Article Waldemar Heckel, Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander and his Successors. From Chaironeia to Ipsos (338–301 BC), London (Greenhill Books) 2021, 576 S., ISBN 978-1-78438-648-1 (geb.), £ 30,– was published on June 1, 2024 in the journal Klio (volume 106, issue 1).

Article Dominic M. Machado, Voluntas Militum. Community, Collective Action, and Popular Power in the Armies of the Middle Republic (300–100 BCE), Sevilla (Editorial Universidad de Sevilla) 2023, 346 S., ISBN 978-84-472-2496-8 (brosch.), € 28,– was published on June 1, 2024 in the journal Klio (volume 106, issue 1).

Summary It is almost universally supposed on general principles that Roman citizens who did not live near the city of Rome were effectively disenfranchised by the logistical difficulty of traveling to the capital to vote, and thus that citizen participation in state decision-making was derisively small; this poses a difficulty for the ‘popular’ model of the functioning of the Roman Republic that has won considerable adherence in recent years. However, a systematic review of evidence for voting by citizens who lived around the peninsula and even for non-citizens’ travel to Rome before 90 BC to apply direct pressure on major votes, shows that distance did not present an insurmountable obstacle to meaningful participation in Roman political life by Italians and extra-urban citizens. It also demonstrates the great importance citizens attached to the vote (suffragium) – a guarantee of their freedom, and the key mechanism by which they influenced their political leaders. This in turn helps to clarify why many Italians, including those of modest means, would have desired Roman citizenship in the run-up to the ‘Social War.’

Article Julian Wünsch, Großmacht gegen lokale Machthaber. Die Herrschaftspraxis der Seleukiden an den Rändern ihres Reiches, Wiesbaden (Harrassowitz Verlag) 2022 (Philippika 164), 430 S., ISBN 978-3-447-11905-4 (geb.), € 98,– was published on June 1, 2024 in the journal Klio (volume 106, issue 1).

Summary This essay analyzes the term presbeis autokratores found in historical sources and in inscriptions. Previous scholars have not been able to give a consistent account of the term, which appears to vary in meaning. The analysis starts by examining the use of the term autokrator as applied to officials and public bodies and shows that the term refers to different special powers granted to officials, which are specified in each case but which may vary according to circumstances. The rest of the essay analyzes the use of the term and shows that presbeis autokratores were either sent to start negotiations with the power to receive proposals from a foreign state and to bring them back for ratification or to swear the oaths to a treaty the community had already decided to accept. The term is never found in multilateral negotiations. The use of the term in the speech ‘On the Peace’ attributed to Andocides is inconsistent with its use in the Classical and Hellenistic period, which provides additional evidence against the authenticity of this speech.

Article Marcel Kühnemund, Die rituelle Reinheit in den Tempeln der griechisch-römischen Zeit, Wiesbaden (Harrassowitz Verlag) 2021 (Studien zur spätägyptischen Religion 34), 2 Bd. (Teil 1: Text, Teil 2: Anhang), XII, 394 S., 10 Abb., 16 Tab., 6 Tafeln, ISBN 978-3-447-11639-8 (geb.), € 198,– was published on November 1, 2023 in the journal Klio (volume 105, issue 2).

Article Friedrich Meins, Paradigmatische Geschichte. Wahrheit, Theorie und Methode in den Antiquitates Romanae des Dionysios von Halikarnassos, Stuttgart (Franz Steiner Verlag) 2019 (Palingenesia 113), 169 S., ISBN 978-3-515-12255-9 (geb.), € 47,– was published on June 30, 2023 in the journal Klio (volume 105, issue 1).

ResumenEn el presente trabajo se estudia la figura del emperador Juan (423–425), un soberano considerado como un usurpador por las fuentes de la época así como por la mayor parte de la bibliografía que se ha ocupado de su persona. Se analiza su posible carrera anterior a su nombramiento como augusto de Occidente, las circunstancias de su ascenso al trono, las principales claves de su gobierno, su derrota a manos de Bizancio y su ejecución. Para ello, se realiza una lectura crítica de la documentación conservada (narraciones de carácter histórico, textos legislativos, inscripciones y monedas, entre otras categorías documentales). Asimismo, las principales obras historiográficas que han tratado acerca de Juan son examinadas también con un espíritu crítico a la luz de la información que nos proporcionan dichas fuentes, por lo que algunas de sus afirmaciones son matizadas cuando no directamente rechazadas. La conclusión de este estudio es que Juan fue un emperador que llegó al poder de manera legítima; su destronamiento a manos de Teodosio II fue el resultado de la tendencia cada vez mayor hacia una política de sucesión dinástica (pese a que esta no tenía una base legal); tan solo tras su muerte, Juan fue considerado un usurpador por parte de las fuentes pro teodosianas, una consideración que se ha transmitido a la historiografía posterior.

Article Julia L. Shear, Serving Athena. The Festival of the Panathenaia and the Construction of Athenian Identities, Cambridge – New York (Cambridge University Press) 2021, XXII, 532 S., ISBN 978-1-108-48527-2 (geb.), £ 105,– was published on June 30, 2023 in the journal Klio (volume 105, issue 1).

ZusammenfassungObschon Hadrians Reisen immer die Aufmerksamkeit der Forschung auf sich gezogen haben, machen neue Quellenfunde eine neue, gründliche Untersuchung der kaiserlichen Route, aber auch von Hadrians Absichten und Ziele nötig; auch die Reaktionen der Provinzialen erscheinen so in neuem Licht. Zunächst werden Kriterien für einen persönlichen Besuch des Kaisers in den Provinzen erarbeitet, um vor diesem Hintergrund neugefundene Inschriften und Münzen in den historischen Kontext einzuordnen. Im Folgenden wird die Route, die der kaiserliche Tross 131 von Ägypten über Syrien und das westliche Kleinasien nach Nordgriechenland genommen hat, diskutiert; in diesem Zusammenhang ist die Gründung des Antinoos-Kultes ebenso von besonderer Bedeutung wie die Frage nach den Gründen von Hadrians Beliebtheit unter den Provinzialen. Obschon dieser Teil der Reise bisher als besonders schlecht dokumentiert galt, schließt sich nun die Lücke zwischen dem bekannten Besuch des Kaisers in Ägypten und seinem letzten Aufenthalt in Athen.