This book investigates the working mechanisms of public opinion in Late Republican Rome as a part of informal politics. It explores the political interaction (and sometimes opposition) between the elite and the people through various means, such as rumours, gossip, political literature, popular verses and graffiti. It also proposes the existence of a public sphere in Late Republican Rome and analyses public opinion in that time as a system of control. By applying the spatial turn to politics, it becomes possible to study sociability and informal meetings where public opinion circulated. What emerges is a wider concept of the political participation of the people, not just restricted to voting or participating in the assemblies.
By:
Cristina Rosillo-López (Universidad Pablo de Olavide Spain)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 230mm,
Width: 150mm,
Spine: 16mm
Weight: 430g
ISBN: 9781316508442
ISBN 10: 1316508447
Pages: 282
Publication Date: 29 October 2020
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
1. Public opinion in Rome: definition, models and constraints; 2. Sociability and politics; 3. Rumours, gossips and conversations in Roman political life; 4. Political literature and public opinion (I): defining political literature; 5. Political literature and public opinion (II): genres of political literature; 6. Groups and agents of public opinion; 7. Rhetoric and public opinion: theory and practice; 8. Conclusions.
Cristina Rosillo-López is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville. Her first book, La corruption à la fin de la République romaine: aspects politiques et financiers (2010), studied corruption during the Late Roman Republic, and received the Maestranza Order Research Award 2013. She has also written several articles and book chapters about politics, popular political culture, financial matters and rhetoric in the Late Roman Republic.
