1st Edition
The Province of Achaea in the 2nd Century CE The Past Present
The Province of Achaea in the 2nd Century CE explores the conception and utilization of the Greek past in the Roman province of Achaea in the 2nd century CE, and the reception of the artistic, cultural, and intellectual outputs of this century in later periods.
Achaea, often defined by international scholars as "old Greece", was the only Roman province located entirely within the confines of the Modern Greek state. In many ways, Achaea in the 2nd century CE witnessed a second Golden Age, one based on collective historical nostalgia under Roman imperial protection and innovation. The papers in this volume are holistic in scope, with special emphasis on Roman imperial relations with the people of Achaea and their conceptualizations of their past. Material culture, monumental and domestic spaces, and artistic representations are discussed, as well as the literary output of individuals like Plutarch, Herodes Atticus, Aelius Aristides, and others. The debate over Roman influence in various Hellenic cities and the significance of collective historical nostalgia also feature in this volume, as does the utilization of Achaea’s past in the Roman present within the wider empire. As this century has produced the highest percentage of archaeological and literary material from the Roman period in the province under consideration, the time is ripe to position it more firmly in the academic discourse of studies of the Roman Empire.
The Province of Achaea in the 2nd Century CE will appeal to scholars, students, and other individuals who are interested in the history, archaeology, art, and literature of the Graeco-Roman world and its reception.
1. Introduction: Collective Historical Nostalgia in 2nd-Century Achaea
Anna Kouremenos
Part 1: Social and Literary Approaches to Achaea’s Past in the 2nd Century CE
2. Memory and Identity among the Ephebes of 2nd-Century Achaea
Nigel M. Kennell
3. Pausanias Book X: A Detour to the Fringes of "Classical" Greece
Frank Daubner
4. Hadrian and the Dramatic Festivals of Achaea
Mali Skotheim
5. The Battle of Chaeronea: Nostalgia vs. Idealism in 2nd-Century Greek Prose
Sulochana R. Asirvatham
Part 2: The Greek Past in the Roman Present: Politics and Religion
6. Hadrianos Olympios Panhellenios: Worshipping Hadrian in Athens
Francesco Camia
7. Remembering Philopoemen: Achaean Pasts and Presents of Messene under Rome
Eliza Gettel
8. Politics of the Past: Marcus Aurelius and Commodus in Achaea
Giorgos Mitropoulos
9. Herodes Atticus and the Sanctuaries of Achaea: Reinterpreting the Roman Present via the Greek Past
Estelle Strazdins
Part 3: Past and Present in the Visual Culture of "Old Greece"
10. Remembering Classical Greece: Hadrianic and Antonine Imperial Portrait Sculpture
Panagiotis Konstantinidis
11. Between the Local Past and a Global Phenomenon: Isiaca in 2nd-Century Achaea
Dafni Maikidou-Poutrino
12. Sculpture for "Ordinary" People in 2nd-Century Achaea
Stylianos E. Katakis
13. The Past in the Round: Roman Provincial Coinage in the Argolid
David Weidgenannt
Part 4: Beyond Spatial and Temporal Boundaries: Hadrian and The Reception of Achaea’s Past
14. Hispania Graeca: Hadrian as a Champion of Hellenic Culture in the West
Juan Manuel Cortés Copete
15. "The City of Hadrian and not of Theseus": A Cultural History of Hadrian’s Arch
Anna Kouremenos
16. Afterword
Ewen Bowie
Biography
Anna Kouremenos is Macricostas Endowed Teaching Fellow in Hellenic and Modern Greek Studies at Western Connecticut State University, USA, and Lecturer in Ancient History at Quinnipiac University, USA. She has published widely on the history and archaeology of Roman Greece, insularity and identity in the ancient Mediterranean, and the reception of antiquity. Her current research interests lie primarily in Hellenism in the 2nd century CE – with an emphasis on the Hadrianic period – and the reception of Roman Hellenism in later periods.
