Prompted by recent research on example in the field of Classics, this dissertation sets out to better understand the various ways in which Jewish and Christian authors writing, for the most part, in the Imperial west participated in the ubiquitous Roman discourse of exemplarity as they contended for what they understood to be native ancestral leadership ideals. I first introduce the form, function, and broad popularity of the Roman discourse of exemplarity (chapter 1), and propose five prevailing characteristics of ideal Roman leadership (noble lineage, courage/martial prowess, eloquence, generous patronage, and piety), before testing them on multiple Roman works (chapter 2). My project then explores the ways in which both the rhetorical form and moral content of this ancient conversation were appropriated and redeployed in texts celebrating non-Roman ancestral leaders. I begin with the Moses(es) of Josephus' Ant. 2-4 and Philo's Mosis 1-2, arguing that Josephus' more sustained contact with Roman culture and politics significantly shaped his presentation of Moses' exemplary leadership, while Philo's account largely lacks such narratological and moral Roman coloring. Both authors, however, stress Moses' all-encompassing paradigmatic piety. Chapters 4-5 focus on the leadership discourse in 1 Clement and The Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons, two corporate letters deploying Christ and Christ-imitating ancestral exempla in the service of intracommunal issues of leadership. I demonstrate the robust participations of these two texts in the Roman discourse of exemplarity as well as their shared appropriation of many characteristically Roman leadership priorities (especially courage and agonistic endurance). At the same time, I argue, both texts advocate the rather un-Roman, Pauline leadership priority of humility using Roman discursive tools, thus affirming the utility of Roman exemplarity for the preservation and articulation of non-Roman ancestral traditions. Among other implications, my project encourages those studying Roman pedagogy and moral discourse to begin including texts often overlooked as belonging exclusively to the fields of Jewish or Christian studies. Secondly, for those interested in ancient notions of Jewish and Christian leadership, my project encourages the appreciation of both the similarity of developing Mosaic or Christ-oriented leadership traditions to Roman approaches and the possibility of their cultural peculiarity.

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Valerius Maximus: "Memorable Doings and Sayings"

Mos Christianorum: The Roman Discourse of Exemplarity and the Jewish and Christian Language of Leadership

This thesis is a commentary on the first chapter of Book 4 of Valerius Maximus’ Facta et dicta memorabilia. Written during the reign of Tiberius, Valerius’ work is the only extant Latin collection of exempla, thematically arranged anecdotes illustrating virtues, vices, and other forms of noteworthy behaviour central to Roman ethical thought. In chapter 4.1 of his extensive collection, Valerius confronts his readers with a series of different examples of moderatio, moderation in regard to authority and self-importance. As this chapter so far has attracted fairly little scholarly attention, the thesis represents the first ever commentary on Valerius’ discussion of this virtue, which played such an important role in the ethical discourse of the developing early Roman Principate and especially in the ideology of the reign of Tiberius. The thesis is divided into two major parts: an introduction, structured into several sub-chapters, and the actual commentary on the text itself. The introduction begins with a brief overview of Valerius’ biographical background and the socio-cultural circumstances of his literary activity during the reign of Tiberius. This is followed by an examination of the nature of and motivation behind the Facta et dicta memorabilia, with the discussion focussing specifically on the practical purpose of an exempla collection. Turning to chapter 4.1, the next section seeks to locate Valerius’ discussion of moderatio within the wider context of his work and to assess the chapter’s internal structure. The introduction concludes with an attempt to define the virtue of moderatio as understood by Valerius and to scrutinise its social and political ramifications during the early Principate. The commentary section, following Valerius’ subdivision of chapter 4.1 into fifteen Roman and nine external exemplars of moderatio, ranges over historical, philological, philosophical, and literary matters, all arising from a close reading of the text itself and reflecting the multifaceted nature of V.’s work. The commentary primarily is concerned with the clarification of the (myth-)historical realia of the individual

background or result

Valerius Maximus on moderatio: A commentary on Facta et dicta memorabilia 4.1

Many of the wars of the Late Republican period were largely civil conflicts, and there was thus a tension between the traditional expectation that triumphs should be celebrated for victories over foreign enemies and the need of the great commanders to give full expression to their prestige and charisma, and to legitimate their power. Most of the rules and conventions relating to triumphs thus appear to have been articulated as the development of Roman warfare brought new issues to the Senate's attention. This paper will examine these tensions and the ways in which they were resolved. The traditional war-ritual of the triumph and the topic of civil war have both received renewed interest in recent scholarship. However, attempts to define the relationship between them have been hampered by comments in the ancient evidence that suggest the celebration of a triumph for victory in a civil war was contrary to traditional practices. Nevertheless, as this paper will argue, a general could expect to triumph after a civil war victory if it could be represented also as over a foreign enemy (the civil war aspect of the victory did not have to be denied); only after a victory in an exclusively civil war was this understood to be in breach of traditional practices.

Additional excerpts

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Triumph and civil war in the late Republic

Beware of that Cup!: The Role of Food-tasters in Ancient Society

The evolution of the hospital is traced from its onset in ancient Mesopotamia towards the end of the 2nd millennium to the end of the Middle Ages. Reference is made to institutionalised health care facilities in India as early as the 5th century BC, and with the spread of Buddhism to the east, to nursing facilities, the nature and function of which are not known to us, in Sri Lanka, China and South East Asia. Special attention is paid to the situation in the Graeco-Roman era: one would expect to find the origin of the hospital in the modem sense of the word in Greece, the birthplace of rational medicine in the 4th century BC, but the Hippocratic doctors paid house-calls, and the temples of Asclepius were visited for incubation sleep and magico-religious treatment. In Roman times the military and slave hospitals which existed since the 1st century AD, were built for a specialized group and not for the public, and were therefore also not precursors of the modem hospital. It is to the Christians that one must turn for the origin of the modem hospital. Hospices, initially built to shelter pilgrims and messengers between various bishops, were under Christian control developed into hospitals in the modem sense of the word. In Rome itself, the first hospital was built in the 4th century AD by a wealthy penitent widow, Fabiola. In the early Middle Ages (6th to 10th century), under the influence of the Benedictine Order, an infirmary became an established part of every monastery. During the late Middle Ages (beyond the 10th century) monastic infirmaries continued to expand, but public hospitals were also opened, financed by city authorities, the church and private sources. Specialized institutions, like leper houses, also originated at this time. During the Golden Age of Islam the Muslim world was clearly more advanced than its Christian counterpart with magnificent hospitals in various countries.

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Valerius Maximus: "Memorable Doings and Sayings"

Citations

Mos Christianorum: The Roman Discourse of Exemplarity and the Jewish and Christian Language of Leadership

Valerius Maximus on moderatio: A commentary on Facta et dicta memorabilia 4.1

Triumph and civil war in the late Republic

Beware of that Cup!: The Role of Food-tasters in Ancient Society

The evolution of the hospital from antiquity to the end of the middle ages.