Imperialism in the Ancient World: The Cambridge University Research Seminar in Ancient History

401 Pages·1978·5.08 MB·English

by  P. D. A. Garnsey

CAMBRIDGE CLASSICAL STUDIES
General editors: M.I.Finley, E.J.Kenney, G.E.L.Owen
IMPERIALISM IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

Imperialism in the
Ancient World
THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH SEMINAR
IN ANCIENT HISTORY
Edited by
P.D.A. GARNSEY
Fellow of Jesus College and Lecturer in Ancient
History in the University of Cambridge
and
C.R. WHITTAKER
Fellow of Churchill College and Lecturer in
Ancient History in the University of Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge
London : New York : Melbourne
Published by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP
Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA
296 Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park, Melbourne 3206, Australia
© Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge 1978
First published 1978
Printed in Great Britain by
Redwood Burn Limited
Trowbridge & Esher
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Imperialism in the ancient world.
(Cambridge classical studies)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index,
1. History, Ancient—Addresses, essays, lectures.
2. Imperialism—Addresses, essays, lectures.
I. Garnsey, Peter. II. Whittaker, C.R. III. Series.
D60.I56 320.913 77-85699
ISBN 0 521 21882 9
CONTENTS
List of figures page vi
Preface vii
1 INTRODUCTION 1
P.D.A.Garnsey and C.R.Whittaker
2 IMPERIALISM AND EMPIRE IN NEW KINGDOM EGYPT 7
B.J.Kemp
3 CARTHAGINIAN IMPERIALISM IN THE FIFTH AND FOURTH
CENTURIES 59
C.R.Whittaker
4 SPARTAN IMPERIALISM? 91
A.Andrewes
5 THE FIFTH-CENTURY ATHENIAN EMPIRE: A BALANCE SHEET 103
M.I.Finley
6 ATHENS IN THE FOURTH CENTURY 127
G.T.Griffith
7 THE ANTIGONIDS AND THE GREEK STATES, 276-196 B.C. 145
J.Briscoe
8 LAUS IMPERII 159
P.A.Brunt
9 GREEK INTELLECTUALS AND THE ROMAN ARISTOCRACY IN
THE FIRST CENTURY B.C. 193
M.H.Crawford
10 THE BENEFICIAL IDEOLOGY 209
V.Nutton
11 ROME'S AFRICAN EMPIRE UNDER THE PRINCIPATE 223
P.D.A.Garnsey
12 JEWISH ATTITUDES TO THE ROMAN EMPIRE 255
N.R.M. de Lange
Notes 283
Bibliography 359
Index 374
FIGURES
1 The temple town of Sesebi, after JEA XXIV (1938), pi.
VIII. (By courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society.) page 24
2 Outlines of six Nubian temple towns. 25
3 Map of Nubia in the New Kingdom with (inset) map of the
more southerly part of Upper Egypt at the same scale. 27
4 Map of the Wadi es-Sebua area in Lower Nubia. The
sources for the archaeology of this area are: Firth,
The Archaeological survey of Nubia, report for 1910-
1911, 233-4; Emery and Kirwan, The excavations and sur­
vey between Wadi es-Sebua and Adindan, 70-104; Fouilles
en Nubie I 39-40, 53-62; Fouilles en Nubie II 157-68;
Nubie par divers archeologues et historiens = Cahiers
d'histoire Zgyptienne 10.23-49; BIFAO LX (1960), 185-7;
BIFAO LXI (1962), 175-8; BIFAO LXII (1964), 219-29; BIFAO
LXIII (1965), 161-7, 255-63; BIFAO LXVII (1969), 189-211,
229-32. 41
5 Tentative political map of Palestine and Syria in the
fourteenth century B.C., after Helck (1971), 188, 309,
with the addition of certain sites mentioned in the
text (Simyra, Tell Aphel, Tell el-ajjul and Tell esh-
Sharia). 46
PREFACE
This is the second volume arising from the Cambridge Seminar in
Ancient History directed by Professor Moses Finley. We take this
opportunity to express our appreciation for the active assistance
and encouragement he has given us as editors and scholars.
This volume reflects the aim of the architect of the Seminar
to approach the subject of imperialism on a broad front. Unlike
its predecessor, Studies in Roman Property (1976), it ranges over
a wide expanse of history and covers a number of different so­
cieties, from New Kingdom Egypt to Rome under the Principate.
Despite the inevitable gaps and unevenness of coverage, all im­
portant aspects of imperialism are given detailed and systematic
attention in one or more studies. There is sufficient overlap of
subject matter and interests to invite comparative assessment.
Uniformity of viewpoint has not been sought after, nor has it
been attained. In this, the volume reflects the present state
of the debate on imperialism in the ancient world.
We wish to thank R. Van Dam for his valuable help in editorial
matters.
July 1977 C.R.W.
P.G.

1: INTRODUCTION
P.D.A.Garnsey and C.R.Whittaker
The first and major problem in discussing imperialism is one of defi­
nition.1 'Imperialism* has become a term of abuse, implying unjust
or oppressive rule or control of one people by another. These pejor­
ative connotations are central to the meaning of the word as it has
been interpreted by numerous historians of antiquity, with the result
that it has been all but eliminated from their accounts of inter­
state relations. In the case of the Delian League, where it was not
at all obvious that the dominant state ruled benignly or in the
interests of its subjects, scholars have fallen back on the assertion
that Athenian-allied relations were 'hegemonial' in character rather
than 'imperialistic1 in the first decades of the existence of the
League (if not through the entire inter-war period); meanwhile Thucy-
dides1 characterization of the Athenian empire as a tyranny has been
attributed by some to the historian's political prejudices, which
led him to overlook the popularity of Athens among the lower classes
of the empire.
The requirement that an imperialist power must have imperialist
aims and motives has further narrowed the concept of imperialism and
limited its applicability. In this case discussion has centred on
the growth of Roman power; the debate has its origin, not in the
strictures of a critic, a Roman Thucydides, but in the viewpoint of
an enthusiastic admirer, Polybius. Polybius asserted, indeed took
it for granted, that Rome aimed at empire.2 Modern scholars influ­
enced by anti-imperialist currents of thought were bound to challenge
this assumption. In 1920, Maurice Holleaux demolished an extreme
version of the Polybian theory, according to which Rome was an ag­
gressive and Machiavellian power advancing systematically and delib­
erately towards the goal of world dominion. His thesis, put simply,
is that the Romans did not want an empire and did not look for one.
War and empire were imposed on them from outside, by chance factors
beyond their control. Thus, for example, Holleaux concluded his
discussion of the outbreak of the Second Macedonian War in this way: