The history of the Greek city under Rome is that of a paradox. It used to be thought that the Greek polis died after the battle of Chaironeia, but a new orthodoxy has emerged that emphasises its continuity well into the Roman period. The polis did not simply survive—it actually flourished with the active support of Rome. Traditional politics continued, even though old practices and values had to be integrated into a new imperial framework. Modern historians of Greek political history have not always taken this political activity seriously, dismissing it as an antiquarian façade, or empty gesturing. However, this fails to explain the continuing attraction of the traditional polis model to local élites and Roman authorities alike. Moreover, recent debates on Roman imperial culture have paid little attention to local Greek politics in discussions of how loyalty to the imperial system was created.
This project aims to study the political culture of Roman Athens. Athens is an ideal laboratory to explore the entanglement of Rome with the political and cultural world of the Greek city. It is exceptionally well-documented in terms of events, political and cultural institutions, historical actors, and the built environment. It offers a unique window on long-term political history, as well as on the complex relationships that Roman authorities maintained with Greek political practice. It paired strong local political traditions with high levels of interference by Roman authorities. Moreover, the élite was well-integrated into the imperial aristocracy, which shared its intellectual engagement with Athens’ classical past. A stream of publications over the last few years has elucidated the complex processes of cultural interaction with the classical past. However, the political processes are less well understood. This project will investigate how a new political constellation was anchored in the long-term political culture of the city. How was the political inheritance received? Which ideas, or practices were kept, or re-invented? Which were rejected or reformed? The project will make a special study of the political language and discourse (e.g. honorific inscriptions or surviving decrees). The postdoc will carry out a semantic and rhetorical analysis of the strategies by which these texts engaged with the classical past and anchored contemporary political experiences in local traditions.
Candidates are invited to design a research project to study this theme. The results are to be laid down in at least two substantial articles that employ the concept of anchoring in the context of the long-term political culture of Athens and make a contribution towards the development of a theory of Anchoring. The successful candidate will also contribute to the design of a wider research programme on the Language of Empire that will be carried out under the auspices of the Anchoring initiative.
More information about the Anchoring Innovation research agenda of OIKOS can be found on the OIKOS website (http://www.ru.nl/oikos/anchoring-innovation), including an article by Ineke Sluiter, entitled “Anchoring Innovation: a Classical Research Agenda”.