Groups have always formed the building blocks for late antique history. The characteristics, motives and actions of social groups, often arranged as opposing pairs, remain the first resort for students of the period. Together, the two books under review — which both consider (predominantly Christian) group formation in late Roman Africa — act as a powerful reminder that the creation of such social collectives was no small matter. Neither the cohesion of these groups nor their hold on the everyday lives of the individuals who made up late antique society can be taken for granted.
In Potestas populi, Julio César Magalhães de Oliveira puts forward a convincing central thesis: that the urban plebes in the cities of late Roman Africa had greater social independence and political influence than has hitherto been appreciated. In contrast to studies which have characterized the urban masses as subordinate to, or controlled by, élite patrons (especially Christian bishops), M. argues that sub-élite individuals had their own socio-economic and political agency. Through collective action, the urban populace could make its voice heard.
Part I patiently lays out the foundations of this argument. Through discussions of ancient and modern theoretical models of sub-élite social composition (ch. 1), the archaeology of working environments (ch. 2) and low-status housing (ch. 3) in North African cities, and the places, occasions and institutions which provided opportunities for sub-élite sociability (ch. 4), M. demonstrates how horizontal ties of solidarity could have formed between members of the urban populace. In this context, his discussions of the proximity and quotidian professional interdependence of artisans in chs 2 and 3 are particularly persuasive. These social connections — often fostered in locations like the circus and the basilica which encouraged popular co-ordination and acclamation (139–55) — could then be mobilized for collective action.
M. then provides close readings of a series of individual episodes of mass mobilization. In Part II, he discusses popular involvement in a series of episcopal elections and priestly ordinations: Silvanus at Cirta (ch. 5); Augustine and Pinianus at Hippo Regius (ch. 6); Honorius at Caesarea and Augustine's nominated successor Eraclius at Hippo (ch. 7). He neatly analyses the dynamics of the crowds and the divergent (possible) motives of the various players: the back-and-forth between Augustine and his congregants as the latter sought the forcible ordination of the super-rich senatorial drop-out Pinianus is particularly well-handled (187–204). M. also nicely captures the dangerous moment where Augustine's congregation went too far in acclaiming Eraclius, modifying their chanting to demand that he should be made bishop immediately (220–2). Part III turns to episodes of urban violence: the removal of a freshly re-gilded beard from a statue of Hercules at Carthage and popular opposition to the suspiciously opportunistic conversion of a civic notable in its aftermath, both dated to June 401 (ch. 8); the riots following civic festivities at Calama in June 408 (ch. 9); and the lynching of a corrupt official in Hippo Regius in 412 (ch. 10). M. repeatedly stresses that these were not the random actions of unruly mobs. Instead, he suggests, they were attempts to right wrongs and procure a form of justice when the authorities were unwilling to act and ‘les mécanismes normaux de repression’ were suspended (269). His overall picture of an urban populace attuned to contemporary means of legitimizing political action chimes with Leslie Dossey's recent work on the rural communities of late Roman Africa in her Peasant and Empire (2010). In Potestas populi, the urban masses become active participants in the political culture of Late Antiquity.
From M.'s book, the mobilization of a group emerges as a complicated process, requiring the basic scaffolding of social connections, proximate causes tied to specific events or motives, and a social and political climate favourable to collective action. In Christians and their Many Identities in Late Antiquity, Éric Rebillard goes much further in problematizing group formation in late Roman Africa. R. stridently critiques the widespread scholarly tendency to assume that ‘Christians’ (and, for that matter, ‘pagans’) represented an identifiable group in late Roman society. R. stresses that religious affiliation was only one facet of these individuals’ identities and did not translate automatically into participation within the ‘internally homogeneous and externally bounded groups’ (2) generally presumed by historical analysis. The vast array of other rôles and affiliations Christians and pagans in Africa possessed both implicated them in normal patterns of social relations with one another (before and after Constantine's conversion) and meant that their ‘Christianness’ or ‘paganness’ was not always important to them, or to those with whom they interacted. In the light of extensive recent research on religious identity and particularly Christianity and paganism in Late Antiquity (not least Alan Cameron's monumental The Last Pagans of Rome (2011)), these conclusions may not seem so startlingly new. The real value of R.'s book comes in his succinct summary of recent theoretical approaches to identity, ethnicity and groups. In his introduction, R. uses this work to develop a superlative and widely-applicable framework for the study of religious (and other) identities.
In chapters on the works of Tertullian (ch. 1) and Augustine (ch. 3), R. applies these theoretical approaches to African Christianity with an admirable consistency. R. systematically demonstrates the paucity of external markers which would identify someone as a Christian either c. a.d. 200 or c. a.d. 400 (12–20, 67–70). He then uses Tertullian and Augustine's refutations of defences of (supposedly) non-Christian practices from within their Christian communities to identify the alternative forms of social ‘logic’ which influenced individual Christians (20–31, 70–85). R. stresses their ability to justify their actions on Christian terms, in particular through appeals to Scripture (‘scriptural legalism’: 21–2, 70–1). Nonetheless, he rightly notes that this does not necessarily mean that they would have seen those actions as problematic and requiring justification, had they not been called upon by Tertullian or Augustine to do so. Both of these insights lead to a convincing overarching conclusion: despite the best efforts of their clerics, Christians in late Roman Africa rarely acted in society as a coherent group.
Both R. and M. seek commendably to avoid privileging the perspectives of élite authors like Christian bishops when describing social experiences. They do not always find sufficient support for this project. R.'s second chapter, on Christian identity during the ‘persecutions’ of the long third century, is a case in point. His conclusion — the threat to Christians and their cohesion as a group at this time should not be exaggerated (59–60) — is sound. Yet it does not seem to flow naturally from the analyses of various martyr acta which precede it. Even if debates over dates of composition are put to one side, R. still faces the problem that the relationship of these idealized descriptions of Christian individuals and groups to any third-century social reality or genuine alternative Christian responses to imperial religious decrees is extremely dubious. M. confronts similar difficulties in some of his attempts to avoid writing history de haut en bas. The ability of a wily rhetorical operator like Augustine to recast events for his own purposes is rather underplayed (e.g. in the discussion of the religiously ‘pagan’ character of the procession at Calama (254–61)). More fundamentally, the extent to which Augustine's later epistolary descriptions of crowds can be used as a guide to their actual composition and motives might be questioned. Both authors find safer ground when reading Augustine's sermons: in his homiletic ‘dialogues with the crowd’, they can more justifiably locate the voice of the people as it rings in his ears.
Such concerns should not detract from the achievement of both scholars. They succeed in writing histories which are theoretically engaged without becoming unworkably abstracted, and which discuss cultural identities without neglecting their practical social implications. Future research might profitably explore the tensions between these complementary visions of collective action and individual diversity within Christian communities (compare Christians, 86–91 with Potestas Populi, 227–74). The dynamics of other groups in late antique society are also long overdue for similar treatment. These two thoughtful works should give scholars ample incentive to reconsider the wisdom of crowds.
