The Staying Power of Roman Rule
Ando Receives National Award for Book about Empire's Longevity
By Nicole St.Pierre
Countless scholars before him have chased the question of what led to
the fall of the Roman Empire. Clifford Ando, the associate
professor who recently received a prestigious American Council of
Learned Society fellowship, asks what led to its longevity.
In his new book “Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman
Empire,” Ando explores the empire that stretched from the Tyne to the
Euphrates and concludes Rome did not rule the world in power as much as
it ruled in ideology.“Why did the Roman Empire—with 50 million
inhabitants who shared neither language nor dress, neither climate nor
cuisine—last so long?” he asks.
The American Philological Association recently recognized Ando for his
fresh take on the Roman Empire when it awarded him the Goodwin Award of
Merit The award is granted to one scholar each year for an outstanding
book in classical studies.
“Rome survived its crises because the two centuries of peace after
Augustus allowed the population of its provinces to internalize its
ideology,” says the classicist who earned a Ph.D. from the University
of Michigan in 1996 and joined the USC faculty in 1998.
By revealing the positive aspects of the Roman Empire, Ando’s book
suggests that the longevity of the Empire rested not on Roman military
power, but on a gradually realized consensus that Roman rule was
justified.
Specifically, Ando describes how the emperor used coins and law codes,
roads and aqueducts, and statues and portraits to remind his subjects
of the stability he provided and common values they shared—and thus
disposed them to receive favorably his requests for information, money
and obedience.
Cult Comparisons
Today, the books on Ando’s shelves include “The Religion of the Greeks
and Romans” and “Myth, Religion and Society.” The titles bear testimony
to his latest academic quest: to understand what caused some religious
cults to spread and others to fail in ancient times.
“I think most people assume religions want to grow, with the exception
of Judaism, perhaps. But over time only a small number of religions
have actually grown and spread, like Christianity. Why is that?”
Ando is currently writing a book on the history and periodization of
religious change in the ancient world. “Many people study the ancient
world seeking to learn something about themselves, and so they are
comforted by its similarities. But in matters of religion, it is the
staggering difference with modernity that is most striking,” he says.
In his journey through the ancient world, Ando offers comparisons
between ancient and modern religions.“Today people assume that joining
a religion is a matter of individual choice,” he says. “But in the
ancient world, the power to choose was often understood to belong to
the God, not to humans.”
Ando’s research also sheds new light on the value and importance of religious images and relics, and the sacralization of space.
“Today most people believe that God exists up in the heavens somewhere,
or in some place that’s not a place at all. But Romans believed their
Gods had ‘sedes,’ ‘seats,’ or ‘homes’ and that they moved around. They
were present in the world—very different from what mainstream religions
hold today.”
To illustrate the importance, Ando shares one of his favorites
examples: the Romans once consulted the Oracle of Delphi. It told them
to find the Goddess Cybele and worship her.
The Romans found the Goddess at a shrine in Turkey. As it happened,
Cybele was a black stone. “They successfully brought the goddess back
to Rome and worshiped her stone form for 700 years, until it was
outlawed by a Christian emperor,” he says.
Worship today involves far less travel, says Ando.“If I was to build a
church today, I would raise money, seek co-religionists, build a
building and seek a tax exemption. I wouldn’t have to travel to another
church and take its God,” says Ando.
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