offers some genuinely interesting insights into the division of power between prominent politicans and their audiences in ancient cities... B.'s book makes a valuable contribution to the study of power relations in ancient communities

Craig Galbraith, Journal of Roman Studies

...spectacular ... [a] powerful evocation of spectacle and display on a grand scale

Greece and Rome

makes a number of individual points that are valid and stimulating.

Robin Seager, The Classical Review

Andrew Bell's analysis of the power of prestige in civic communities of the ancient world demonstrates the importance of crowds' aesthetic and emotional judgement upon leaders and their ambitious claims for immediate and lasting significance; and also finds consideration of this dynamic still to be valuable for modern citizens. An initial discussion of the fall of Ceausescu in 1989 prompts theoretical considerations about the inseparability of authority and its manifestation; and scrutiny of Julius Caesar's gestures towards self-definition introduces the complexity of ancient political relations. The simultaneous presence of both popular affection for wondrous and kingly individuals, and also egalitarian suspicion of it, is detected in classical Athens, where an Alcibiades needed to manoeuvre craftily to achieve obvious and ritual pre-eminence in associating himself with age-old and Homeric models of distinction. Accordingly, the arrival of Hellenistic kingliness, such as that of Demetrios Poliorcetes, upon the political stage was neither wholly innovative nor unattractive. Yet such kings quite clearly articulated a new and grandiose majesty, as can be seen in parades in Egypt and Syria. With the growth of Roman imperialism, these stylings of personal power needed to be adapted to new realities and models, just as Romans of the later Republic increasingly found much to admire and emulate in others' spectacles. Thus the book comes back to the end of the Republic and to Cicero's struggles to maintain traditional, republican dignities in civic ceremony while a new Roman kingliness, thoroughly attentive to spectacular politics, was dawning.
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In the great cities of Greece and Rome, politicians and kings sought to be seen as celebrities. They tried to appear wondrous and exciting to citizens and subjects. This study shows some of their methods and so reveals the importance of political advertisement and spectacle in societies that saw great kings but also pioneered democracy and republicanism.
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1. Looking at the Powerful ; 2. Looking at Caesar ; 3. The Affections of the Athenians ; 4. Kings and Elephants ; 5. Elephants and Citizens ; 6. Ciceronian Consensus ; Afterword
Combines a broad theoretical sweep with fascinating detail. Gives a new perspective to modern ideas of citizenship.
Andrew Bell is Associate Professor of History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Combines a broad theoretical sweep with fascinating detail. Gives a new perspective to modern ideas of citizenship.

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199242344
Publisert
2004
Utgiver
Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press
Vekt
490 gr
Høyde
224 mm
Bredde
146 mm
Dybde
22 mm
Aldersnivå
UP, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
304

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Andrew Bell is Associate Professor of History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.