In
Rome, Global Dreams, and the International Origins of an Empire, Sarah Davies explores how the Roman Republic evolved, in ideological terms, into an “Empire without end.” This work stands out within Roman imperialism studies by placing a distinct emphasis on the role of international-level norms and concepts in shaping Roman imperium. Using a combination of literary, epigraphic, and numismatic evidence, Davies highlights three major factors in this process. First is the development, in the third and second centuries BCE, of a self-aware international community with a cosmopolitan vision of a single, universalizing world-system. Second is the misalignment of Rome’s polity and concomitant diplomatic practices with those of its Hellenistic contemporaries. And third is contemporary historiography, which inserted Rome into a cyclical (and cosmic) rise-and-fall of great power.
Sarah H. Davies, Ph.D. (2012), University of Texas at Austin, is an Associate Professor of History at Whitman College. Her research focuses on international relations, ancient historiography, and material culture in the Hellenistic period and in Republican and Augustan Rome.
List of Figures and TablesList of Abbreviations IntroductionThe Roman PredicamentAn International “Middle Ground”Global Dreams: An Overview 1
Pan-Hellenism Goes GlobalMapping a “Mediterranean” WorldHellenicity and World CitizenshipKinship Diplomacy: Building BridgesRoman Identity and Global Hellenism 2
The Problem of Rome’s PoliteiaPolis and KingshipRome and Romans Among Poleis and KingsOn a Roman One-Way Street: Third-Party Diplomacy 3
The Majesty of RomeSacred WarsImperium Maiestatemque Populi RomaniDefining the Body-PoliticThe Goddess Roma 4
A Cloud from the WestThe Changing Shape of World HistoryApocalyptic Traditions and Roman DespoteiaPolybius’ Universal HistoryFate (Tuchē) and the Cycles of History (Anacyclosis) 5
A Liminal FinalePolybius on the “Roman Question”146 BCE Conclusion: Roma AeternaGlobal Dreams: A Summary BibliographyIndex
Academic audiences (specialists, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates) interested in Roman and/or Hellenistic history and imperialism studies, with special focus on international relations, historiography, and Roman-Greek cultural interactions.