History Books

Thought Ancient Rome was a homogeneous society? Well, you’re quite wrong. Rutger’s University history professor Gary D. Farney has written a new book, in which he explores the importance of ethnicity in Rome:

Farney explores how senators from Rome’s Republican period celebrated and manipulated their ethnic identity to get ahead in Rome’s political culture. He examines how politicians from these lands tried to advertise positive aspects of their ethnic identity, how others tried to re-create a negative identity into something positive, and how ethnic identity advertisement developed over the course of Republican history. Finally, in an epilogue, Farney addresses how the various Italic identities coalesced into a singular Italian identity in the Empire, and how Rome’s experience with Italic groups informed how it perceived other groups, such as Gauls, Germans, and Greeks.

Ethnic Identity and Aristocratic Competition in Republican Rome will be available on June 30, 2007.