Fresh Looks at the Civil Wars Marking the Transition of the Republic to the Empire.

The eleven essays in this volume address various aspects of the “breakdown of traditional models and the invention of new ones” (p. 3) during the Roman civil wars. Using a variety of scholarly approaches, the papers cover a broad range of topics, as can be seen from this sample of the contents:

• “What is Civil about Civil War? Political Communication and the Construction of 'the People' on the Eve of Civil War (49–48 BCE)”
• “Creating Alternative Legitimacy: Octavian, Sextus Pompeius and Divine Filiation”
• “Negotiating the Failure of Roman Hegemony: The Experience of Allied Rulers During the Civil Wars”
• “The Changing Face of the Command Structure During the Civil Wars”
• “The Civil War of 43–42 BCE and Army Finances”

Depending upon subject matter the methodologies of the papers vary, from more or less traditional discursive analysis to numismatics, archaeological field work, trauma theory, biography, and more. The papers on command and finance will prove of considerable value to military historians..

New Perspectives on the Roman Civil Wars of 49–30 BCE is highly recommended for serious students of Roman history.

---///---

Note: New Perspectives on the Roman Civil Wars of 49–30 BCE is also available in e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium

www.nymas.org