallust’s theory. Neither author’s pattern conforms to a cyclical or a linear vision of time. The organicist representation of the body politic also shows that men are solely responsible for the disease of decadence in both authors. However, the resumption of progress according to a cyclical conception and the healing of the body of the State are considered as potential prospects only by Livy. The second part is devoted to the causes of the disease of decadence, and the third one to the healing of the res publica. Three factors are discussed in detail: the "divine" factors, the metus hostilis and the human nature. Livy reverses the increasingly pessimistic analysis of Sallust, and reintroduces man as the most important factor in history and as responsible for the decadence. In the third part, their different view of the future of Rome is brought into focus, through the study of the political position and the exemplary function of the two historians’ works. It is concluded that Livy adopts Sallustian categories of analysis, but he conceives his own presentation and interpretation of the decadence in response to his predecessor, whose theories he challenges.

Ce mémoire espère expérimenter l’application de la Nouvelle Économie Institutionnelle (NEI) en questionnant les éléments ayant favorisé le développement de l’économie viticole à l’époque romaine dans la région du Rhône. Pour y parvenir, cette recherche s’attarde sur trois axes ayant joué un rôle important dans le développement du commerce du vin dans le Rhône, mais aussi dans d’autres régions du bassin méditerranéen. Premièrement, il sera question de montrer comment l’environnement et le climat du Rhône ont influencé le développement de différents types de cultures de la vigne pour ensuite évaluer la valeur économique de chacune d’elles. Les hypothèses et conclusions de cette première partie émanent principalement d’une lecture des agronomes anciens (Caton l’Ancien, Pline le Jeune, Varron, Columelle et Palladius) faite en parallèle des plus récents développements en histoire climatique. Deuxièmement, cette recherche s’attarde sur la question des opérations relatives à la fabrication et à la distribution du vin. Après avoir pris en considération les enjeux du déplacement et de mise en marché, nous nous risquons à proposer un cadre d’analyse issu de la recherche en entreprise faite dans les années 1960 : la matrice d’Ansoff. Troisièmement, la dernière section de ce mémoire s’oriente sur le rôle du développement de la science juridique à Rome en interrogeant les impacts des institutions légales sur le commerce du vin. Une étude de cas consacrée à la place de l’armée romaine reliant ces trois axes fait office de courte synthèse. Dans son ensemble, ce travail espère pouvoir montrer les bases d’une analyse de marché dans l’Antiquité, et ce, malgré les nombreux enjeux méthodologiques propres à l’économie ancienne. / This thesis hopes to experiment with the use of New Institutional Economy (NIE) by exploring the factors that contributed to the development of the wine economy in the Rhône region in Roman times. To achieve this goal, this research will focus on three axes that played an important role in the development of the wine trade in the Rhône, but also in other regions of the Mediterranean region. Firstly, it will show how the Rhône's environment and climate have influenced the development of different types of viticulture, and then examine the economic value of each. The hypotheses and conclusions of this first section are mainly based on a reading of ancient agronomists (Cato the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Varron, Columella and Palladius) alongside the most recent developments in climatic history. Secondly, this research focuses on the operations involved in making and selling wine. After considering the issues of displacement and commercialisation, we risk proposing an analytical framework derived from business research carried out in the 1960s: the Ansoff matrix. Thirdly, the final pages of this dissertation focus on the role of the development of legal science in Rome, questioning the impact of legal institutions on the wine industry. A case study devoted to the role of the Roman army connects these three axes and serves as a synthesis. Overall, this work hopes to demonstrate the foundations of market analysis in antiquity, despite the multiple methodological challenges specific to ancient economics.