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This collection of essays reaffirms the central importance of
adopting an intertextual approach to the study of Flavian epic
poetry and shows, despite all that has been achieved, just how much
still remains to be done on the topic. Most of the contributions
are written by scholars who have already made major contributions
to the field, and taken together they offer a set of state of the
art contributions on individual topics, a general survey of trends
in recent scholarship, and a vision of at least some of the paths
work is likely to follow in the years ahead. In addition, there is
a particular focus on recent developments in digital search
techniques and the influence they are likely to have on all future
work in the study of the fundamentally intertextual nature of Latin
poetry and on the writing of literary history more generally.
The economy of ancient Rome, with its money, complex credit
arrangements, and long-range shipping, was surprisingly modern. Yet
Romans also exchanged goods and services within a robust system of
gifts and favors, which sustained the supportive relationships
necessary for survival in the absence of the extensive state and
social institutions. In Gift and Gain: How Money Transformed
Ancient Rome, Neil Coffee shows how a vibrant commercial culture
progressively displaced systems of gift giving over the course of
Rome's classical era. The change was propelled the Roman elite,
through their engagement in shipping, moneylending, and other
enterprises. Members of the same elite, however, remained
habituated to traditional gift relationships, relying on them to
exercise influence and build their social worlds. They resisted the
transformation, through legislation, political movements, and
philosophical argument. The result was a recurring clash across the
contexts of Roman social and economic life. The book traces the
conflict between gift and gain from Rome's prehistory, down through
the conflicts of the late Republic, into the early Empire, showing
its effects in areas as diverse as politics, government, legal
representation, philosophical thought, public morality, personal
and civic patronage, marriage, dining, and the Latin language.
These investigations show Rome shifting, unevenly but steadily,
away from its pre-historic reliance on relationships of mutual aid,
and toward to the more formal, commercial, and contractual
relations of modernity.
This collection of essays reaffirms the central importance of
adopting an intertextual approach to the study of Flavian epic
poetry and shows, despite all that has been achieved, just how much
still remains to be done on the topic. Most of the contributions
are written by scholars who have already made major contributions
to the field, and taken together they offer a set of state of the
art contributions on individual topics, a general survey of trends
in recent scholarship, and a vision of at least some of the paths
work is likely to follow in the years ahead. In addition, there is
a particular focus on recent developments in digital search
techniques and the influence they are likely to have on all future
work in the study of the fundamentally intertextual nature of Latin
poetry and on the writing of literary history more generally.
Latin epics such as Virgil's "Aeneid," Lucan's "Civil War," and
Statius's "Thebaid "addressed Roman aristocrats whose dealings in
gifts, favors, and payments defined their conceptions of social
order. In "The Commerce of War," Neil Coffee argues that these
exchanges play a central yet overlooked role in epic depictions of
Roman society. Tracing the collapse of an aristocratic worldview
across all three poems, Coffee highlights the distinction they draw
between reciprocal gift giving among elites and the more
problematic behaviors of buying and selling. In the "Aeneid,"
customary gift and favor exchanges are undermined by characters who
view human interaction as short-term and commodity-driven. The
"Civil War" takes the next logical step, illuminating how Romans
cope once commercial greed has supplanted traditional values.
Concluding with the "Thebaid," which focuses on the problems of
excessive consumption rather than exchange, Coffee closes his
powerful case that these poems constitute far-reaching critiques of
Roman society during its transition from republic to empire.
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