In this book, Brenda Longfellow examines one of the features of Roman Imperial cities, the monumental civic fountain. Built in cities throughout the Roman Empire during the first through third centuries AD, these fountains were imposing in size, frequently adorned with grand sculptures, and often placed in highly trafficked areas. Over twenty-five of these urban complexes can be associated with emperors. Dr. Longfellow situates each of these examples within its urban environment and investigates the edifice as a product of an individual patron and a particular historical and geographical context. She also considers the role of civic patronage in fostering a dialogue between imperial and provincial elites with the local urban environment. Tracing the development of the genre across the empire, she illuminates the motives and ideologies of imperial and local benefactors in Rome and the provinces and explores the complex interplay of imperial power, patronage, and the local urban environment.

The Roman Empire may be properly described as a consortium of cities (and not as set of proto national states). From the late Republic and into the Principate, the Roman elite managed the empire through insititutional and personal ties to the communities of the Empire. Especially in the Latin West the emperors encouraged the adoption of the Latin language and urban amenities, and were generous in the award of citizenship. This process, and ‘Romanization’ is a reasonable label, was facilitated by civic patronage. The literary evidence provides a basis for understanding this transformation from subject to citizen and for constructing a higher allegiance to the idea of Rome. We gain a more complete understanding of the process by considering the legal and monumental/epigraphical evidence that guided and encouraged such benefaction and exchange. This book uses all three forms of evidence to provide a deeper understanding of how patrocinium publicum served as a formal vehicle for securing the goodwill of the citizens and subjects of Rome.

The Roman Empire of the Principate may be understood as a consortium of communities bound together by ties that were institutional and personal. Civic patrons played a central role in that process by which subjects became citizens.

Across 800 years, the Romans established and maintained a Mediterranean-wide empire from Spain to Syria and from the North Sea to North Africa. This study analyzes the debate over Roman imperialism from ancient times to the present.

Contents: I. INSTRUMENTS OF IMPERIAL RULE. ECK, W.: Lateinisch, Griechisch, Germanisch ...? Wie sprach Rom met seinen Untertanen? TALBERT, R.: Rome's provinces as framework for world-view. KOKKINIA, C.: Ruling, inducing, arguing: how to govern (and survive) a Greek province. SLOOTJES, D.: The governor as benefactor in Late Antiquity. LIGT, L. DE: Direct taxation in western Asia Minor under the early Empire. II. CONQUEST AND ITS EFFECTS BIRLEY, A.: Britain 71-105: advance and retrenchment. ROSSUM, J.A.. VAN: The end of the Batavian auxiliaries as 'national' units. COULSTON, J.C.N.: Military identity and personal self-identity in the Roman army. BRUUN, C.: The legend of Decebalus. III. ROMANIZATION AND ITS LIMITS LOMAS, K.: Funerary epigraphy and the impact of Rome in Italy. BINTLIFF, J.L.: Town and chôra of Thespiae in the imperial age. ELTON, H.: Romanization and some Cilician cults. HESBERG, H. VON: Grabmonumente als Zeichen des sozialen Aufstiegs der neuen Eliten in den germanischen Provinzen. HAAN, N. DE: Living like the Romans? Some remarks on domestic architecture in North Africa and Britain. IV. URBAN ELITES AND CIVIC LIFE VRIES, T. DE & W.J. ZWALVE: Roman actuarial science and Ulpian's life expectancy table. KRIECKHAUS, A.: Duae Patriae? C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus zwischen germana patria und urbs. STRUBBE, J.H.M.: Cultic honours for benefactors in Asia Minor. HORSTER, M.: Substitutes for emperors and members of the imperial families as local magistrates. DONDIN-PAYRE, M.: Notables et élites dans les Trois Gaules. BRANCO, M. DI: Entre Amphion et Achille: réalité et mythologie de la défense d'Athènes du IIIe au IVe siècle. NAVARRO CABALLERO, M.: L'élite, les femmes et l'argent dans les provinces hispaniques. HIRSCHMANN, V.: Methodische Überlegungen zu Frauen in antiken Vereinen. HEMELRIJK, E.: Patronage of cities: the role of women.