Speeches of Enemies and Criticism of Empire in Early Imperial Historiography

Bibliographic Data

ID20060250
AuthorsEric Adler (0000-0002-4765-0188, corresponding author)
Year2013
Publication date2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueCompanion to Roman Imperialism (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/9789004236462_022
OpenAlexW2743897160
ISBN9789004236462
LanguageEN
Citations received2

This chapter offers a cursory examination of a few enemy orations found in the work of early imperial historians of Rome. It will be of necessity brief and highly selective. Lacking lengthy discussions focused on imperialism in their works, we must often turn to ancient historians' briefer comments on expansion, such as Arrian's mention of the purported Indian aversion to foreign wars, which serves as the epigraph to this chapter. Greco-Roman authors - such as those surveyed in this chapter - ineluctably discussed foreigners with an eye toward apologizing for Roman imperialism and colonialism. Thus ancient historians, like other writers from classical antiquity, treated non- Romans as the 'Other,' dehumanized objects of conquest in need of Roman domination. Roman historians often used enemy speeches to engage in criticism of specific examples of Roman foreign policy. These critiques at least half-heartedly aimed at questioning Roman pretences to engaging in defensive warfare. Keywords:ancient historians; colonialism; defensive warfare; dehumanized objects; Greco-Roman authors; imperial historians; imperialism

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Colonialism · CONQUEST · Criticism · Dehumanization · Empire · Historiography · Literature · Political science · Roman Empire · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · History · Law

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