Lampas - Volume 56, Issue 2, 2023

This article focuses on the question how Cicero is able to legitimize the use of the seaside resort Baiae and its negative associations in order to create and widen the moral contradiction between Caelius and Clodia in his Pro Caelio. It claims that Cicero treats the accusations about Baiae in different ways in relation to Clodia and Caelius to create a double standard for two people who are being accused of the same thing. By elaborating different levels of attention, a twofold use of the word Baiae and an emphasis on the frequency and publicity of visits to the place, Cicero manages to legitimize this double standard and thereby broadens the gap between Caelius and Clodia.

This paper argues that the many languages allegedly spoken by Cleopatra VII (Plutarch, Life of Antony 27.2-4) were part of a court ritual and should be understood in the context of imperial ideology and rhetoric. They can be read as a blueprint of Cleopatra’s (imagined) empire, a blueprint which consists of regions that were claimed by the Ptolemies more often: the Red Sea, Nubia, Egypt, Nabataea, and the Levant, with the addition of the former Seleucid Upper Satrapies, yet to be conquered by Mark Antony, which Cleopatra, because of her Seleucid ancestry, could claim as her inheritance. This rhetoric stands in a Near Eastern and Egyptian tradition of summing up the peoples that constitute the world empire, and emphasizing control over faraway lands. Another important conclusion to be drawn from Plutarch’s list of languages, is that African populations to the south of Egypt, too, featured prominently in Cleopatra’s imperial rhetoric – something that our Mediterranean-focused narrative sources, as well as most modern historians, are usually not very interested in.

Although Roman law may rightfully be considered one of the most enduring legacies of the ancient world, as a field of study it has all too often been quite disconnected from Roman history. In recent years, however, academic interest in a more interdisciplinary approach that highlights the interconnectedness between Roman law and its wider societal context has steadily become more popular. This contribution will argue that an increased focus on legal themes in the work of ancient authors operating outside the sphere of legal experts is absolutely invaluable for a deeper understanding of the ancient world, and can furthermore help modern readers to explore their own perceptions and expectations of the law, and how they reflect societal values and interests. It will illustrate this idea by delving into the legal thinking of the Roman historian Tacitus, whose works display a notable interest in the subject, and provide fascinating insights into the various ways in which educated non-experts in the Roman Empire could think about the role of law in society.