The Roman Censorship: Perceptions and Realities

Despite the importance of the magistracy of the Roman censorship, surprisingly little has been written on this magistracy in the last half a century. This volume, which brings together original research from a variety of international experts in Roman history, will fill this gap in the scholarship, taking into account advancements in recent scholarship on Roman magistracies. The contributors to this volume ask questions about the men who held this magistracy, the historical development of the office, and how each iteration of the magistracy transformed the political, social, and physical environment at Rome and beyond. The essays in this volume explore the tensions between perceptions and realities of the Roman censorship, and consider the Roman censorship from its earliest manifestations to the reinvention(s) of the position under the Roman emperors. Many of the contributions to this volume were first presented at a seminar series held virtually, but hosted by the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford, and will be an essential read for undergraduates, graduates and scholars of the constitutional, economic, social and religious history of the Roman republic and early empire.