Alexander Thein | University College Dublin (original) (raw)
Books by Alexander Thein
Sulla. Politics and Reception paperback 2021, 2021
Now also available in paperback! Sulla. Politics and Reception De Gruyter 22 September 2021 (Eur... more Now also available in paperback!
Sulla. Politics and Reception De Gruyter 22 September 2021 (Euro 19,95) https://twitter.com/dg_classics/status/1446440234925711363
With contributions by Catherine Steel (Glasgow), Sophia Zoumbaki (Athens), Federico Santangelo (Newcastle), Arthur Keaveney (Canterbury), Cristina Rosillo-López (Sevilla), Alison Rosenblitt (Oxford), Inger Kuin (Virginia), Alexander Thein (Dublin), Alexandra Eckert.
This book brings together an international group of scholars to offer new perspectives on the political impact and afterlife of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138-78 B.C.), one of the most important figures in the complex history of the last century of the Roman Republic. It looks beyond the march on Rome, the violence of the proscriptions, or the logic of his political reforms, and offers case studies to illustrate his relations with the Roman populace, the subject peoples of the Greek East, and his own supporters, both veterans and elites, highlighting his long-term political impact and, at times, the limits on his exercise of power.
Sulla: Politics and Reception, 2019
Sulla:Politics and Reception, de Gruyter 5 November 2019, edited by Alexandra Eckert and Alexande... more Sulla:Politics and Reception, de Gruyter 5 November 2019, edited by Alexandra Eckert and Alexander Thein
With contributions by Catherine Steel (Glasgow), Sophia Zoumbaki (Athens), Federico Santangelo (Newcastle), Arthur Keaveney (Canterbury), Cristina Rosillo-López (Sevilla), Alison Rosenblitt (Oxford), Inger Kuin (Virginia), Alexander Thein (Dublin), Alexandra Eckert (Oldenburg/Greifswald)
This book brings together an international group of scholars to offer new perspectives on the political impact and afterlife of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138–78 B.C.), one of the most important figures in the complex history of the last century of the Roman Republic. It looks beyond the march on Rome, the violence of the proscriptions, or the logic of his political reforms, and offers case studies to illustrate his relations with the Roman populace, the subject peoples of the Greek East, and his own supporters, both veterans and elites, highlighting his long-term political impact and, at times, the limits on his exercise of power. The chapters on reception reassess the good/bad dichotomy of Sulla as tyrant and reformer, focusing on Cicero, while also examining his importance for Sallust, and his characterisation as the antithesis of philhellenism in Greek writers of the Imperial period. Sulla was not straightforward, either as a historical figure or exemplum, and the case studies in this book use the twin approach of politics and reception to offer new readings of Sulla’s aims and impact, both at home and abroad, and why he remained of interest to authors from Sallust to Plutarch and Aelian.
Sulla: Politics and Reception
Editors: Alexandra Eckert (Oldenburg/Greifswald) and Alexander Thein (Dublin)
De Gruyter 2019
207 pages, Euro 79,99
Published: 5 November 2019
https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/539372
Papers by Alexander Thein
Politica Antica, 2021
Offprints available on request. This article examines the testimonies which describe how Mariu... more Offprints available on request.
This article examines the testimonies which describe how Marius’ tomb was desecrated, and his remains thrown into the river Anio, after Sulla’s victory in the civil war of 83-82. The standard view is that Sulla issued orders ‘from above’, but one source attributes agency to Sulla’s soldiers, and this article makes the case that the impetus for this act of civil war violence came ‘from below’ and was condoned by Sulla only after the fact. The second part of the article examines the location of Marius’ tomb. It accepts the standard view that it stood at the bridge over the Anio on the Via Salaria and argues that its message was to recall Marius’ acclamation as Rome’s saviour after his victories over the German tribes at Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae.
This article examines the violence of Sulla’s civil war victory and focuses on the deaths of thre... more This article examines the violence of Sulla’s civil war victory and focuses
on the deaths of three men who are otherwise unknown: Baebius, Venuleius, and a man who is called M. Plaetorius or P. Laetorius. Hinard has argued that all three men were proscribed, and that they were each subjected to a ritual execution similar to the well-attested torture and mutilation of M. Marius Gratidianus. My aim in this article is to show that this reading is not supported by the evidence: Baebius was torn limb from limb in a mob lynching; how the other two men died is not recorded. This article also rejects the view, put forward by Hinard, that Sullan violence emphasised the ritual and symbolic in contrast with the functional banality of violence in the triumviral period.
If you message or email me (and provide your postal address) I am happy to send you an offprint.
The ancient sources offer clear and unambiguous evidence that Sulla’s civil war victory at the ba... more The ancient sources offer clear and unambiguous evidence that Sulla’s civil war victory at the battle of the Colline Gate was followed first by a wave of indiscriminate urban violence and then by the publication of the first proscription lists. Hinard sanitises the evidence and denies that there was a wave of violence prior to the genesis of the proscriptions. A key source is Orosius, whose testimony is rejected on the grounds that he describes bounty hunters bringing chaos to the streets of Rome before the publication of the first proscription list. Orosius refers to percussores, and Hinard claims that this was a technical term for the freelance killers who responded to the proclamation of an official bounty on the heads of the proscribed. My aim in this article is to show that this definition is without basis. It is also my intention to stress that the violence of Sulla’s victory was not exclusively official or state-sponsored.
This article examines the evidence for the sale of booty from Italian towns sacked by Sullan armi... more This article examines the evidence for the sale of booty from Italian towns sacked by Sullan armies in the civil war of 83-82 B.C. Appian, Cicero, and Plutarch attest that Sena Gallica, Praeneste, Tuder, and Ariminum were plundered, and that Norba would have been sacked if it had not first been destroyed. Florus, in a passage which is generally understood to refer to veteran settlement, indicates that there were also booty sales at Spoletium, Interamna Nahars, Florentia, and Sulmo. The evidence for booty is substantial, yet it has received only minimal scholarly attention. This article offers the first systematic analysis.
In 88, the slave who betrayed the tribune Sulpicius was manumitted in accordance with the Sullan ... more In 88, the slave who betrayed the tribune Sulpicius was manumitted in accordance with the Sullan hostis-declaration, but then he was hurled from the Tarpeian Rock to punish his treachery and deter potential servile unrest. In 82, Sulla precipitated a freedman suspected of harbouring one of the proscribed. This article argues that Sulla returned to the Tarpeian Rock, to execute an ex-slave for his loyalty, in order to persuade potential slave accomplices that they would not be subjected to arbitrary punishment if they killed or betrayed their proscribed masters for the promised rewards of money
and manumission.
This chapter analyses Messenian ethnogenesis in the 5th century B.C. It focuses on the evidence o... more This chapter analyses Messenian ethnogenesis in the 5th century B.C. It focuses on the evidence of Thucydides and argues that his terminology lets us trace the activation and reception of Messenian ethnic identity in the half century after the helot revolt on Mount Ithome. It also addresses the problem of chronology and argues that Messenian ethnogenesis took place during rather than before the Ithome revolt. Being Messenian was a rebel identity adopted by helots and perioeci to legitimate the act of rebellion or desertion from the Spartan state. Messenian ethnicity was highly inclusive, but it was not a default identity for rebels or deserters from Laconia. It existed only within the boundaries of an ethnic discourse based on a myth of putative Messenian descent and attachment to the territory of Messenia. Its success was contingent on Athenian and Theban patronage in the 5th and 4th centuries.
This article examines the origins of the idea of Roman world rule and the foundation myths of the... more This article examines the origins of the idea of Roman world rule and the foundation myths of the Capitoline temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The temple is associated with world rule by the mid-st century BC. By the Augustan period its foundation myths are linked with the idea that Rome had been destined, from the time of the Tarquins, to exercise dominion over Italy and the world. The most important of the Capitoline foundation myths describes the prodigy of a human head which was discovered in the ground during the construction of the temple and interpreted as an omen of empire.
This article collects and analyses the source references which apply the language of clemency to ... more This article collects and analyses the source references which apply the language of clemency to episodes in which Sulla is said to have spared lives and property or otherwise acted with leniency in the Social War, the war with Mithridates, and the civil war of 83-82. Clemency is a virtue, but it is also by definition subjective, and the ancient reception of Sulla’s clemency was for the most part negative. Its exemplary function was to highlight either Sulla’s cruelty as civil war victor or the virtues and vices of third parties such as Aristion, Scipio Asiagenus, and Lucullus.
This article rejects the view, put forward by Hinard, that slaves who collaborated in the violenc... more This article rejects the view, put forward by Hinard, that slaves who collaborated in the violence of the Sullan proscriptions were offered a monetary reward but not freedom. A survey of other periods of the Republic reveals that slave accomplices were never promised money without manumission, and logic dictates that no slave will have killed or betrayed his master for money unless he was also promised his freedom. Manumission is not attested in 82, but it must be assumed. The bounty was probably half the sum promised to free persons.
The location of Ad Pictas has been the subject of disagreement among topographers of the Roman Ca... more The location of Ad Pictas has been the subject of disagreement among topographers of the Roman Campagna for the past three centuries. In general it is placed several miles west of Artena, at Fontanile delle Macere. This article places Ad Pictas at Colle Tre Are di Valmontone, near Labico, and proposes a solution to a closely-related puzzle – the junction of the Via Latina and Via Labicana, which the sources variously place at Ad Pictas, Ad Bivium and Compitum Anagninum. Originally, the roads met at Ad Pictas, as stated by Strabo. This is confirmed by the Antonine Itinerary, despite the explicit statement that the roads met at Compitum. The Via Latina was subsequently diverted south, via Fontanile delle Macere, and Ad Bivium emerged as the new junction, as shown by the Peutinger Table. The southern route of the Latina emerged in the third century AD and followed a series of existing roads laid down in the Middle Republic through the centuriated area north of Civita di Artena. The change is best attributed to consumer choice – the new route was favoured by the travelling public who frequented the roadside establishments concentrated around Ad Bivium and the nearby Colle Maiorana.
Upcoming Conference/Seminar Presentations by Alexander Thein
The session will take place online (on Zoom) on Thursday 4th March 2021 at 4:30 pm (London-Dublin... more The session will take place online (on Zoom) on Thursday 4th March 2021 at 4:30 pm (London-Dublin Time) / 5:30 pm (Central European Time). Everyone is welcome to attend. If you wish to take part, please express your interest by writing to romrep2020@gmail.com.
Book Reviews by Alexander Thein
Review of JON ALBERS, CAMPUS MARTIUS. DIE URBANE ENTWICKLUNG DES MARSFELDES VON DER REPUBLIK BIS ... more Review of JON ALBERS, CAMPUS MARTIUS. DIE URBANE ENTWICKLUNG DES MARSFELDES VON DER REPUBLIK BIS ZUR MITTLEREN KAISERZEIT (Studien zur antiken Stadt 11; Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2013).
Sulla. Politics and Reception paperback 2021, 2021
Now also available in paperback! Sulla. Politics and Reception De Gruyter 22 September 2021 (Eur... more Now also available in paperback!
Sulla. Politics and Reception De Gruyter 22 September 2021 (Euro 19,95) https://twitter.com/dg_classics/status/1446440234925711363
With contributions by Catherine Steel (Glasgow), Sophia Zoumbaki (Athens), Federico Santangelo (Newcastle), Arthur Keaveney (Canterbury), Cristina Rosillo-López (Sevilla), Alison Rosenblitt (Oxford), Inger Kuin (Virginia), Alexander Thein (Dublin), Alexandra Eckert.
This book brings together an international group of scholars to offer new perspectives on the political impact and afterlife of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138-78 B.C.), one of the most important figures in the complex history of the last century of the Roman Republic. It looks beyond the march on Rome, the violence of the proscriptions, or the logic of his political reforms, and offers case studies to illustrate his relations with the Roman populace, the subject peoples of the Greek East, and his own supporters, both veterans and elites, highlighting his long-term political impact and, at times, the limits on his exercise of power.
Sulla: Politics and Reception, 2019
Sulla:Politics and Reception, de Gruyter 5 November 2019, edited by Alexandra Eckert and Alexande... more Sulla:Politics and Reception, de Gruyter 5 November 2019, edited by Alexandra Eckert and Alexander Thein
With contributions by Catherine Steel (Glasgow), Sophia Zoumbaki (Athens), Federico Santangelo (Newcastle), Arthur Keaveney (Canterbury), Cristina Rosillo-López (Sevilla), Alison Rosenblitt (Oxford), Inger Kuin (Virginia), Alexander Thein (Dublin), Alexandra Eckert (Oldenburg/Greifswald)
This book brings together an international group of scholars to offer new perspectives on the political impact and afterlife of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138–78 B.C.), one of the most important figures in the complex history of the last century of the Roman Republic. It looks beyond the march on Rome, the violence of the proscriptions, or the logic of his political reforms, and offers case studies to illustrate his relations with the Roman populace, the subject peoples of the Greek East, and his own supporters, both veterans and elites, highlighting his long-term political impact and, at times, the limits on his exercise of power. The chapters on reception reassess the good/bad dichotomy of Sulla as tyrant and reformer, focusing on Cicero, while also examining his importance for Sallust, and his characterisation as the antithesis of philhellenism in Greek writers of the Imperial period. Sulla was not straightforward, either as a historical figure or exemplum, and the case studies in this book use the twin approach of politics and reception to offer new readings of Sulla’s aims and impact, both at home and abroad, and why he remained of interest to authors from Sallust to Plutarch and Aelian.
Sulla: Politics and Reception
Editors: Alexandra Eckert (Oldenburg/Greifswald) and Alexander Thein (Dublin)
De Gruyter 2019
207 pages, Euro 79,99
Published: 5 November 2019
https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/539372
Politica Antica, 2021
Offprints available on request. This article examines the testimonies which describe how Mariu... more Offprints available on request.
This article examines the testimonies which describe how Marius’ tomb was desecrated, and his remains thrown into the river Anio, after Sulla’s victory in the civil war of 83-82. The standard view is that Sulla issued orders ‘from above’, but one source attributes agency to Sulla’s soldiers, and this article makes the case that the impetus for this act of civil war violence came ‘from below’ and was condoned by Sulla only after the fact. The second part of the article examines the location of Marius’ tomb. It accepts the standard view that it stood at the bridge over the Anio on the Via Salaria and argues that its message was to recall Marius’ acclamation as Rome’s saviour after his victories over the German tribes at Aquae Sextiae and Vercellae.
This article examines the violence of Sulla’s civil war victory and focuses on the deaths of thre... more This article examines the violence of Sulla’s civil war victory and focuses
on the deaths of three men who are otherwise unknown: Baebius, Venuleius, and a man who is called M. Plaetorius or P. Laetorius. Hinard has argued that all three men were proscribed, and that they were each subjected to a ritual execution similar to the well-attested torture and mutilation of M. Marius Gratidianus. My aim in this article is to show that this reading is not supported by the evidence: Baebius was torn limb from limb in a mob lynching; how the other two men died is not recorded. This article also rejects the view, put forward by Hinard, that Sullan violence emphasised the ritual and symbolic in contrast with the functional banality of violence in the triumviral period.
If you message or email me (and provide your postal address) I am happy to send you an offprint.
The ancient sources offer clear and unambiguous evidence that Sulla’s civil war victory at the ba... more The ancient sources offer clear and unambiguous evidence that Sulla’s civil war victory at the battle of the Colline Gate was followed first by a wave of indiscriminate urban violence and then by the publication of the first proscription lists. Hinard sanitises the evidence and denies that there was a wave of violence prior to the genesis of the proscriptions. A key source is Orosius, whose testimony is rejected on the grounds that he describes bounty hunters bringing chaos to the streets of Rome before the publication of the first proscription list. Orosius refers to percussores, and Hinard claims that this was a technical term for the freelance killers who responded to the proclamation of an official bounty on the heads of the proscribed. My aim in this article is to show that this definition is without basis. It is also my intention to stress that the violence of Sulla’s victory was not exclusively official or state-sponsored.
This article examines the evidence for the sale of booty from Italian towns sacked by Sullan armi... more This article examines the evidence for the sale of booty from Italian towns sacked by Sullan armies in the civil war of 83-82 B.C. Appian, Cicero, and Plutarch attest that Sena Gallica, Praeneste, Tuder, and Ariminum were plundered, and that Norba would have been sacked if it had not first been destroyed. Florus, in a passage which is generally understood to refer to veteran settlement, indicates that there were also booty sales at Spoletium, Interamna Nahars, Florentia, and Sulmo. The evidence for booty is substantial, yet it has received only minimal scholarly attention. This article offers the first systematic analysis.
In 88, the slave who betrayed the tribune Sulpicius was manumitted in accordance with the Sullan ... more In 88, the slave who betrayed the tribune Sulpicius was manumitted in accordance with the Sullan hostis-declaration, but then he was hurled from the Tarpeian Rock to punish his treachery and deter potential servile unrest. In 82, Sulla precipitated a freedman suspected of harbouring one of the proscribed. This article argues that Sulla returned to the Tarpeian Rock, to execute an ex-slave for his loyalty, in order to persuade potential slave accomplices that they would not be subjected to arbitrary punishment if they killed or betrayed their proscribed masters for the promised rewards of money
and manumission.
This chapter analyses Messenian ethnogenesis in the 5th century B.C. It focuses on the evidence o... more This chapter analyses Messenian ethnogenesis in the 5th century B.C. It focuses on the evidence of Thucydides and argues that his terminology lets us trace the activation and reception of Messenian ethnic identity in the half century after the helot revolt on Mount Ithome. It also addresses the problem of chronology and argues that Messenian ethnogenesis took place during rather than before the Ithome revolt. Being Messenian was a rebel identity adopted by helots and perioeci to legitimate the act of rebellion or desertion from the Spartan state. Messenian ethnicity was highly inclusive, but it was not a default identity for rebels or deserters from Laconia. It existed only within the boundaries of an ethnic discourse based on a myth of putative Messenian descent and attachment to the territory of Messenia. Its success was contingent on Athenian and Theban patronage in the 5th and 4th centuries.
This article examines the origins of the idea of Roman world rule and the foundation myths of the... more This article examines the origins of the idea of Roman world rule and the foundation myths of the Capitoline temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The temple is associated with world rule by the mid-st century BC. By the Augustan period its foundation myths are linked with the idea that Rome had been destined, from the time of the Tarquins, to exercise dominion over Italy and the world. The most important of the Capitoline foundation myths describes the prodigy of a human head which was discovered in the ground during the construction of the temple and interpreted as an omen of empire.
This article collects and analyses the source references which apply the language of clemency to ... more This article collects and analyses the source references which apply the language of clemency to episodes in which Sulla is said to have spared lives and property or otherwise acted with leniency in the Social War, the war with Mithridates, and the civil war of 83-82. Clemency is a virtue, but it is also by definition subjective, and the ancient reception of Sulla’s clemency was for the most part negative. Its exemplary function was to highlight either Sulla’s cruelty as civil war victor or the virtues and vices of third parties such as Aristion, Scipio Asiagenus, and Lucullus.
This article rejects the view, put forward by Hinard, that slaves who collaborated in the violenc... more This article rejects the view, put forward by Hinard, that slaves who collaborated in the violence of the Sullan proscriptions were offered a monetary reward but not freedom. A survey of other periods of the Republic reveals that slave accomplices were never promised money without manumission, and logic dictates that no slave will have killed or betrayed his master for money unless he was also promised his freedom. Manumission is not attested in 82, but it must be assumed. The bounty was probably half the sum promised to free persons.
The location of Ad Pictas has been the subject of disagreement among topographers of the Roman Ca... more The location of Ad Pictas has been the subject of disagreement among topographers of the Roman Campagna for the past three centuries. In general it is placed several miles west of Artena, at Fontanile delle Macere. This article places Ad Pictas at Colle Tre Are di Valmontone, near Labico, and proposes a solution to a closely-related puzzle – the junction of the Via Latina and Via Labicana, which the sources variously place at Ad Pictas, Ad Bivium and Compitum Anagninum. Originally, the roads met at Ad Pictas, as stated by Strabo. This is confirmed by the Antonine Itinerary, despite the explicit statement that the roads met at Compitum. The Via Latina was subsequently diverted south, via Fontanile delle Macere, and Ad Bivium emerged as the new junction, as shown by the Peutinger Table. The southern route of the Latina emerged in the third century AD and followed a series of existing roads laid down in the Middle Republic through the centuriated area north of Civita di Artena. The change is best attributed to consumer choice – the new route was favoured by the travelling public who frequented the roadside establishments concentrated around Ad Bivium and the nearby Colle Maiorana.
The session will take place online (on Zoom) on Thursday 4th March 2021 at 4:30 pm (London-Dublin... more The session will take place online (on Zoom) on Thursday 4th March 2021 at 4:30 pm (London-Dublin Time) / 5:30 pm (Central European Time). Everyone is welcome to attend. If you wish to take part, please express your interest by writing to romrep2020@gmail.com.
Review of JON ALBERS, CAMPUS MARTIUS. DIE URBANE ENTWICKLUNG DES MARSFELDES VON DER REPUBLIK BIS ... more Review of JON ALBERS, CAMPUS MARTIUS. DIE URBANE ENTWICKLUNG DES MARSFELDES VON DER REPUBLIK BIS ZUR MITTLEREN KAISERZEIT (Studien zur antiken Stadt 11; Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2013).
Review of: F. Hinard, Sullana Varia. Aux sources de la première guerre civile romaine, Paris 2008.
Review of: P. Rehak, Imperium and Cosmos. Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius, Madison, Wisc... more Review of: P. Rehak, Imperium and Cosmos. Augustus and the Northern Campus Martius, Madison, Wisconsin, 2007.
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2018
Proscription was a system of state‐sponsored political violence attested twice in the civil wars ... more Proscription was a system of state‐sponsored political violence attested twice in the civil wars of the Late Roman Republic: it was invented by Sulla after the civil war of 83–82 BC and revived by Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus after the formation of the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC. The distinctive feature of proscription was the mass condemnation of political enemies, without trial or judicial process, and the publication of their names on death lists posted in the forum at Rome. The property of the proscribed was confiscated and sold at public auction, and the death sentence was enforced by the proclamation of penalties and rewards for assisting or killing the proscribed. The original meaning of the Latin word proscriptio was “publication,” often the advertisement of items for sale at auction. After Sulla it also acquired the meaning of “death list.”
University College Dublin, 27-29 June 2018 Keynote Speaker: Nick Sekunda, University of Gdansk
http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/index.asp?pn=tagungsberichte&view=pdf&id=6777
The 9th Celtic Conference in Classics, University College Dublin, 22 - 25 June 2016 Organisers: D... more The 9th Celtic Conference in Classics,
University College Dublin,
22 - 25 June 2016
Organisers: Douglas Cairns, Anton Powell, Alan Ross, Alexander Thein
