Description
Book SynopsisArgues for a completely new interpretation of republican chronology. While classicists have long recognized that the Roman Republic changed and evolved over time, the author mounts a serious argument against the idea of republican continuity that has been fundamental to modern historical study.
Trade Review"Flower's analysis of the early republican institutions, the breakdown of constitutional rule after 133 BCE, and the republic of Sulla is provocative and insightful. She demonstrates how the Roman political elite adapted and reinvented their republican institutions in the face of successive crises. A lucid, imaginative analysis that is required reading for all serious students and scholars of Rome."--Choice "Roman Republics is a highly readable, highly persuasive volume intended to revitalize the study of the republican period in Rome. The volume is not aimed exclusively at beginners or experts; both will find much of value in the reassessment presented."--Colin Bailey, Bryn Mawr Classical Review "This book is highly recommended. It is rich and thought provoking, beautifully written and argued. It touches on and weaves together a remarkable number of topics in Roman republican history and historiography. Most welcome is the emphasis on evolution and change over time, sometimes dramatic, of Roman political institutions and culture. I am largely persuaded by Flower's conclusion that late republican authors are not trustworthy guides to Roman republican culture since they themselves had never witnessed a properly functioning republican system."--Michael P. Fronda, New England Classical Journal "There is little doubt that Harriet Flower's book has opened up a field which has been more intensively studied than any other in ancient history. She has given us a new way to look, and new questions to ask. For those reasons alone, this is an important book."--David Rafferty, Melbourne Historical Journal "Flower deserves full credit for the boldness of her challenge to the traditional approaches. [Her] exciting and illuminating study will long remain essential reading for everyone with a serious interest in what I shall persist in calling the Roman Republic."--John Rich, Journal of Roman Studies "The book is very well produced... Flower's book, which offers stimulating insights, will doubtless contribute to the ongoing discussion on the nature of republican government."--Rachel Feig Vishnia, Scripta Classica Israelica
Table of ContentsPreface ix Acknowledgments xiii Abbreviations xv PART ONE: FRAMEWORK Chapter I: Introduction Periodization and the End of the Roman Republic 3 Chapter II: Toward a New Paradigm: "Roman Republics" 18 Chapter III: Early Republics (Fifth and Fourth Centuries) 35 PART TWO: CHANGE Chapter IV: Political Innovations: A Community in Transition (Second Century) 61 Chapter V: Violence and the Breakdown of the Political Process (133-81) 80 Chapter VI: External Pressures on Internal Politics (140-83) 97 PART THREE: AFTERMATH Chapter VII: An Alternative to a Crisis: Sulla's New Republic 117 Chapter VIII: After the Shipwreck (78-49) 135 Chapter IX: Implications 154 Appendix: An Assortment of Timelines, the Hellenistic Age and Republican Time, Temple Time 173 Bibliography 181 Index 201
