•  5
    This essay aims at identifying a tradition of lawgivers in the political culture of the late Republic. It focuses on the antiquarian tradition of the second half of the first century BC, which, it argues, should be considered part of the wider quest for legal normativism that takes place towards the end of the Republic. By reconstructing the intellectual debates on the nature of the consulship, which at the time was carried out through the means of etymological research, this essay shows that, w…Read more
  • The Cambridge History of Democracy, Vol. 1: From Democratic Beginnings to c. 1350 (edited book)
    with Eric Robinson
    Cambridge University Press. forthcoming.
  •  19
    Although modern Republicanism, which highly values the right of freedom of speech, finds its inspiration in the historical reality of the Roman Republic, it seems that in the course of the Republican period citizens shared a recognised ability to speak freely in public, but did not enjoy equal status with one another in the domain of speech as protected by law. Of course, Republican Rome knew laws regulating free speech and perhaps even later provisions had been passed concerning iniuria. Howeve…Read more
  •  12
    Ancient history and contemporary political theory: the case of liberty
    History of European Ideas 44 (6): 641-657. 2018.
    ABSTRACTProviding an introduction to this special issue on the ancient notions of liberty and its modern perspectives, this essay contains, first, some reflections about the relation between the fields of ancient history and contemporary political theory. Building on the comments of the final roundtable with Kinch Hoekstra and Quentin Skinner, it then makes an attempt at extrapolating some theoretical understandings of liberty from a wide range of geographical and historical contexts covered in …Read more
  •  40
    Roman sumptuary legislation: Three concepts of liberty
    European Journal of Political Theory 10 (4): 463-489. 2011.
    This article argues that, next to a certain intellectual tradition of Roman liberty, often labelled ‘neo-Roman’ or ‘Republican’, we should also take into account the existence of, at least, two other conceptions of liberty, which have so far remained occluded under the prominence of Cicero’s ideas and the appropriation of them by later thinkers. By analysing the debate in opposition and in favour of sumptuary laws enacted from the 3rd century bc onwards, the article identifies a first notion of …Read more
  •  10
    Name der Zeitschrift: Klio Jahrgang: 98 Heft: 1 Seiten: 354-356.
  •  12
    This is a comprehensive analysis of the idea of libertas and its conflicting uses in the political struggles of the late Roman Republic. By reconstructing Roman political thinking about liberty against the background of Classical and Hellenistic thought, it excavates two distinct intellectual traditions on the means allowing for the preservation and the loss of libertas. Considering the interplay of these traditions in the political debates of the first century BC, Dr Arena offers a significant …Read more
  •  37
    Ethnic Identity and Aristocratic Competition in Republican Rome
    American Journal of Philology 130 (2): 303-306. 2009.
    The purpose of this interesting book is, in the words of the author, "to demonstrate that aristocratic Roman families attempted to construct ethnic identity . . . in order to advertise and celebrate themselves in Rome's political culture; to discover how these families advertised their ethnic identity; and to recover what messages they intended to convey to the Roman public via such identity advertisement. . . . [in other words, the book aims] to focus on how the ethnic identity of the families …Read more
  •  3
    Ethnic Identity and Aristocratic Competition in Republican Rome
    American Journal of Philology 131 303-306. 2010.
    The purpose of this interesting book is, in the words of the author, "to demonstrate that aristocratic Roman families attempted to construct ethnic identity... in order to advertise and celebrate themselves in Rome's political culture; to discover how these families advertised their ethnic identity; and to recover what messages they intended to convey to the Roman public via such identity advertisement.... [in other words, the book aims] to focus on how the ethnic identity of the families of the…Read more