Our purpose, when we set out to write this book in the mid-1980s, was to
produce a synthetic account of the early Roman empire, which extended to
fi elds of history that were at the time relatively neglected in volumes of this
kind, namely, the economy, society, religion and culture. We have the
impression that no book has emerged in recent years that does what ours
sought to do. And this despite the fact that interest in these areas has greatly
expanded over the past three decades or so, and that much of the published
work has been of high quality, and some of it positively exciting. Roman
history is on the move. Our knowledge of ancient societies is increasing all
the time, and historians have become more adventurous and responsive to
other disciplines. In our Addenda (see below) we introduce some of the new
evidence and methodologies.
In planning a second edition, we decided against selective tampering with
the text or rewriting it completely. The option that we chose was to present
readers with an unexpurgated text containing our ideas in their pristine
state, and to attach an addendum to each of the original chapters, tracing
the way the subject in question has developed in recent years. In two cases,
involving areas that have attracted a scholarly output that is remarkable
both qualitatively and quantitatively, we gave experts a free hand to compose
a rather more extended survey. So, Richard Gordon is responsible for the
Addendum on Religion, and Jas ́ Elsner and Greg Woolf for the Addendum
on Culture. Jas ́ Elsner has also provided and introduced the images. We are
most grateful to them for their outstanding contributions. In addition we
thank Marguerite Hirt most warmly for the great work she has done in
helping us to compile and assess critically the secondary literature and to
prepare the volume for publication.
With regard to the rest of the Addenda, in dealing with major points of
interest or contention, such as the economy, the character of the imperial
administration, the institution of patronage and the demography of the
family, our policy has been not to defend our views nor to weigh the
argument heavily in our favour, but to be even- handed in our approach to
the contributions of other scholars. The bibliography that is cited (which is
collected in the Supplementary Bibliography) is admittedly not fully
comprehensive – that would be impractical. However, we are confi dent that
our selection will put readers in an excellent position to become
knowledgeable on the issues in question and make their own judgements.
PREFACE
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