Motivation and Ideologies of Romanization
Ralph Häußler · Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal · 1998
In order to aim for a better understanding of 'R omani za ti on' and the motivation s of the indiv idu al to participate in the Roman culture, we have to see 'Rom ani zation ' as a fo rm of di sco urse whi ch be co mes increasin gly im po rtan t for maintaining the pos t-Republi can Empire.Forms of id eo logy and cu lture de ve loped which were internali sed by many , and as such, the Rom ani za tion of th e wes tern empi re beco mes comparable to Hell e nizati on.In thi s paper, Romani za ti on is understood as numerous , often contem porary, proc esses of interaction betwee n the 'Romans ' as conquerors and the vario us co nquered peoples.It will be shown th at the relati ve ly rand om forms of adaptation and accommodation to Roman rule became increas ing ly homogeneous after the first cen tury Be.At the sa me time, one has to consider that the soc ieties involved in the processes of interactio n were con tinu ously changi ng and adaptin g, i.e.Roman society changes its attitudes to the conq uered peop le , and vice versa.I am partic ul arly interested in the c hangin g and e volving image of Rome from the late Republic to the Principate and it seems necessary to expl ore ho w Rome 's image motivated the individual 'indi ge nous' perso n to adopt aspec ts of Graec o-Rom an or /tal o-Rom an 'culture' .Among the ques tion s I wish to address are th e meaning and pu rpose of adopting Roman artefacts such as dress, li fe-styl es and lan guage and their implica tions for the mainten ance or di sintegration of so-ca ll ed indi ge nous socie ties.In ord er to ex pl ore the problem of discrepancies between chronologies based on literary and archaeol og ical evid ence, often labell ed as cultural resistance (e.g.Keay 1992), thi s pape r examines the case study o f north-wes t Ital y.From the third to the first century BC, north-west Ital y develop s from a margi nal domini on of the Empire to an eco nomic and political focus.In the third century BC , the Cisalpine Gauls -espec ially the Insubres in the Lombardy reg ionwere among Rome' s ' fierces t' enemi es.By the fir st ce ntury BC, Ci sa lpine Gaul had bec ome th e most pros perous regio n of italy, part o f Au gustus ' IO ta Italia, with its peopl e having acqu ired Roman ci tizen ship (cf.Gabba 1984).In what foll ows I present contradi ctory chro nolo gi es.First, a chron ology of ev e nts in north -west Italy based on literary evi de nce .Thi s is com pared with changes in materi al culture, lon g-term developme nts and so me ap pare nt 'a nti-Roman ' developm ents between the third and first century Be.The chronology based on the litera ry ev ide nce, es pecia ll y Livy and Polybius, is well established.With th e exception of the Alpine valleys , north-west Ita ly had bee n conquered by th e late third ce ntury BC and re-co nquered in 196BC after the Seco nd Punic War.In the lower Po Vall ey , especially south of the Po, a network of Latin col onies, accompanied by land di stributi on and road-building, was establi shed which left littl e freedom for manoeuvre to indigenou s communities.North of the river Po , a nd in north-west Ital y, we encounter a ve ry di ffe rent si tua tion.There seems to be no fundamental break after the Roman conquest, nor is there any vi si ble Roman occupati on.Although the fo edera forbade the grant of Roman citizenship to th e Insubres and Ce nomani (Cicero pro Balbo 14, 32) , Latin rights were granted to the communities in Pi edmont and the Tran spadana after th e Soc ial War in 89BC After Caesar had been governor of Cisalpine and T ra nsa lpin e Gaul, he granted the Ci sa lpine