Political conversations in late Republican Rome / Cristina Rosillo-López.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rosillo López, Cristina, author.

Series:

Oxford Scholarship online.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political culture--Italy--Rome.

Political culture.

Political oratory--Rome.

Political oratory.

Rome--Politics and government--265-30 B.C.

Rome.

Rome--History--Republic, 265-30 B.C.

Italy--Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (305 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2022.

Summary:

This book analyses senatorial political conversations and illuminates the oral aspects of Roman politics; it offers a new perspective of Roman politics through the proxy of conversations and meetings.

Contents:

Cover

Political Conversations in Late Republican Rome

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction

Why are conversations important?

Senatorial relationships and Roman politics

Outline of the book

1: A wider definition of politics and political participation

1.1 Extra-institutional politics

1.2 What is politics and political participation?

2: Sources for political conversations in Late Republican Rome

2.1 Why the letters of Cicero?

2.2 Why do later sources display a different perspective?

3: Face-to-face meetings

3.1 Le métier du sénateur romain: the importance of being present in Rome (or nearby)

3.2 The importance of meeting in person

3.2.1 The 'circulatory system'

3.2.2 The limitations of letters

3.2.3 Face-to-face meetings as problem-solving: the encounters of 49

3.2.4 Physical presence and negotiation

3.2.5 Caesar as ruler and face-to-face meetings

3.3 The myth of senatorial meetings: the 'conference of Luca'

3.3.1 The 'standard version' of the 'Conference of Luca'

3.3.2 The logistics of senatorial 'conferences'

3.3.3 Caesar's face-to-face politics during his proconsulship in Gaul

3.3.4 The 'Conference of Luca' as a litmus test for being connected or disconnected

3.4 Conclusion

Appendix: Informal meetings January-May 49

4: How to have conversations

4.1 The early socialization of the Roman elite

4.2 The social expectations governing conversation

4.2.1 Learning how to have a conversation

4.2.2 Social expectations: dynamics of conversations

4.2.3 Conversations and disagreement

4.2.4 Conversations and placating anger

4.3 Occasions for conversation

4.3.1 Dinners

4.3.2 Senaculum

4.3.3 Consilia and meetings

4.4 Conclusions

5: Dynamics of conversations.

5.1 Methodological issues

5.2 Conversations, insider information, speculations, and predictions

5.3 Non-verbal information: gestures, feelings, and impressions

5.4 Conversations transmitted in direct speech: case studies

5.4.1 Cicero and Caesar (28 March 49)

5.4.2 Curio and Cicero (14 April 49)

5.4.3 The so-called consilium of June 44 (group conversation)

5.5 A non-Ciceronian perspective on conversation

5.6 Conclusions

6: Oral circulation of information

6.1 Circulation of information

6.1.1 What kind of information was sought?

6.1.2 Requesting and fishing for information

6.1.3 The connection and disconnection of the flow of information

6.2 Control of information

6.2.1 Could the circulation of information be restricted?

6.2.2 When things got out of control: leaked conversations

6.3 Conclusions

7: The role of non-senatorial actors in conversations and meetings

7.1 How to identify and refer to these actors?

7.2 Non-senatorial actors: analysis

7.2.1 Freedmen

7.2.2 Elite women

7.2.3 Non-elite women

7.3 The role of mandata

7.3.1 Mandata in private law and on official missions

7.3.2 Mandata in extra-institutional politics

7.4 Conclusions

8: The Senate from an extra-institutional point of view

8.1 Preparatory conversations

8.2 How to draft and negotiate a law proposal

8.3 Was there an agenda in the Roman Senate?

8.4 Looking for political support

8.4.1 A specific issue: Cicero's supplicatio

8.4.2 Bringing someone over from the other side: Hirtius in 44

8.4.3 The Buthrotum affair

8.5 The presence of non-senatorial actors: the special case of Atticus

8.6 Conclusion: What happened when senators could not meet and talk beforehand?

9: Conclusions

Appendix: Prosopography of non-senatorial actors

A.1 Young men¹

A.2 Equites

A.3 Freedmen.

A.4 Women

A.5 People of unknown status

Bibliography

Index of People

Subject Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-266900-1

0-19-194654-0

0-19-266899-4

OCLC:

1280346424