Dear all,
We cordially invite you to our next CRASIS Ancient World Seminar *TODAY*.
We are happy to introduce you *dr. Rens Tacoma*. He will elaborate on a
fascinating case of benefaction in sixth-century Italy under the
Ostrogoths, with the following lecture:
*Draining Resources. Theodoric, the Roman Senate, and the Pontine Marshes.*
It is of some irony that one of our best sources about Roman benefactions
postdates the fall of the western Roman empire by a wide margin. A small
dossier consisting of two letters of king Theoderic (Cassiodorus, Variae
2.32-33) and three almost identical monumental inscriptions (C.I.L.
10.6850-6852) concern a project of draining the Pontine Marshes at the
beginning of the 6th cent. A.D. Remarkably, the letters of the king and the
inscriptions contain contradictory statements about the question who took
the initiative. The fact that the texts assigned the project to the other
party raises in an acute form questions of authorship and agency. Rather
than taking the contradictory assignments as a product of special
circumstances, it will be argued that the ambiguities were a structural
property of the way Roman benefactions worked. Ruler and benefactor were
locked in mutual expectations about their behaviour. The lecture will
discuss the social dynamics and address the implications for our
understanding of Roman political culture.
*Laurens Ernst (Rens) *Tacoma* is lecturer in Ancient History at Leiden
University, working and teaching in the field of Roman social history. He
has recently concluded a large research project devoted to Roman migration
in the Principate, aiming to offer a comprehensive overview on the basis of
a study of migration to and from the city of Rome in the first two
centuries A.D. This has resulted in two co-edited volumes published by
Brill Leiden and the monograph *Moving Romans. Urbanisation, migration and
labour in the Roman Principate* (OUP 2016). He is currently working on a
new book entitled *The end of politics? Studies in Roman political culture
from the 1st to the 6th cent A.D*.*
The session takes place, as usual, in *room 130* of the Faculty of Theology
and Religious Studies, Groningen, *16.15 – 17.30*.
Join us for drinks afterwards!
--
Sjoukje Kamphorst
PhD candidate in Ancient History
on behalf of the CRASIS team
University of Groningen
CRASIS is the Groningen institute for Interdisciplinary Studies in Culture,
Religion and Society of the Ancient World. Follow CRASIS on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/rug.crasis> or find out more about us on
www.rug.nl/crasis.
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