Author Description

This provocative and controversial volume examines the notions of ethnicity, citizenship and nationhood to determine what constituted cultural identity in the Roman empire. The contributors draw together the most recent research and use diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives from archaeology, classical studies and ancient history to challenge our basic assumptions of Romanization and how parts of Europe became incorporated into a Roman culture. Cultural Identity in the Roman Empire breaks new ground, negating the idea of a unified and easily defined Roman culture as over-simplistic. The contributors present the development of Roman cultural identity throughout the empire as a complex and two-way process, far removed from the previous dichotomy between the Roman invaders and the conquered Barbarians.