Empire without Alternative? Autocratic Power and Inevitability in the early Roman Empire

‘Empire without Alternative? Autocratic Power and Inevitability in the early Roman Empire’ (EWA) offers the first in-depth analysis of whether one-man rule was perceived as inevitable by Roman historians in the early Roman Empire (31BCE-CE117). Imperial ideology, for sure, promoted the idea that one-man rule was the only alternative (and thus hardly worthy of the word “alternative”): some historical accounts from the period are indeed characterised by a strong teleological drive and treat the inevitability of one-man rule as a premise to be accepted, not a claim to be debated. But there were other voices, too, other historians. Their works, however, have not been read with the approach required to grasp how alternatives to autocracy – i.e. alternatives to the course of events that came to pass – may be activated in historical texts, especially those written under the watchful eye of an emperor. Inspired by recent pioneering work on the use of literary devices that activate alternative pasts, EWA will explore how alternatives to autocracy are activated (or shut down) in historical texts from the early Empire.