Author: Christopher Kelly Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 110727690X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 341
Book Description
Theodosius II (AD 408–450) was the longest reigning Roman emperor. Ever since Edward Gibbon, he has been dismissed as mediocre and ineffectual. Yet Theodosius ruled an empire which retained its integrity while the West was broken up by barbarian invasions. This book explores Theodosius' challenges and successes. Ten essays by leading scholars of late antiquity provide important new insights into the court at Constantinople, the literary and cultural vitality of the reign, and the presentation of imperial piety and power. Much attention has been directed towards the changes promoted by Constantine at the beginning of the fourth century; much less to their crystallisation under Theodosius II. This volume explores the working out of new conceptions of the Roman Empire - its history, its rulers and its God. A substantial introduction offers a new framework for thinking afresh about the long transition from the classical world to Byzantium.
Author: Fergus Millar Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520253914 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 307
Book Description
"This masterful study will have its place on every ancient historian's bookshelf."—Claudia Rapp, author of Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity: The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Transition
Author: Gerard Friell Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 113578261X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 452
Book Description
Emperor Theodosius (379-95) was the last Roman emperor to rule a unified empire of East and West and his reign represents a turning point in the policies and fortunes of the Late Roman Empire. In this imperial biography, Stephen Williams and Gerry Friell bring together literary, archaeological and numismatic evidence concerning this Roman emperor, studying his military and political struggles, which he fought heroically but ultimately in vain. Summoned from retirement to the throne after the disastrous Roman defeat by the Goths at Adrianople, Theodosius was called on to rebuild the armies and put the shattered state back together. He instituted a new policy towards the barbarians, in which diplomacy played a larger role than military might, at a time of increasing frontier dangers and acute manpower shortage. He was also the founder of the established Apostolic Catholic Church. Unlike other Christian emperors, he suppressed both heresy and paganism and enforced orthodoxy by law. The path was a diffucult one, but Theodosius (and his successor, Stilicho) had little choice. This new study convincingly demonstrates how a series of political misfortunes led to the separation of the Eastern and Western empires which meant that the overlordship of Rome in Europe dwindled into mere ceremonial. The authors examine the emperor and his character and the state of the Roman empire, putting his reign in the context of the troubled times.
Author: Kenneth G. Holum Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520068017 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 275
Book Description
Theodosian Empresses sets a series of compelling women on the stage of history and offers new insights into the eastern court in the fifth century.
Author: J. B. Bury Publisher: Courier Corporation ISBN: 0486143384 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 514
Book Description
Volume 1 of classic history. One of the world's foremost historians chronicles the major forces and events in the history of the Western and Byzantine Empires from the death of Theodosius (A.D. 395) to the death of Justinian (A.D. 565).
Author: Zosimus Publisher: DigiCat ISBN: Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 205
Book Description
New History is a historical narrative by Zosimus. The author was a Greek historian known for condemning Constantine's rejection of the traditional polytheistic religion.
Author: Hagith Sivan Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0195379128 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 235
Book Description
Wedding in Gaul (414) -- Funerals in Barcelona (414-416) -- Making of an empress (417-425) -- Restoration and rehabilitation (425-431) -- Bride, a book, and a pope (437-438) -- Between Rome and Ravenna (438-450).
Author: R. Malcolm Errington Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press ISBN: 080787745X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 351
Book Description
The division of the late Roman Empire into two theoretically cooperating parts by the brothers Valentinian and Valens in 364 deeply influenced many aspects of government in each of the divisions. Although the imperial policies during this well-documented and formative period are generally understood to have been driven by the religious and ideological aims of the emperors, R. Malcolm Errington argues that the emperors were actually much more pragmatic in their decision making than has previously been assumed. The division of responsibilities between the emperors inevitably encouraged separate developments and allowed locally varying and often changing imperial attitudes toward different forms of religious belief. Errington demonstrates that the main stimulus for action in this period nearly always came from below the level of the imperial government, and not from an imperial initiative. Extending the theory of Fergus Millar into the later empire, Errington argues that the emperors were fundamentally reactive to regionally supplied information, as Millar has asserted was the case for the High Empire. Thus, despite significant structural changes, the empire remained broadly traditional in its operations.
Author: Brian Croke Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1000388301 Category : Architecture Languages : en Pages : 332
Book Description
Roman Emperors in Context: Theodosius to Justinian brings together ten articles by renowned historian Brian Croke. Written separately and over a period of fifteen years, the revised and updated chapters in this volume provide a coherent and substantial story of the change and development in imperial government at the eastern capital of Constantinople between the reigns of Theodosius I (379-95) and Justinian (527-65). Bookended by chapters on the city itself, this book is based on a conviction that the legal and administrative decisions of emperors have an impact on the whole of the political realm. The fifth century, which forms the core of this book, is shown to be essentially Roman in that the significance of aristocracy and dynasty still formed the basic framework for political advancement and the conduct/conflict of political power around a Roman imperial court from one generation to the next. Also highlighted is how power at court was mediated through military generals, including major regional commanders in the Balkans and the East, bishops and bureaucrats. Finally, the book demonstrates how the prolonged absence of male heirs during this period allowed the sisters, daughters, mothers and wives of Roman emperors to become more important and more central to imperial government. This book is essential reading for scholars and students of Roman and Byzantine history, as well as those interested in political and legal history. (CS1100)
Author: Christopher Kelly
Author: Fergus Millar
Author: Gerard Friell
Author: Kenneth G. Holum
Author: J. B. Bury
Author: Zosimus
Author: Hagith Sivan
Author: R. Malcolm Errington
Author: Roger Bagnall
Author: Brian Croke