Brent D Shaw
Biographic Data
| ID | 292832 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brent D Shaw |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brent D |
| FAMILY NAME | Shaw |
| SIGNATURE | SHAW B D |
| AFFILIATIONS | California University of Pennsylvania |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 68 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 722 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 67 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Two Africans
The following essay appraises two lives from an historian’s perspective. The awareness by the one man, Augustine, of the other, Apuleius, necessarily through the latter’s repute and writings, reflects significant lived experiences shared by both. This familiarity, we suggest, shaped important ways in which Augustine configured his own life story and thinking. Most of the linkages attested in the evidence—ones of place, experience, and thought—wer…
The Formation of Africa Proconsularis
Modern scholarship has accepted the convenient date of 27 B. C. for the formation of a unified province of Africa under a proconsular governor 1 . Evidence in support of this communis opinio turns out to be surprisingly slight. Of the two main literary passages usually called in aid that of Dio refers explicitly only to the division of the provinces between princeps and senate: και ένομίσθη διά ταατα ή μεν ‘Αφρική και ή Νουμιδία ή τε Ασία καί ή Ε…
Debate. Was There a Medieval »State«
This debate takes up the question whether the concept of »state« can be used meaningfully in the context of medieval studies. The opening article by Brent D. Shaw addresses the political organization of the Roman empire, and develops a comprehensive argument why even by high standards it should be regarded as a state. The six comments by Nicola Di Cosmo (Chinese History), Stefano Gasparri and Cristina La Rocca, Hans-Werner Goetz, Régine Le Jan (E…
Global Empires and The Roman Imperium
Global Empires and The Roman Imperium Brent D. Shaw P. Fibiger Bang, C. A. Bayly, and W. Scheidel, eds. The Oxford World History of Empire. 2 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021; xxviii + 552 pp.; xxxiv + 1,318 pp. The volumes under review are an impressive if unequal diptych. The first, the slimmer of the two, entitled "The Imperial Experience," comprises a series of analytical studies on the creation, management, and ideologies of empir…
Empire and Religion in the Roman World
The inspiration for this volume comes from the work of its dedicatee, Brent D. Shaw, who is one of the most original and wide-ranging historians of the ancient world of the last half-century and continues to open up exciting new fields for exploration. Each of the distinguished contributors has produced a cutting-edge exploration of a topic in the history and culture of the Roman Empire dealing with a subject on which Professor Shaw has contribut…
Keti, Son of Maswalat
The case of an African soldier who served with distinction in the Roman army and who retired to his highland home town prompts a consideration of the problems of identity and behavior as they were shaped by an empire with its own fiscal, administrative, and military categories and demands. The question considers the negotiated aspects of identity in which local attachments of language, kinship, and place were made to merge with the categories of …
Doing It in Greek
While a considerable amount of scholarly energy has been devoted to the Latin versions of the Passion and Acts of the African martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas, by comparison rather little serious attention has been devoted to the Greek translation of the narrative of their martyrdom. Such an investigation requires a focus not just on technical problems of the similarities and differences between the Greek translation and a putative Latin original, …
Charity and the Poor in Roman Imperial Society
Charity and the Poor in Roman Imperial Society
Did the Romans Have a Future
In analysing matters as diverse as state financing, strategic planning, public benefactions and long-term credit in private business transactions, the historian is faced with an underlying problem about the perceptions of time. One aspect of this problem is the manner in which pictures of a complex future are reflected in the behaviour of agents engaged in these activities. The manner in which actions were (or were not) taken by them suggests a p…
Response to Christopher Jones
In the Journal of Roman Studies of 2015, I argued that the evidence in Tacitus for a state-directed punishment of Christians in Rome in 64 ce was too weak to sustain the historical interpretation of it as a persecution. In a reply in this journal last year, Christopher Jones argued that knowledge of Christians under that name could well have reached Rome by the mid-60s, that the vulgus of the city could well have accused such persons, and that th…
Bringing in the Sheaves
Lambs of god
Ferrando: ... e si rinvenne mal spenta brace... e d’un bambino, ahimè l’ossame bruciato a mezzo, fumante ancor! Uomini: Ah scellerata! Oh donna infame! Del par m’investe ira ed orror! Il Trovatore . Act I, Scene 1 In certain modern sensibilities, played upon here by Verdi's librettist Salvadore Cammarano, infant sacrifice has tended to rouse a basal sense of horror. The moral outrage has usually imputed alien rites and the evils of dreadful barba…
The Myth of the Neronian Persecution
A conventional certainty is that the first state-driven persecution of Christians happened in the reign of Nero and that it involved the deaths of Peter and Paul, and the mass execution of Christians in the aftermath of the great fire of July 64 c.e . The argument here contests all of these facts, especially the general execution personally ordered by Nero. The only source for this event is a brief passage in the historian Tacitus. Although the p…
Augustine and Men of Imperial Power
In considering the spectrum of relations that bishops of the Christian Church had with high-ranking officials of the late Roman state, the letters of Augustine of Hippo have a special place. These letters have been used not only to debate the nature of the relationship between bishops and representatives of the imperial state, but also the moral aspects of the holding and exercise of secular power. This new investigation of the corpus of these le…
Who Are You? Africa and Africans
The idea of being an “African” as an identity that was shared by persons living in the Roman period Maghrib was one that emerged only slowly. How and why did this happen? The following investigation seeks to answer this question. It also considers the ancillary function of smaller regional ethnic names of the time, such as Nicibes and Sububures, and the relationship of these lesser identities to the occasional efflorescence of larger identities, …
The Great Transformation
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The Young Finley
The Young Finley:Observations on Naiden, Perry, and Tompkins Brent D. Shaw In this cursory response, I reflect on the hard work done by the three colleagues on whose articles I am commenting. Their investigations have contributed to a better understanding of the complex academic and professional background of a man who was surely one of the more influential historians of Greek and Roman antiquity writing in the latter half of the twentieth centur…
Sacred Violence
One route to understanding the nature of specifically religious violence is the study of past conflicts. Distinguished ancient historian Brent D. Shaw provides a new analysis of the intense sectarian battles between the Catholic and Donatist churches of North Africa in late antiquity, in which Augustine played a central role as Bishop of Hippo. The development and deployment of images of hatred, including that of the heretic, the pagan, and the J…
Cult and Belief in Punic and Roman Africa
Toward Open Access in Ancient Studies
Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens - Volume 76, Number 1, January-March 2007
Sabinus the Muleteer
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The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity (review)
Reviewed by: The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity Brent D. Shaw The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity. By Benjamin Isaac. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004. xiv + 563 pp. $45.00 (cloth). Given the intrinsic historical importance of the idea of racism and its virulent Nachleben in European and world history, it is surprising that this is the first serious scholarly work to confront the problem of race and racism …
'With Whom I Lived'
Spartacus
On April Fool’s Day of 1865, Karl Marx’s elder daughter, Jenny, presented her father with a playful questionnaire. Not unlike the marketing surveys of our own day, it asked questions about his likes and dislikes: the qualities that he most preferred in a person, his favorite food (fish), his favorite color (not surprisingly, red), and various other preferences. The survey also asked about his hero, to which Marx replied, “Spartacus and Kepler.” 1…
Gladiators, Slaves, and Resistance
Gladiators were men trained to fight with a sword (gladius) and other weapons in order to kill or wound each other for the entertainment of spectators. Other armed professional entertainers known as beast fighters (bestiarii) or hunters (venatores) were trained to hunt wild animals such as leopards and bears for the enjoyment of large crowds. Gladiatorial games were a defining element of Roman culture as it developed in the third and second centu…
The age of Roman Girls at Marriage
The age at which girls tend to marry is one of the most important factors in determining the overall rates of fertility in a given population, and hence its general demographic profile. It also affects a whole range of social institutions of reproduction, above all the ‘shape’ of the family, the relationships between the mother and her children, between husband and wife, and the ways in which property can be redistributed through inheritance. It …
Tombstones and Roman Family Relations in the Principate
Tombstones furnish perhaps three-quarters of the entire corpus of Latin inscriptions. Many of these give no more than the name of the deceased, but tens of thousands also offer the historian a few additional details, such as age at death and the name and relationship of the commemorator. Previous studies of the tombstones en masse have focused on nomenclature and age at death. In this study we wish to ask what conclusions can be drawn from the da…
Bandits in the Roman Empire
Journal Article BANDITS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE* Get access Brent D. Shaw Brent D. Shaw University of LethbridgeAlberta Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 105, Issue 1, November 1984, Pages 3–52, https://doi.org/10.1093/past/105.1.3 Published: 01 November 1984
Close-Kin Marriage in Roman Society
Rural markets in North Africa and the political economy of the roman Empire
Les marchés ruraux périodiques représentent une institution sociale et économique des plus importantes, mais peu étudiée, de l'Afrique du Nord antique. L'auteur en examine les caractéristiques à la lumière de celles, dégagées récemment par l'ethnologie, d'une institution homologue bien connue du Maghreb : le souk. Il définit ensuite comme un trait distinctif de ces marchés africains antiques leur périodicité : aux foires annuelles des régions mon…
Spartacus and the Slave Wars
Anatomy of the Vampire bat
Raising and Killing Children
Explaining Incest
Brent D. Shaw's article, "Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt," challenges conventional interpretations of sibling marriage in Roman Egypt. Rather than viewing these unions as driven primarily by economic or social pressures, Shaw argues that they represent a conscious cultural practice rooted in specific familial and inheritance strategies. He examines a wealth of papyrological evidence, including marriage contracts …
Agrarian economy and the marriage cycle of Roman women
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Seasons of Death
Within the last decade significant advances have been made towards a better understanding of the fundamental demographic regimes that characterized the Mediterranean world of Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Coincident with this improvement in our knowledge has come a renewed interest in the rituals and cultural practices associated with death and burial in the societies that were part of the Roman Empire. These divergent interests are reflected in two di…
Tyrants, Bandits and Kings
The Family in Late Antiquity
Journal Article THE FAMILY IN LATE ANTIQUITY: THE EXPERIENCE OF AUGUSTINE Get access Brent D. Shaw Brent D. Shaw University of LethbridgeAlberta Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 115, Issue 1, May 1987, Pages 3–51, https://doi.org/10.1093/past/115.1.3 Published: 01 May 1987
The Barbarians Speak
Augustine and Men of Imperial Power
In considering the spectrum of relations that bishops of the Christian Church had with high-ranking officials of the late Roman state, the letters of Augustine of Hippo have a special place. These letters have been used not only to debate the nature of the relationship between bishops and representatives of the imperial state, but also the moral aspects of the holding and exercise of secular power. This new investigation of the corpus of these le…
Spartacus and the Slave Wars
Climate, environment and prehistory in the Sahara
The issue of climatic fluctuation in the Sahara during the early Holocene is of considerable importance because of the supposedly 'more humid' phase during which the Saharan Neolithic flourished. An analysis of the evidence, however, seems to indicate the reverse, that is, that the Neolithic had its genesis and development in an environment which was becoming increasingly arid. In fact, the termination of the more favourable humid conditions of t…
Did the Romans Have a Future
In analysing matters as diverse as state financing, strategic planning, public benefactions and long-term credit in private business transactions, the historian is faced with an underlying problem about the perceptions of time. One aspect of this problem is the manner in which pictures of a complex future are reflected in the behaviour of agents engaged in these activities. The manner in which actions were (or were not) taken by them suggests a p…
Response to Christopher Jones
In the Journal of Roman Studies of 2015, I argued that the evidence in Tacitus for a state-directed punishment of Christians in Rome in 64 ce was too weak to sustain the historical interpretation of it as a persecution. In a reply in this journal last year, Christopher Jones argued that knowledge of Christians under that name could well have reached Rome by the mid-60s, that the vulgus of the city could well have accused such persons, and that th…
The Myth of the Neronian Persecution
A conventional certainty is that the first state-driven persecution of Christians happened in the reign of Nero and that it involved the deaths of Peter and Paul, and the mass execution of Christians in the aftermath of the great fire of July 64 c.e . The argument here contests all of these facts, especially the general execution personally ordered by Nero. The only source for this event is a brief passage in the historian Tacitus. Although the p…
Ritual Brotherhood in Roman and Post-Roman Societies
A singular merit of John Boswell's provocative Same-Sex Unions has been to refocus the attention of a wide range of scholars from differing disciplines on the significance of manuscript sources for adelphopoiesis , a Christian ceremonial in the eastern Mediterranean for the ‘making of a brother'. It seems fair to say that the balance of scholarly opinion has rejected his claim that these rites were, in effect, marriage ceremonials for men. The ce…
The Passion of Perpetua
THE PASSION OF PERPETUA Brent D. Shaw Brent D. Shaw University of LethbridgeAlberta Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 139, Issue 1, May 1993, Pages 3–45, https://doi.org/10.1093/past/139.1.3 Published: 01 May 1993
Bandit Highlands and Lowland Peace
BANDIT HIGHLANDS AND LOWLAND PEACE: THE MOUNTAINS OF ISAURIA-CILICIA BY BRENT D. SHAW (Princeton) Es lässt sich immer und immer wieder beobachten, dass in dieser Gesellschaft auf die Dauer kein Treu- schwur und kein Vertrag... den Veranderungen der ge- sellschaftlichen Starke standhielt. Die Vasallentreue regulierte sich letzten Endes immer ganz genau nach dem tätsachlichen Mass von Angewiesenheit zwischen den Verbundenen... (N. Elias, Uber den P…
Charity and the Poor in Roman Imperial Society
Charity and the Poor in Roman Imperial Society
Toward Open Access in Ancient Studies
Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens - Volume 76, Number 1, January-March 2007
Authors' Response
Authors' Response Thomas M. Vernon, Judy Conner, and Brent Shaw CopyRight https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.66.9.905 Published Online: October 07, 2011
Climate, environment and prehistory in the Sahara
The issue of climatic fluctuation in the Sahara during the early Holocene is of considerable importance because of the supposedly 'more humid' phase during which the Saharan Neolithic flourished. An analysis of the evidence, however, seems to indicate the reverse, that is, that the Neolithic had its genesis and development in an environment which was becoming increasingly arid. In fact, the termination of the more favourable humid conditions of t…
Rural markets in North Africa and the political economy of the roman Empire
Les marchés ruraux périodiques représentent une institution sociale et économique des plus importantes, mais peu étudiée, de l'Afrique du Nord antique. L'auteur en examine les caractéristiques à la lumière de celles, dégagées récemment par l'ethnologie, d'une institution homologue bien connue du Maghreb : le souk. Il définit ensuite comme un trait distinctif de ces marchés africains antiques leur périodicité : aux foires annuelles des régions mon…
Antike Sklaverei
Lamasba
Bien que l'inscription de Lamasba, découverte en 1877 par Masqueray, soit l'un des plus importants documents de l'épigraphie romano- africaine et qu'à ce titre, elle ait déjà fait l'objet de travaux anciens comme ceux de F.G. de Pachtère, cette importance est néanmoins telle pour la connaissance de l'organisation économique et sociale de l'Afrique romaine, les problèmes qu'elle soulève sont si multiples et si complexes, qu'il est souhaitable d'en…
Economy and Society in Ancient Greece
Water and society in the ancient Maghrib
The author attempts to show, first of all, how our approaches to the problem of water in the ancient Maghrib, both as natural resource and as property, have been determined by modern conceptions of political and economic development. Once this historical background to the problématique has been outlined, along with the biases it has imparted to the study of ancient hydraulic technology, a fresh beginning is made founded on the basic physical prin…
Tombstones and Roman Family Relations in the Principate
Tombstones furnish perhaps three-quarters of the entire corpus of Latin inscriptions. Many of these give no more than the name of the deceased, but tens of thousands also offer the historian a few additional details, such as age at death and the name and relationship of the commemorator. Previous studies of the tombstones en masse have focused on nomenclature and age at death. In this study we wish to ask what conclusions can be drawn from the da…
Bandits in the Roman Empire
Journal Article BANDITS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE* Get access Brent D. Shaw Brent D. Shaw University of LethbridgeAlberta Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 105, Issue 1, November 1984, Pages 3–52, https://doi.org/10.1093/past/105.1.3 Published: 01 November 1984
Close-Kin Marriage in Roman Society
Anatomy of the Vampire bat
Sociological Studies in Roman History. Vol. 1
The age of Roman Girls at Marriage
The age at which girls tend to marry is one of the most important factors in determining the overall rates of fertility in a given population, and hence its general demographic profile. It also affects a whole range of social institutions of reproduction, above all the ‘shape’ of the family, the relationships between the mother and her children, between husband and wife, and the ways in which property can be redistributed through inheritance. It …
The Family in Late Antiquity
Journal Article THE FAMILY IN LATE ANTIQUITY: THE EXPERIENCE OF AUGUSTINE Get access Brent D. Shaw Brent D. Shaw University of LethbridgeAlberta Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 115, Issue 1, May 1987, Pages 3–51, https://doi.org/10.1093/past/115.1.3 Published: 01 May 1987
Our Daily Bread
Journal Article Our Daily Bread Get access Peter GarnseyFamine and Food Supply in the Graeco-Roman World: Responses to Risk and CrisisCambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. xiv + 303. £25; $39.50. ISBN 0-521-35198-7. BRENT D. SHAW BRENT D. SHAW Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social History of Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 2, August 1989, Pages 205–213, https://doi.org/10.1093/shm/2.2.205 Publ…
Bandit Highlands and Lowland Peace
Bandit Highlands and Lowland Peace
BANDIT HIGHLANDS AND LOWLAND PEACE: THE MOUNTAINS OF ISAURIA-CILICIA BY BRENT D. SHAW (Princeton) Es lässt sich immer und immer wieder beobachten, dass in dieser Gesellschaft auf die Dauer kein Treu- schwur und kein Vertrag... den Veranderungen der ge- sellschaftlichen Starke standhielt. Die Vasallentreue regulierte sich letzten Endes immer ganz genau nach dem tätsachlichen Mass von Angewiesenheit zwischen den Verbundenen... (N. Elias, Uber den P…
Grmek's Pathological Vision
Journal Article Grmek's Pathological Vision Get access Mirko D. Grmek, Diseases in the Ancient Greek World, Baltimore/London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. Pp. xii + 458. $28. ISBN 0-8018-2798-1. (Translation by Mireille and Leonard Meullner of Les maladies à I’aube de la civilisation occidentale: recherches sur la realité pathologique dans le monde grec préhistorique, archaique et classique, Paris, Payot, 1983.) BRENT D. SHAW BRENT D. SH…
Under Russian Eyes
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Explaining Incest
Brent D. Shaw's article, "Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt," challenges conventional interpretations of sibling marriage in Roman Egypt. Rather than viewing these unions as driven primarily by economic or social pressures, Shaw argues that they represent a conscious cultural practice rooted in specific familial and inheritance strategies. He examines a wealth of papyrological evidence, including marriage contracts …
The Passion of Perpetua
THE PASSION OF PERPETUA Brent D. Shaw Brent D. Shaw University of LethbridgeAlberta Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Past & Present, Volume 139, Issue 1, May 1993, Pages 3–45, https://doi.org/10.1093/past/139.1.3 Published: 01 May 1993
Tyrants, Bandits and Kings
Nomads in Archaeology
Seasons of Death
Within the last decade significant advances have been made towards a better understanding of the fundamental demographic regimes that characterized the Mediterranean world of Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Coincident with this improvement in our knowledge has come a renewed interest in the rituals and cultural practices associated with death and burial in the societies that were part of the Roman Empire. These divergent interests are reflected in two di…
Ritual Brotherhood in Roman and Post-Roman Societies
A singular merit of John Boswell's provocative Same-Sex Unions has been to refocus the attention of a wide range of scholars from differing disciplines on the significance of manuscript sources for adelphopoiesis , a Christian ceremonial in the eastern Mediterranean for the ‘making of a brother'. It seems fair to say that the balance of scholarly opinion has rejected his claim that these rites were, in effect, marriage ceremonials for men. The ce…
History (50 works) · Classical Antiquity Studies (34 works) · Political science (29 works) · Art (28 works) · Ancient history (27 works) · Archaeology (27 works) · History (27 works) · Law (22 works) · Classics (18 works) · Sociology (18 works)