Enemies of the Roman Order: Treason, Unrest and Alienation in the Empire

by Ramsay MacMullen

Ramsay MacMullen presents a comprehensive treatment of the patterns of deviation from views accepted among the dominant groups and classes of the first four centuries of the Empire.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Ancient

370 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

A specialist in Roman social history and the rise of Christianity in the Roman world, Ramsay MacMullen was Dunham Professor of History and Classics at Yale University, where he taught from 1967 until his retirement in 1993. Educated at Phillips Exeter and Harvard, from which he held all three of his degrees, MacMullen taught at the University of Oregon and Brandeis before moving to Yale.

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely cogent and well-researched book. The author traces the forces who rebelled against the Roman imperium through the centuries from the beginning of the empire until its final demise in the West. His thesis is that the original opponents were members of the aristocracy, but that the reaction drifted downward in the social order through the centuries. He traces the opposition from conspirators to Philosopher, Magicians, Astrologer, Urban revolt, to Brigands. Each group is lower in the socioeconomic and political scale. I was not very interested in the decline of the empire before I read this book, but now, Boy Howdy! this seems like a sexy hypothesis.