Popularitas : pursuit of consensus and populism in ancient Rome

Project Information

POPULARITAS

Grant agreement ID: 792476

DOI

10.3030/792476

Project closed

EC signature date 6 April 2018

Start date 1 September 2018

End date 31 August 2020

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 168 277,20

EU contribution

€ 168 277,20

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA CATTOLICA DEL SACRO CUORE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - POPULARITAS (Popularitas : pursuit of consensus and populism in ancient Rome)

Reporting period: 2018-09-01 to 2020-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Popularitas project aimed to provide a comprehensive study of the precedents of populism in ancient Rome. Among the scholars the precise definition of “populism” is still controversial, but the populist is usually understood as a politician who claims to have a direct connection with the people and exploits this alleged connection, in order to break the rules of political competition, to influence the masses, and to gain power. If this use of the term is quite recent, it is also undeniable that this political attitude is not a peculiarity of the last decades. So, a question arises: can we trace this pattern back to classical antiquity?
The Latin adjective popularis had a passive meaning (the man who enjoys the favour of the people), but also an active one (the man who seeks the favour of the people). Sometimes this active meaning was employed in connection with ambitious outsiders, wannabe “charismatic” leaders, who took a perspective hostile to the senatorial elite, claimed to have a direct connection with the people, and exploited this connection in order to bypass the institutions, to subvert the constitutional rules, and to gain power. The object of the project has been precisely this political attitude, where the legitimate seeking of consensus turned into populism: what are the similarities and differences between ancient and contemporary populism? how far the allegations against ancient populists were well-founded? did populistic attitudes have ideological implications? to what extent populistic methods were effective? what was the people’s feedback?
In the last few decades, scholars’ interest on the dynamics of the Roman political system has increased. Extensive research has been consecrated to the Roman political thought, to the faction and “political parties” in republican Rome, to the impact of electoral corruption, to popular participation in legislative and electoral assemblies… But a study on “populism” in ancient Rome had never been attempted before. The Popularitas project aimed to fill this gap.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The first output of the project has been the publication (in 2019) of two papers on peer-reviewed scientific journals. The first one (Popularitas, “Aevum”, 93, p. 97-109) is an analysis of the Latin term popularitas, which did not mean “popularity”, but the “pursuit of popular support” by prominent republican politicians or by the emperors. The second one (Demagogoi e demagogia nella storiografia greca d’età romana, “Erga-Logoi”, 7.2 p. 83-116) is the first study ever released on the lexicon of “demagogy” in Greek sources on ancient Rome.
I later decided to focus my attention on a Roman politician who gave material for an interesting case study: Catiline. The famous “conspirator” was (falsely) accused to (1) trying to oppose the senatorial elite, (2) pursuing popularity among the masses in order to gain power, and (3) talking directly to the people, breaking the constitutional rules and presenting himself as “one of them”, “one like them”. In my investigation, I gave particular attention to the different stages of the “construction fo the monster”, both in the concrete development of Catiline’s career and in the different ramification of the subsequent historiographical tradition. The resulting monograph (Catilina: le faux populiste, Ausonius éditions, Bordeaux) was published in December 2019.
I was invited to international conferences in Odense (December 2018 - title of my paper: Cassius Dio on social struggles) and Münster (September 2019 - title of my paper: Catilina e i senatori). I gave scientific lectures at Strasbourg (March 2019) and Bordeaux (January 2020). I also gave a course of lectures on the ancient populism in the secondary schools (Milan 2019, Cremona 2019, Lugano 2019).
A two-days international conference was also organised (to be held in Milan, on May 2020). Twelve distinguished European scholars (from Italy, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany) were invited. Due to the sudden COVID emergency, the cancellation of the conference turned out to be inevitable. But thanks to the cooperation of all the invited scholars, it has been possible to continue the debate on populism and to collect all the scientific output of the planned conference in a collective volume (Popularitas. Ricerca del consenso e populismo in Roma antica, L’erma di Bretschneider, Rome), which will be the last output of the project. The contract has been signed in May 2020, the volume will come out in the first half of 2021. It will be immediately available for free, in the website of the publishing house (Gold Open Access). This will ensure maximum dissemination and accessibility to the results of the Popularitas project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The Popularitas project fitted in the framework of a debate on the dynamics of the Roman political system, which started one century ago but has increased further in the last few decades (with studies on Roman political thought, on the factions and “political parties” in republican Rome, on the impact of electoral corruption, on popular participation in legislative and electoral assemblies…). But a comprehensive study of the precedents of populism in ancient Rome, i.e. on the political attitude where the legitimate seeking of consensus turned into what we are now calling “populism” had never been attempted before.
The Popularitas project was an innovative contribution to the study of Roman ancient politics. It historicized for the first time a much-discussed phenomenon of our time and highlighted similarities and differences with the ancient political practice. It provided the tools for a diachronic assessment of modern populism, opening new research prospects. Its results will be useful to the classicists, but will also offer to political scientists and sociologists some fresh material and a new starting point for a broader understanding of the phenomenon.

Gaius Gracchus addressing the "concilium plebis"