Power and Privilege in Roman Society

Explores the impact of social standing on the careers of senators and knights in the Roman Empire.

List of contents

Part I. Social Status and Senatorial Success: 1. Introduction: the senator; 2. Social standing and its impact on careers; 3. The career ladder at Rome; 4. Service overseas; 5. Defenders of the empire; 6. Influx from the provinces; 7. The chronology of the senatorial evidence; 8. Career inscriptions and what they leave out; Part II. Equestrian Perspectives: 9. Defining the equites; 10. The public employment of equites; 11. The economic involvements of equites; 12. The devaluation of equestrian rank; Part III. The Unprivileged: 13. Slavery: the background; 14. Slavery as a career; Appendixes: Appendix 1. Scoring systems for senators; Appendix 2. Non-vigintiviri and additional senators; Appendix 3. The duration of army posts; Appendix 4. Details of vigintiviri; Appendix 5. Some senatorial careers; Appendix 6. Early and late priesthoods; Appendix 7. Inventory of senators in the database.

About the author

Richard Duncan-Jones is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and has also been a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He has published widely on Roman social and economic history. His previous books published by Cambridge University Press are The Economy of the Roman Empire, 2nd edition (1982), Structure and Scale in the Roman Economy (1990) and Money and Government in the Roman Empire (1994). He has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 1992.

Summary

Were high appointments in the Roman Empire based on merit or on social standing? Some strong social biases emerge from this innovative study which uses a specially compiled database. There was considerable aristocratic preference in both army and civilian commands, and the higher equestrian posts suggest similar patterns.

Product details

• Authors: Richard Duncan-Jones, Richard (Gonville and Caius College Duncan-Jones, Duncan-Jones Richard
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2018
• EAN: 9781316604335
• ISBN: 978-1-316-60433-5
• No. of pages: 241
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 227 mm x 10 mm
• Series: Print on Demand
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book; Sociology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, HISTORY / Ancient / Rome, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, Economic history, Ancient Rome, Ancient History, Classical history / classical civilisation, Social classes, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes & Economic Disparity