الإشاعات وإعادة تدويرها كأداة للسلطة والتأثير في الإمبراطورية الرومانية 27 ق.م- 300م

Mohamed Abdelkader Ben Salah

doi:10.36602/faj.2026.n21.09

Authors

Mohamed Abdelkader Bin-Salah Faculty of Arts, Misurata University, Libya

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36602/faj.2026.n21.09

Keywords:

political rumor, the Roman Empire, the Roman public sphere, imperial legitimacy, , public opinion

Abstract

This study examines rumors and their reproduction as effective instruments of political and social communication in the Roman Empire, within a society dominated by oral transmission and characterized by uneven access to institutionalized information. The significance of the study lies in its approach to rumor not as a marginal narrative or a secondary literary motif, but as a structural element of the Roman public sphere that contributed to shaping public opinion and constructing the political reputations of emperors. The research also explores the mechanisms through which rumors moved from everyday circulation into historical writing, thereby acquiring durability and symbolic authority that extended their influence within collective memory.

The central research problem is articulated through the following question: how did rumor function within the Roman Empire as a mechanism for transmitting political knowledge and shaping public opinion, and to what extent did it contribute to reinforcing or undermining imperial legitimacy, as well as to the formation of historical memory through its transition from oral discourse to written narratives? The study is grounded in the hypothesis that rumor constituted a fundamental component of political communication, performing interpretive, mobilizing, and defamatory functions, and that its impact was amplified when it was reformulated within the works of historians and orators, transforming it from a fleeting utterance into a lasting narrative that could overshadow administrative and military realities. Methodologically, the research adopts a historical–narrative approach, tracing events within their chronological contexts and analyzing them through Roman sources and modern scholarship, while highlighting the relationship between rumor, structures of information circulation, channels of dissemination, and their effects on power and legitimacy.

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