Proceedings of the International Colloquium organized by the Finnish Institute and the Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity: Athens 7-9 September 1993 (Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity National Hellenic Research Foundation
Abstract
This paper uses the duoviral coinage and epigraphy of Roman Corinth to define more closely the social and geographical origins of the group who, as holders of the highest offices in the colony, constituted its govering class in the period from Augustus to Nero. No apology is offered for this study of an élite: it seeks to make the best of what (little) evidence there is for Roman Corinth’s social fabric in the formative —but still obscure— period which saw the transformation of Caesar’s foundation from a building site into something approaching the opulent ‘capital of Achaia’ known to the novelist Apuleius.
Its chief conclusions, based on the detailed study of proper names presented in the accompanying catalogue, are that (1) the veteran element in the early-colonial élite looks exiguous; (2) the servile element was marked, including men whose names point to social origins in the familiae of leading Romans of the triumviral and Augustan periods; (3) from the earliest date families of Roman businessmen (negotiatores) and their freedmen formed a much larger sub-group within the curial order than has been recognised; and (4), by and large, old Greece’s notables avoided political engagement with the new colony before the reign of Claudius, which, with that of Nero, marks something of a watershed in the gradual integration of this Italian enclave into its greek surrounding.
Antony J.S. Spawforth
Proceedings of the International Colloquium organized by the Finnish Institute and the Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity: Athens 7-9 September 1993 (Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity National Hellenic Research Foundation
Abstract
This paper uses the duoviral coinage and epigraphy of Roman Corinth to define more closely the social and geographical origins of the group who, as holders of the highest offices in the colony, constituted its govering class in the period from Augustus to Nero. No apology is offered for this study of an élite: it seeks to make the best of what (little) evidence there is for Roman Corinth’s social fabric in the formative —but still obscure— period which saw the transformation of Caesar’s foundation from a building site into something approaching the opulent ‘capital of Achaia’ known to the novelist Apuleius.
Its chief conclusions, based on the detailed study of proper names presented in the accompanying catalogue, are that (1) the veteran element in the early-colonial élite looks exiguous; (2) the servile element was marked, including men whose names point to social origins in the familiae of leading Romans of the triumviral and Augustan periods; (3) from the earliest date families of Roman businessmen (negotiatores) and their freedmen formed a much larger sub-group within the curial order than has been recognised; and (4), by and large, old Greece’s notables avoided political engagement with the new colony before the reign of Claudius, which, with that of Nero, marks something of a watershed in the gradual integration of this Italian enclave into its greek surrounding.
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