Late Roman Empire

L’Antiquité tardive constitue une période de première importance en raison de l’ampleur des sources conservées et des événements survenus. Durant cette époque, qui s’étend du IIIe au VIIe siècle, l’Empire romain connaît des évolutions profondes et progressives qui ont non seulement modifié l’organisation du monde méditerranéen antique, mais aussi posé les fondements des périodes et des civilisations postérieures et limitrophes.
C’est durant l’Antiquité tardive que l’autorité de l’État monarchique et bureaucratique devient omniprésente par le biais de la loi, de l’impôt et de l’armée, que le poids des autorités locales se réduit au profit des capitales administratives et de leur système de cour, que le brassage des populations aboutit à leur recomposition et à une fusion des élites, que la conversion au christianisme, malgré les divisions confessionnelles, provoque une intégration et une uniformisation culturelle sans précédent des populations par l’adhésion à une même transcendance et l’élaboration d’une esthétique commune.

The work presents the first Slovak translation of the work On the Deaths of Persecutors by the important Christian apologist Lactantius. His work is an extremely important source for the period of the turn of the 3rd and the 4th century AD because it captures THE important events of the outbreak of the last great persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire called the Great Persecution. Lactantius depicts not only the outbreak and THE course of this difficult period for Christians but also its conclusion and the legalization of Christianity within the Roman Empire through the edict of toleration by Emperor Galerius of 311 and later The Edict of Milan by Constantine the Great of 313.
The monograph deals with the development of the religious situation in the Roman Empire from the 2nd Punic War to the turn of the 3rd and 4th century AD while presenting a point of view at its development in several areas. He focuses on traditional cults, monotheistic religions, the empire's relationship with Christianity and especially the persecution of Christians, the scope of which ranges from local pogroms to empirewide persecution in the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century AD. The work brings new knowledge and perspectives on the issue and shows that the traditional view, for example, of the set of four edicts issued against Christians during the Great Persecution is no longer sustainable, because in fact, as evidenced by Lactantius' De mortibus persecutorum, there was only one anti-Christian edict issued right at the beginning of the state interventions against Christians.

In recent years, much ink has been spilt over the famous – although never thoroughly assessed – ruler of Palmyra. In 2005, the eminent Paul Veyne had already devoted a few insightful pages to the subject, with claims that are certainly open to debate, in one of his most enjoyable books.

Bachelor Thesis about Julian the Apostate’s 'imperial tradition', being a combination of his policy, ideas and representation thereof, it contains an analysis of the effectiveness of these topics in regard to later emperors as well as a comparison with predecessors in regard to what extent Julian's imperial tradition is itself a continuation on the policies of his predecessors. The thesis deals with the following subjects in four chapters, 'representation on coinage', 'the military', 'imperial administration and economy' and 'religion'.

This thesis was graded with an 8.0/10.0.

For further information or questions, contact me.

The paper asks the question what the Romans really meant, when the used the term "barbarian". The evidence shows that the Romans had been often uneasy with this greek word, as in the end they themselves would be Barbarians, too. Further, the paper focuses also on the non-biological (or even "racial") approach of the Romans. Barbarians can become citizens, if they accept Roman paideia and a cultural set of Romanitas. The Dacians and Tracians are used in this context as examples from a rather neglected zone of the Empire.

Conclusions about the duration of participation in the circulation of the
coins from the 6th–7th centuries are presented by analysing the coin composition of the collective finds from the studied period. The results show that the life span of specimens from this period is 60–80 years, even up to 100 years, as other researchers have also concluded. However, it was established that the coins minted between 527 and 602 AD circulated for half this time (i.e. 30–60 years) and dropped out of circulation within the same period (ca. 602 to ca. 629 AD). This time coincides with some administrative reforms in the organisation of the
production of coins, but also with the production and distribution of an extremely large number of newly minted coins of gold, silver and bronze. These observations allow us to argue that, after 602 AD, a new monetary policy was formed in Byzantium, which had two main goals. Firstly, to increase the revenues from the production of coins and their subsequent
distribution (by increasing the volume of coins produced and putting them in circulation, which necessitated the withdrawal from circulation of the ‘old’ coins). And, secondly, to optimise the production costs (by overstriking old coins, reducing the volume of bronze coinage, closing of mints and concentrating the production in Constantinople).

Synekdemos, a geographical text of Hierokles presents the administrative structure of the Eastern Roman Empire in the early 6th century AD. Six dioeceses (large administrative units), 64 eparchiai (provinces) and 920 poleis (cities) are registered in catalogues, in such a way that the political geography of the period becomes apparent. The critical edition by Honigmann (1939) displays maps without a geophysical background. This fact makes the study of the historical settlements network more difficult. In order to facilitate this study, maps of the 64 provinces have been created to describe and offer a clear overall view of the regional context. These maps follow historical topography as this appeared in Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (2000). In addition, they support a database which classifies the settlements according to historical and geographical criteria. The first set of criteria is related to parameters and variables, such as the date of foundation, constant presence in five historical periods, ancient and modern toponyms. The second set is related to the location of the settlements, and uses parameters and variables, such as geomorphology, water elements, communication networks and presence of a nodal point or port. The province of Palaia Epeiros has been chosen as an example of the advantages that such a database has to offer. The combination of maps with a database improves the historical-geographical study of the settlements network, and accentuates the importance of Synecdemos as a basic geographical text of the period, α quality that has escaped the attention of the “official” History of Cartography (1987).""

This article examines the performance context of Synesius of Cyrene’s
(ca. 370–415 CE) On Kingship. Synesius draws heavily on the classical tradition, and also incorporates many elements of Themistius’ philosophical style into his speech. But the work was not delivered before the emperor, as it purports, and hints at the fictionality of its own dramatic situation. These hints are not mere play but fit very closely the rhetorical needs of the circumstances. The performance appears to have been a success.

There is no numismatic evidence of an imperial recognition of the Visigothic monarchy on the part of the emperors Theodosius I or Honorius between 381 and 423. The first part of this article looks at this lack of a privileged relationship of the Imperial house with the Visigoths through coinage and monetary evidences. Neither does the numismatic or monetary materials  available to us support that the Visigoths were recognized by the central imperial power during the following years (423-439). Nevertheless, the marriage in Constantinople in 437 of the son of Galla Placidia, Valentinian III (425-455) with Licinia  Eudoxia, the daughter of Theodosius II, and his subsequent return to Italy as an emperor ready to govern, does seem to have prompted the most important Roman-Visigoth treaty that had been signed up to that point (439). This treaty had a numismatic reflection on the Visigothic monarchy of Tolosa of a similar importance to that which the treaty between Theodoric the Amal and Anastasius in the year 497 held for the Ostrogothic coin issues of the first half of the sixth century. Thus, the second section of this paper, ‘Theodosius II and the creation of a privileged relationship with the Visigoths’, is partly based on the historical context of these years, partly sustained on the  study of the imitation coins minted in Tolosa during the reign of Valentinian III. These Visigothic coin series are compared with the Amalic issues of the reigns of Anastasius, Baduila/Totila and Teia. The monetary functioning of the Hunnic monarchy of Ruga, Bleda and Attila is also compared to that of the
Visigothic monarchy of Tolosa as both of these barbarian monarchies seem to have redistributed part of the imperial
subsidies that they received among their own client kingdoms. Our study concludes with the claim that the Visigothic monarchy in the mid-V century was a multi-ethnic commonwealth of its own and that it was Theodosius II and Constantinople who supervised events in the West at this time.

Nasza wiedza o zniszczeniu Biblioteki Aleksandryjskiej jest niepełna. Bardzo często jej koniec przypisuje się na panowanie Aureliana i toczone wtedy walki w Egipcie. Rzeczywiście w późnym antyku nastąpiło przesunięcie centrum Aleksandrii ze wschodnich nadmorskich dzielnic na zachód. Niemniej świadectwo Ammianusa Marcellinusa, na którym opiera się ta hipoteza, jest dosyć wątpliwe, znajomość topografii i historii Aleksandrii u tego autora pozostawia wiele do życzenia. Nie sposób jednoznacznie wskazać, podczas których wewnętrznych walk w III-IV wieku uległa zniszczeniu Biblioteka Aleksandryjska oraz czy było to efektem działań człowieka, czy żywiołów.

Awards: Named a Best Book of 2020 by The Economist. Reviews: Kirkus (2.2020), Publishers Weekly (4.2020), Library Journal (5.2020), BookList (5.2020), The Wall Street Journal (5.2020), Boston Globe (6.4.2020), The Economist (6.20.2020), The Atlantic (July/August 2020), Literary Review (UK) (7.8.2020), The New Criterion (7.9.2020), Financial Times (London, UK) (7.10.2020), History Extra  (BBC History Magazine) (8.4.2020), The Times (UK) (8.14.2020), Times Literary Supplement (10.23.2020), London Review of Books (3.15.2021)

The author analyses the evolution of the idea of magic reflected in the decrees of Christian Roman Emperors included in the Theodosian Code. He describes the place of the chapter De maleficis in the structure of Book IX of the Theodosian Code and analyses its constitutions. Special attention is paid to the possible sources of the norms described and to the connection between the evolution of Christianity and the tightening of anti-magic legislation.
Article is written on Russian

Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages presents a cultural history of graphic signs and examines how they were employed to communicate secular and divine authority in the late antique Mediterranean and early medieval Europe. Visual materials such as the sign of the cross, christograms, monograms, and other such devices, are examined against the backdrop of the cultural, religious, and socio-political transition from the late Graeco-Roman world to that of medieval Europe.

This monograph is a synthetic study of graphic visual evidence from a wide range of material media that have rarely been studied collectively, including various mass-produced items and unique objects of art, architectural monuments and epigraphic inscriptions, as well as manuscripts and charters. This study promises to provide a timely reference tool for historians, art historians, archaeologists, epigraphists, manuscript scholars, and numismatists.

Travel and mobility were characteristic of the privileged few in the world of Late Antiquity. Therefore, they should be interpreted as status symbols. Although basic education was by-and-large accessible, undertaking long-distance travel to study with the brightest minds of one’s time was not. Jerome cleverly fashions himself as a mobile person who went to study under Donatus in Rome; he went on to learn from desert fathers, exchanged ideas in Constantinople, studied in Alexandria. As such, he emphasises his social status to prove he is a match for peers and patrons. In this chapter, I will first demonstrate how exactly Jerome created this profile, with particular focus on his early letters. Subsequently, I will show how he employs the 'Grand Tour' models from the classics, and incorporates it into his epistolary exchange with his patrons: his (prospective) ‘students’. Naturally, it is clear that by then Jerome is the teacher who should be visited by his students, again, putting himself on par with (ancient) vir illustres. Yet, his own ideas – put to paper – have become mobile, also. If his correspondents cannot visit the teacher, at least they will have the opportunity to access his teachings.
In sum, if one had the means, one could cover great distances to expand the mind and count oneself among the ‘happy few’ who, in the footsteps of the great classics, are worthy of memoria dignus.

Dione di Prusa, Boristenitico (Or. XXXVI), Introduzione, traduzione e commento di MICHELE DI FEBO, con un saggio introduttivo di GIULIO A. LUCCHETTA, Carabba (“Biblioteca del Leonardo. Testi e contesti” 1), Lanciano 2017, pp. 194, ISBN 978-88-634-4506-0.

The Theodosian Code contained a variety of laws aimed at the assurance of a privileged status of the Church and the orthodox clergy. Those laws were part of a general imperial policy aimed at the establishment of the Christian Roman Empire. Fiscal exemptions played an important role here. After the fall of the Western Empire, new Germanic realms respected and preserved the Roman legal heritage and ideas of legislation and relations of ecclesiastical and royal power. Roman fiscal solutions were also generally maintained. On the other hand, new ideas and institutions developed. Fiscal immunities of the Merovingian Age are exemplary here. Frankish kings tried to imitate Roman emperors' ecclesiastical policy and legislative measures. However, the profoundly changed political and economic circumstances led to a transformation of Roman fiscal institutions into new types of feudal bonds.

By the late fifth century, there were two primary barbarian powers in Gaul, the Visigoths and the Franks. Both were enlarging their territories in the wake of the final precipitous decline of Roman authority during the 470s. The expansion achieved by the Frankish king Clovis I inevitably brought him into conflict with the Visigothic king Alaric II. During the 490s, the Franks made several unsuccessful forays into Brittany and south of the Loire. Subsequently, both sides did their best to consolidate their resources. Attempts by the Os trogothic king Theoderic to avoid direct conflict failed, and war began in earnest in 507, when Clovis made a massive attack on the Visigothic kingdom. The decisive Frankish vic tory at Vouillé determined the map of sixth-century western Europe: the Franks gained control of most of Gaul, and the Visigoths consolidated their holdings in Spain.

This paper argues that the formation of an imperial polity is an important theme of the Historia Apollonii regis Tyri.  The narrative develops in ways that mimic and celebrate the political conditions of the Late Empire, ending up with an absolute monarch who tightly controls the formerly independent cities encountered in the novel. The Historia Apollonii reveals a pro-centralizing message that lauds the shift from cities being governed by the local aristocracy to their rule by the emperor himself through direct appointees, with the local aristocracy being siphoned off to the major imperial capitals and the immanent presence of the new locus of absolute authority, the emperor.

This article presents the history of one of the sections of Alans, whose lead by chief Sambida. Group of those Alans settlements was set up by the Roman side around ancient Valentia (today Valence), and one of its tasks was to protect of the communications lines in Rhone Valley.

Les Vies de philosophes et de sophistes d’Eunape de Sardes, écrites au tout début du Ve siècle, dressent le portrait de 24 intellectuels (9 philosophes, 10 sophistes et 5 médecins), auxquels on peut associer de nombreuses figures secondaires, qui ont vécu pour l’essentiel au IVe siècle après Jésus-Christ. Tous sont des professeurs de langue grecque, issus de la partie orientale de l’Empire, enseignant dans de grandes cités; tous sont de religion païenne – y compris sans doute Prohérésius dont Eunape dit qu’il avait la réputation d’être chrétien. Entre ces individus de différentes professions, on perçoit des liens académiques et professionnels nombreux, que viennent parfois renforcer des liens de parenté et, dans la plupart des cas, l’appartenance à l’aristocratie municipale des grandes cités d’Orient. Ces traits communs permettent de rattacher ces intellectuels à une micro-société, dont Eunape se veut l’héritier et dont il entend célébrer la supériorité morale et professionnelle. L’histoire contemporaine, dont Eunape avait par ailleurs écrit une Chronique (dont il reste une centaine de fragments), et la christianisation du pouvoir politique ont entraîné pour les membres de cette micro-société une dégradation du statut social dont jouissaient traditionnellement les intellectuels, et, malgré les espoirs éphémères suscités par le règne de Julien auquel plusieurs de ces philosophes, sophistes et médecins furent intimement associés, une marginalisation progressive accompagnée même, aux yeux d’Eunape, d’exils et de persécutions.