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In the aftermath of the Battle of Zama (202BC) the general Hannibal returned to his native city of Carthage after an absence of 36 years, at the age of 45. After so many years as an international political figure of heroic dimension, his domestic reception may actually have been more bruising than what he was used to abroad. At home, Hannibal was a deeply divisive figure both within the governing elite and, we can imagine, among the wider populace. Both Romans and Carthaginians were happy to lay all the blame for the disasters of the recent war squarely on Hannibal’s shoulders.

The sufet (or shofet) has a long history in Near Eastern politics as a designation for power. At its core, the term means nothing more than ‘Judge’. At Carthage, the office appears in the epigraphic record in the mid-5^th century BCE. The title is used to designate the chief political officials, two of which were elected annually. From the 4^th century BCE, a small number of cities in the western Mediterranean of Phoenician origin also record the office of sufet.

This paper applies to late-antique imperial panegyric the maxim that a thoughtfully engaged outlier defines its field. Julian’s Speech of Thanks to Eusebia is the sole example preserved from antiquity of a prose address ostensibly celebrating a living empress. Arguably the speaker, as a Caesar, outranked his honoree. He represented not a community but himself. He spoke not to Eusebia but about her, in the third person throughout. He was not present when the speech was delivered before her, if ever it was delivered at all.

Around the year 400 Jerome wrote a letter to the young noblewoman Salvina, the wife of Nebridius. the nephew of Aelia Flaccilla. Although Salvina was a hostage, she secured her position at the court of Arcadius by giving birth to two imperial children, successors of the gens. When her husband Nebridius died, Jerome used this opportunity to write her a letter. To address a lady of the imperial family was quite daring – even for someone who regularly corresponded with noblewomen. Ep. 79 is Jerome’s second libellus about chaste widowhood, aimed at a wider audience.

This paper will examine the use of personified divine rumor (Fama) as a vehicle for praise in the letters of Jerome of Stridon. Although Jerome incorporates allusions to the classical goddess Fama in a number of his works – including his translation of the Latin Bible – the most richly textured depictions of personified Fama can be found in his epistles, where the Virgilian goddess is tasked with praising high-profile Christians.

On 1 January 362 CE, Claudius Mamertinus, the Latin rhetorician and consul prior for that year, delivered an imperial “speech of thanks” (Gratiarum Actio) for his consulship to the Roman Emperor Julian in the senate house of Constantinople. This panegyric of Mamertinus’, who was also the emperor’s praetorian prefect of Illyricum, Italy, and Africa, is a vital document for understanding the beginning of Julian’s brief reign from one who served under the emperor in the highest imperial offices.

The monumentalization of the Punic settlements of Sicily in the late period of the Roman Republic has greatly affected the preceding Phoenician and Punic levels. Almost all significant indications of the Phoenician and Punic phases of the island come from Motya and Selinus, which were not built over in the Roman era. These cities show an urban organization with buildings aligned to the settlement perimeter.

This study presents new contributions about the Phoenician and Punic remains in Sardinia. The Phoenician and Punic phases were erased by restructuring measures in Roman times. In many cases no valuable evidence can be retrieved and documented anymore. With regard to the oldest phases of the Phoenician colonization, the most interesting data originates from Sant'Imbenia, which is located on the west coast near Alghero. Phoenician as well as indigenous materials have been found in the layers of the settlement, which argues for a hybrid culture.

‘Carthaginian imperialism’ is the term that is widely used to describe the extent and impact of Carthaginian or more generally Punic influence and power; at the same time, however, it is also a notion that has rarely been scrutinized critically – with the notable exception of C.R. Whittaker’s probing discussion back in 1978.

This paper explores Carthaginian strategies for mobilizing military manpower during the First and Second Punic Wars. Ancient and modern commentators have usually viewed Roman manpower superiority as a decisive factor behind the Roman victory, yet Carthaginian manpower resources were substantial. Between 218-214 BC, Carthage had more men under arms than Rome. Carthaginian manpower peaked at approximately 170,000 men in 215 BC, a magnitude similar to the peak Roman mobilization of the war.