Romulus' Asylum

Abstract

Modern treatments of Rome have projected in highly emotive terms the perceived problems or the aspirations of the present: ‘race-mixture’ has been blamed for the collapse of the Roman empire. More recently, Rome and Roman society have been depicted as ‘multicultural’. Moving beyond these and beyond more traditional, juridical approaches to Roman identity, this book focuses on ancient modes of thinking about selves and relationships with other peoples, including descent-myths, history, and ethnographies. It explores the relative importance of sometimes closely interconnected categories of blood descent, language, culture and clothes, and territoriality. Rome's creation of a distinctive imperial shape is understood in the context of the broader ancient Mediterranean world within which the Romans self-consciously situated themselves, and whose modes of thought they appropriated and transformed.

THE ROMAN ARMY AND GREEK MILITARISM IN CHARITON'SCHAEREAS AND CALLIRHOE

“…Roman cultural hybridity was founded on the principles embodied in Romulus' asylum, with its absorption and inclusion of other peoples and nations. 84 Syracuse's fastidiousness in the extension of citizenship to anyone other than Greeks therefore presents a more exclusionary model than that exemplified in Romulus' asylum. The combination of these seemingly contrasting interpretationsextension of the franchise to non-citizen manpower; restriction of the franchise to the Greeksactually has a clear message: namely, that the Romans, in their grants of citizenship to non-citizens, should privilege the Greeks.…”

Narratives of Origin and Migration in Early Medieval Europe

“…This meant that 'English' identity as promoted by Bede only really unfolded in a Christian context, whereas origins and migrations played a secondary role. 87 Jordanes,Getica, Isidore, History of the Kings of the Goths,[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]Chroniclers and Conquerors). 89 Reimitz, History.…”

“…11 The origins of Rome were transmitted in many variants, combining the migration of Aeneas from Troy with accounts about the Italians, the Latins and other peoples, which constituted a long prequel to the foundation of the city. 12 The Troy story directly influenced Frankish origin legends. Some Medieval origin stories also refer to the Alexander Romance or to the legends of the Amazons (see the contribution by Salvatore Liccardo).…”