Beyond The Romans

Throughout the middle and late Republican periods (fourth to first centuries BC) the Romans lived in fear and loathing of the Gauls of northern Italy, caused primarily by their collective historical memory of the destruction of the city of Rome by Gauls in 387 BC. By examining the literary evidence relating to the historical, ethnographic, and geographic writings of Greeks and Romans of the period - focusing on invasion and conflict - this book attempts to answer the questions how and why the Gauls became the deadly enemy of the Romans. Dr Williams also examines the problematic notion of the Gauls as 'Celts' which has been so influential in historical and archaeological accounts of northern Italy in the late pre-Roman Iron Age by modern scholars. The book concludes that ancient literary evidence and modern ethnic presumptions about 'Celts' are not a sound basis for reconstructing either the history of the Romans' interaction with the peoples of northern Italy or for interpreting the material evidence.

This latest volume in the TRAC Themes in Theoretical Roman Archaeology series takes up posthuman theoretical perspectives to interpret Roman material culture. These perspectives provide novel and compelling ways of grappling with theoretical problems in Roman archaeology producing new knowledge and questions about the complex relationships and interactions between humans and non-humans in Roman culture and society. Posthumanism constitutes a multitude of theoretical positions characterised by common critiques of anthropocentrism and human exceptionalism. In part, they react to the dominance of the linguistic turn in humanistic sciences. These positions do not exclude “the human”, but instead stress the mutual relationship between matter and discourse. Moreover, they consider the agency of “non-humans”, e.g., animals, material culture, landscapes, climate, and ideas, their entanglement with humans, and the situated nature of research. Posthumanism has had substantial impacts in several fields (including critical studies, archaeology, feminist studies, even politics) but have not yet emerged in any fulsome way in Classical Studies and Classical Archaeology. This is the first volume on these themes in Roman Archaeology, aimed at providing valuable perspectives into Roman myth, art and material culture, displacing and complicating notions of human exceptionalism and individualist subjectivity. Contributions consider non-human agencies, particularly animal, material, environmental, and divine agencies, critiques of binary oppositions and gender roles, and the Anthropocene. Ultimately, the papers stress that humans and non-humans are entangled and imbricated in larger systems: we are all post-human.

When most people think of the Roman Empire, they think of a vast expanse of peace and order, with the Roman legions ready to put down unrest of repel invaders - and they think of the world outside the Empire as uncivilised, peopled by barbarians. Beyond the frontiers of the Empire come the blank spaces on the map. 'Outside the Empire' describes these people and others, starting with the 'barbarous' Britons and Gauls on the north-west side of the world and working eastward to the great Chinese empire of the Han dynasty. It also describes the trade routes that linked ancient peoples together, and the goods they exchanged - amber from the Baltic, purple dye from Morocco, incense from Arabia, spices from the Indies, pearls from Ceylon, and silk brought along the famous Silk Road from China. Contents: 1. The Celts 2. The Germans 3. Eastern Europe 4. Africa 5. Arabia and the incense routes 6. The Parthians and Sasanians 7. India 8. South-East Asia and the Spice Routes 9. China 10. Central Asia and the Silk Routes.

The Knowing the Bible series is a new resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. Each 12-week study leads participants through one book of the Bible and is made up of four basic components: (1) Reflection questions designed to help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) "Gospel Glimpses" highlighting the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) "Whole-Bible Connections" showing how any given passage connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption culminating in Christ; and (4) "Theological Soundings" identifying how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from a wide array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God's grace on each and every page of the Bible. The book of Romans was Paul's greatest literary achievement, a majestic letter in which the apostle expounds on crucial doctrines such as original sin, election, substitutionary atonement, the role of the law, and justification by faith alone. Plumbing the theological depths, Jared Wilson writes with a pastor's eye toward understanding and application as he explains the biblical text with clarity and passion, helping readers follow along as Paul recounts the history of salvation and illuminates the glories of the cross of Christ.

This first thematic volume of the new series TRAC Themes in Roman Archaeology brings renowned international experts to discuss different aspects of interactions between Romans and ‘barbarians’ in the north-western regions of Europe. Northern Europe has become an interesting arena of academic debate around the topics of Roman imperialism and Roman:‘barbarian’ interactions, as these areas comprised Roman provincial territories, the northern frontier system of the Roman Empire (limes), the vorlimes (or buffer zone), and the distant barbaricum. This area is, today, host to several modern European nations with very different historical and academic discourses on their Roman past, a factor in the recent tendency towards the fragmentation of approaches and the application of post-colonial theories that have favoured the advent of a varied range of theoretical alternatives. Case studies presented here span across disciplines and territories, from American anthropological studies on transcultural discourse and provincial organization in Gaul, to historical approaches to the propagandistic use of the limes in the early 20th century German empire; from Danish research on warrior identities and Roman-Scandinavian relations, to innovative ideas on culture contact in Roman Ireland; and from new views on Romano-Germanic relations in Central European Barbaricum, to a British comparative exercise on frontier cultures. The volume is framed by a brilliant theoretical introduction by Prof. Richard Hingley and a comprehensive concluding discussion by Prof. David Mattingly.

This first thematic volume of the new series TRAC Themes in Roman Archaeology brings renowned international experts to discuss different aspects of interactions between Romans and ‘barbarians’ in the northwestern regions of Europe. Northern Europe has become an interesting arena of academic debate around the topics of Roman imperialism and Roman:‘barbarian’ interactions, as these areas comprised Roman provincial territories, the northern frontier system of the Roman Empire (limes), the vorlimes (or buffer zone), and the distant barbaricum. This area is, today, host to several modern European nations with very different historical and academic discourses on their Roman past, a factor in the recent tendency towards the fragmentation of approaches and the application of postcolonial theories that have favored the advent of a varied range of theoretical alternatives. Case studies presented here span across disciplines and territories, from American anthropological studies on transcultural discourse and provincial organization in Gaul, to historical approaches to the propagandistic use of the limes in the early 20th century German empire; from Danish research on warrior identities and Roman-Scandinavian relations, to innovative ideas on culture contact in Roman Ireland; and from new views on Romano-Germanic relations in Central European Barbaricum, to a British comparative exercise on frontier cultures. The volume is framed by a brilliant theoretical introduction by Prof. Richard Hingley and a comprehensive concluding discussion by Prof. David Mattingly.

Robert Knapp seeks out the ordinary people who formed the fabric of everyday life in ancient Rome and the outlaws and pirates who lay beyond it. They are the housewives, prostitutes, freedmen, slaves, soldiers, and gladiators who lived commonplace lives and left almost no trace in history - until now. But their words are preserved in literature, letters, inscriptions and graffiti and their traces can be found in the histories, treatises, plays and poetry created by the elite. A world lost from view for two millennia is recreated through these, and other, tell-tale bits of evidence cast off by the visible mass of Roman history and culture. Invisible Romans reveals how everyday Romans sought to survive and thrive under the afflictions of disease, war, and violence, and to control their fates under powers that both oppressed and ignored them. Their lives - both familiar and foreign to ours today - are shown against the tumult of a great empire that shaped their worlds as it forged the wider world around them.