Struggles to define and counter-define unrest in the cities of the early Roman East

Gray, Benjamin (2024) Struggles to define and counter-define unrest in the cities of the early Roman East. In: Eberle, L.P. and Lavan, M. (eds.) Unrest in the Roman Empire: A Discursive History. Frankfurt, Germany: Campus, pp. 75-102. ISBN 9783593519326.

Abstract

This chapter analyses discourses of unrest in the Greek poleis in the early stages of Roman rule (first century BC–first century AD). Like other chapters in the volume, it traces evolutions in the discourse of unrest in response to Roman power and associated social change. Traditional Greek discourse about stasis remained strongly influential. Stasis and division had always been something to be feared for a polis. Nonetheless, many traditional interpretations of it at least grudgingly accepted that participants on each side were engaging (sometimes in wrong, perverted ways) in political activity; this meant that unity could be restored through political processes and political institutions which incorporated all citizens. These tendencies endured in interesting ways into the Roman period, but they also had to contend with alternative ideas and practices, which treated any political unrest (but especially any with democratic aspirations) as a more fundamental challenge to peace, gentleness and civility, requiring new, more ethical styles of resolution. Sometimes even previously routine forms of political self-assertion or confrontation came under this rethought umbrella. This chapter examines the complex interaction of these different conceptualisations, including the ways in which that interaction mirrored ideological developments at Rome and in other provinces. It is argued throughout that evolutions in discourses of political disorder must be studied in tandem with changing discourses of political order and reconciliation.

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