1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910457209403321

Autore

Morstein-Marx Robert

Titolo

Mass oratory and political power in the late Roman Republic / / Robert Morstein-Marx [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2004

ISBN

1-280-44939-X

0-511-18553-7

0-511-18470-0

0-511-18734-3

0-511-31349-7

0-511-48287-6

0-511-18641-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiv, 313 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

875/.0109358

Soggetti

Speeches, addresses, etc., Latin - History and criticism

Communication - Political aspects - Rome

Power (Social sciences) - Rome

Public meetings - Rome

Rhetoric, Ancient

Oratory, Ancient

Rome Politics and government 265-30 B.C

Rome History Republic, 265-30 B.C

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 288-305) and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. Setting the stage -- 3. Civic knowledge -- 4. The Voice of the People -- 5. Debate -- 6. Contional ideology: the invisible "optimate" -- 7. Contional ideology: the political drama -- 8. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

This book highlights the role played by public, political discourse in shaping the distribution of power between Senate and People in the Late Roman Republic. Against the background of the debate between 'oligarchical' and 'democratic' interpretations of Republican politics, Robert Morstein-Marx emphasizes the perpetual negotiation and



reproduction of political power through mass communication. The book analyses the ideology of Republican mass oratory and situates its rhetoric fully within the institutional and historical context of the public meetings (contiones) in which these speeches were heard. Examples of contional orations, drawn chiefly from Cicero and Sallust, are subjected to an analysis that is influenced by contemporary political theory and empirical studies of public opinion and the media, rooted in a detailed examination of key events and institutional structures, and illuminated by a vivid sense of the urban space in which the contio was set.