Die Association of Ancient Historians (AAH) und die Mommsen-Gesellschaft laden Sie herzlich ein zu ihrer diesjährigen Vortragsreihe.

Zeitpunkt:  Samstag, 2. November 2024, 18:00 Uhr  (mitteleuropäische Zeit)
Ort:  Zoom

Zur Teilnahme bitten wir um Anmeldung bei unserem Schriftführer, Herrn Reimann, der Ihnen auch den Zoom-Link mitteilen wird:

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PROGRAMM

“A Road Not Taken: Cornelius Gallus and the Failure of Augustus' African Policy”

Stanley M. Burstein, Professor Emeritus of History, California State University, Los Angeles

Augustus boasts in his Res Gestae that he sent an army into Aethiopia (that is, Nubia) that reached the city of Napata at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. The reference is to the campaign conducted G. Petronius, the first Prefect of Egypt, in late 25 or early 24 BCE. Other sources confirm Augustus’ account and imply that the kingdom of Kush, the principal power in Nubia, came under Roman control. Yet in 20 BCE Augustus abandoned almost all his gains south of Egypt. This lecture considers the reasons for this failure and examines an alternative approach to relations between Roman Egypt and Kush implemented by Cornelius Gallus but rejected by Augustus. 

“Contested Claims of Promoting the Public Good – the Oligarchic Coups of 411 and 404/3 BC”

Alexandra Eckert, Althistorisches Seminar, University of Göttingen

In the third book of his Politics, Aristotle presents oligarchy as the rule of the wealthy few violating the public good. This lecture will show that the question who acted to the benefit of the polis and promoted the public good also played a pivotal role in the wider context of the oligarchic coups of 411 and 404/3 BC, when democracy was abandoned in Athens twice.  In 411 BC, the oligarchs presented their plans to change the Athenian political system from a democracy to a non-democratic regime as beneficial for the polis. In 404/3 BC, attempts of the leading oligarchs proved futile to justify their atrocities against citizens and metics at Athens as acts fostering the public good. Appeals to the public good were also highly relevant in the aftermath of the oligarchic coups, when the Athenians tried to cope with the severe consequences of these events. Not only citizens, but also metics, who had supported the democrats in overthrowing the oligarchic regime of 404/3 BC, emphasized their contributions to the public good after the restoration of democracy at Athens.