Imperial ideology and provincial loyalty in the Roman Empire

"Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire argues that the longevity of the empire rested not on Roman military power, but on a gradually realized consensus that Roman rule was justified. This consensus was itself the product of a complex conversation between the central government and its far-flung peripheries. Ando investigates the mechanisms that sustained this conversation, explores its contribution to the legitimization of Roman power, and reveals as its product the provincial absorption of the forms and content of Roman political and legal discourse.". "Ando brings to bear a magisterial command of Roman historical sources; he marshals papyrological, numismatic, artistic, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence, as well as historical and literary. Throughout, his sophisticated and subtle reading is informed by current thinking on social formation by theorists such as Max Weber, Jurgen Habermas, and Pierre Bourdieu.". "As he illuminates the relationship between the imperial government and the empire's provinces, Ando deepens our understanding of one of the most striking phenomena in the history of government."--BOOK JACKET.