Roman attitudes to peace in the Late Republican and Early Imperial periods : from Greek origins to contemporary evidence
Pax Romana is often seen as an aggressive force, imposing the will of Rome on her empire. Perhaps it is because of this that Roman authors are often seen as having a dismissive view of peace and an admiration, if not a love, of war. The only literary area where this has been questioned at any length is in verse, most fully by the elegists. This thesis, therefore, focuses on the concept of peace in the philosophy and historiography of late republican and early imperial Rome, drawing examples from classical Greece and early Christian texts when necessary. The first section acts as an introduction to the possibility of a more positive attitude to peace by examining the most striking negative presentations of war: just war theory and civil wars. The second section examines the main philosophical schools from the period and argues that the Stoics, Cynics and Epicureans share pacifistic views that are not merely utopian but are grounded in important tenets of their respective philosophies: oikeiosis, cosmopolitanism, and the unimportance of material and physical virtues for the Stoics and Cynics; divine self-sufficiency, the avoidance of pain, and the importance of friendship for the Epicureans. Some even willingly
Crane, Andrew Mark
CC Archaeology ; PA Classical philology
Roman attitudes to peace in the Late Republican and Early Imperial periods : from Greek origins to contemporary evidence. Pax Romana is often seen as an aggressive force, imposing the will of Rome on her empire. Perhaps it is because of this that Roman authors are often seen as having a dismissive view of peace and an admiration, if not a love, of war. The only literary area where this has been questioned at any length is in verse, most fully by the elegists. This thesis, therefore, focuses on the concept of peace in the philosophy and historiography of late republican and early imperial Rome, drawing examples from classical Greece and early Christian texts when necessary. The first section acts as an introduction to the possibility of a more positive attitude to peace by examining the most striking negative presentations of war: just war theory and civil wars. The second section examines the main philosophical schools from the period and argues that the Stoics, Cynics and Epicureans share pacifistic views that are not merely utopian but are grounded in important tenets of their respective philosophies: oikeiosis, cosmopolitanism, and the unimportance of material and physical virtues for the Stoics and Cynics; divine self-sufficiency, the avoidance of pain, and the importance of friendship for the Epicureans. Some even willingly
roman attitudes peace late_republican early_imperial period greek origin contemporary evidence often_see aggressive force impose rome empire perhaps roman author often_see view peace admiration love war literary area question length verse fully therefore focus concept peace philosophy historiography late_republican early_imperial rome draw example classical_greece early_christian text necessary first_section act introduction possibility positive attitude peace examine strike negative presentation war war theory civil_war second_section examines main philosophical school period argue stoics share view merely utopian ground important tenet respective philosophy cosmopolitanism material physical virtue stoics divine self_sufficiency avoidance pain importance friendship even willingly