“Νόμος τὸ ἑκούσιον” Roman Governors, Powerful Locals, and the Politics of Provincial Administration

Christina Kokkinia Institute of Historical Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation

Roman provincial governors faced the delicate balancing act of representing imperial authority while managing the competing demands of influential provincials in the Greek-speaking provinces. When dealing with powerful local players, governors might issue diplomatically crafted responses, which served both sides – allowing governors to sidestep delicate situations and local elites to construct narratives of privileged partnership with Rome. By selectively including correspondence with governors and emperors in epigraphic displays, individuals and communities could leverage such diplomatic strategies to construct, maintain and defend privileges against rivals. At the same time, by permanently displaying exemplary models of governance in stone, provincial elites positioned themselves as partners to Roman officials in ruling the empire.
This presentation will explore the interlinked questions of how governors navigated the established privileges and competing demands of important local players, and how powerful locals used epigraphic displays of Roman administrative documents to advance their own agendas. It will be argued that, viewed in isolation, such narratives risk creating misleading impressions of the actual power dynamics between Rome and its subjects. Examples to be discussed include governors avoiding risky prosecutions, issuing evasive responses, cleverly maneuvering to evade unwelcome tasks, or most commonly resorting to diplomatic flattery to appear to satisfy claims to special treatment, a strategy employed by both governors and emperors such as Gordian, whose declaration to Aphrodisias that “the law is what you are willing to do” (νόμος τὸ ἑκούσιον) was prominently displayed in the city.