Macedonia in the Roman Empire. The Formation of a Provincial Society

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Frank Daubner
• Subject Area: Ancient History
• Term: from 2014 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 263647004

The measures taken by the Romans after the victorious war against king Perseus brought with them the nearly complete abolishment of the former Macedonian elites, a situation which is very different from all the other Roman provinces where usually groups which supported the Romans could take over the administration without problems. The topic under examination is the development of a provincial society in the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. The heterogeneous non-elite identity groups which form the populace of Macedonia - Macedonians, Greeks, Thracians, Illyrians, Asians, Italians and Romans - developed an overall identity which led in Macedonia, but also in Asia and Syria, to the Macedonian Renaissance of the 2nd century A.D. I investigate a wide range of sources and the whole province, regardless of modern borders, because the complex developments in a time of sparse evidence cannot be explained on the basis of a single category of sources. Some focal points of my investigation are 1. the Roman legislation after the victory over the Macedonian army, 2. the integration of the Roman colonies and colonists into the provincial landscape, and 3. the Augustan age which for the first time produces ample evidence for the new provincial elite in form of inscriptions and buildings which we miss in the 1½ centuries before. The main issue is to describe how a functioning society emerged from the ruins of the Macedonian state and the society and how we can distinguish the chronologically and regionally varied processes in the vast province.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• Host: Professorin Dr. Katja Sporn