Articulating Resistance under the Roman Empire

Explores the diverse forms of elite resistance to and in the Roman Empire, often in subtle and silent ways.

Explores the diverse strategies by which elite Greeks and Romans resisted the cultural and political domination of the Roman Empire in ways that avoided direct confrontation. These encompass the affirmation of identity via language choice, the use of genre, the negotiation of identity, and religion.This book explores the many strategies by which elite Greeks and Romans resisted the cultural and political hegemony of the Roman Empire in ways that avoided direct confrontation or simple warfare. By resistance is meant a range of responses including 'opposition', 'subversion', 'antagonism', 'dissent', and 'criticism' within a multiplicity of cultural forms from identity-assertion to polemic. Although largely focused on literary culture, its implications can be extended to the world of visual and material culture. Within the volume a distinguished group of scholars explores topics such as the affirmation of identity via language choice in epigraphy; the use of genre (dialogue, declamation, biography, the novel) to express resistant positions; identity negotiation in the scintillating and often satirical Greek essays of Lucian; and the place of religion in resisting hegemonic power.