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Quote: the chapter here has some discussion of a later Roman 'shift in meaning' of the word imperium to denote 'a bounded territory of empire' rather than a sphere of authority:
News and Frontier Consciousness in the Late Roman Empire
It is obviously difficult to assess the author's full argument from a brief extract but, although he makes a case for the Romans having a growing appreciation that there were limits to the reach of their imperium and that, in time, those limits coalesced into fixed boundaries, he does not seem to go so far as to state that they had a term for the 'Roman Empire' as such.
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Quote:Can we say Tacitus is the exception that proves the rule? He uses the phrase exercitus Romanus twice ([i]Hist[/i]. 4.57; 75)
Not necessarily. In the first passage, the context indicates that Tacitus is referring to 'a' Roman army, not 'the' Roman Army; in the second, he is referring to the Roman army in that particular locality, as opposed to the enemy army. With a far-flung empire and limited means of communication, it is not surprising that the Romans should have a series of local armies, rather than a single army with centralised control.
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Quote:Not necessarily. In the first passage, the context indicates that Tacitus is referring to 'a' Roman army, not 'the' Roman Army; in the second, he is referring to the Roman army in that particular locality, as opposed to the enemy army.
Which I think was precisely my point. The Roman army don't refer to themselves in that way, but Tacitus does so, employing poetic licence (something not unknown in his writings) :-)
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Quote:Which I think was precisely my point.
Sorry, I still don't get it.
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Quote:Latinitas post=364425 Wrote:It is:
IMPERIVM ROMANVM
IMPERIVM ROMANORVM
Unless you're CreateSpace, of course, who don't believe U was represented by V in the Roman alphabet (not that I'm bitter, you understand ...) :mad: With my Devil's Advocate's hat on, as the quotation does not come from a Roman author but from a 17th century theologian, are the 'V's appropriate anyway?
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Quote:are the 'V's appropriate anyway?
Quintessentially.
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Quote:mcbishop post=364453 Wrote:Which I think was precisely my point.
Sorry, I still don't get it. Could you explain, please?
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Quote:Sorry, I still don't get it.
Could you explain, please?
Nathan Ross wrote that
Quote:Simon James, In Rome and the Sword, makes an interesting point: "Startlingly, the Romans had no term equivalent to our phrase 'the Roman Army', because no such entity or concept existed."
and I made the point that this was not strictly true, as Tacitus had used the phrase exercitus Romanus, even if the Roman army themselves did not. I think Tacitus counts as a Roman ;-)
I hope that makes things clearer.
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Quote:mcbishop post=364435 Wrote:Latinitas post=364425 Wrote:It is:
IMPERIVM ROMANVM
IMPERIVM ROMANORVM
Unless you're CreateSpace, of course, who don't believe U was represented by V in the Roman alphabet (not that I'm bitter, you understand ...) :mad: With my Devil's Advocate's hat on, as the quotation does not come from a Roman author but from a 17th century theologian, are the 'V's appropriate anyway?
Is there actually debate over the V vs U? How else do you get "double woo" = "w" later on?
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Quote:Nathan Ross wrote that
Quote:Simon James, In Rome and the Sword, makes an interesting point: "Startlingly, the Romans had no term equivalent to our phrase 'the Roman Army', because no such entity or concept existed."
and I made the point that this was not strictly true, as Tacitus had used the phrase exercitus Romanus, even if the Roman army themselves did not. I think Tacitus counts as a Roman ;-)
I hope that makes things clearer.
Strangely enough, I understood that. It was your reaction to my post concerning the circumstances in which Tacitus used the expression that puzzled me.
Michael King Macdona
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