Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire

by Jason König (Editor), Tim Whitmarsh (Editor)

The Romans commanded the largest and most complex empire the world had ever seen, or would see until modern times. The challenges, however, were not just political, economic and military: Rome was also the hub of a vast information network, drawing in worldwide expertise and refashioning it for its own purposes. This fascinating collection of essays considers the dialogue between technical literature and imperial society, drawing on, developing and critiquing a range of modern cultural theories (including those of Michel Foucault and Edward Said). How was knowledge shaped into textual forms, and how did those forms encode relationships between emperor and subjects, theory and practice, Roman and Greek, centre and periphery? Ordering Knowledge in the Roman Empire will be required reading for those concerned with the intellectual and cultural history of the Roman Empire, and its lasting legacy in the medieval world and beyond.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

From University of St. Andrews website:

"My current work is focused broadly on the Greek literature of the Roman Empire and on the Greek and Roman novel. My new book Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture, is forthcoming with CUP. I am working particularly on Philostratus; also on a new project on landscape in ancient culture and literature."
Interests include: Greek literature and culture of the Roman Empire, including the Greek and Latin novels and early Christian narrative literature; ancient athletics; the literature and culture of the symposium; ancient miscellanistic and technical writing.

Reviews

[Rosa]

Not a very cohesive volume, and definitely one with a high standard deviation. Some chapters (11, 10, 8, 4) were quite engaging and undertook the order/empire themes pretty well. Other chapters were extreme snoozefests (2 was the worst). I liked 5 for its trivia and quotes, but less so for its order/empire connection, which was a weakness of the volume as a whole.