Forthcoming publications by Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira
Augustine’s Sermon 24 is a valuable testimony to the ambiguous situation in which the statues of ... more Augustine’s Sermon 24 is a valuable testimony to the ambiguous situation in which the statues of gods were found in the cities of the late Roman Empire after the banning of pagan worship. The sermon was pronounced in Carthage at the beginning of the 5th century in a context of serious tensions between pagans and Christians (and even within the Catholic community). A group of pagans had restored a statue of Hercules that was famous in the city. This had provoked the indignation of the Christians and the removal of the golden beard of the statue in circumstances humiliating to the pagans. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the context, perceptions and political issues underlying these opposing attempts to restore and reject a divine statue.
Books by Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira
If ancient history is particularly susceptible to a topdown approach, due to the nature of our ev... more If ancient history is particularly susceptible to a topdown approach, due to the nature of our evidence and its traditional exploitation by modern scholars, another ancient history-'from below'-is actually possible. This volume examines the possibilities and challenges involved in writing it. Despite undeniable advances in recent decades, 'our slowness to reconstruct plausible visions of almost any aspect of society beyond the topmost strata of wealth, power or status' (as Nicholas Purcell has put it) remains a persistent feature
O estudo da guerra possui larga tradição e continua mais atual do que nunca. Nos últimos anos, as... more O estudo da guerra possui larga tradição e continua mais atual do que nunca. Nos últimos anos, as abordagens sobre a guerra multiplicaram-se. A própria humanidade foi
ligada, por diversos estudiosos, ao surgimento e diversificação dos conflitos bélicos, há
milhares de anos, no Pleistoceno. O economista Mark Bowles liga o altruísmo humano ao combate entre grupos humanos e relaciona, portanto, o surgimento da cultura, daquilo que
caracteriza os agrupamentos humanos, com a guerra.
Esta coleção visa à publicação de obras originais, com base em uma visão crítica e atualizada, da... more Esta coleção visa à publicação de obras originais, com base em uma visão crítica e atualizada, das principais questões historiográficas e arqueológicas. A coleção publica obras organizadas e livros de autoria individual, de autores nacionais ou estrangeiros, em diferentes estágios de suas carreiras, de modo a integrar o que há de mais inovador com as mais reconhecidas contribuições. Sempre marcados pela excelência acadêmica, volumes introdutórios e obras específicas e aprofundadas constituem o cerne da coleção. Conheça os títulos desta coleção no final do livro. Miolo -grilo.indd 2 19/8/2013 13:02:40 os caminhos da arqueologia clássica no br a s i l José Geraldo C. Grillo P e d r o P a u l o A . F u n a r i A l i c e V . d e C a r v a l h o o r g a n i z a d o r e s OS CAMINHOS DA ARQUEOLOGIA CLÁSSICA NO BRASIL: DEPOIMENTOS Projeto, Produção e Capa Coletivo Gráfico Annablume CONSELHO EDITORIAL
MAGAHÃES DE OLIVEIRA, J. C. Potestas populi: Participation populaire et action collective dans les villes de l'Afrique romaine tardive (vers 300-430 apr. J.-C.). Turnhout: Brepols, 2012 (Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité Tardive, 24)., Dec 18, 2012
Compared to the scholarly interest in popular politics in Classical Greece or Republican Rome, th... more Compared to the scholarly interest in popular politics in Classical Greece or Republican Rome, the study of the urban plebs of the Later Roman Empire has been remarkably neglected, despite the recurrent discussions about urban violence in the period. This book is an attempt to reverse this situation for the particular context of the North African provinces, from the beginning of the fourth century to the Vandal conquest. Its main objective is to understand the forms and conditions of popular participation and collective action in the cities of North Africa, by placing them in the broader context of economic activities, social relations, and cultural traditions of the plebs. In order to explore the logic inherent in each crowd action, the author analyses a number of episodes of popular intervention revealed by 4th- and 5th-centuries ecclesiastical sources, and particularly by the sermons and letters of Saint Augustine. These case studies are preceded by a more general analysis of the textual and archaeological evidence on the formative experiences of the plebeian life: work, dwelling conditions, and networks of sociability. This wider context is intended to furnish a better understanding of the bases on which the members of the urban plebs could establish relations of group solidarity and cultivate a political culture that prescribed and legitimized their forms of collective action.
MAGALHAES DE OLIVEIRA, J. C.; SELVATICI, M. (Orgs.). Textos e Representações da Antiguidade: Transmissão e Interpretações. Maringá-PR: EDUEM, 2012., May 2012
Papers by Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira
Ancient History from Below, 2021
Classica - Revista Brasileira de Estudos Clássicos, 2015
O linchamento, enquanto prática da justiça popular, tinha uma longa tradição no mundo romano. Sua... more O linchamento, enquanto prática da justiça popular, tinha uma longa tradição no mundo romano. Sua constante referência nas fontes textuais da Antiguidade Tardia, porém, parece indicar uma preocupação nova das autoridades e dos autores antigos com suas consequências políticas. O objetivo deste estudo consiste em analisar as características dos linchamentos nas cidades mediterrâneas dos séculos IV e V levando-se em consideração a relação entre justiça popular e justiça oficial, os mecanismos e processos que mais frequentemente conduziam ao linchamento e os objetivos, alvos e motivações dos participantes. Pretende-se demonstrar, em primeiro lugar, como a concepção de “morte justa”, que subjaz a todas as formas de linchamento, ainda revelava a permanência nas cidades do Mediterrâneo das antigas noções de cidadania e de direitos do povo. Ao mesmo tempo, porém, pretende-se sublinhar como o impacto e a ressonância políticas do recurso frequente a esses rituais informais de execução haviam ...
História Questões & Debates, 2009
O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar as linhas gerais dos debates atuais sobre as violências urba... more O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar as linhas gerais dos debates atuais sobre as violências urbanas e os conflitos religiosos no Império Romano Tardio e discutir a importância de invertermos a atual perspectiva dos estudos para compreendermos as razões e as motivações do engajamento popular nessas disputas. Essa abordagem alternativa é aplicada neste texto ao caso específico do envolvimento de pagãos e cristãos nos motins de junho de 408 d.C., na pequena cidade de Calama, na África do Norte. Trata-se de um episódio de violência coletiva que já foi tradicionalmente interpretado como a expressão natural das rivalidades entre os grupos religiosos ou mesmo como um embate entre clientelas fiéis atuando em nome dos interesses de seus chefes. Mas é um significado totalmente novo que essa ação coletiva adquire quando se leva em conta seu contexto social e político específico, bem como as expectativas e experiências de todos os agentes sociais.
História (São Paulo), 2016
RESUMO Comparado à organização política do Principado, o regime imperial da Antiguidade Tardia ob... more RESUMO Comparado à organização política do Principado, o regime imperial da Antiguidade Tardia obteve um controle muito maior sobre a circulação da informação política em decorrência da centralização do poder e do número ainda maior de funcionários qualificados dedicados a coligir, cotejar e recuperar informações em todo o Império. Ainda assim, a vastidão do Império Romano e a lentidão das comunicações continuavam a representar as principais ameaças ao poder absolutista, especialmente nos momentos de crises políticas, quando a própria ausência de informações oficiais alimentava os canais subterrâneos e incontrolados de notícias. Do ponto de vista da plebe urbana e dos atores políticos locais, o recurso a essas notícias clandestinas que nós chamamos de "boatos" podia representar uma tentativa de avaliar a abertura de oportunidades para a ação em um ambiente político marcado por uma profunda incerteza. O objetivo deste artigo é explorar como a plebe urbana, as facções religi...
Index nominum Index rerum The idea of studying the transformations of citizenship and civic parti... more Index nominum Index rerum The idea of studying the transformations of citizenship and civic participation from a diachronic perspective, from the Roman imperial period down to the early Middle Ages, originally emerged during a conversation we had during our stay at Princeton in the fall of 2015, Els Rose as a Member of the Institute of Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, and Cédric Brélaz as a Stanley J. Seeger Visiting Research Fellow in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University. It soon became clear for us that the best way to address this topic would be to invite experts of different periods and areas to contribute to a collected book whose purpose would be to deal with the changes which affected civic identities over time for the period c. 300-1000 ce. First drafts of chapters were discussed during a conference held on 29-30 November 2018 in Rome, at the Reale Istituto Neerlandese di Roma and at the Istituto Svizzero di Roma. We would like to thank both institutions for hosting the conference, as well as their directors and staff for their interest in our project from the outset, for their generous support, and for their help in organizing the event: Prof. Dr Harald Hendrix, Ms Kathleen van Dijk, and Ms Agnieszka Konkol at the Dutch Institute, and Mrs Joëlle Comé, Dr Adrian Brändli, and Mrs Anna Schulz Seyring at the Swiss Institute. The conference and the publication of this book were made possible thanks to generous grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO VICI-Rose 277-30-002 Citizenship Discourses in the Early Middle Ages, 400-1100 and NWO Open Access grant 36.201.012), from Utrecht University, from the Swiss National Science Foundation, and from the Fonds de recherche du Centenaire of the University of Fribourg. We also thank Dr Megan Welton, Teun van Dijk BA, Anne Sieberichs BA, and Xavier Mabillard BA for their help in the preparation and editing of the manuscript. Finally, our acknowledgement goes to Prof. Yitzhak Hen (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) for welcoming this volume in the 'Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages' series of which he is the director and for his constant support, to the anonymous reviewer of the manuscript, to Guy Carney as editorial manager of the series, as well as the staff of Brepols Publishers for taking care of the publication of the book, as both hard copy and open access simultaneously, in the best possible way.
Heródoto - Revista do Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre a Antiguidade Clássica e suas Conexões Afro-asiáticas
The fourth century CE witnessed the rise of a new and more assertive type of church leadership, e... more The fourth century CE witnessed the rise of a new and more assertive type of church leadership, especially in the context of the religious controversies. Developing new forms of communication with ordinary Christians to mobilize their support, they also brought into being new forms of popular power. Scholars have not failed to note this more active engagement of urban crowds in the fourth and early fifth centuries. But their preferred approaches have mainly been ‘top-down’, focusing on the role of leaderships or on the broader structures of social control. We must not forget, however, as scholars of other periods have noted, that it is not enough to point out the existence of social strain or structural conditions to explain popular engagement. We must also remember that ‘contentious politics is not born out of organizers’ heads but is culturally inscribed and socially communicated’ (Tarrow). Taking into account these warnings, the objective of this essay is to apply a more bottom-up approach to study of popular collective action in the cities of North Africa in fourth and early fifth century CE, as revealed in our written sources and more specifically in the works of St Augustine. By starting from the pursuit of the basic principles of collective action as proposed by sociologists and historians of other periods, we may stand a better chance to understand how urban crowds could be mobilized by, against or independently of bishops and to balance the respective roles of leaders and masses in the age of Augustine.
Popular culture may be understood as a system of shared values, attitudes and meanings, and the s... more Popular culture may be understood as a system of shared values, attitudes and meanings, and the symbolic forms in which they are embodied. Although this definition may be seen as fruitful, it frequently resulted in approaches to culture aloof to conflict. But culture may be also treated as an arena of conflicting elements that only take form as a system in specific circumstances: in this sense “popular culture” may be seen as a framework, a habitus or, in the words of E. P. Thompson, as a pool of diverse resources that can be situated within its proper material abode. In light of this, instead of classifying the objects of culture along previous established lines, it will be more fruitful to pay attention to the state of play in cultural relations. The objective of this essay is to explore the implications of this approach to the study of plebeian forms of communication and sociability in late-Roman cities. After summarizing the specific context in which these popular practices had developed, we focused in the specific context of the North African cities in Late Antiquity, as expressed in the works of St Augustine. As we shall see, the plebeian culture of discussion that characterized these late-antique cities could not be seen as a world of its own, nor as the simple by-product of the culture of the elite. On the contrary, practices like rumour and gossip, the public reading of books and pamphlets and the many forms of social protest were only shaped in an arena of conflicting interests. In Late Antiquity, these traditions were mobilized and energized by a new and more assertive type of church leadership that no longer attempted only to contain and dismiss, but actively engage and transform the cultures of the common people. Nevertheless, being never entirely controlled by the social, political or religious elites of the time, these practices not only shaped popular values, but also favoured the adaptation, the transformation and even the subversion by the common people of anything that was conveyed to them.
The disputes between the Catholic and Donatist churches of North Africa from the early fourth to ... more The disputes between the Catholic and Donatist churches of North Africa from the early fourth to the early fifth century had never been confined to the scholarly debate. Throughout the controversy, the leaders of both parties had employed numerous tactics to persuade the common people of the rightness of their cause, and to guarantee their loyalty and support. By composing popular songs, spreading pamphlets and rumours, or even mobilizing ordinary Christians for the seizure and occupation of basilicas, the church leaders had made the faithful their partners in the dispute. After the Vandal conquest, the theological confrontations between Arians and Catholics also resulted in a vast literature of combat, the opposition between the two Churches still had as stake the control of the basilicas, and the Arian clergy developed from the start a real missionary project. The problem is to know whether the popular mobilization remained as important as it had been during the Donatist controversy. The purpose of this paper is to assess the nature of crowd movements and the extent of the engagement of ordinary Christians in this new war of religions.
The universal presence of rumours that precede and accompany riots everywhere in the world and ev... more The universal presence of rumours that precede and accompany riots everywhere in the world and everywhere in history had for long led scholars to interpret the phenomenon as a sort of social disease. According to this view, rumours that circulate in times of crisis would be seen as a natural product of a “breakdown” of society, demonstrating the mental underdevelopment of individuals or the unconscious motives of a group. Against this psycho-pathological paradigm, a number of historians and social scientists adopting a more interactive approach have emphasized that rumours are not the cause of collective violence, but only a practice of communication and social interaction available to a group. Rumours, in this sense, are a key to understanding the interpretive framework that protesters give to their action and to the “political opportunities” they perceive as available to them. The objective of this essay is to explore, in this light, the relationship between the spread of news of the death of an emperor and the irruption of riots in late antique cities. My aim is to understand how the urban plebs, the religious factions or their leaders perceived (and encouraged) the flow of official or unofficial news about the fate of the ruler as a “window of opportunity” and as a method of mobilizing an action.
![Research paper thumbnail of Vbi ecclesia? Basiliques chrétiennes et violence religieuse dans l'Afrique romaine tardive (In: FREU, C.; JANIARD, S. [éds.], Libera Curiositas. Mélanges en l'honneur de Jean-Michel Carrié, Bibliothèque de l'Antiquité Tardive)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/55113992/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The violence that characterized the Christian controversies of Late Antiquity was often the resul... more The violence that characterized the Christian controversies of Late Antiquity was often the result of the dynamic of identity and difference that was engendered by these disputes. This was particularly the case in North Africa, where boundaries between “Catholics” and “Donatists” during the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century were created and maintained by the constant mobilization of a repertoire of hatred. What is striking, however, is that the most serious episodes of collective violence between African Christians almost always involved the capture or the defence of church buildings. The purpose of this paper is to explain why Christian basilicas featured so prominently in this particular dispute. Starting from the theoretical propositions of archaeologists and social scientists working on the materiality and phenomenology of places and landscapes, I suggest that rather than regarding churches as a merely setting or backdrop, we can regard them as an active agent in the construction of Christian identities. In order to do this, I examine, successively, the geographic location and sensory perceptions of Christian basilicas, their material form and the dynamic uses of their internal space, and the contested meanings that different groups of Christians invested in their churches as places of worship and memory.
Compared to the situation prevalent in the Early Empire, the imperial regime of Late Antiquity un... more Compared to the situation prevalent in the Early Empire, the imperial regime of Late Antiquity undoubtedly enhanced its ability to control the flow of political information, by the use of skilled personnel primarily dedicated to collect, collate and retrieve information. Yet even so, the vastness of the empire and the slowness of communications remained the most important challenges to imperial absolutism. From the point of view of the urban plebs or of local political actors, the use of these clandestine news that we call “rumours” could represent an attempt to assess the opening of opportunities for action in a political environment marked by a deep uncertainty. The objective of this paper is to understand how the urban plebs, the religious factions or their leaders perceived (and encouraged) the flow of official or unofficial news about the fate of the ruler as a “window of opportunity” and as a method of mobilizing an action.
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Forthcoming publications by Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira
Books by Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira
ligada, por diversos estudiosos, ao surgimento e diversificação dos conflitos bélicos, há
milhares de anos, no Pleistoceno. O economista Mark Bowles liga o altruísmo humano ao combate entre grupos humanos e relaciona, portanto, o surgimento da cultura, daquilo que
caracteriza os agrupamentos humanos, com a guerra.
Papers by Julio Cesar Magalhães de Oliveira
ligada, por diversos estudiosos, ao surgimento e diversificação dos conflitos bélicos, há
milhares de anos, no Pleistoceno. O economista Mark Bowles liga o altruísmo humano ao combate entre grupos humanos e relaciona, portanto, o surgimento da cultura, daquilo que
caracteriza os agrupamentos humanos, com a guerra.
The book tackles three main problems: What constitutes political communication in the Roman world? In what ways could information be transmitted and represented? What mechanisms made political communication successful or unsuccessful?
This edited volume covers questions like speech and mechanisms of political communication, political communication at a distance, bottom-up communication, failure of communication and representation of political communication.
It will be of help to specialists in the Roman world, but also to students and researchers of political sciences, and specialists of political communication in pre-industrial times.