Ways of Being Roman

This book examines the question of identity in the Roman west. Combining material and textual evidence, it takes an innovative approach in looking at the wider discourses or ideologies through which an individual sense of self was learnt and expressed. This wide-ranging survey considers ethnic identity, status, gender and age. Rather than constructing a paradigm of the 'ideal' of any specific aspect of personal identity, it looks at some of the wider cultural ideas which were drawn upon in differentiating groups of people and how they were expressed within the written sources and the material culture. This book further looks at how the caricatures of specific identities, such as women or children, were used as metaphors to express other messages. It concludes by considering instances of the appropriation and reinterpretation of 'Roman' as a concept in the creation of more recent identities.

Louise Revell is a lecturer in Roman Studies at the University of Southampton, and specialises in Roman public architecture and urbanism. Her research interests include the relationship between identity, ideology and imperialism, and their expression through material culture. Her work on buildings concentrates on social space as a way of understanding questions of integration and social differentiation. Her book Roman Imperialism and Local Identities explores the relationship between Roman identities and daily practice as experienced through public architecture in Iberia and Britain. She is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Roman Britain.