Table Of ContentEager to be Roman
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EAGER TO BE
ROMAN
Greek Response to Roman Rule
in Pontus and Bithynia
Jesper Majbom Madsen
LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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London New York
WC1B 3DP NY 10018
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www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in 2009 by Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd.
© Jesper Majbom Madsen 2009
Jesper Majbom Madsen has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from
the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining
from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury
or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-0-7156-3753-1
ePUB: 978-1-4725-1973-3
ePDF: 978-1-4725-1974-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Contents
Preface vii
List of illustrations ix
Introduction 1
1. A Governor at Work 11
2. Roman Rule in Pontus and Bithynia 27
The Pompeian provincialisation 29
Thepolis constitution in Pontus and Bithynia 34
Emperor-worship: Greek traditions and Roman influence 40
A question of temples 46
Greek autonomy and Roman rule 53
3. Greeks in the Roman World 59
Greek influence on Roman politics 60
In Roman service 64
Roman Greeks 79
4. Turning Roman in Pontus and Bithynia 83
Becoming legally Roman 87
Affiliation to the emperor 90
Roman names, status and identity 96
Roman identity and Greek pragmatism 99
5. Responses to Roman Rule 103
Dio Chrysostom: a bitter patriot 107
L. Flavius Arrianus: a Roman authority and a nostalgic Greek 119
Cassius Dio: a Roman from Bithynia 124
Conclusion 127
Notes 135
Bibliography 149
Index Locorum 159
General Index 163
v
To Rikke
Preface
This book is a rewritten version of my PhD dissertation, completed at
Aarhus University (Denmark) in June 2006 under the supervision of
Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen, with whom I share an interest in Bithynia. I am
grateful for his encouragement and support over the years, both as a
doctoral student and later as a colleague at the University of Southern
Denmark, where this book was completed. I would like to thank him
warmly for many stimulating discussions. I am also grateful to Greg Woolf
for welcoming me at St Andrews on several occasions and for reading
through earlier drafts of this book. I have benefited enormously from his
insightful criticism. I am also extremely grateful for the hospitality I have
enjoyed at the School of Classics, St Andrews. I would also like to thank
Jesper Carlsen, who willingly read and commented on earlier drafts of this
book, for his support as head of department, enabling me to complete this
book. I would also like to thank my colleague Cristian Høgel for taking the
time to read the entire manuscript.
Special thanks must go to my good friend Carsten Hjort Lange, who has
always been there for me, ready to discuss, read and offer suggestions on
more drafts than he would like to remember. I am very grateful to Roger
Rees for proof-reading and commenting on the book and for his and his
family’s warm hospitality during my stays in Scotland. I would also like to
express my thanks to Eckart Olshausen, Jason König, Kirsten Dige
Larsen and Rita Ratenborg for their interest in this project and for reading
this book or my dissertation. I am grateful to my students at the University
of Southern Denmark: their contributions have had a significant impact
on the final result and are greatly appreciated.
Thanks are due to the institutions who have supported this project. The
dissertation was completed at the Danish Research Centre for Black Sea
Studies, and I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to Pia
Guldager Bilde, director of the centre, and to Jakob Munk Højte, Jane
Hjarl Pedersen, George Hinge and Vladimir Stolba, for three fantastic
years. I would like to thank the Danish Institute in Rome and the Danish
Institute in Athens for the opportunity to use their facilities and work on
the project in a constructive environment. I am also grateful to Ali Vural
for his delightful company during a trip to Turkey in 2004, which surely
would have been less fruitful had I not benefited from his ability to solve
practical and linguistic problems.
vii
Preface
Most of all, I am grateful to my wife Rikke Heilmann Madsen for her
unconditional support over the years. Without her encouragement, under-
standing and forgiveness this would have been a very different experience.
I dedicate the book to her.
Odense, April 2009 Jesper Majbom Madsen
viii
List of illustrations
1. Map of Pontus and Bithynia at the beginning of the second
century CE 12
2. The territory of Nicaea (modern Iznik) 19
3. The theatre in Nicaea 20
4. The city of Amastris and its natural harbours 23
5. List of the imperial gentilicia attested in Bithynia 89
6. The eastern gate at Nicaea 91
7. The sarcophagus of C. Cassius Chrestus in Nicaea 92
8. The theatre of Dionysus in Athens 115
ix
