Sarolta A. Takács - The Construction of Authority in Ancient Rome and Byzantium (2009), RZYM
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THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHORITY IN
ANCIENT ROME AND BYZANTIUM
The Rhetoric of Empire
In
The Construction of Authority in Ancient Rome and Byzantium
,Sarolta
Ta k acs examines the role of the Roman emperor, who was the single
most important law-giving authority in Roman society. Emperors
had to embody the qualities or virtues espoused by Rome’s ruling
classes. Political rhetoric shaped the ancients’ reality and played a part
in the upkeep of their political structures. Tak´acsisolatesareoccur-
ring cultural pattern, a conscious appropriation of symbols and signs
(verbal and visual) belonging to the Roman Empire. She suggests that
contemporary concepts of “empire” may have Roman precedents,
which are reactivations or reuses of well-established ancient pat-
terns. Showing the dialectical interactivity between the constructed
past and present, Takacs also focuses on the issue of classical legacy
through these virtues, which are not simply repeated or adapted cul-
tural patterns but are tools for the legitimization of political power,
authority, and even domination of one nation over another.
SAROLTA A. TAKACS is professor of history and founding dean of the
School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program at Rutgers University.
A recipient of fellowships from the Center for Hellenic Studies
(Harvard University) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
as well as grants from the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the
Ford Foundation, and Fondation Hardt, she is the author of
Isis and
Sarapis in the Roman World
and
Virgins, Sibyls, and Matrons: Women in
Roman Religion.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF
AUTHORITY IN
ANCIENT ROME AND
BYZANTIUM
The Rhetoric of Empire
SAROLTA A. TAKACS
Rutgers University
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