Rome, Empire of Plunder: The Dynamics of Cultural Appropriation

Description

Bringing together philologists, historians, and archaeologists, Rome, Empire of Plunder bridges disciplinary divides in pursuit of an interdisciplinary understanding of Roman cultural appropriation - approached not as a set of distinct practices but as a hydra-headed phenomenon through which Rome made and remade itself, as a Republic and as an Empire, on Italian soil and abroad. The studies gathered in this volume range from the literary thefts of the first Latin comic poets to the grand-scale spoliation of Egyptian obelisks by a succession of emperors, and from Hispania to Pergamon to Qasr Ibrim. Applying a range of theoretical perspectives on cultural appropriation, contributors probe the violent interactions and chance contingencies that sent cargo of all sorts into circulation around the Roman Mediterranean, causing recurrent distortions in their individual and aggregate meanings. The result is an innovative and nuanced investigation of Roman cultural appropriation and imperial power.

Matthew P. Loar is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He is currently writing a book on the Cacus myth in Augustan Rome. Carolyn Macdonald is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of New Brunswick. She is currently writing a book on literary and visual responses to Rome's appropriation of Greek art. Dan-el Padilla Peralta is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics at Princeton University, New Jersey. He is currently writing a monograph on the religious world of the Middle Republic.