Urban Life and Local Politics in Roman Bithynia. Tonnes Bekker-Nielsen
История. Black Sea Studies
Urban Life and Local Politics in Roman Bithynia
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9788771247527
Автор произведения Tonnes Bekker-Nielsen
Жанр История
Серия Black Sea Studies
Издательство Ingram
Most studies of Roman local administration focus on the formal structures of power: imperial laws, urban institutions and magistracies. This book explores the interplay of formal power with informal factors such as social prejudice, parochialism and personal rivalries in the cities of northwestern Asia Minor from the first to the fifth centuries AD. Through a detailed analysis of the municipal speeches and career of the philosopher-politician Dion Chrysostomos, we gain new in-depth insight into the petty conflicts and lofty ambitions of an ancient provincial small-town politician and those around him. The author concludes that Roman local politics were rarely concerned with political issues but more often with social status and the desire for recognition within an agonistic society.