The Topography of Violence in the Greco-Roman World

by Werner Riess, Garrett G. Fagan

Overview

What soldiers do on the battlefield or boxers do in the ring would be treated as criminal acts if carried out in an everyday setting. Perpetrators of violence in the classical world knew this and chose their venues and targets with care: killing Julius Caesar at a meeting of the Senate was deliberate. That location asserted Senatorial superiority over a perceived tyrant, and so proclaimed the pure republican principles of the assassins.

The contributors to The Topography of Violence in the Greco-Roman World take on a task not yet addressed in classical scholarship: they examine how topography shaped the perception and interpretation of violence in Greek and Roman antiquity. After an introduction explaining the “spatial turn” in the theoretical study of violence, “paired” chapters review political assassination, the battlefield, violence against women and slaves, and violence at Greek and Roman dinner parties. No other book either adopts the spatial theoretical framework or pairs the examination of different classes of violence in classical antiquity in this way.

Both undergraduate and graduate students of classics, history, and political science will benefit from the collection, as will specialists in those disciplines. The papers are original and stimulating, and they are accessible to the educated general reader with some grounding in classical history.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780472119820
Publisher:	University of Michigan Press
Publication date:	06/15/2016
Pages:	422
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Werner Riess is Chair of Ancient History at the University of Hamburg. Garrett G. Fagan is Professor of Ancient History at Pennsylvania State University.

Table of Contents

Introduction Werner Riess 1

Part 1 The Greek World

1 Xenophon and the Muleteer: Hubris, Retaliation, and the Purposes of Shame David D. Phillips 19

2 The Spartan Krypteia Matthew Trundle 60

3 Where to Kill in Classical Athens: Assassinations, Executions, and the Athenian Public Space Werner Riess 77

4 The Crime That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Violence against Women in the Athenian Courts Rosanna Omitowoju 113

5 Violence against Slaves in Classical Greece Peter Hunt 136

6 The Greek Battlefield: Classical Sparta and the Spectacle of Hoplite Warfare Ellen Millender 162

7 Violence at the Symposion Oswyn Murray 195

Part 2 The Roman World

8 The Topography of Roman Assassination, 133 BCE-222 CE Josiah Osgood 209

9 Urban Violence: Street, Forum, Bath, Circus, and Theater Garrett G. Fagan 231

10 Violence against Women in Ancient Rome: Ideology versus Reality Serena S. Witzke 248

11 Violence and the Roman Slave Noel Lenski 275

12 The Roman Battlefield: Individual Exploits in Warfare of the Roman Republic Graeme Ward 299

13 War as Theater, from Tacitus to Dexippus David Potter 325

14 Manipulating Space at the Roman Arena Garrett G. Fagan 349

15 Party Hard: Violence in the Context of Roman Cenae John Donahue 380

Contributors 401

Index 405

Editorial Reviews

"This collection of essays seeks to explore some of the topographical and circumstantial aspects that helped define violence in
antiquity, focusing on how Greeks and Romans charged violent acts with specific meanings on the basis of situation and space." - New Testament Abstracts

New Testament Abstracts

A must for libraries in all colleges that are delivering degrees in classics, classical civilization and ancient history. . . . Readily accessible to a wide-ranging audience from specialists to undergraduates and general nonspecialist readers.”
—Kate Gilliver, Cardiff University

From the Publisher