Foundations of History: The Emergence of Archival Records at Rome in the Fourth Century BCE

Abstract

This dissertation examines the historical narratives of Rome in the fourth century BCE, as well as the lists of consuls and triumphs, in order to demonstrate that they are based on contemporaneously recorded documents, in the form of eponymous magistrate lists, pontifical records, and proceedings of the Senate. The historical material from this century has largely been viewed as fictitious, the creation of later historians through a combination of self-aggrandizing family narratives, anachronistic retrojection, and didacticism. This project does not argue that these were not operative factors in the creation of the existing records, but rather that there is a foundation of reliable records around which these later accretions were constructed. Thus, this dissertation rehabilitates certain details of the fourth century that likely stem from these records, such as elections and actions taken by the Senate. The pivotal moment in the advent of these records is the social and political turmoil of the early fourth century BCE, which leads to a series of power sharing compromises between the patricians and the plebeians. To demonstrate this connection between state record keeping and socio-political transformation, archival notices from Livy’s second pentad are identified and accumulated; these show an increased presence after the first compromise in 367 BCE and as the fourth century progresses. Alterations to governmental structures, a changing relationship between the Senate and chief magistrates, and a wider pool of participants in political and religious positions all provide motivations for the publication of these records, including efforts at legitimization and providing access to religious knowledge. To accompany this quantitative analysis, a study of the social, economic, and political environment of the early fourth century demonstrates that such radical change in the Roman state was a predictable result. The second part of the dissertation is a qualitative analysis of the historical material in order to demonstrate internal consistency, plausibility, and coherence, and thus the likely product of contemporaneously recorded documents. Seeming inconsistencies in the records, such as conflicting magistrate names, provinciae, and triumphs are analyzed and explained as the product of a Roman state in the early to middle Republic that is not bound to the same degree of legal rigidity as in later periods. Additionally, potential Senate records are considered; a coherent and consistent sphere of foreign policy emerges from these notices and mirrors the growth of the Roman state throughout this period. Ultimately, this dissertation takes a cautiously optimistic approach to the historical narrative of the fourth century BCE, while accounting for the presence of interpolated material, especially campaign and battle narratives. Nevertheless, it is argued that domestic notices of governmental and religious functions become increasingly anchored to archival material and therefore constitute a reliable backbone of historical information for a period that was once disregarded by scholars as largely pre-historic. This project, therefore, provides increased access to a formative period in Rome’s republican development, long considered unrecoverable.