Power and Public Finance at Rome, 264-49 BCE PDF Download

Author: James Tan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780190639600
Category : Elite (Social sciences)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this work, James Tan examines the ways in which the profits of imperial expansion transformed Roman public life. Tan argues that the leaders of Rome's early wars of expansion had been constrained by their dependence on taxpayer money.

Author: James Tan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190639598
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Rome's wars delivered great wealth to the conquerors, but how did this affect politics and society on the home front? In Power and Public Finance at Rome, James Tan offers the first examination of the Roman Republic from the perspective of fiscal sociology and makes the case that no understanding of Roman history is complete without an appreciation of the role of economics in defining political interactions. Examining how imperial profits were distributed, Tan explores how imperial riches turned Roman public life on its head. Rome's lofty aristocrats had traditionally been constrained by their dependence on taxpayer money. They relied on the state to fund wars, and the state in turn relied on citizens' taxes to fuel the war machine. This fiscal chain bound the elite to taxpayer consent, but as the spoils of Empire flooded into Rome, leaders found that they could fund any policy they chose without relying on the support of the citizens who funded them. The influx of wealth meant that taxation at home was ended and citizens promptly lost what bargaining power they had enjoyed as a result of the state's reliance on their fiscal contributions. With their dependence on the taxpayers loosened, Rome's aristocratic leaders were free to craft a fiscal system which prioritized the enrichment of their own private estates and which devoted precious few resources to the provision of public goods. In six chapters on the nature of Rome's imperialist enrichment, on politics during the Punic Wars and on the all-important tribunates of the Gracchi, Tan offers new conceptions of Roman state creation, fiscal history, civic participation, aristocratic pre-eminence, and the eventual transition to autocracy.

Author: Liv Mariah Yarrow
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009028243
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The narrative of Roman history has been largely shaped by the surviving literary sources, augmented in places by material culture. The numerous surviving coins can, however, provide new information on the distant past. This accessible but authoritative guide introduces the student of ancient history to the various ways in which they can help us understand the history of the Roman republic, with fresh insights on early Roman-Italian relations, Roman imperialism, urban politics, constitutional history, the rise of powerful generals and much more. The text is accompanied by over 200 illustrations of coins, with detailed captions, as well as maps and diagrams so that it also functions as a sourcebook of the key coins every student of the period should know. Throughout, it demystifies the more technical aspects of the field of numismatics and ends with a how-to guide for further research for non-specialists.

Author: Carey Fleiner
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526135256
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
‘A really fun idea for a book - and full of great stuff.’ Greg Jenner, Public Historian This is the perfect guide for any writer who wants to recreate the Roman world accurately in their fiction. It will aid any novelist, screenwriter, games designer or re-enactor in populating their story with authentic characters and scenes, costumes and locations. Written from a historian’s perspective, this guide pulls back the curtain to show the reader what life in Ancient Rome was really like: what they wore, what they ate, and how they spent their time at work, at home, at war, and at play. Individual chapters focus on different aspects of Romans’ lives, to give you specific knowledge of what they looked like and how they behaved, as well as a broad appreciation of what held their civilisation together, from religion, to the economy, to law and order. You may wish to work your way through the book from cover to cover, or focus specifically on individual chapters as you hone your creative writing skills. Covering the period between 200 BCE and 200 CE, A writer’s guide to Ancient Rome surveys the vast amount of sources and scholarship on the Classical world so you don’t have to! It outlines current scholarly debates and changing interpretations, suggests further reading, and recommends particular resources to mine for each topic. It gives you plenty to consider while you construct your own Roman world.

Author: James Tan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190639571
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
"In the first study of fiscal sociology in the Roman Republic, James Tan argues that much of Roman politics was defined by changes in the fiscal system. Tan offers a new conception of the Roman Republic by showing that imperial profits freed the elite from dependence on citizen taxes"--

Author: Elizabeth H. Pearson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000366715
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This volume demonstrates the development of Roman military bureaucracy during the Middle Republic, expanding on recent research to examine these administrative systems that made possible Rome’s expansion in this period. Bringing together literary works, epigraphy, archaeology, topography and demography, the study reveals a complex and well-structured bureaucratic system developing in parallel with the army during the Middle Republic, propelled in no small part by the stresses of the Hannibalic War. Not only the contents of documents, but the physical objects, individuals and spaces are discussed to re-create the administrative processes in maximum detail. Exploring the Mid-Republican Origins of Roman Military Administration provides an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Rome’s military and administrative history, as well as anyone working on the Republican period.

Author: Walter Scheidel
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691216738
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 698

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Book Description
The gripping story of how the end of the Roman Empire was the beginning of the modern world The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to dominate the world? In an absorbing narrative that begins with ancient Rome but stretches far beyond it, from Byzantium to China and from Genghis Khan to Napoleon, Scheidel shows how the demise of Rome and the enduring failure of empire-building on European soil launched an economic transformation that changed the continent and ultimately the world.

Author: Eric M. Orlin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 111835950X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Provides students with a balanced understanding of the key aspects of the culture and society of the Roman Republic A Social and Cultural History of Republican Rome is the first undergraduate textbook of its kind to concentrate on the ways Roman societal structures, family dynamics, visual arts, law, religion, and other cultural and intellectual developments contributed to Roman identity between 509 BCE and 14 CE. Drawing from a diverse range of archaeological, epigraphic, and literary sources, author Eric M. Orlin provides insight into the socio-cultural and intellectual issues that shaped both the Roman Republic and the wider Mediterranean world. Thematically organized chapters address the practice of politics in the Roman Republic, explain the concept of patronage and the distinctions between patricians and plebeians, examine the impact of the army and militarism on Roman society, discuss the ties between Roman religion and the Roman state, and more. Chapters include maps, charts, images, and links to further readings in ancient sources and modern scholarship. Throughout the text, discussion of several recurring themes connects individual chapters while helping students critically engage the material. A Social and Cultural History of Republican Rome: Focuses on themes other than politics and the military, such as the position and role of women in the Roman family, the foundation of the Roman legal system, and the topography and growth of the city of Rome Introduces the basic materials available for the study of the Roman Republic, including written, architectural, and numismatic sources Features a brief narrative history of the Roman Republic and an overview of the text’s methodological framework Establishes key points of discussion for students, using comparisons between Roman society and our modern-day world Encourages students to critically examine the problems and issues raised by the material Covering topics in Roman history that are frequently neglected in undergraduate classrooms, A Social and Cultural History of Republican Rome is an excellent primary or supplementary textbook for courses on the Roman Republic as well as broader Roman history classes that incorporate socio-cultural issues.

Author: W. Jeffrey Tatum
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019769490X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
A complex and captivating portrait of Mark Antony that offers a fresh perspective on the fall of the Roman Republic In his lifetime, Mark Antony was a famous man. Ally and avenger of Julius Caesar, rhetorical target of Cicero, lover of Cleopatra, and mortal enemy of Octavian (the future emperor Augustus), Antony played a leading role in the transformation of the Roman world. Ever since his and Cleopatra's demise at the hands of Octavian, he has remained famous, or infamous, a figure of recurring fascination. His life--variegated, passionate, sensual, bold, and tragic--inspires vigorous reactions. Nearly everyone has a view on Antony. For Cicero, he was a distasteful though talented man. Octavian fashioned him a dangerous failure, a Roman noble corrupted by his appetites and his lust for Cleopatra. Later historians adopted and adapted these themes, delivering their readers an Antony who was irresistibly depraved, startlingly brave, sometimes cunning, but almost always constitutionally incapable of choosing the right side of history. From these, especially Plutarch's compelling portrait, Shakespeare gave us the chivalrous and unstudied Antony of Antony and Cleopatra. A Noble Ruin, the fullest biography of Antony in English, assimilates the various, often competing, ancient sources to provide a strong and much-needed dose of realism to the caricature we have of this major historical figure. The book gives ample attention to the varied cultural circumstances in which Antony operated, including the social and moral expectations of his republican heritage, as well as the exceptional challenges posed by the convulsion of civil war. In furnishing a complex and captivating portrait of Anthony, A Noble Ruin allows readers to freshly assess his conduct, ambitions, and attainments, as well as the turbulent age in which he lived.

Author: Frederik Juliaan Vervaet
Publisher: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza
ISBN: 8413407079
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
In 133 and 123/122 BCE, the Gracchan reforms opened three cans of worms, pitting the Roman landowning elites against their poorer compatriots, Roman economic interests against those of the Italian allies, and senators against equestrians. As these cumulative divisions threatened to coalesce into a perfect storm, the noble and wealthy tribune of the plebs M. Livius Drusus in 91 boldly proposed a comprehensive if costly New Deal. The eventual annulment of Drusus’ visionary reform package set the stage for the armed rebellion of Rome’s key Italic allies. Even before the conclusion of this gargantuan struggle in 87, the deep divisions Drusus and his backers had sought to resolve, compounded by political discontent among the enfranchised Italians, caused the Roman polity to descend into a series of devastating civil wars, terminated in 82/81 by Sulla’s vindictive victory and reactionary new settlement. Offering a novel narrative analysis of the pivotal events of this well-known but often poorly understood period, this book seeks to demonstrate how the time from Livius Drusus’ tribunate of the plebs to Sulla’s unparalleled dictatorship was marked by momentous reform and experimentation and suggests that the former’s fateful failure arguably represents the moment the Romans lost their ancestral Republic.