In January 2017 I started a six-month residency at the British School at Rome, during which time I progressed my doctoral dissertation and completed a number of additional projects. It is due to the continuing generosity of Mrs Janet Gale and the late Dr William Gale that eleven scholars from Macquarie University are now beneficiaries of this programme. I am very grateful for this remarkable experience, one that will influence my research well into the future.
My earlier research examined the evolution of epistolary networks between Roman intellectual élite across the Mediterranean in the late fourth and early fifth centuries: networks that extended their sphere of influence and amplified their participation in the prevailing discourse reshaping Christian identity at the time. My current research builds on these ideas, and looks for aspects of continuity and change in the relationship between author and letter-bearer as the facilitator of connectivity in ancient epistolary networks.
It was the bearers of the Ciceronian letter corpus that were the focus of my research at the BSR. A depository for more than 900 epistles and fragments, the collection is concentrated within a 25-year period at the end of the Roman Republic. My project sought to establish if there was a pattern in the way authors used bearers to maintain connectivity with social peers during a period that is well documented for its social and political instability. An epistolary practice that appears with some frequency in the letters of the late Republic is the identification of the bearer in the letter they carried. This was a conscious act by the author to include a specific third, though lesser, party in the reception of the message by the addressee: one aimed at strengthening connectivity with a correspondent. My project looked towards earlier research by Michael Crawford, which linked variations in the concentration of coin hoards to occasions of foreign or civil war (‘Coin hoards and the pattern of violence in the late Republic’, Papers of the British School at Rome 37 (1969), 76–81). The Ciceronian collection contains numerous letters in which the bearer is identified, though it was not one that was practised consistently. Indeed, when set out chronologically, the practice was markedly unpopular during times of political and social unrest. This research forms the basis for a chapter of my doctoral dissertation and an upcoming conference paper, and informs an article currently under draft.
Initial work for this project involved identifying all occurrences of named letter-bearers, which were then collated into a database for later analysis. This work was completed prior to the residency, and subsequently expanded with valuable prosopographical information sourced from the libraries of the BSR, the American Academy in Rome and the École Française de Rome during the residency. These research facilities also provided important information on: the manuscript tradition of the Ciceronian letter corpus; documentary evidence on social and political unrest during this period; and the latest scholarship on Ciceronian and late antique letter collections. I also attended presentations and conferences detailing new approaches and emerging research in historical networks, connectivity and ancient letter collections at the BSR, the American Academy and in Naples. Finally, with the support of fellow award-holders and staff at the BSR, I walked the early stages of the Via Appia Antica and sailed down the Tiber to the port city of Ostia Antica, both important access routes to Rome for the ancient letter-bearers — these and many other ‘Roman’ experiences have brought new insights to my research.
My time at the BSR has informed the development of my dissertation, which has been reshaped as a direct result. It was an immensely rewarding experience, in no small part due to the extraordinary and dedicated staff of the BSR, and the community of award-holders and visiting scholars that enriched my stay and made me feel so welcome.
