Power, asymmetries and how to view the Roman world

Abstract

for their comments, and appreciate the opportunity to respond. We are pleased to see that all four commentators stress the importance of archaeological approaches that pay due attention to oppression and violence in the Roman world. We therefore believe that our core argument and its broader significance have been clearly recognised, as summarised in Gardner's (2020: 1640-1642) remark that "the complexity of the Roman world […] is indecipherable without connecting the violence with the grandeur, the frontiers with the capital(s), and the enslaved with the free". At the same time, the respondents also raise a number of important issues and sketch out potential alternative (or complementary) views.

New Threats, Old Challenges: Understanding Roman Imperialism in Post-Soviet Russia

“…At its core, it is a nostalgia for the powerful country and the empire as a 'good' historical force that civilized and improved the lives of subjugated regions and people. 10 The potentially dangerous impact of such imperial images can be seen in the current political situation, and it makes the recent discussion of the dark sides of Roman imperialism sound more important than it may have seemed before (Fernandez-Götz et al 2020a;2020b;Gardner 2020;Versluys 2020).…”