TY - BOOK ID - 23301416 TI - The construction of authority in ancient Rome and Byzantium : the rhetoric of empire PY - 2009 SN - 9780521878654 0521878659 9780511511813 9781107407930 0511423896 9780511423895 9780511424373 051142437X 0511423381 9780511423383 0511511817 9786611775865 6611775862 9780511422720 1107199182 128177586X 0511422725 0511422067 1107407931 PB - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Rhetoric, Ancient KW - Ancient rhetoric KW - Classical languages KW - Greek language KW - Greek rhetoric KW - Latin language KW - Latin rhetoric KW - Rhetoric KW - Byzantine Empire KW - Rome KW - Politics and government. KW - Politics and government KW - Rhetoric, Ancient. KW - Rhétorique ancienne KW - Empire byzantin KW - Politique et gouvernement KW - Arts and Humanities KW - History KW - Rome - Politics and government KW - Byzantine Empire - Politics and government UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:23301416 AB - In The Construction of Authority in Ancient Rome and Byzantium, Sarolta Takács examines the role of the Roman emperor, who was the single most important law-giving authority in Roman society. Emperors had to embody the qualities or virtues espoused by Rome's ruling classes. Political rhetoric shaped the ancients' reality and played a part in the upkeep of their political structures. Takács isolates a reccurring cultural pattern, a conscious appropriation of symbols and signs (verbal and visual) belonging to the Roman Empire. She shows that many contemporary concepts of 'empire' have Roman precedents, which are reactivations or reuses of well-established ancient patterns. Showing the dialectical interactivity between the constructed past and present, Takács also focuses on the issue of classical legacy through these virtues, which are not simply repeated or adapted cultural patterns, but are tools for the legitimization of political power, authority, and even domination of one nation over another. ER -