With The Emperor and the Army in the Later Roman Empire, AD 235–395 Mark Hebblewhite offers the first study solely dedicated to examining the nature of the relationship between the emperor and his army in the politically and militarily volatile later Roman Empire. Bringing together a wide range of available literary, epigraphic and numismatic evidence he demonstrates that emperors of the period considered the army to be the key institution they had to mollify in order to retain power and consequently employed a range of strategies to keep the troops loyal to their cause. Key to these efforts were imperial attempts to project the emperor as a worthy general (imperator) and a generous provider of military pay and benefits. Also important were the honorific and symbolic gestures each emperor made to the army in order to convince them that they and the empire could only prosper under his rule.
The question of masculinity formed a key part of the intellectual life of late antiquity and was crucial to the development of Christian society. This idea is at the heart of Mathew Kuefler's new book, which revisits the Roman Empire during the third and fifth centuries of the common era. Kuefler argues that the collapse of the Roman army, an increasingly autocratic government, and growing restrictions on the traditional rights of men within marriage and sexuality all led to an endemic crisis in masculinity: men of Roman aristocracy, who had always felt themselves to be soldiers, statesmen, and the heads of households, became, by their own definition, unmanly. The cultural and demographic success of Christianity during this epoch lay in the ability of its leaders to recognize and respond to this crisis. Drawing on the tradition of gender ambiguity in early Christian teachings, which included Jesus's exhortation that his followers "make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," Christian writers and thinkers crafted a new masculine ideal, one that took advantage of the changing social realities in Rome, inverted the Roman model of manliness, and helped solidify Christian ideology by reinstating the masculinity of its adherents.
The Roman army represented an important social and organizational reference model for the Romano-Barbarian societies, which progressively replaced the Western Empire in the transition from Late Antiquity to Early Middle Ages. The great flexibility of the decision-making and organizational solutions used by the Roman army allowed the ‘new lords’ to readapt them and thus maintain power in early medieval Europe for a long time. From a perspective ranging from political, social and economic history to law, anthropology, and linguistic, this book demonstrates how interesting and fruitful the investigation of this specific cultural imprint can be in order to gain a better understanding of the origins of the civilization that arouse after the fall of the Roman world. Contributors are Francesco Borri, Fabio Botta, Francesco Castagnino, Stefan Esders, Carla Falluomin, Stefano Gasparri, Wolfgang Haubrichs, Soazick Kerneis, Luca Loschiavo, Valerio Marotta, Esperanza Osaba, Walter Pohl, Jean-Pierre Poly, Pierfrancesco Porena, Iolanda Ruggiero, Andrea Trisciuoglio, Andrea A. Verardi, and Ian Wood.
Using a full range of original literary sources, modern Continental scholarship, and current archaeological research, Pat Southern and Karen R. Dixon provide a stimulating overview of the historical period, the critical changes in the army, and the way these changes affected the morale of the soldiers.
The Second Edition of A History of the Later Roman Empire features extensive revisions and updates to the highly-acclaimed, sweeping historical survey of the Roman Empire from the accession of Diocletian in AD 284 to the death of Heraclius in 641. Features a revised narrative of the political history that shaped the late Roman Empire Includes extensive changes to the chapters on regional history, especially those relating to Asia Minor and Egypt Offers a renewed evaluation of the decline of the empire in the later sixth and seventh centuries Places a larger emphasis on the military deficiencies, collapse of state finances, and role of bubonic plague throughout the Europe in Rome’s decline Includes systematic updates to the bibliography
Marked by a power shift from Rome to Constantinople and the Christianization of the Empire, this era requires a narrative and interpretative history of its own. Cameron, an authority on later Roman and early Byzantine history and culture, captures the pivotal fourth century, doing justice to the enormous explosion of recent scholarship.
A sweeping historical account of the Later Roman Empire incorporating the latest scholarly research In the newly revised 3rd edition of A History of the Later Roman Empire, 284-700, distinguished historians Geoffrey Greatrex and Stephen Mitchell deliver a thoroughly up-to-date discussion of the Later Roman Empire. It includes tables of information, numerous illustrations, maps, and chronological overviews. As the only single volume covering Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period, the book is designed as a comprehensive historical handbook covering the entire span between the Roman Empire to the Islamic conquests. The third edition is a significant expansion of the second edition—published in 2015—and includes two new chapters covering the seventh century. The rest of the work has been updated and revised, providing readers with a sweeping historical survey of the struggles, triumphs, and disasters of the Roman Empire, from the accession of the emperor Diocletian in AD 284 to the closing years of the seventh century. It also offers: A thorough description of the massive political and military transformations in Rome’s western and eastern empires Comprehensive explorations of the latest research on the Later Roman Empire Practical discussions of the tumultuous period ushered in by the Arab conquests Extensive updates, revisions, and corrections of the second edition Perfect for undergraduate and postgraduate students of ancient, medieval, early European, and Near Eastern history, A History of the Later Roman Empire, 284-700 will also benefit lay readers with an interest in the relevant historical period and students taking a survey course involving the late Roman Empire.