Understanding Integration in the Roman World: (47 Impact of Empire)

Integration is a buzzword in the 21st century. However, academics still do not agree on its meaning and, above all, on its consequences. This book offers numerous examples showing that the inhabitants of the Roman Mediterranean were “integrated”, i.e. were aware of the existence of a common framework of coexistence, without this necessarily resulting in a process of cultural convergence. For instance, the Spanish poet Martial explicitly refused to be considered the brother of the Greek Charmenion (10.65): paradoxically, while reaffirming their differences, his satirical epigram confirms the existence of a common frame of reference that encompassed them both. Understanding integration in the Roman world requires paying attention to the complex and varied responses to diversity in Roman times.

Table of Contents:
Contents List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations Notes on Contributors 1 Foreword: Understanding Integration in the Roman World  Elena Muñiz-Grijalvo and Rosario Moreno Soldevila Part 1: Integration: A Conceptual Battlefield 2 Integration Revisited: How to Address Culture Change in the Roman Empire. An Agony in Three Fits  Frederick G. Naerebout 3 Vox diversa: Theoretical Proposals about “Integration”  Alberto Marina Castillo Part 2: Non-elite and Local Processes of Integration 4 Nationes of Enslaved and Freed Romans  Rose MacLean 5 Integration and Self-Integration of Foreigners in the Roman Census during the Roman Republic  Cristina Rosillo-López 6 The (Non)Integration of Romans and Italians in Hispania during the Republic  Some Reflections  Francisco Pina Polo 7 Local Citizenship and Non-elite Integration in Roman Iberia  Louise Revell Part 3: Integration of Diversity in the Social and Cultural Spheres 8 Roman Women Who Feed: Epula and Integration in Hispania during the Principate  Carmen Alarcón Hernández 9 Gaining Citizenship: Agonistic Paths to Integration in the Roman Empire  Rocío Gordillo Hervás 10 Literature and Integration in Martial and Pliny the Younger  Rosario Moreno Soldevila 11 Madness as a Form of Marginality and Barbarism in the Imperial Roman Political Discourse  Juan R. Ballesteros Part 4: Integration of Diversity in the Religious Sphere 12 Unlikely Imperial Gods. A Reflection on Some Unexpected Results of the Integration of Emperors into Local Greek Panthea  Fernando Lozano Gómez 13 Estrangement and Rapprochement: The Alleged Egyptian Origin of Graeco-Roman Processions  Elena Muñiz-Grijalvo 14 Sanctuary Narratives and Seafarers’ Votive Offerings  Integration, Continuity and Persistence of Maritime Risk Management Strategies  Mirella Romero Recio Index

About the Author :
Elena Muñiz-Grijalvo is Professor of Ancient History at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Seville) and co-director of a Master's program in Religious Studies. Her publications include Himnos a Isis (Trotta, 2006), Ruling the Greek World (Franz Steiner, 2015), Empire and Religion (Brill, 2017) and Processions and the Construction of Communities in Antiquity (Routledge, 2023). Rosario Moreno Soldevila is Professor of Latin at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Seville). She has published monographs, editions, translations and articles on different Latin authors and works, especially on Martial, including Martial, Book IV: A Commentary (Brill, 2006) and A Prosopography to Martial’s Epigrams (De Gruyter, 2019). Contributors are: Carmen Alarcón Hernández, Juan R. Ballesteros, Rocío Gordillo Hervás, Fernando Lozano Gómez, Rose MacLean, Alberto Marina Castillo, Rosario Moreno Soldevila, Elena Muñiz-Grijalvo, Frederick G. Naerebout, Francisco Pina Polo, Louise Revell, Mirella Romero Recio, Cristina Rosillo-López.

Review :
"What is 'integration', as applied to contexts regarding the ancient Roman world? How should it be addressed, or, to begin with, be thought of? Moreover, how can we come to understand the processes that we decide to call integration? It is these and other closely related questions that the book to be reviewed here is about. It is, therefore, a welcome contribution to the great debates that have taken place on such issues in recent decades, to mention only those concerning ‘Romanisation’. (...) Far from being the last word on the subjects it covers, it can therefore be highly recommended to any interested reader." Jonas Scherr in BMCR 2024.11.26