Miriam S. Balmuth Lectures in Ancient History and Archaeology

"Winner of the Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit, Society for Classical Studies" Josephine Quinn is associate professor of ancient history at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Worcester College. She is the coeditor ofThe Hellenistic West andThe Punic Mediterranean. Who were the ancient Phoenicians, and did they actually exist? The Phoenicians traveled the Mediterranean long before the Greeks and Romans, trading, establishing settlements, and refining the art of navigation. But who these legendary sailors really were has long remained a mystery. In Search of the Phoenicians makes the startling claim that the "Phoenicians" never actually existed. Taking readers from the ancient world to today, this monumental book argues that the notion of these sailors as a coherent people with a shared identity, history, and culture is a product of modern nationalist ideologies-and a notion very much at odds with the ancient sources. Josephine Quinn shows how the belief in this historical mirage has blinded us to the compelling identities and communities these people really constructed for themselves in the ancient Mediterranean, based not on ethnicity or nationhood but on cities, family, colonial ties, and religious practices. She traces how the idea of "being Phoenician" first emerged in support of the imperial ambitions of Carthage and then Rome, and only crystallized as a component of modern national identities in contexts as far-flung as Ireland and Lebanon. In Search of the Phoenicians delves into the ancient literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and artistic evidence for the construction of identities by and for the Phoenicians, ranging from the Levant to the Atlantic, and from the Bronze Age to late antiquity and beyond. A momentous scholarly achievement, this book also explores the prose, poetry, plays, painting, and polemic that have enshrined these fabled seafarers in nationalist histories from sixteenth-century England to twenty-first century Tunisia. "[A] marvellous book. . . . Entertaining and accessible. . . . In Search of the Phoenicians represents the best of ancient history writing today."---David Mattingly, Times Literary Supplement "Quinn's narrative is both exhilarating and cautionary because it shows how antiquity can be reimagined to promote ideological prejudices. One of the many lessons of her work is that ancient history is rarely stable, and dogmas that were current in both the remote and proximate past are constantly subject to correction or rejection."---G.W. Bowersock, New York Review of Books "[An] extraordinary book. . . . In Search of the Phoenicians demonstrates both how important the interpretation of antiquity is for the present, and how important the history of interpretation is for understanding the past."---Robert L. Cioffi, London Review of Books "Quinn's ambitious study ties history and political science together to reveal the ways that antiquity remains relevant today." "For some high-fibre holiday reading, I shall be packing . . . In Search of the Phoenicians, which dares to ask whether the famous ancient people really existed, and promises to expose the modern fantasies and ideologies that created them."---Mary Beard, The Guardian "Filled with informative, arresting images and deep-thinking argumentation, Quinn's In Search of the Phoenicians makes a compelling, wide-ranging case that suggests 'Phoenician' was a political rather than a personal description." "'Quinn's analysis of how ideas of modern nationhood have corrupted our understanding of past identities is expert and wide-ranging.""---Dominic Green, Minerva "Quinn's story is most compelling when she plays to her strength as a historian and archaeologist. . . . She leaves no stone unturned, from archaeological ruins and funerary inscriptions to poetry and drama, in her quest to understand how Phoenicians have . . . become a people."---Justin Marozzi, The Spectator "What makes Quinn's book especially interesting i

David J. Mattingly is professor of Roman archaeology at the University of Leicester and a fellow of the British Academy. His many books include An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire, Tripolitania, Farming the Desert, Archaeology and Desertification, and The Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization. Despite what history has taught us about imperialism's destructive effects on colonial societies, many classicists continue to emphasize disproportionately the civilizing and assimilative nature of the Roman Empire and to hold a generally favorable view of Rome's impact on its subject peoples. Imperialism, Power, and Identity boldly challenges this view using insights from postcolonial studies of modern empires to offer a more nuanced understanding of Roman imperialism. Rejecting outdated notions about Romanization, David Mattingly focuses instead on the concept of identity to reveal a Roman society made up of far-flung populations whose experience of empire varied enormously. He examines the nature of power in Rome and the means by which the Roman state exploited the natural, mercantile, and human resources within its frontiers. Mattingly draws on his own archaeological work in Britain, Jordan, and North Africa and covers a broad range of topics, including sexual relations and violence; census-taking and taxation; mining and pollution; land and labor; and art and iconography. He shows how the lives of those under Rome's dominion were challenged, enhanced, or destroyed by the empire's power, and in doing so he redefines the meaning and significance of Rome in today's debates about globalization, power, and empire. Imperialism, Power, and Identity advances a new agenda for classical studies, one that views Roman rule from the perspective of the ruled and not just the rulers. In a new preface, Mattingly reflects on some of the reactions prompted by the initial publication of the book. "Imperialism, Power, and Identity is an ambitious attempt to map the transformation of lifestyles and experience among Rome's provincial subjects in the first three centuries AD. . . . This is 'history from below' at its best."---Peter Thonemann, Times Literary Supplement "Essential." "Although appealingly and sometimes passionately written, this is a substantial and technically detailed book. . . . An advanced and theoretically sophisticated approach, it will shift the centre of debate over the merits of Roman imperialism for many years to come."---Edith Hall, History Today "[T]his volume is provocative, passionate and personal. It ranges widely across time, space and categories of evidence. Importantly, it is a contribution which does not unquestioningly import and impose concepts such as post-colonial theory, but rather it critically examines their value, refines them and contributes back to wider contemporary debates."---Robert Witcher, Classical Review "Imperialism, Power, and Identity provides an excellent summation of both Roman imperialism and Mattingly's unique perspective on the relationship between empires and local peoples. His writing style, engrossing case studies, and distinctive interpretations are welcome additions to the study of Roman imperial encounters. The book should be of great interest to specialists and postgraduates, as well as anyone interested in understanding Roman imperialism from a vantage other than the traditional one."---Anna Lucille Boozer, British Archaeology "The title of Mattingly's book is no false advertising. His treatment of what empire and imperialism are; how power permeated all relationships and transactions--personal social, political, sexual and economic--throughout the Empire; in what ways the inexhaustible appetite for resources in Roman imperial times wasted human lives and did lasting damage to natural landscapes; and how individuals and groups conceived of their identities under Roman imperial rule, all make us experience what it was like to be pa