Contested Monarchy: Integrating the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century AD

by Johannes Wienand (Editor)

Overview

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Contested Monarchy reappraises the wide-ranging and lasting transformation of the Roman monarchy between the Principate and Late Antiquity. The book takes as its focus the century from Diocletian to Theodosius I (284-395), a period during which the stability of monarchical rule depended heavily on the emperor's mobility, on collegial or dynastic rule, and on the military resolution of internal political crises. At the same time, profound religious changes modified the premises of political interaction and symbolic communication between the emperor and his subjects, and administrative and military readjustments changed the institutional foundations of the Roman monarchy. This volume concentrates on the measures taken by emperors of this period to cope with the changing framework of their rule. The collection examines monarchy along three distinct yet intertwined fields: Administering the Empire, Performing the Monarchy, and Balancing Religious Change. Each field possesses its own historiography and methodology, and accordingly has usually been treated separately. This volume's multifaceted approach builds on recent scholarship and trends to examine imperial rule in a more integrated fashion. With new work from a wide range of international scholars, Contested Monarchy offers a fresh survey of the role of the Roman monarchy in a period of significant and enduring change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199768998
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2014
Series:	Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity
Pages:	552
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 6.60(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

Dr. Johannes Wienand is Assistant Professor of Ancient History and Classics at the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf in Germany.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations
Contributors
Map of the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century

Introduction
1. The Cloak of Power: Dressing and Undressing the King
Johannes Wienand

Part One Administering the Empire

2. Domesticating the Senatorial Elite: Universal Monarchy and Transregional Aristocracy in the Fourth Century
John Weisweiler

3. The Inflation of Rank and Privilege: Regulating Precedence in the Fourth Century AD
John Noël Dillon

4. Ostentatious Legislation: Law and Dynastic Change, AD 364-365
Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner

5. Emperors and Generals in the Fourth Century
Doug Lee

6. Gaul and the Roman Emperors of the Fourth Century
Joachim Szidat

7. Regional Dynasties and Imperial Court
Michael Kulikowski

Part Two Performing the Monarchy

8. Emperors, Usurpers, and the City of Rome: Performing Power from Diocletian to Theodosius
Mark Humphries

9. O tandem felix civili, Roma, victoria! Civil War Triumphs From Honorius to Constantine and Back
Johannes Wienand

10. Coping with the Tyrant's Faction: Civil War Amnesties and Christian Discourses in the Fourth Century AD
Hartmut Leppin

11. Pliny and Pacatus: Past and Present in Imperial Panegyric
Christopher Kelly

12. Born to be Emperor: The Principle of Succession and the Roman Monarchy
Henning Börm

13. Performing Justice: The Penal Code of Constantine the Great
Christian Reitzenstein-Ronning

Part Three Balancing Religious Change

14. Speaking of Power: Christian Redefinition of the Imperial Role in the Fourth Century
Harold Drake

15. Constantine, Rome, and the Christians
Bruno Bleckmann

16. Constantine and the Tyche of Constantinople
Noel Lenski

17. A Vain Quest for Unity: Creeds and Political (Dis)Integration in the Reign of Constantius II
Steffen Diefenbach

18. The Challenge of Religious Violence: Imperial Ideology and Policy in the Fourth Century
Johannes Hahn

19. The Famous 'Altar of Victory Controversy' in Rome: The Impact of Christianity at the End of the Fourth Century
Rita Lizzi Testa

Epilogue

20. The Empire's Golden Shade: Icons of Sovereignty in an Age of Transition
Johannes Wienand

Bibliography
General Index
Index Locorum

Editorial Reviews

"This exceptionally valuable book offers multiple perspectives on the development of the institutional, ideological and religious aspects of the Roman empire's first Christian century. Breaking away from traditional divisions according to dynasty or religion, we see how the Roman state developed new answers to the central question of its own legitimacy. Eschewing simplistic generalizations, the diverse contributions offer multiple perspectives on the way the Roman system of government interacted with its subjects. Wienand has performed an invaluable service by facilitating a wide ranging encounter among scholarly styles to promote a well-articulated discussion of significant themes in the governance of the Roman Empire, illuminating not only the period under consideration, but earlier and later periods as well." —David Potter, University of Michigan

"It is a pleasure to be asked to review a book for which one has such unreserved praise. Contested Monarchy is an enormously valuable volume without a weak link in its chain of articles. It is a must have for any scholar working on late Roman political, social, or religious history and for the library of any university that offers courses on the fourth century." —Adrastos Omissi, Sehepunkte

"...[A]n inspiring volume. ... [T]his is a fine collection of articles articulating the contested Roman imperial rule of late antiquity. Everybody interested in the late Roman empire will profit from it." —Bryn Mawr Classical Review

From the Publisher