Greek Terms for the Roman Emperor in Dio Chrysostom’s Orations

Abstract

Dio Chrysostom’s surviving orations reflect many impressive narratives about the Roman emperors, Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. Dio refrained from mentioning the names of the Roman emperors. Instead, he emphasized many times his thoughts about the Roman emperors and the positive or negative evaluation of the emperors in his orations indirectly. He also used in general to express ‘the emperor’ within Greek terms of the classical Greek tradition. In this study, which terms Dio used for the Roman emperors are examined. By this way, it is understood how Dio Chrysostom performed the role of Greek pepaideumenos seeking to represent and evaluate the Roman power within the terms and framework of the Greek heritage. However, it is clear that he did not completely ignore the formal imperial titles though he did not show genuine concern for Roman susceptibilities.

Keywords

• Dio Chrysostom
• The Roman Emperor
• Principate
• Greek Terminology

DION KHRYSOSTOMOS’UN SÖYLEVLERİNDE «ROMA İMPARATORU»NA İLİŞKİN TERMİNOLOJİSİ

Abstract

Dion Khrysostomos; İmparator Nero, Vespasianus, Domitianus, Nerva ve Traianus’la ilişkili olarak söylevlerinde pek çok önemli değerlendirmelerde ve aktarımlarda bulunmuştur. Bu değerlendirme ve aktarımlarında imparatorların isimlerini zikretmekten çoğunlukla kaçınmıştır. Bunun yerine, dolaylı ifadeler yoluyla veya onları kendi tercih ettiği terimlerle adlandırarak düşüncelerini aktarmıştır. Roma siyasal yaşamının kalbi olan imparatorların hangi terimlerle adlandırıldığı, Dion Khrysostomos’un principatus’a gösterdiği uyumun ne ölçüde gerçek olduğunu anlayabilmemizi, başka bir ifadeyle, bilinçaltını okuyabilmemizi sağlamaktadır. Bu nedenle, çalışmamızda Dion Khrysostomos’un imparatorlar hakkındaki beyanlarından ziyade, onları hangi terimlerle adlandırdığı incelenmektedir. Böylece Dion Khrysostomos’un, Roma gücünü Hellen mirası çerçevesinde ve çoğunlukla geçmişteki Hellen terminolojisiyle değerlendiren bir entelektüel olduğu anlaşılmaktadır. Öte yandan, Roma hassasiyetleriyle yakından ilgilenmemiş olsa da, Roma imparatorları için kullanılan resmî terimleri tamamen görmezden gelmemiş olduğu da görülmektedir.

Keywords

• Dion Khrysostomos
• Roma İmparatoru
• Principatus
• Hellen Terminolojisi

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