Roma’nın İmparatorluk ve Emperyalizm Konusundaki Tutumları: Tarihi Bir Bakış

Year 2025, Volume: 5 Issue: 10, 314 - 325, 29.12.2025

Translator: Ahmet Türkoğlu

https://doi.org/10.69787/bitigefd.1778841

Abstract

Roma tarihçileri ve siyasal yorumcuları, imparatorluğun kuruluşu ve sürdürülmesinin beraberinde getirdiği sorunların fazlasıyla farkındaydılar. Çoğu zaman Roma’nın emperyal yönetimdeki ikiyüzlülüğünü, imparatorluğun mağdurlarının ağzından dile getirdiler. Bunun en bariz örnekleri, Tacitus’un Calgacus’u (Agricola 30.5–6), Sallust’un Mithridates’i (Histories 4.69M) ve Caesar’ın Critognatus’udur (de Bello Gallico 7.77). Roma siyasal elitinin, en azından ideolojik düzeyde, imparatorluğa dair tutumlarında savundukları belli bir etik davranış kodu ile Roma’nın emperyalist genişleme pratiği kapsamında uyguladığı çeşitli şiddet biçimleri arasında rahatsız edici bir gerilim mevcuttu. Roma emperyalizminin doğasını anlamak, şüphesiz, Cumhuriyet ve erken İmparatorluk tarihi çalışmalarında sürekli bir odak noktası olmuştur. Bu alandaki araştırmalar, Roma’nın içsel yapıları ve tartışmalarına derinlemesine yoğunlaşmaktan, Roma’yı çok daha geniş bir sistemin parçası olarak görmeyi amaçlayan realist uluslararası ilişkiler teorilerinin uygulanmasına kadar farklı yönelimler göstermiştir. Roma emperyalizmini anlamamız önündeki en büyük zorluklardan biri, Roma dış politikasının nasıl kavramsallaştırılacağı meselesidir; nitekim bu konuyu ele alışımız, tarihçilerin başvurduğu kaynaklar tarafından anlaşılabilir biçimde şekillendirilmiştir. Edebi kaynaklarda imparatorluk fikirlerine yönelik retorik düzeydeki ilgilenim, emperyalist genişlemenin ideolojik yönlerini muhtemelen gölgelemiştir. Bu makale, tarihsel bir bakış açısından yürütülen tartışmalara giriş işlevi görmekte ve bu ciltte yer alan Roma emperyalizmine dair arkeolojik incelemelere arka plan sağlayacak genel eğilimleri özetleyen bir çerçeve sunmayı amaçlamaktadır.

Keywords

Emperyalizm , Geç Roma Cumhuriyeti , İmparatorluk Retoriği , İmparatorluk İnşası

Roman attitudes to empire and imperialism: the view from history

Abstract

Roman historians and political commentators were remarkably self-aware of the issues that the creation and maintenance of their empire brought, frequently presenting Rome’s hypocrisy of imperial rule through the mouths of the victims of empire: the most obvious examples being Tacitus’ Calgacus (Agricola 30-5-6), Sallust’s Mithridates (Histories 4.69M), and Caesar’s Critognatus (de Bello Gallico 7.77). There existed an uneasy tension between a certain code of ethical conduct, which the political elite upheld, at least ideologically, in their attitudes to empire, and the various forms of violence meted out as part of Rome’s practice of imperialist expansion. Understanding the nature of Roman imperialism has, of course, be a constant focus of Republican and early Imperial history. Studies in this area have swung from a deep focus on Rome’s internal structures and debates, to the application of realist IR theories seeking to view Rome as part of a much larger system. A major challenge to our understanding of Roman imperialism is the issue of the conceptualization of Roman foreign policy, and indeed our exploration of the issues has been understandably shaped by the sources that historians have engaged with. The rhetorical engagement with ideas of empire in the literary sources has potentially obscured ideological aspects of imperialist expansion. This paper serves as a way into the debates from an historical perspective, to provide an overarching framework of recent trends as background for the archaeological examinations of Roman imperialism in this volume.

Keywords

Imperialism , Late Republican Rome , Rhetoric of empire , Empire-Building

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