Romanitas

La présente étude s’attache à l’analyse de la symbiose entre fascisme et catholicisme au sein de l’Istituto di Studi Romani (ISR). Il s’agira de montrer que l’ISR, suivant les exigences du régime et celles du Vatican, jouait un ‘double jeu’, politique et religieux. Ce double jeu est visible, non seulement à travers les activités et les contacts de l’ISR mais aussi dans les publications, c’est-à-dire dans le discours qui, bien que d’une certaine qualité scientifique, est de nature hautement propagandiste. Nous nous baserons sur les nombreuses publications de l’ISR, ainsi que sur des sources d’archives inédites, comprenant certains documents conservés à l’Istituto et dans les archives privées de la famille du fondateur, Carlo Galassi Paluzzi ; les contacts de ce dernier avec d’importantes personnalités politiques et, surtout, ecclésiastiques de l’entre-deux-guerres se révèleront particulièrement importants.

Entre 260 et 363, les Romains développèrent des éléments de distinction pour construire leur identité face à un Autre appelé Barbare. Bien qu'officiellement opposé à la romanité, le Barbare pouvait y entrer en étant recruté dans l'armée romaine selon différentes modalités dépendant des conditions de sa rencontre avec l'Empire. De ce recrutement des Barbares naquit la notion de barbarisation. Se manifestant dans divers champs d'opérablilité, la barbarisation de l'armée romaine tardive fut un phénomène pluriel et inégal en fonction du champ étudié.

Mémoire de Master 2 - Pierrick GUEGAN, Septembre 2017.

The she-wolf with the twins, Romulus and Remus, was identified as a symbol of Rome by both the Romans themselves and nations under the Roman rule. In this essay I will discuss the Lupa Romana in Roman provincial art. I will present various visual representations of the she-wolf both in the public use and in objects related to private life, and analyze the she-wolf’s symbolic meaning.

The Lupa Romana was an iconic scene that was not used randomly in provincial art. It represented in the first place the idea of romanitas, being Roman. In some cases the use of the symbol could have been in consequence of instructions from Rome  itself or from provincial authorities that depended on Rome, but in most cases the motif was used by the inhabitants of the provinces themselves. It can be seen as an expression of loyalty to Rome and the emperor, but at the same time the message could have been directed to other members of the community, too. As romanitas was associated with higher social status, the she-wolf motif in the decoration of one’s house or gravestone could be seen as self-aggrandizement.

Collective identity in the so-called Byzantine Empire is a much-debated issue that has drawn a lot of attention over the years. The current paper attempts a critical assessment of the hitherto main lines of thinking about Byzantine identity, focussing on the period between the seventh and the thirteenth centuries. By proposing an alternative view on source material based on a comprehensive theoretical framework, I argue that a conceptualization of the collective identity of this medieval imperial social order with its constantly fluctuating geopolitical and cultural boundaries needs to be disconnected from essentialist and reifying views on perennial ethnicity as well as from the modern phenomenon of the nation-state.

The aim of this research is to approach and analyse the manifestation and evolution of the idea of Rome as an expression of Roman patriotism and as an (urban) archetype of utopia in late Roman thought in a period extending from AD 357 to 417. Within this period of about a human lifetime, the concept of Rome and Romanitas was reshaped and used for various ideological causes. This research is unfolding through a selection of sources that represent the patterns and diversity of this ideological process. The theme of Rome as a personified and anthropomorphic figure and as an epitomized notion ‘applied’ on the urban landscape of the city would become part of the identity of the Romans of Rome highlighting a sense of cultural uniqueness in comparison to the inhabitants of other cities. Towards the end of the chronological limits set in this thesis various versions of Romanitas would emerge indicating new physical and spiritual potentials.

The idea of a heritage from ancient Rome, or romanità, was central to Italian fascism. This article analyzes, in the 44 volumes of his Opera Omnia, Il Duce Mussolini’s discourse on romanità, focusing on key themes such as empire, historical characters and the grandeur of archaeological remains. It links Mussolini’s discourse of romanità to his discourse on the future, and to the idea of fascism as a political religion. It shows that Mussolini’s historical knowledge was largely overstated and that it was mainly the omnipresence of romanità, rather than its specific features, which can be defined as central to this notion.

The gradual imposition of Christianity over the public space at Rome had changed the face of traditional paganism itself. Although many changes in the collective forms of devotio had occurred already in the third century AD, it was during the ‘‘long’’ fourth century that new mentalities and practices alienated Roman paganism from the traditional forms of worship. Julian’s attempt of establishing a ‘Pagan Church’ and later the so called ‘last pagan revival’ at Rome during the 390’s under the Nicomachi contributed to the emergence of a new ‘Reactionary’ paganism. New manners of worship destined for the selected few and radical practices like human sacrifice alienated even further this activity from its previous classical forms. In order to preserve a distinct identity and presence, this last generation of pagan aristocrats experimented with a new interpretation of the mos maiorum and in their attempt to defend their version of Romanitas against an expanding Christianity they inevitably forged a pagan ‘doctrine’ and ‘salvation plan’ similar to that of their Christian contemporaries. This new pagan counter-reformation was characterized by new radical messages and an attempt of constructing a collective identity accompanied with an articulate, monolithic form of belief, either as a defense mechanism or as a result of a more esoteric change or need. This paper will attempt to explore this new pagan identity that emerged only a few years before the (public) extinction of polytheism and will attempt to trace the potentials of this last Pagan Revolution.

The planning of the burgh of St Andrews, founded in the twelfth century, with two major streets converging on the cathedral, resembles that of the Vatican Borgo, created in the ninth century. It is proposed that St Andrews was consciously modelled on the Borgo, and that the major dimensions of the cathedral are taken from Old St Peter's and St John Lateran, as part of an unsuccessful campaign to have St Andrews recognised as an apostolic see like its rival Compostela, the only other shrine in western Europe beyond Italy to claim the relics of an apostle.

Keywords. St Andrews, Compostela, pilgrim management, Rome, town planning

This essay focuses on Father Léon Dehon (1843-1925), founder of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and his longstanding relationship with Rome and the Roman spiritual and physical spaces. Dehon studied in a Roman seminary in the late 1860s and, as many clergymen of his generation, he developed a strong devotion to the Roman identity of the Catholic Church. Starting from the analysis of Dehon’s Roman experiences between the papacies of Pius IX and Leo XIII, this essay investigates how the ecclesiological notion of romanitas and its applications changed in front of the sharp modernizationof Rome in the late 19th century, evolving from a static and merely defensive idea (the ultramontane compliance of the whole Church and society to the religious and political model embodied by the Papal State) to a dynamic and expansive one (the papacy as international player and unique legitimate heir of Roman universalistic mission and civilization).

Flavius Josephus, historian, Pharisee, priest, rebel and traitor, was proud to
say that he fought against Rome. Josephus is not closed to the value of freedom as
independence from foreign hegemony, nor is he deaf to hopes of the restoration of
Jewish freedom. By meditating on Josephus, with principal attention to his retelling of
the Bible and post-Biblical Jewish history in the Antiquities, I will explore the complex
dialectic Josephus presents of freedom and empire, for both Jews and Romans.

CONVERSION OF THE GERMANIC PEOPLES TO CHRISTIANITY
IN THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE FOURTH AND NINTH CENTURIES A.D.
Summary
The process of assuming Christianity by those Germanic tribes that entered the western part of the Roman Empire began in the second half of the second century and lasted until the ninth. Their conversion to Christianity occurred in two stages. First, those peoples followed the Aryan kind of Christianity and later the Catholic one. The early missionaries to Germanic peoples were Christians who had been captured in Asia Minor. However, the most important
Germanic mission emerged from the Germanic peoples themselves, i.e. from the Visigoths, who instilled Aryanism into their kinsfolk. During the fifth century, as Germanic tribes were settled within the Empire, they were romanized and eventually converted to Roman Catholicism. The Franks were the first numerous Germanic tribe to be converted to Catholicism from their native tribal religion in 498. Since then they began "frankisation" and conversion to Catholicism of the tribes they captured. The Catholic Church, deeply attached to the idea of Romanitas, was not interested in the conversion of Germanic tribes to Catholicism
any more. Only after Gregory the Great (540-604) was elected Pope, a Catholic Benedictine mission was established among the Anglo-Saxon tribes. Parallel to that a mission of Irish monks came into being. The formal conversion of the Germanic tribes who entered Imperium Romanum Pars Occident to Catholicism resulted from the monastic activity on the one hand and the Church-State model of evangelization on the other.

Keynote lecture for the International Conference: Medieval Europe in Motion IV: The Middle Ages - A Global Context? (Lisbon, 13-15 December)
http://moimoi.eventkey.pt/geral/paginas.aspx?cod=113

The enduring mega-narrative of the “Fall of Rome” in 476 CE in Western Europe ignores the continuity of the Roman Empire in the East centred on Constantinople up to 1453 CE or the at least partial “claim” of the Arab Empire emerging in the 7th century CE on “the inheritance of Rome” (as illuminated by Chris Wickham). Yet the glory of Roman power spread far beyond the frontiers of its empire and the deposition of Romulus Augustulus across Afro-Eurasia, manifested in objects such as coins or in narratives of imperial might and magnificence; the “Gesar of Phrom” even made into the epic traditions of Tibet and Mongolia. In this lecture various examples of the acquisition and reinterpretation of such artefacts of Roman power according to the needs and cultural preferences of holders of political or religious authority beyond the Mediterranean will be discussed; equally, the confrontation and combination with other “ancient” imperial traditions (such as of Persia, India, China or the empires of the Steppe) will be highlighted. The aim is to contribute to a global history of “Romanitas”/”Rhomaiosyne”.

Dans cet article, nous nous proposons de présenter l’état des recherches concernant la romanité fasciste dans toutes ses manifestations reconnues jusqu’à présent. Ainsi, nous parlerons d’abord des études ‘générales,’ qui depuis la fin des années 1970 ont commencé à découvrir le sujet. Ces études analysent généralement la nature et la valeur propagandiste de la romanité (la création d’une identité nationale). En deuxième lieu seront présentées les études qui encadrent la romanité dans l’Italie préfasciste, c’est-à-dire dans l’Italie risorgimentale de l’unification. Ces études apportent un contrepoids aux visions que l’on pourrait qualifier d’‘unicistes’ (qui partent de l’unicité du fascisme et de la romanité fasciste), car elles placent la romanité dans une évolution à un certain degré naturelle, soulignant la continuité avec le passé proche. Ensuite, nous traiterons des études concernant la discipline des classiques sous le fascisme, dédiant particulièrement notre attention à la façon dont trois personnages, qui sous le régime fasciste fêtèrent leur anniversaire bimillénaire (Virgile, Horace et Auguste), furent relevés et insérés dans un discours fortement influencé par des besoins idéologiques. Puis nous regarderons les institutions principales qui ont contribué à la divulgation de la propagande de la romanité, surtout l’Istituto di Studi Romani. Après un survol des recherches en archéologie et de la façon dont cette dernière fut soumise à la volonté spectaculaire du régime fasciste, nous parlerons brièvement de la présence de la romanité dans le cinéma pendant le ventennio fasciste (la période d’environ 20 ans durant laquelle le fascisme fut au pouvoir en Italie). Pour finir, nous consacrerons alors la dernière partie de notre étude aux possibles pôles de recherche future: nous indiquerons certains aspects qui nécessitent un approfondissement et certains qui n’ont jamais été traités, ainsi que quelques nouvelles méthodes, points de vue et disciplines qui pourraient contribuer à une meilleure connaissance du phénomène.

Among the many ‘founding myths’ of fascism such as those regarding its relationship to the First World War, one element stood out as key to both its quest for absolute dominion over the Italian peninsula and its historically based self-concept and representation: the idea of present-day Italy as incarnating the spirit and virtuousness of Roman (late Republican and early Imperial) antiquity, creating the image of a Terza Roma, of a ‘third’, fascist Rome. This ‘Romanness’ or, in Italian, romanità, is at the heart of the present paper, which offers a general analysis of some of the central characteristics of the fascist use of the myth and idea of Rome. It firstly situates romanità, one of the main myths on which Mussolini’s so-called fabbrica del consenso relied for more than twenty years, in the context of the study of fascism as a political religion. After this overall treatment of the most characteristic features of romanità, the myth of Rome is linked to recent scholarship on the modern nature of fascism (and nazism). This proposed ‘fascist modernism’, already briefly illustrated in the first part of the paper (fascist architecture and aesthetics), is traced in the activities and inner functioning of the Istituto di Studi Romani, a pivotal institution in the development of the myth and cult of Rome under fascism. Finally, it also uses the Istituto to highlight a feature that is often neglected in the study of the fascist use of Rome, namely the role of traditional, catholic -- as opposed to fascism as a political religion -- religion.

This article introduces two little-known episodes of opposition against the Italian fascist regime undertaken by professor Ettore Ciccotti (1863-1939), whose career traversed both the world of academia and that of politics. In each of these instances, Ciccotti expressed a particularly explicit form of anti-fascism. The article focuses firstly on a close reading of Ciccotti’s Profilo di Augusto (1938), in which the author openly criticises the myth of Romanness or romanità, a myth that played a major role in the ideology of Mussolini’s regime. That analysis will be prefaced by a brief overview of the negative contemporary reception of this controversial volume, as evidenced by a review article published by the then pro-fascist Istituto di Studi Romani. Secondly, the article will address an episode that occurred seven years prior to the publication of the Profilo, when in 1931, Ciccotti refused to pledge the oath of allegiance to the fascist regime and its duce, although at this time the oath was compulsory for all academics. The reasons Ciccotti put forward for this refusal were remarkably similar to those he later used to justify his 1938 criticism of Roman emperor Augustus, and are clearly stated in a letter he addressed to the Ministero dell’Educazione Nazionale at the moment of that refusal. The combination of Ciccotti’s Profilo di Augusto and his earlier exculpatory letter provide us with a remarkable insight into the thinking of this intellectual politician –Ciccotti was also a senator- whom, although confronted with the omnipresence of fascism, consistently opposed the cultural and ideological presumptions of the regime.

Investigação sobre a ideia de romanidade no contexto da expansão imperial romana (séculos I a.C. –II d.C.) compreendida no sentido de identidade étnica, na perspectiva da antropologia de Fredrik Barth, como construída na historiografia latina a partir dos textos de Salústio e Tácito e dos ensaios de Cícero neste terreno e temática. As respostas aos dilemas identitários decorrentes da inserção hegemônica de Roma em um Mediterrâneo mundializado (globalização?) e da anexação de terras no setentrião europeu se estribaram no modo dinâmico e flexível como se percebiam enquanto povo e na visão pragmática e aberta em relação ao instituto da cidadania. Tais práticas, porém, nunca foram pacíficas, esbarrando sempre em grupos sociais resistentes que lutaram por manter restritos a eles os benefícios de sua condição e status. A análise, assim desenvolvida, conduz a uma revisitação e reinterpretação da romanidade, e mesmo da noção de mos maiorum, concluindo-a como plural e conflituosa, inclusive entre as elites centrais, distante de qualquer canonicidade. A própria História como gênero, ou “constelação de gêneros” (tomando como base os estudos de Eugen Cizek), insere-se nesses dilemas político-culturais. O quadro maior interpretativo da investigação é dado pela passagem das estruturas cívicas (ou políades) de Roma para a cosmópolis. Na análise das passagens destacadas do corpusfoi aplicada a metodologia do quadrado semiótico de Greimas e Courtès.

The aim of this book is to approach the manifestation and evolution of the idea of Rome as an expression of Roman patriotism and as an (urban) archetype of utopia in late Roman thought in a period extending from AD 357 to 417. Within this period of about a human lifetime, the concepts of Rome and Romanitas were reshaped and used for various ideological causes. This monograph is unfolding through a selection of sources that represent the patterns and diversity of this ideological process. The theme of Rome as a personified and anthropomorphic figure and as an epitomized notion ‘applied’ on the urban landscape of the city would become part of the identity of the Romans of Rome highlighting a sense of cultural uniqueness in comparison to the inhabitants of other cities. Towards the end of the chronological limits set in this thesis various versions of Romanitas would emerge indicating new physical and spiritual potentials.

Consciente de la trascendencia de la formación intelectual y de su utilitas publica, el estado tardorromano pretendió su control, de forma y manera que la enseñanza quedase tutelada, supervisada y dirigida por la autoridad imperial. Desde ese punto de vista se conservan constituciones que denotan tanto el sometimiento de la cultura a los intereses del poder como la introducción en las leyes de terminología de marcado carácter retórico e incluso encomiástico, consecuencia de la particular redacción de parte del texto normativo. En todo caso, a decir de las constituciones preservadas, parece primar en la selección de los profesores los aspectos morales e ideológicos antes que las aptitudes y conocimientos en las distintas materias que resultan tuteladas e impulsadas por el estado, debiendo los docentes amoldarse a la ideología, pensamiento y necesidades que interesaba potenciar al poder, esperándose su colaboración en el desarrollo de la publicística oficial e introduciéndose en ella la difusión de la idea del Augustus como garante de la moral romana y consecuentemente defensor de romanitas.

The present paper treats a particular manifestation of contemporary myth-making, the myth of ‘Romanness’ known as romanità, which since the end of antiquity has often been viewed as a cornerstone of Italian identity; at times this myth has taken on particular importance, for example during the Renaissance period, and also under fascism. In the years between 1922 to 1943, this myth was utilised as a means of portraying contemporary Italy, centred around Rome as the capital, as a direct and privileged heir of Late Republican and Early Imperial antiquity, a period in which such ‘Roman’ qualities as combativeness, greatness and determination were exemplified. In this instance, romanità, in a very real sense, acted as a full-blown ‘myth of origin’. Whereas in general, the myth of Rome has been the subject of extensive and expertly-wrought analyses, in the case of the Italian fascist reception of Roman antiquity, there are various facets of the way in which romanità affected Italian society during the ventennio fascista - the twenty years during which fascism was in power, from 1922 until 1943 - that still await exploration. In this context, clarification is still lacking regarding the overall significance of the myth within a society which was not only steeped in a traditional religious, Catholic heritage, but was also being confronted with a regime that steadily and increasingly nurtured its own sacral outlook and tendencies, eventually developing into a fully-fledged ‘political religion’. In light of the above observations, this paper analyses the way in which the myth of Rome, omnipresent in fascist culture and even more so within its propaganda, came to be reflected in Italian Catholic opinion. We will engage in a close reading of the widely distributed Catholic newspaper L’Avvenire d’Italia, focusing particularly on the 1930s, a period where the fascist regime enjoyed a heightened popular consensus. In the following section, we start with a brief discussion of the concept of political religion within the context of Italian fascism, followed by a more generalised discussion of romanità in its many manifestations; the paper ends with an analysis of the latter phenomenon’s presence in the pages of L’Avvenire d’Italia.

This chapter analyses the general features of the seviratus Augustalis, its territorial presence and continuity in the Roman Empire, and its influence in the spreading of the cultural and religious Roman customs in Hispania, through the study of its preserved epigraphic sources. The seviratus Augustalis was especially developed in the Western towns of the Empire, it lasted from the 1 st to the 3 rd century AD, and it was a semi-official institution mainly held by wealthy freedmen looking for social recognition. Despite the unresolved debate about its concrete function, the numerous preserved inscriptions in relation to the Augustality provide important information about the religious and munificent actions of its members. From the study of the existing epigraphic inscriptions in Hispania, we will demonstrate the role played by the seviri Augustales as promoters of Romanity, based on elements such as the worship of Roman deities, the connection of different gods with the emperor, the diffusion of Latin onomastics, the adoption of Roman magistracies and the imitation of the local Romanised elites. Consequently, this position created in Italy worked in Hispania as a diffusor of the Roman religion and the Roman social order, promoting the consolidation of the imperial regime in the provinces.

As condições de prófugo e de sobrevivente do caos estão diretamente atreladas a Eneias, o herói troiano, filho de Vênus, que recebe papel de destaque nas narrativas fundacionais romanas. O presente artigo tem por objetivo rastrear as evidências pertinentes à construção do Eneias prófugo nas fontes escritas pré-virgilianas, o que permite ampliar a compreensão sobre as apropriações poéticas do mito na própria Eneida.

Note: reviews of STFORR have been uploaded here as multiple separate files.

Shakespeare and the Fall of the Roman Republic introduces Shakespeare as a historian of ancient Rome alongside figures such as Sallust, Cicero, St Augustine, Machiavelli, Gibbon, Hegel and Nietzsche. In Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare shows Rome’s transition from Republic to Empire. Why did Rome degenerate into an autocracy? Alternating between ruthless competition, Stoicism, Epicureanism and self-indulgent fantasies, Rome as Shakespeare sees it is inevitably bound for civil war. Shakespeare and the Fall of the Roman Republic considers Shakespeare’s place in the history of concepts of selfhood and reflects on his sympathy for Christianity, in light of his reception of medieval biblical drama, as well as his allusions to the New Testament. Shakespeare’s critique of Romanitas anticipates concerns about secularisation, individualism and liberalism shared by philosophers such as Hannah Arendt, Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, Michael Sandel and Patrick Deneen.

Reviews to date: Paul Hammond, The Seventeenth Century (34.4): 547-48; Paul Innes, The Classical Review (69.2): 636-68; Jeffrey S. Doty, The Review of English Studies (70.296): 768-70; T. P. Wiseman, Times Literary Supplement (9 August 2019; cf. Letters, 20 and 27 September 2019); Andrew Hadfield, Renaissance Quarterly (73.1): 378-80; Sean Keilen, Cahiers Élisabéthains (101.1): 136-39; Andrea Campana, The Heythrop Journal (61.3): 546; Paul A. Cantor, Skenè: Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies (6.1): 255-64; cf. Patrick Gray, ‘A Reply to Paul A. Cantor’, Skenè: Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies (6.2): 5-21; Lucy Munro, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 (60.2): 400-01; Cyrielle Landrea, Anabases: Traditions et réceptions de l’Antiquité (32): 270-72; Domenico Lovascio, Early Modern Literary Studies (21.2): open access (6 pp.); Andelko Mihanovic, thersites 13 (2021): 213-21 (open access) for the special issue “Antiquipop: chefs d’œuvres revisités,” edited by F. Bièvre-Perrin; Nathanael Lambert, Parergon (39.1): 244-46; Erin Casey-Williams, Shakespeare Quarterly (volume, issue, and page numbers tbd).

Dans le fascisme italien, l’idée de la romanité, c’est-à-dire d’un héritage idéologique de l’antiquité romaine, était une notion centrale dans la volonté de création d’une identité fasciste. La romanité a déjà été l’objet de nombreuses études générales, ainsi que d’études sur, entre autres, l’importance de l’archéologie, de la philologie, de l’histoire de l’antiquité, du cinéma et de la symbolique ‘romaine’ sous le ventennio fasciste. Par contre, les thèmes et le caractère religieux et mythique de la romanité n’ont jusqu’à présent presque jamais, ou pas suffisamment, été relevés. C’est pour remédier à ce vide que nous présentons cette recherche sur le mythe de la romanité au sens propre, c’est-à-dire que nous situerons la romanité dans le fascisme vu comme une sorte de religion politique moderne avec ses propres rituels et mythes. Nous commencerons par une courte analyse de ce concept de religion politique, pour ensuite illustrer de quelle façon le mythe de la romanité contribuait à ce caractère hautement éthéré, quasiment religieux, du discours auto-référentiel fasciste. Dans un second temps, nous illustrerons, sur un plan encore général, la façon dont la religion chrétienne, l’autre ‘mythe’ contemporain en Italie, était insérée dans la propagande de la romanité. Nous terminerons alors par une étude de textes concernant trois des thèmes centraux de la romanité fasciste: l’impérialisme romain, l’importance de Virgile et l’importance d’Auguste. Dans ces textes, nous relèverons non seulement les références à la religion chrétienne, mais aussi, le cas échéant, le discours hautement ‘religieux’ développé pour parler de certains aspects de l’antiquité.

Normanska kraljevina je bila mediteranska država XII veka sa snažnim uticajima vizantijskog Rimstva u svom političkom identitetu. Ona je nastala na prostoru poslednjeg vizantijskog uporišta u Italiji i na Siciliji gde su uprkos dvovekovnoj arabljanskoj vladavini tradicije Rimstva još bile žive. Stoga se ovaj geografski prostor, u samom središtu srednjevekovnog Mediterana gde su vladali normanski plemići, može posmatrati i kao postvizantijski. Postvizantijski Mecođorno svakako nije isti kao klasični postvizantijski period nakon pada Vizantije pod osmansku vlast, najpre jer je Carstvo i dalje postojalo i Normanska kraljevina je bila deo vizantijskog Mediterana u svakom smislu. Danas se u nauci najviše ističu kulturni uticaji na normansku umetnost koji je očigledan u zadužbinama normanskih vladara, u diplomatici, dvorskoj i provincijalnoj administraciji i slično. Međutim, kada je reč o percepciji vladarske idologije, kao da se previđa uticaj Rimstva. S obzirom na činjenicu da su Normani pripadali zapadnom/latinskom hrišćanskom obredu, svrstavaju se, ili bolje rečeno razvdavaju od istočnomediteranskih obrazaca. Uz to, Normani se češće upoređuju sa svojim severnim srodnicima u Francuskoj i Engleskoj, a u spoljnopolitičkim pitanjima njihov odnos sa Rimom i Nemačkim (drugim rimskim) carstvom. Rimstvo Normanske kraljevine na Mediteranu se upravo posmatra kroz prizmu uticaja iz Rima i Nemačke, iako su kulturni uticaji kao što je opštepoznato vizantijski. Ovo razilaženje dolazi od slabog poznavanja vizantijskih izvora i njenih obrazaca u svetskoj istoriografiji, barem u pogledu preispitivanja ranijih tumačenja. Cilj ovog rada je da razmotri uticaje (vizantijskog) Rimstva na percepciju legitimiteta u Normanskoj kraljevini Sicilije, tako što će analizirati narative opata Alesandra iz Telezea (prvog biografa prvog sicilijanskog kralja) i Uga Falkanda (biografa drugog sicilijanskog kralja i njegovog maloletnog naslednika). Postaviće se pitanje legitimiteta sicilijanske kraljevine u njihovom tumačenju i upotreba termina tiranin, kao i kakve su njihove sličnosti sa vizantijskim izvorima istog perioda kao obrasca za vladarske ideologije na Mediteranu u XII veku.

O presente artigo explora as negociações de paz ocorridas entre os romanos e povos que travavam guerras contra os primeiros durante a segunda metade do século IV d.C. Objetiva-se com isso analisar os mecanismos de negociação, selamento e manutenção de tratados após conflitos envolvendo povos rivais. Para tal, os autores fazem uma análise comparativa das descrições realizadas por Amiano Marcelino, em sua obra Histórias, dos eventos de 363, 367 e 374. A partir desse trajeto, torna-se possível conhecer as características das relações diplomáticas que envolviam os romanos naquele contexto, assim como a singularidade dos persas para o funcionamento do Império Romano.

The late 4th Century CE Egyptian poet Claudian, with all probability enjoyed a thorough rhetorical education in both his mother tongue Greek and in the language of most of his extant literary work: Latin. Hence, for a long time the identification of possible traces of Greek literature in his poems has been the object of many, yet often inconclusive discussions. This paper argues that the political situation and the social status of the Latin language at the end of the 4th century also need to be considered: The apparent evocation of the specifically Latin literature and tradition was of great importance to Claudian in order to reinstate Roman identity, independently of his actual literary sources, as exemplified by Claudian’s use of the Greek epic poet Oppian.

Recently, seminal publications highlighted the Romanitas of the Byzantines. However, it is not without importance that from the 12th century onwards the ethnonym Hellene (Ἓλλην) became progressively more popular. A number of influential intellectuals and political actors preferred the term Hellene to identify themselves, instead of the formal Roman (Ρωμαῖος) and the common Greek (Γραικός). While I do not intend to challenge the prevalence of the Romanitas during the long Byzantine era, I suggest that we should reevaluate the emerging importance of Hellenitas in the shaping of collective and individual identities after the 12th century. From the 13th to the 16th century, Byzantine scholars attempted to recreate a collective identity based on cultural and historical continuity and otherness. In this paper, I will seek to explore the ways Byzantine scholars of the Late Byzantine and Post Byzantine era, who lived in the territories of the Byzantine Empire and/or in Italy, perceived national identity, and to show that the shift towards Hellenitas started in the Greek-speaking East.

Thrones have long been a symbol of power and authority, used by both secular and religious leaders to project their high status on those in lower social classes since at least the Roman period. The purpose of this research was to determine how thrones have developed into the form recognised today; where they originated and how they continue to be used.

This project involved creating 20 case studies from the past 2000 years, each representative of types of throne used in each period. As rulers from popes and kings to bishops and lords used thrones, they were an object that saw widespread use throughout Europe, but little has been cohesively been written on them.

Poster presented at the Newcastle University Research Scholarships and Expeditions 2018 [21st November].