The Central Appennine peoples, alternatively represented as decadent and dangerous barbarians or as personifications of manly wisdom and virtue, were important figures in Greek and Roman ideology. This unique study considers the ways in which these perceptions developed--reflecting both the shifting needs of Greek and Roman societies and the character of interaction between the various cultures of ancient Italy--to illuminate the development of a specifically Roman identity through the creation of an ideology of incorporation.
The Central Appennine peoples, alternatively represented as decadent and dangerous barbarians or as personifications of manly wisdom and virtue, were ...
Modern treatments of Rome have projected in highly emotive terms the perceived problems, or the aspirations, of the present: "race-mixture" has been blamed for the collapse of the Roman empire; more recently, Rome and Roman society have been depicted as "multicultural." Moving beyond these and beyond more traditional, juridical approaches to Roman identity, Emma Dench focuses on ancient modes of thinking about selves and relationships with other peoples, including descent-myths, history, and ethnographies. She explores the relative importance of sometimes closely interconnected categories of...
Modern treatments of Rome have projected in highly emotive terms the perceived problems, or the aspirations, of the present: "race-mixture" has been b...
