Jonathan Edmondson
Biographic Data
| ID | 1428796 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jonathan Edmondson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jonathan |
| FAMILY NAME | Edmondson |
| SIGNATURE | EDMONDSON J |
| AFFILIATIONS | York University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1301-173X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 49 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 31 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Epigraphy, onomastics and local society at the western limits of the territory of Augusta Emerita
To provide a securer basis for the identification of the western limits of the territory of the Roman colony of Augusta Emerita (Mérida), this contribution examines in detail the epigraphic evidence from the western section of the modern Spanish province of Badajoz and the Portuguese concelhos of Elvas and Estremoz. The first part provides an updated analysis of all attestations from this region of individuals enrolled in the Roman voting tribe o…
Dio: the Julio-Claudians
This volume in the LACTOR Sourcebooks in Ancient History series offers generous selections from Cassius Dio's account of the Julio Claudians, with accompanying maps, appendices and a thorough, contextualising Introduction. It provides for the needs of students at schools and universities who are studying ancient history in English translation and has been written and reviewed by experienced teachers.
Domestic Servants in the Imperial Court
Using the rich funerary epigraphy from Rome and environs, this chapter reconstructs the organization of court domestic service, establishes a taxonomy of the various service roles attested at court, and explores the significance of the structural differentiation that can be observed among the (mostly servile) domestic servants. It then considers the impact of the emperor’s domestic servants on court politics, exploring the relationships that deve…
Notes on the elogium of a benefactor at Pompeii
The rediscovery in the summer of 2017 of a large monumental tomb of unusual form outside the Stabian Gate at Pompeii caused an immediate sensation, and the swift initial publication by M. Osanna in JRA 31 (2018) of the long funerary inscription fronting the W side of the base, facing the road, has been welcomed gratefully by the scholarly community. The text — at 183 words, by far the longest funerary inscription yet found at Pompeii — records a …
The Sons of Remus
418 PHOENIX et Militiae: Elite Religion at Rome in Response to External Triumphs and Crises”) describes this process as “accumulative civic polytheism” (126). Adopting an instrumentalist approach, Champion compares the official introduction of Magna Mater in 204 to the senate’s suppression of Bacchic cult groups in 186. He concludes that in both cases, the main issue was an attempt by the senate to exercise control over the cults that Rome encoun…
Rituals of Reciprocity
Roman Literary Cultures
Roman Literary Cultures
Communications and Mobility in the Roman Empire
Due to the size of the Roman Empire, communication routes, whether by land or water, were crucial to its functioning. The road system was a characteristic feature of Roman imperial rule and symbolized Roman power in a ubiquitous and visible way. Inscriptions are fundamental for understanding certain key aspects of transport and communication: roads and road building, milestones, the development and regulations of the cursus publicus , communicati…
Women in the Roman World
Inscriptions help us reconstruct some elements of the lived experience of women in the Roman world. This chapter analyzes the epigraphic evidence for women’s role in economic, cultural, religious, and civic life, acknowledging the inevitable biases inherent in such texts. We do not usually have access to women’s views of themselves or of each other, since men were responsible for the majority of the relevant inscriptions. Nevertheless, we can stu…
Inscriptions and the Narrative of Roman History
This chapter offers an analysis of how inscriptions can complement the narratives of Roman history from the third century BCE to the third century CE provided in literary sources. They reveal certain historical events or details that would otherwise be unknown, and they supplement the information offered by the surviving Roman historians .
Linguistic Variation, Language Change, and Latin Inscriptions
This chapter investigates Latin inscriptions that contain linguistic features which appear to stem from popular, as opposed to elite, usage and are rarely, if ever, found in Roman literary authors, unless these were explicitly seeking to mimic uneducated, semi-literate, or moronic people’s speech. Topics treated include: diastratic, diaphasic, and diatopic varieties of Latin, the now contested concept of “Vulgar Latin,” and the phonology, morphol…
Economic Life in the Roman Empire
Many types of inscriptions throw light on numerous aspects of economic production, distribution, and consumption in the Roman Empire. This chapter concentrates on agriculture, animal husbandry and pastoralism, and the production and exchange of cash-crops such as wine, olive-oil, and fish sauces. It also illuminates the interaction between private individuals and the Roman state in mining operations, as well as the administrative and legal issues…
Spectacle in Rome, Italy, and the Provinces
The city of Rome and other urban communities throughout the empire were alive with spectacles of all kinds, including triumphs, funerals, executions, and religious festivals with their various games ( ludi ). This chapter considers the critical role that inscriptions play in our understanding of Roman spectacles. It focuses in particular on spectacles in the theatre ( ludi scaenici ), circus ( ludi circenses ), athletic stadium, and especially th…
The Roman Republic
The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the range and distinctive features of Latin republican epigraphy. It focuses on inscriptions from the last century or so of the Republic ( c . 150 to 30 BCE), analyzing their quantity, geographical spread, and typology, pointing out some distinctions between “republican” and “imperial” Latin epigraphy. It also analyzes the letter-forms, language, and orthography of both private and public inscription s
Religion in the Roman Provinces
Without inscriptions, the study of religion in the Roman provinces would scarcely exist. Much can be learned from the rich material remains about sanctuaries, iconography, and even cult practices, but apart from a few scattered references in literary sources, we would know almost nothing of the names of the deities worshipped, very little of religious organization and cult personnel, and far less about key issues such as the interaction of local …
Social Life in Town and Country
Epigraphy reveals important aspects of the social life of ordinary people and slaves in the Roman world, habitually overlooked by elite literary authors. Inscriptions dealing with the lower orders might appear to have no overt social filter but are often influenced by the epigraphic culture of the elite. The chapter argues that through public documents, such as the statutes of collegia , the commemoration of benefactions, gravestones, and graffit…
Local Elites in Italy and the Western Provinces
Local elites represented the backbone of the Roman Empire. Our knowledge of them relies overwhelmingly on epigraphic evidence, not least from Pompeii. This chapter analyzes the epigraphic evidence dealing with this sector of the population, which is rarely represented in the literary sources. It focuses on the institutional structures of local municipalities in Italy and the western provinces, above all local magistrates and town councils, the Au…
The Major Corpora and Epigraphic Publications
This chapter presents briefly the history of modern Roman—primarily Latin—epigraphic corpora. The purpose is both to chronicle progress in this field since Theodor Mommsen in the mid-nineteenth century and to provide a roadmap for those who need to find their way through the sometimes bewildering collection of epigraphic corpora and other publications. Regardless of the convenient electronic epigraphic databases available on the internet, it is t…
Latin Epigraphy
This chapter presents a typology of the main types of inscriptions in Latin. The difference between public and private/domestic inscriptions is the most significant distinction to be made when categorizing the enormous mass of surviving epigraphic documents from the Roman world
Death and Burial
It has been estimated that of all surviving Latin and Greek inscriptions, between two thirds and three quarters are epitaphs. The chapter discusses the typology, chronology, and regional variation of Roman funerary inscriptions in the physical context of the tombs of which they originally formed a part. It also emphasizes the light that epitaphs throw on self-representation, status and rank, and demography, concluding with a discussion of legal a…
Local Elites in the Greek East
Roman rule in the provinces relied on cities, which were required to control their surrounding territory and had relative independence in all local matters. These cities also served as models of the Roman way of life and provided a framework for integrating the provincial population into the Roman imperial system. Rome relied on the wealthy local elite. In this regard, the eastern provinces did not differ substantively from Italy and the West, bu…
Roman Family History
Inscriptions have a crucial role to play in our understanding of Roman family history. This chapter underlines some of the methodological problems in using inscriptions for such topics as the demography of the family, family relations, and family structures. Despite these problems, it demonstrates how inscriptions are revealing for topics such as kinship, marriage, spousal affection, childbirth, and the rearing of children
Slaves and Freed Slaves
Slavery was a fundamental feature of Roman society. This chapter considers how critical epigraphy is for the study of Roman slavery. Questions that epigraphy help to answer include modes of enslavement, the identification of slaves and freed slaves, the slave trade, the private life of slaves (family, wealth, religion), their role in business, manufacture, agriculture, and the household, slave resistance, manumission and the position of ex-slaves…
Roman Government and Administration
This chapter outlines how critical inscriptions are for our understanding of the functioning of the administrative structures of Roman government. The author discusses the best methodology for using epigraphic texts to reconstruct Roman administration, showing how even short texts can provide critical pieces of evidence, especially during the imperial period. Knowing how to use arguments from silence is shown to be a crucial element in the modern…
The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy
Inscriptions are valuable for anyone interested in the Roman world and Roman culture, whether they are studying history, archaeology, literature, religion, or are working in a field that intersects with the Roman world from c . 500 BCE to 500 CE and beyond. The goal of The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy is to show why inscriptions matter and to demonstrate to students and scholars how to utilize epigraphic sources in their research
The “Epigraphic Habit” in the Roman World
Since the 1980s scholars have ceased considering Roman inscriptions simply in functional terms—as sources of historical information—and started to treat them as a cultural phenomenon worthy of serious consideration. This change in perspective, as well as the realization that there was a permanent bond between text and monument, represents the most productive shift in approach in recent epigraphic scholarship. This chapter analyzes the “epigraphic…
Augustus
GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup('ISBN:9780748615940); Augustus (63 BC - AD 14), the first Roman emperor, brought peace and stability to Rome after decades of strife and uncertainty. He put in place a new institutional framework for the Roman Empire and inspired the ideology that sustained it for the next three hundred years. This book presents a selection of the most important scholarship on Augustus and the contribution he made to the development o…
Urban Infrastructure and Euergetism Outside the City of Rome
This chapter explores the connection between the monumentalization of cities, the use of local resources, and the involvement of benefactors in civic building operations. At its peak the Roman Empire comprised a mosaic of some two thousand flourishing cities. For the establishment and maintenance of their infrastructure, they benefited in large part from the contributions of wealthy citizens and, in some situations, of outside sponsors. This chap…
Local Elites in the Greek East
Roman rule in the provinces relied on cities, which were required to control their surrounding territory and had relative independence in all local matters. These cities also served as models of the Roman way of life and provided a framework for integrating the provincial population into the Roman imperial system. Rome relied on the wealthy local elite. In this regard, the eastern provinces did not differ substantively from Italy and the West, bu…
Roman Family History
Inscriptions have a crucial role to play in our understanding of Roman family history. This chapter underlines some of the methodological problems in using inscriptions for such topics as the demography of the family, family relations, and family structures. Despite these problems, it demonstrates how inscriptions are revealing for topics such as kinship, marriage, spousal affection, childbirth, and the rearing of children
Slaves and Freed Slaves
Slavery was a fundamental feature of Roman society. This chapter considers how critical epigraphy is for the study of Roman slavery. Questions that epigraphy help to answer include modes of enslavement, the identification of slaves and freed slaves, the slave trade, the private life of slaves (family, wealth, religion), their role in business, manufacture, agriculture, and the household, slave resistance, manumission and the position of ex-slaves…
The Roman Republic
The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the range and distinctive features of Latin republican epigraphy. It focuses on inscriptions from the last century or so of the Republic ( c . 150 to 30 BCE), analyzing their quantity, geographical spread, and typology, pointing out some distinctions between “republican” and “imperial” Latin epigraphy. It also analyzes the letter-forms, language, and orthography of both private and public inscription s
Religion in the Roman Provinces
Without inscriptions, the study of religion in the Roman provinces would scarcely exist. Much can be learned from the rich material remains about sanctuaries, iconography, and even cult practices, but apart from a few scattered references in literary sources, we would know almost nothing of the names of the deities worshipped, very little of religious organization and cult personnel, and far less about key issues such as the interaction of local …
Death and Burial
It has been estimated that of all surviving Latin and Greek inscriptions, between two thirds and three quarters are epitaphs. The chapter discusses the typology, chronology, and regional variation of Roman funerary inscriptions in the physical context of the tombs of which they originally formed a part. It also emphasizes the light that epitaphs throw on self-representation, status and rank, and demography, concluding with a discussion of legal a…
The Epigrapher at Work
This chapter introduces the reader to how an epigrapher works with inscriptions. It uses Hans-Georg Pflaum’s publication of an inscription from North Africa honouring Suetonius as a model for how students and scholars should proceed in editing, dating, and interpreting an inscription. Information is also given on how to use twenty-first century aids, such as digital photography
Inscriptions and Literacy
The study of ancient reading and writing practices must begin with inscriptions. This chapter charts the recent debates about the concept of literacy in the Roman world. Setting out from the archaic period, it shows how inscriptions have a key role to play in any assessment of the difficult question of levels of literacy, while at the same time highlighting some of the methodological problems involved in such enquiries. The chapter concludes with…
The Roman Emperor and the Imperial Family
The foundation of the Principate under Augustus coincided with the expansion of Roman epigraphic culture. Given the sheer number of surviving inscriptions, imperial epigraphy provides all sorts of information about the power of the Roman emperor: its nature, its juridical basis, its modes of self-representation, including imperial titulature, and the means whereby the emperor controlled the Empire and communicated with its communities. These text…
Discovering the Roman Family
Law and social status in classical Athens
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. II
Élites hispaniques
L'histoire des élites hispaniques dans l'Empire romain est marquée par la double forme de leur recrutement. Rome, confrontée à des structures sociales préexistantes, dominées par une élite indigène, imposa petit à petit son propre modèle social. L'attirance fut progressive, mais irrésistible. Les contributions réunies dans ce volume apportent un éclairage nouveau sur la définition et la constitution de ces élites, identifiées par la possession de…
Centcelles. El monumento tardorromano
Family Relations in Roman Lusitania
This chapter investigates funerary commemorations in Lusitania, a province of ancient Rome, by analysing all funerary inscriptions from seven different towns or regions. Examining factors such as gender, age, and onomastic conventions, it argues for a direct relationship between Rome's political presence and the shape of social relations in the province, while at the same time tracing the presence of indigenous cultural attitudes, such as the par…
Flavius Josephus and Flavian Rome
Roman Dress and the Fabrics of Roman Culture
PrefaceContributors List of Figures Abbreviations Introduction: From Costume History to Dress Studies JONATHAN EDMONDSON and ALISON KEITH PART I INVESTMENTS IN MASCULINITY * Public Dress and Social Control in Late Republican and Early Imperial Rome JONATHAN EDMONDSON*Togam virilem sumere: Coming of Age in the Roman World FANNY DOLANSKY* The Double Identity of Roman Portrait Statues: Costumes and Their Symbolism at Rome MICHAEL KOORTBOJIAN* The 'D…
Augustus
GBS_insertPreviewButtonPopup('ISBN:9780748615940); Augustus (63 BC - AD 14), the first Roman emperor, brought peace and stability to Rome after decades of strife and uncertainty. He put in place a new institutional framework for the Roman Empire and inspired the ideology that sustained it for the next three hundred years. This book presents a selection of the most important scholarship on Augustus and the contribution he made to the development o…
Slavery and the Roman family
FAMILIES AND FAMILIAE IN ROME In the early first century ad as one left the centre of Rome along the via Labicana heading south-east in the general direction of Praeneste (modern Palestrina), one would pass by the vast suburban estate of the Statilii Tauri, a distinguished senatorial family. These Horti Tauriani (‘Taurian Gardens’) had been developed by one of Augustus' most trusted generals, T. Statilius Taurus, consul in 37 bc and again in 26 b…
The Cambridge World History of Slavery
Volume 1 in the new Cambridge World History of Slavery surveys the history of slavery in the ancient Mediterranean world. Although chapters are devoted to the ancient Near East and the Jews, its principal concern is with the societies of ancient Greece and Rome. These are often considered as the first examples in world history of genuine slave societies because of the widespread prevalence of chattel slavery, which is argued to have been a cultur…
Endovellicus
Of all local gods in Rome's western provinces, one of the best attested is Endovellicus, whose sanctuary at São Miguel da Mota (Alandroal, Portugal) dominated the landscape near the frontier between the territories of Emerita (Mérida) and Ebora (Évora) in Lusitania.
Augusta Emerita (Mérida)
Augusta Emerita (modern Mérida) was a Roman colony—the Colonia Iulia Augusta Emerita—founded in Spanish Extremadura on the banks of the River Anas (modern Guadiana) in 25 BCE , according to Cassius dio (53.26.1), for the “older soldiers” of the Legions V Alaudae and X Gemina engaged in Augustus' campaigns against the Cantabrians and Asturians in the far north of Spain.
Lusitania
Lusitania was the name the Romans gave to the region in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, which now covers modern Portugal as far north as the River Douro and the neighboring parts of Spanish Extremadura.
Communications and Mobility in the Roman Empire
Due to the size of the Roman Empire, communication routes, whether by land or water, were crucial to its functioning. The road system was a characteristic feature of Roman imperial rule and symbolized Roman power in a ubiquitous and visible way. Inscriptions are fundamental for understanding certain key aspects of transport and communication: roads and road building, milestones, the development and regulations of the cursus publicus , communicati…
Women in the Roman World
Inscriptions help us reconstruct some elements of the lived experience of women in the Roman world. This chapter analyzes the epigraphic evidence for women’s role in economic, cultural, religious, and civic life, acknowledging the inevitable biases inherent in such texts. We do not usually have access to women’s views of themselves or of each other, since men were responsible for the majority of the relevant inscriptions. Nevertheless, we can stu…
Inscriptions and the Narrative of Roman History
This chapter offers an analysis of how inscriptions can complement the narratives of Roman history from the third century BCE to the third century CE provided in literary sources. They reveal certain historical events or details that would otherwise be unknown, and they supplement the information offered by the surviving Roman historians .
Linguistic Variation, Language Change, and Latin Inscriptions
This chapter investigates Latin inscriptions that contain linguistic features which appear to stem from popular, as opposed to elite, usage and are rarely, if ever, found in Roman literary authors, unless these were explicitly seeking to mimic uneducated, semi-literate, or moronic people’s speech. Topics treated include: diastratic, diaphasic, and diatopic varieties of Latin, the now contested concept of “Vulgar Latin,” and the phonology, morphol…
Economic Life in the Roman Empire
Many types of inscriptions throw light on numerous aspects of economic production, distribution, and consumption in the Roman Empire. This chapter concentrates on agriculture, animal husbandry and pastoralism, and the production and exchange of cash-crops such as wine, olive-oil, and fish sauces. It also illuminates the interaction between private individuals and the Roman state in mining operations, as well as the administrative and legal issues…
Spectacle in Rome, Italy, and the Provinces
The city of Rome and other urban communities throughout the empire were alive with spectacles of all kinds, including triumphs, funerals, executions, and religious festivals with their various games ( ludi ). This chapter considers the critical role that inscriptions play in our understanding of Roman spectacles. It focuses in particular on spectacles in the theatre ( ludi scaenici ), circus ( ludi circenses ), athletic stadium, and especially th…
The Roman Republic
The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the range and distinctive features of Latin republican epigraphy. It focuses on inscriptions from the last century or so of the Republic ( c . 150 to 30 BCE), analyzing their quantity, geographical spread, and typology, pointing out some distinctions between “republican” and “imperial” Latin epigraphy. It also analyzes the letter-forms, language, and orthography of both private and public inscription s
Religion in the Roman Provinces
Without inscriptions, the study of religion in the Roman provinces would scarcely exist. Much can be learned from the rich material remains about sanctuaries, iconography, and even cult practices, but apart from a few scattered references in literary sources, we would know almost nothing of the names of the deities worshipped, very little of religious organization and cult personnel, and far less about key issues such as the interaction of local …
Social Life in Town and Country
Epigraphy reveals important aspects of the social life of ordinary people and slaves in the Roman world, habitually overlooked by elite literary authors. Inscriptions dealing with the lower orders might appear to have no overt social filter but are often influenced by the epigraphic culture of the elite. The chapter argues that through public documents, such as the statutes of collegia , the commemoration of benefactions, gravestones, and graffit…
Local Elites in Italy and the Western Provinces
Local elites represented the backbone of the Roman Empire. Our knowledge of them relies overwhelmingly on epigraphic evidence, not least from Pompeii. This chapter analyzes the epigraphic evidence dealing with this sector of the population, which is rarely represented in the literary sources. It focuses on the institutional structures of local municipalities in Italy and the western provinces, above all local magistrates and town councils, the Au…
The Major Corpora and Epigraphic Publications
This chapter presents briefly the history of modern Roman—primarily Latin—epigraphic corpora. The purpose is both to chronicle progress in this field since Theodor Mommsen in the mid-nineteenth century and to provide a roadmap for those who need to find their way through the sometimes bewildering collection of epigraphic corpora and other publications. Regardless of the convenient electronic epigraphic databases available on the internet, it is t…
Classical Antiquity Studies (41 works) · History (41 works) · Art (29 works) · Ancient history (24 works) · History (24 works) · Political science (21 works) · Classics (20 works) · Law (19 works) · Classics (16 works) · Archaeology (13 works)