The City and the Emperor. The Aedui in the Roman Empire according to the Latin Panegyrics.
PUPS| N° d'inventaire | 24072 |
| Format | 16 x 24 |
| Détails | 543 p., paperback. |
| Publication | Paris, 2012 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782859447120 |
How, for more than five centuries, were the rulers of Rome able to ensure the unity of a vast empire stretching from present-day Scotland to the confines of the Arabian Desert? An answer to this question is provided by orators from the late third century AD, originally from Autun in Gaul, authors of speeches collected in the collection of Latin Panegyrics . This book offers a unique rereading of the Latin panegyrics V(9) and VIII(5), unique witnesses to the modes of communication which could be established between the representatives of a civic community and the imperial authorities.
In this exchange, which blended administrative issues and court rituals, convincing the prince required a skillful use of the rhetoric of praise. Heirs to traditions developed in the East at the dawn of the Principate, the Aedui panegyrists demonstrated their mastery of the genre known as "embassy speeches," used to formulate official requests or defend local interests. In the persuasive strategy at work, the rhetorical flourishes, far from being mere empty words, revealed a wealth of information about municipal life, euergetism, the culture of notables, the rituals of power, and much more.
By rehabilitating long-neglected documentation, the analysis sheds new light on the survival of civic institutions and ideals in Gaul in the aftermath of the third-century crisis and, along the way, on the final phase of the Romanization process. Finally, these discourses reveal the existence, within the Empire, of a phenomenon unique in history, the product of a subtle mixture of administrative practices and diplomatic negotiations between the cities and the central power. The dialogue established within the framework of "internal diplomacy," a source of compromise and balance between these two levels of government, played an essential role in the cohesion of the Imperium Romanum .
How, for more than five centuries, were the rulers of Rome able to ensure the unity of a vast empire stretching from present-day Scotland to the confines of the Arabian Desert? An answer to this question is provided by orators from the late third century AD, originally from Autun in Gaul, authors of speeches collected in the collection of Latin Panegyrics . This book offers a unique rereading of the Latin panegyrics V(9) and VIII(5), unique witnesses to the modes of communication which could be established between the representatives of a civic community and the imperial authorities.
In this exchange, which blended administrative issues and court rituals, convincing the prince required a skillful use of the rhetoric of praise. Heirs to traditions developed in the East at the dawn of the Principate, the Aedui panegyrists demonstrated their mastery of the genre known as "embassy speeches," used to formulate official requests or defend local interests. In the persuasive strategy at work, the rhetorical flourishes, far from being mere empty words, revealed a wealth of information about municipal life, euergetism, the culture of notables, the rituals of power, and much more.
By rehabilitating long-neglected documentation, the analysis sheds new light on the survival of civic institutions and ideals in Gaul in the aftermath of the third-century crisis and, along the way, on the final phase of the Romanization process. Finally, these discourses reveal the existence, within the Empire, of a phenomenon unique in history, the product of a subtle mixture of administrative practices and diplomatic negotiations between the cities and the central power. The dialogue established within the framework of "internal diplomacy," a source of compromise and balance between these two levels of government, played an essential role in the cohesion of the Imperium Romanum .