This thesis focuses on a short period of time between 50 B.C. to A.D. 14, which is marked by the increased prominence of pax as a central concept within the victory rhetoric of the period. The period is one of immense political and social upheaval and change that was to dictate the power structures of the Roman world, and one of the ways in which this change was conceptualised was through the language of peace. In this thesis I examine pax as a concept within the Roman empire and as part of an discourse on the nature of Roman imperialism. This examination considers not just the development of pax as a concept over time, but also how it was variously conceptualised and presented to different audiences and in different locations. This focuses the examination of pax on understanding what the term as an expression of Rome’s imperium meant to various peoples within the Roman empire, how it was expressed and for what reasons. As David Mattingly has recently emphasised the nature of Roman imperialism changed radically over time (‘Imperialism, Power, and Identity: Experiencing the Roman Empire’ (2011)). This study of the different rhetorics of peace offers new insight into this changing nature. Beyond the specific examination of pax as a part of imperial discourse within the late Republic and early Principate, this study raises questions about the way we think about concepts in the ancient world. Rather than talking about a single development or evolution over time, we should rather consider concepts as constantly active and changing in time. Our view of the ancient world and the way in which it was conceptualised should not be a static one, but one where the meaning and value of words give us insights into how individuals and communities expressed and explained changing social and political conditions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:581413 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Cornwell, Hannah Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Quinn, Josephine Crawley |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3117ecc0-acb8-49e9-a130-6ca3099b9974 |
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