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The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 14 PDF
The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 14 PDF
ANCIENT HISTORY
VOLUME XIV
AVERIL CAMERON
Warden of Keble College, Oxford
BRYAN WARD-PERKINS
Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford
MICHAEL WHITBY
Professor of Ancient History, University of Warwick
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/
© Cambridge University Press
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Law in the western kingdoms between the fifth and the seventh
century
by . . -, Jesus Professor of Celtic, University of
Oxford
Law and ethnic identity
Edicts and judgements
Lawbooks and codes
The evolution of Frankish written law
From north-west Europe to the Mediterranean
Barbarian and Roman law
Burgundian and Gothic law
State, lordship and community in the west (c. .. –)
by
The community of the realm
Peers and lords: local communities
Conclusion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abbreviations
Frequently cited works
Part I: Chronological overview (chapters –)
Part II: Government and institutions (chapters –)
Part III: East and west: economy and society (chapters –)
Part IV: The provinces and the non-Roman world (chapters –)
Part V: Religion and culture (chapters –)
Conclusion
Index
xiii
xiv
The decision to extend The Cambridge Ancient History to the end of the sixth
century, from the closing date of .. selected for the first edition of
, has already been explained in the Preface to Volume XIII.
Scholarship in Britain lagged behind continental Europe in the discovery
of ‘late antiquity’, which suffered (and to some extent still suffers) from the
disadvantage of falling between the two stools of ‘ancient history’ and
‘medieval history’. However, in the political and institutional param-
eters of the period were magisterially set out in English in A. H. M. Jones’s
The Later Roman Empire –. A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey,
which was followed seven years later by the very different picture presented
in Peter Brown’s World of Late Antiquity ().
Jones’s evidence consisted primarily of legal texts, administrative docu-
ments and narrative political histories, from which he constructed a pow-
erful, if undeniably bleak, image of the late Roman state; whereas Brown
exploited mainly hagiography and the writings of pagan and Christian lite-
rati to reconstruct a world of vibrant (if somewhat anxious) spiritual and
intellectual debate. More recently, in work pioneered by French and Italian
scholars, the abundant and ever-increasing archaeological evidence for the
period has also been brought into play. This material evidence proved con-
clusively that, in the eastern Mediterranean at least, late antiquity was no
mere appendage to classical glories, but a period of spectacular prosperity
and splendour.
It is our hope that CAH XIV mirrors and builds on earlier work on late
antiquity; and that it provides an introduction to the richness of the
different sources and different approaches that are now readily available for
this period. As a multi-author work, it cannot have the crispness and sense
of direction of the best single-author surveys, and we have not attempted
as editors to iron out differences of opinion or of emphasis. On the other
hand, there are obvious merits in multiple authorship. In particular, no
single scholar can hope to be as much at home in sixth-century Britain as
in Egypt, nor as comfortable with late antique saints as with barbarian war-
lords; so a wide range of expertise is needed to provide detailed introduc-
tions to specific fields of knowledge. Furthermore, multiplicity of opinion
xvii
The work of editing CAH XIV was a genuinely collaborative venture, and,
as a result, both pleasant and instructive. The three editors together were
responsible for the overall shape of the book, and subject matter and
length of the chapters, and their allocation to individual authors (aided at
an early stage by John Matthews). All three editors subsequently read and
commented on both first and second drafts of each chapter.
A.C.
B.W.-P.
M.W.
On October the emperor Valentinian III was installed as ruler of the
western half of the Roman empire. The act was a triumph for the
Theodosian dynasty, which had lost its grip on the west following the death
of Valentinian’s uncle, the emperor Honorius, on August , and, at
first sight, a remarkable demonstration of imperial unity. The young
Valentinian (born on July ) had been taken to Constantinople by his
mother Galla Placidia even before Honorius died. Valentinian’s father,
Flavius (Fl.) Constantius, had done much to reconstitute the western
empire in the s. He then married Galla Placidia (Honorius’ sister) on
January at the start of his second consulship, and had himself declared
co-emperor of the west in February . He died the following September,
before he could extract recognition of his self-promotion from
Constantinople. His death let loose an extended power struggle in the west,
which at first centred on controlling the inactive Honorius.
Placidia and Valentinian had fled east in the course of these disputes in
. When, after Honorius’ death, power was seized by a high-ranking
member of the western bureaucracy, the notarius John, the eastern emperor,
Theodosius II, eventually decided to back Valentinian and the cause of
dynastic unity. Hence, in spring , a large eastern force – combining fleet
and field army – moved west, and despite the capture of its commander,
Ardaburius, quickly put an end to the usurper. Imperial unity was sealed by
the betrothal of Valentinian to the three-year-old Licinia Eudoxia, daugh-
ter of Theodosius II. The whole sequence of events was recorded in con-
siderable detail by the historian Olympiodorus, who brought his story of a
twenty-year period of crisis and reconstruction in the western empire to a
happy conclusion with Valentinian’s installation.
Thus Olympiodorus, writing from an eastern standpoint (he was, in
fact, an eastern diplomat), might well have entitled his work ‘How the
West was Won’.1 For the landowning Roman élites of the west, however,
Valentinian’s installation did little to address a series of problems, whose
1
Although we know he liked to refer to the work as ‘raw materials for a history’ (Ïλη συγγραßv):
Photius, Bibl. , trans. Blockley, p. .
AL N
7 9
D GU
ARMORICAN 13
A
AN UR
BAGAUDAE 14
B
11 35 50
15 HUNS
51
III 34 49 54
18
17 6
VISIGOT 30 36 53
H 22 52
SUEVES
S
16 33 V
26 21 32 48
19 20 31
41
46 VII
28
39 47
27 43
42
IV 38 37
25 VI
44 40
23 24
VANDALS
AND ALANS N
45
58 55
29 57 59
VIII
56
Areas lost to central control
owing to internal revolt
Central control threatened by
internal revolt 60
Areas lost to central control owing
to outside settlement (with names) SCALE
0 250 500 750 1000 km
Central control threatened by
outside forces (with names) 0 250 500 miles
NS IA
AFRICA
IS
FE N
TINGITANIA NUMIDIA PROCONSULARIS
T I TA
MAURETANIA
CAESARIENSIS
SI RE
U
BYZACENA
A
M
Vandal possessions A.D. 435
SCALE
0 200 400 600 km
Vandal possessions A.D. 439
0 200 400 miles
In the later s, therefore, Aetius restored some order to the western
empire. Britain did not return to the fold, although substantial contacts of
a more informal nature clearly continued between Romano-Britons and
their continental counterparts. The two famous visits to the island of
bishop Germanus of Auxerre in and (probably) the early s are likely
to be no more than the tip of a substantial iceberg. Otherwise, indigenous
and immigrant revolts in Gaul were suppressed, and Rhine frontier groups
defeated. The Sueves were kept within reasonable bounds in north-western
Spain and, with eastern help, the Vandals confined to the poorer North
African provinces. This last point is worth stressing, for Aetius has been
criticized in modern times for concentrating on Gaul at the expense of the
richer and strategically more defensible provinces of North Africa. Ties
between Italian and southern Gallic élites were very strong, however, and
Aetius had made his name in Gaul. Abandoning the latter would have been
politically impossible, therefore, and it was far from an unreasoanble line
of policy to rely on eastern help to retain the most valuable African prov-
inces. In many ways, the most striking aspect of Aetius’ success is the role
played by the Huns. Not only did they rescue him from political defeat in
both and , but were also central to his military success in Gaul. With
Hunnic and eastern imperial assistance, therefore, Aetius succeeded in
creating a precarious balance of power in the s, which, at least to some
extent, checked the process of political fragmentation in the west.
19
Courtois () ff. 20
Nov. Val. .; Chron. Pasch. ad a. ⫽Chron. Min. ..
21
Best account: Maenchen-Helfen () ff.; cf. Stein () –; Zecchini () ff.
22
See further Mommsen () –; Thompson () ff.; Harmatta () ff.; Maenchen-
Helfen () ff.; cf. ch. (Whitby), pp. – below.
23
Cf. amongst others Mommsen () ; Stein () –. This has perhaps also been the
policy of Fl. Constantius: Heather () .
24
The sources for Attila’s campaigns of the s have prompted two alternative chronological
reconstructions. In general, I prefer Maenchen-Helfen () ff. to Thompson () ff. The
question turns on the reliability of a notice provided by the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes; cf.
Heather () .
IS
E NS
B ON Agde
R Narbonne
Lugo
A
N
GALLAECIA Leon
Astorga TARRACONENSIS
Braga
Barcelona
Tarragona
L U S I TA N I A
CARTHAGINIENSIS
Mérida
Cordoba
Italica
Seville Cartagena
BAETICA
Controlled by Suevi
at the end of 441
SCALE
0 50 100 150 200 250 km
27
Hydat. Chron. – [], where Basilius firsts acts independently, and then helps the Suevic king
Rechiarius to plunder Saragossa (Caesaraugusta). 28
Refs. as PLRE .–.
Rhine
Arras
BELGICA
a ARMO Mainz
RICA Trier
Troyes a
Orleans Metz
Auxerre
L CATALAUNIAN Dan
HUNGARIAN
U
C
PLAINS
G A
A
ub PLAIN
R
NORICUM P e Caspian
PA
N IA A N
TA
TH
Bordeaux UI N
AQClermont Sea
IA
O
Ga
Lyons Milan Verona
NS
GALLAECIA
Rhôn
IA
ro
(Lugdunum) Aquileia C A U C A S U
nn
idunum S
Placentia S ing
e
40°N A Toulouse
T
Arles Rimini
AC DALMATIA Black Sea 40°N
RT
U
ON Narbonne Viminacium
A
Salona
M
E N SI S TUSCANY
HA
NI
BR
Danube
TA
IL
GI
IA
Mérida Tarragona THRA
NI
LY
SI
PICENUM CE
EN
Rome A
LU
NI Theodosiopolis
RIC
ARMENIA
E T I CA
SIS
Dyrrhachium O Constantinople
BA Chalcedon
D
Cordoba CAMPANIA
CE
A
lands CI
UM
Seville
aric Is
MA
Martyropolis
Bale
O
Hellespont
AD
b Amida
Caesarea
PP
b
Edessa Dara
CA
MA AC Ephesus Tarsus
URE Carthage SICILY HA CARIA ISAU
TA N I A AFRICA EA RIA Antioch
NUMIDIA PROCON-
SYR A
SULARIS
BYZACENA
I
Beirut
Tyre
30°N Boundary of eastern empire Caesarea
30°N
PA
LE
Land over 1000 metres Jerusalem
ST
IN
Alexandria
E
SCALE
c 0 250 500 750 1000 km c
Nile
B 0° C 10°E D 20°E E 30°E F 40°E G
37
On these matters, see Thompson () ff.; Clover ().
38
Further details: Thompson () ff.
57
Franks: James (a) ff. Armorica may have seen substantial immigration from Britain (e.g.
Riothamus: PLRE .), on top of an indigenous population which had already shown separatist ten-
dencies: p. above.
58
Stein () –; Max () –; O’Flynn () – n. . Marcellinus took part in
Majorian’s Vandal expedition (PLRE .). 59
Mathisen ().
60
Refs. PLRE . and , cf. O’Flynn () ff.
.
Seventy years separated the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in from
the invasions and population movements of the first decade of the fifth
century (themselves prompted by the intrusion of the Huns into central
Europe). None the less, the two are intimately linked. The regular political
crises for the empire in intervening years represent no more than the slow
working out of the full political consequences of the earlier invasions. The
79
PLRE .; cf. Sid. Ap. Ep. ., Harries () –.
. .
When he assumed sole rulership of the eastern half of the Roman empire
in , Theodosius II became head of a state which during the short reign
of his father Arcadius (–) had experienced an extraordinary array of
crises. Gothic troops in Roman employ had risen in revolt under the lead-
ership of Alaric in and spent much time during the following years
freely plundering the Balkan provinces until Alaric eventually decided to
move westwards ().1 Also in , nomadic Huns had invaded the empire
through the Caucasus, bringing widespread destruction to Syria and eastern
Asia Minor until .2 Another Goth named Gainas, who held a command
in the Roman army, instigated a revolt which was only suppressed in
with much bloodshed in and around Constantinople.3 Within a few years
there was further turmoil in the capital over the bitterly contested deposi-
tion and exile of the bishop John Chrysostom (–),4 while eastern Asia
Minor suffered a prolonged bout of raiding by Isaurian brigands (–).5
In addition to all this, relations with the western half of the empire
throughout Arcadius’ reign were characterized by antagonism and mutual
suspicion, the result of the ambitions and rivalries of dominant individu-
als, such as Eutropius and Stilicho, at the courts of Arcadius in
Constantinople and his younger brother Honorius in the west.6
Against this background, one might justifiably have wondered about the
prospects for the eastern half of the empire – even more so when one adds
into the equation the fact that Theodosius was a mere seven years old in
. Contrary to expectation, however, Theodosius’ reign was a long one
(–),7 and although he and his successors down to the early sixth
century were to experience numerous crises of a gravity comparable to
those of Arcadius’ reign, the eastern empire proved able to survive this crit-
ical period, during which its western counterpart succumbed. Why this
1
Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops ch. ; Heather, Goths and Romans ch. .
2
Maenchen-Helfen () –.
3
Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops chs. –; Cameron and Long () chs. –, .
4
Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops chs. –; Kelly () chs. –. 5
Shaw () .
6
Cameron, Alan (); Matthews () ch. ; Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops chs. , .
7
Arcadius had elevated him to the status of co-emperor in January while still a baby, so the
formal length of his reign was actually forty-eight years – the longest of any Roman emperor.
.
. Political life
There was obviously no question of the seven-year-old Theodosius having
any real involvement in government affairs for some years, so it should
occasion no surprise that during his minority power lay in the hands of
various officials at court, notably the praetorian prefect Anthemius.8 Even
once he reached adulthood, however, Theodosius appears rarely to have
attempted to exercise power in his own right, showing greater interest in
theological and scholarly pursuits. One consequence of this was that his
court gained a reputation for patronage of literary and educational endea-
vours,9 reflected, among other things, in reforms of university teaching in
the capital ()10 and the production of the Theodosian Code (–).11
Another consequence, however, was that the initiative in political life by
and large lay with individuals other than the emperor himself, making it
difficult to determine the extent to which Theodosius deserves credit or
blame for particular decisions or policies. Female members of the imperial
family feature prominently in this respect, notably Theodosius’ sister
Pulcheria and his wife Eudocia, whom he married in , although the
extent of their power has probably been exaggerated.12 Helion’s long
tenure of the important office of magister officiorum (–) marks him out
as a man with influence, while the praetorian prefect Cyrus was important
during the s, until displaced by Theodosius’ chamberlain, the eunuch
Chrysaphius, who was pre-eminent throughout the s.13 Although less
conspicuous, certain military figures are also worthy of note: the way in
which the Alan general Flavius Ardabur and members of his family, espe-
cially his son Aspar, held high commands throughout much of
Theodosius’ reign must be significant,14 while during the emperor’s final
years, the Isaurian general Flavius Zeno (not to be confused with the later
8
On the early years of Theodosius’ reign, see Lippold () –, CAH 2 , ch. (Blockley).
9
Momigliano () –. 10
Cameron, Alan () –.
11
Harries and Wood () –.
12
See Holum () and Holum, Empresses for this emphasis, Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops
and Harries () – for reservations.
13
See PLRE , s.v. Helion , Cyrus , Chrysaphius, with emendations on points of detail (especially
on Cyrus) in Cameron, Alan ().
14
Family solidarity is epitomized in the silver missorium celebrating Aspar’s consulship in : CIL
. (⫽ILS ) with Painter (). For details of careers, see PLRE , s.v. Fl. Ardabur , Fl.
Ardabur Aspar (though he was probably not magister in the final years of the s: Zuckerman ()
–), Fl. Plinta (though he was probably still magister in /: Zuckerman () –).
15
PLRE , s.v. Fl. Zeno .
16
Presumably it was anxieties about this development, coming as it did after more than a century of
military emperors, which spawned the story that Theodosius I had forbidden his sons to campaign: Joh.
Lyd. De Mag. ., .. For Theodosius’ known movements outside Constantinople, see Dagron,
Naissance –, with Roueché ().
17
Hopkins () ch. , valuable though it is on the power of eunuchs, does not take sufficient
account of this fundamental change in imperial behaviour in the fifth century. On eunuchs, see also
Patterson () –.
18
Reports of potential usurpers (Priscus fr. ) show that Theodosius’ position was sometimes per-
ceived to be under threat. Cf. the popular anger expressed against Theodosius himself during a grain
shortage in the capital (Marcell. Chron. s.a. ).
19
This is not to deny that the months immediately following Arcadius’ death were nervous ones in
Constantinople, since Theodosius was still vulnerable on account of his extreme youth: see Zos.
..–, Soz. HE . (Stilicho’s plans), Lippold () –, Blockley () – (for the proble-
matic sources on possible Persian interference); threats from these quarters, however, soon dissipated.
. Religious affairs
‘Give me the earth undefiled by heretics, and in return I will give you
heaven. Help me to destroy the heretics, and I will help you to destroy the
Persians.’ This blunt appeal, reportedly made to Theodosius by a bishop of
Constantinople, provides a telling insight into how it was believed the
emperor could enhance his piety – and the practical benefits that would
ensue.30 Certainly, Theodosius’ reign witnessed the proclamation of a
number of measures aimed at penalizing heretics, as well as pagans and
adherents of other religious groups in the eastern empire.31 The confident
rhetoric of these laws, however, often belied their effectiveness. Despite
Theodosius’ assumption to the contrary in , pagan practices continued,
as the very repetition of the laws, together with other evidence, shows.32
Indeed, it cannot in practice have been a straightforward task to enforce
such laws consistently anyway, and a significant element of pragmatism is
also apparent in their application. Known pagans and Arians continued to
hold high military rank throughout Theodosius’ reign,33 and the significant
numbers of Arian Goths serving in the army must have acted as a power-
ful disincentive against strict implementation of the relevant laws, let alone
the introduction of more severe ones.34 But perhaps for a regime con-
cerned to promote the idea of imperial piety, it was the pronouncement of
the laws, rather than their enforcement, which was ultimately of primary
importance. At the same time, it is worth remembering that, even if the
extent of official enforcement was variable, some clergy had no hesitation
about taking matters into their own hands.35
Another important dimension of imperial piety, first articulated by
Constantine, was concern for harmony within the church, and Theodosius’
reign was not short of opportunities for its exercise. The latent potential for
conflict between the theological traditions of Antioch and Alexandria over
the seemingly rarefied issue of the relationship between the human and the
divine in Christ was realized when the renowned Antiochene preacher,
Nestorius, was chosen by Theodosius to be bishop of Constantinople ()
and proceeded to use his position to insist that the appropriate epithet for
30
Soc. HE .. (the bishop in question was Nestorius).
31
Heretics: C.Th. .. (), Nov.Th. . (); pagans: C.Th. .. (), (), (),
Nov.Th. . (); Jews and Samaritans: C.Th. .. (), (), Nov.Th. .– (), with discus-
sion in Linder () (see also Millar () –). 32
Harl (); Trombley, Hellenic Religion.
33
PLRE , s.v. Apollonius , Fl. Zeno (pagans); Fl. Plinta, Fl. Ardabur Aspar, Ardabur (Arians).
34
Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops . 35
E.g. Soc. HE ., ; Gregory () .
. Foreign relations
For much of the fourth century, relations with Sasanian Persia had been
the most taxing external problem confronting the eastern half of the
Roman empire. In the final decades of that century, however, the focus of
attention had shifted elsewhere, and this pattern continued during
Theodosius’ reign. The empire did fight two wars against Persia in the first
half of the fifth century, but these conflicts – the first in –, the second
in 40 – were of short duration and constituted brief interruptions to
otherwise quiescent relations between the two powers, both of whom had
other, more pressing preoccupations. In the case of Persia, this took the
form primarily of nomads from Central Asia troubling its north-eastern
frontier.41 In the case of Constantinople, there were two pre-eminent areas
of concern – developments in the western Mediterranean, and relations
with the Huns in the lower Danube basin.
Eastern forces were despatched westwards on four occasions during
Theodosius’ reign. In , , men were sent to Ravenna to assist in the
defence of the western emperor Honorius against Alaric and the Goths,
while in an army commanded by Ardabur and Aspar intervened in the
upheaval that followed Honorius’ death, eventually defeating the usurper
John and overseeing the installation on the western throne of Honorius’
nephew, Valeninian III (). The third occasion was in , when eastern
units under Aspar went to North Africa to aid western forces struggling to
hold back the eastward advance of the Vandals towards Carthage.
Although Aspar’s forces enjoyed limited success in the ensuing campaign,
this involvement none the less contributed to achieving the settlement of
which preserved, albeit only temporarily, Roman control of the more
valuable eastern provinces of the region. Finally, when the Vandals subse-
quently broke the treaty and captured Carthage itself (), another expe-
dition – probably the largest of the four – was organized to act in concert
with western forces ().42
Constantinople’s willingness to commit substantial forces to the western
Mediterranean in this way may initially appear somewhat surprising. On the
first three occasions, eastern interests were not threatened in any obvious
or direct manner, so that intervention is best understood as an expression
of dynastic solidarity with members of the Theodosian family, mingled
40
Blockley () –. 41
Frye () –.
42
For further detail on these events, see ch. (Heather), pp. ‒ above.
. Marcian
Theodosius died on July from injuries sustained in a fall from his horse
while hunting. His marriage to Eudocia had produced no male offspring,59
and perhaps excusably, given the sudden and unexpected nature of his death,
he had not made public any choice of successor. Nearly a month later, on
August, a new emperor was at last proclaimed in the person of an unknown
fifty-eight-year-old former army officer of Balkan origin named Marcian.
The long delay between Theodosius’ death and Marcian’s accession belies
the reports, no doubt initiated by Marcian’s supporters, that the new emperor
was Theodosius’ deathbed choice. But if Theodosius did not promote
Marcian, then someone else must have. The western emperor Valentinian III
was the one individual with an obvious claim to arbitrate in this matter, but
55
Lee (forthcoming). 56
Blockley () –.
57
On which see ch. (Whitby), pp. ‒ below. 58
Zuckerman () –.
59
On the spurious ‘Arcadius ’ of PLRE , see Holum, Empresses n. .
66
Jones, LRE .
67
CJ .. (–). Barnish () discusses the evidence for how significant a source of income
this was for the government. 68
Gregory () –, .
69
Stein () .; Jones, LRE .
70
Frend, Monophysite Movement –; Gray, Defence of Chalcedon –; Meyendorff, Imperial Unity
–.
. Leo
Marcian died on January at the age of .78 There was never any
prospect of his marriage to Pulcheria producing an heir: Marcian had
agreed to respect her vow of chastity and she was already beyond child-
bearing age anyway. Marcian may have hoped that the succession would
pass to his son-in-law Anthemius, who had received rapid promotion
71
Jord. Rom. . 72 Thompson () –; Maenchen-Helfen () –.
73
Priscus fr. ; Nicephorus .; Shahîd () –.
74
Priscus fr. , with Zuckerman () –. 75
Mathisen () –.
76
Anth. Pal. . (statue of Marcian on horseback trampling on a defeated enemy).
77
John. Lyd. De Mag. . for the figure. Marcian’s rapid creation of this surplus has been taken as
proof that payments to the Huns cannot have been that serious a problem and that the reserve must
already have been building up under Theodosius: Thompson () ; Hendy, Studies . But if
Theodosius already had a reserve of any substance in place by , then surely he would have avoided
imposing new and obviously unpopular taxes to meet Attila’s demand. Moreover, it can be argued that
the growth of the surplus during the years after the termination of the payments in shows just how
78
serious a burden they had previously been. For the details, see Croke ().
. Zeno
Leo’s wife Verina had given birth to a son of unknown name in , but he
died when only five months old,104 and when Leo himself succumbed to
the effects of dysentery on January he was succeeded by his seven-
year-old grandson Leo, son of Zeno and Ariadne, whom he had made co-
emperor shortly before his death. Leo II, however, died ten months later,
but not before having in turn raised his father to the rank of co-emperor.105
By thus gaining the throne, Zeno has a strong claim to be regarded as the
most politically successful general in the fifth-century east. Once emperor,
however, he had to channel most of his energies into clinging on to power,
for his reign was overshadowed by a succession of revolts and usurpations
– that of Basiliscus (who actually controlled Constantinople for twenty
months during –), of Marcian (who almost gained control of the
capital in ), and of Illus and Leontius (former supporters of Zeno’s
99
Courtois (() –) gives priority to Theophanes’ version, whereby the army from Egypt
becomes a quite separate campaign in , but this view has found little support (cf. Blockley ()
–, ).
100
Accounts of Basiliscus’ less than glorious role in the expedition may have been coloured by the
unpopularity he had earned by the end of his later usurpation (–).
101
Convenient summary of figures and quote in Hendy, Studies , . Courtois (() –)
downplays the size and cost of the expedition, arguing that they were inflated by sixth-century writers
concerned to enhance the significance of Belisarius’ expedition (). This is plausible in principle, but
some of the relevant sources pre-date Justinian’s reign, his strictures against Priscus are unpersuasive,
and the evidence of Candidus does not receive due consideration. 102
Joh. Lyd. De Mag. ..
103
Suda refers to the treasury being empty during Zeno’s reign, but its attribution to the
alleged failings of Zeno is suspect (Cameron () –), and the financial repercussions of the dis-
aster of are a more plausible explanation (cf. Malchus fr. ).
104
Pingree () – with the important qualifications of Dagron () .
105
The sources do not even hint at any suspicious circumstances surrounding young Leo’s death
(Croke (b) n. ), a silence of considerable import given Zeno’s subsequent unpopularity.
.
114
Frend, Monophysite Movement –; Gray, Defence of Chalcedon –; Meyendorff, Imperial Unity
–. 115
Meyendorff, Imperial Unity –. 116
PLRE , s.v. Zeno .
. Religious affairs
As a native of Dyrrhachium in the Balkans, Anastasius might reasonably
have been expected to be an unequivocal supporter of Chalcedon, but
this did not prove to be the case. Like Justinian, he had aspirations to be
a theologian, and the result of his deliberations was considerable sympa-
thy with the Monophysite cause.134 This was already known at the time of
his accession, so that the pro-Chalcedonian patriarch of Constantinople,
Euphemius (–), at first opposed his nomination and then, when
overruled by Ariadne and the senate, demanded that he sign a declaration
that he would not abrogate Chalcedon.135 Anastasius’ initial policy – to
continue trying to maintain a degree of ecclesiastical stability in the east
on the basis of the Henotikon – was not incompatible with this, but
Euphemius’ subsequent attempts to achieve reconciliation with Rome by
effectively abandoning the Henotikon threatened the success of that policy
and eventually led Anastasius to have Euphemius deposed on charges of
Nestorianism (). His successor was Macedonius (–), who ini-
tially supported Anastasius’ approach.
Antioch also posed problems for Anastasius. The patriarch Flavian
(–), while personally sympathetic to Chalcedon, referred only to his
adherence to the Henotikon in official pronouncements, thereby accommo-
dating himself to Anastasius’ aims. Some Syrian Monophysites, however,
132
Jones, LRE ; Metcalf () (though he questions whether the reform contributed anything
to Anastasius’ surplus (p. )).
133
E.g. Malal. p. ; Joh. Lyd. De Mag. .; Anth. Pal. .; John Ant. fr. (⫽FHG .).
134
The heterodox theological views of his mother and an uncle may also have played a part: see
PLRE , s.v. Anastasius for references.
135
Evagr. HE .; Theodore Lector, HE (Hansen pp. .–.); Vict. Tunn. Chron. s.a.
.
136
Frend, Monophysite Movement ch. ; Gray, Defence of Chalcedon –; Meyendorff, Imperial Unity
–.
137
Evagr. HE .; Malal. pp. –; Marcell. Chron. s.a. – with Croke () –.
138
For full details, see Stein, Bas-Empire .–; Capizzi () –; PLRE , s.v. Fl. Vitalianus
; Croke () –. 139
Probably not the nephew of Anastasius: Cameron () –.
140
John Ant. fr. e (⫽FHG .).
. Foreign relations
Anastasius’ priorities in foreign relations proved to be rather different from
those of his predecessors. Although the failure of Leo’s expedition in
had left the eastern Mediterranean vulnerable to further Vandal depreda-
tions,141 the death of the long-lived Geiseric in and growing domestic
problems with Moorish tribesmen led to a less confrontational stance on
the part of Geiseric’s successors and much more stable relations between
Constantinople and the Vandals over the next half-century142 – a stability
reflected in the archaeological and numismatic evidence for a substantial
increase in trade between the eastern Mediterranean and Carthage during
the last quarter of the fifth and first quarter of the sixth century.143 The
Danube frontier was rather more problematic, in part because of the way
the empire’s defensive infrastructure in that region had suffered extended
neglect during Zeno’s reign. So long as the various Gothic groups were
active in Illyricum and Thrace, they effectively cushioned the empire from
the consequences of this neglect, but soon after Theoderic’s departure for
Italy, the empire began to feel the effects in the form of invasions by
peoples referred to in contemporary sources as Bulgars, generally taken to
be descendants of the Huns who survived north of the Danube after the
break-up of Attila’s empire. Between and , they are known to have
made three significant thrusts into the Balkans.144 Anastasius took various
steps to try to remedy the deficiencies of fortifications in the region,
141
Of which there were some in the early s: Courtois () .
142
Stein, Bas-Empire .–. 143
Fulford ().
144
Marcell. Chron. s.a. , , with Croke () , , . The first record of involve-
ment with the empire is Zeno’s attempt to use them against Strabo in (John Ant. fr. () (⫽FHG
.)). The observations in CJ ... (/) on the debilitated economic state of Thrace
perhaps reflect the impact of the Bulgars in addition to that of the Goths.
145
Long Walls: Whitby (); generally: Capizzi () –.
146
Marcell. Chron. s.a. (it is unclear whether the Getae referred to here are Bulgars or Slavs: cf.
Bury, LRE . n. ; Stein, Bas-Empire .–; Croke () ).
147
E.g. Soc. HE ..– (persecution of Persian Christians); Priscus fr. . (persecution of
148
Zoroastrians living in the Roman empire). Blockley ().
149
Frye () –. For a different interpretation of some aspects of Kavadh’s reforms, see Crone
(), with corrections of detail by Whitby () n. .
150
Marcell. Chron. s.a. ; Theophanes p. .–. 151
Alexander ().
152
The most important source for this war is the contemporary Chronicle attributed to Joshua
Stylites. For modern accounts, see Bury, LRE .–; Capizzi () –; Blockley () –.
. Epilogue
Anastasius died on July . Given his age and the availability of suitable
candidates among his relatives,155 his failure to nominate a successor rep-
resents an uncharacteristic oversight on the part of an emperor who had,
in most areas of government, shown himself to be energetic and intelli-
gent, and had done much to ensure the continuing viability of the eastern
empire. That continuing viability, of course, stands in marked contrast to
the demise of the western empire, and prompts reflection on the question
posed in the introduction to this chapter as to why the fate of the east
during the fifth century diverged from that of the west. Needless to say, the
following observations make no claim to comprehensive coverage of all
the major issues which bear on this subject. In keeping with the focus of
the chapter, they concentrate primarily on the emperor and his policies in
key areas.
One feature of imperial behaviour in the fifth century which distin-
guishes it sharply from that in the third and fourth centuries is the way in
which it became rare for the emperor to participate personally in military
campaigning. This development arose in the first instance out of the youth
and inexperience of Arcadius and Honorius, and then of Theodosius II
and Valentinian III (whose collective reigns, it is worth recalling, account
for the first half of the fifth century). However, the way in which it
remained the pattern thereafter until the early seventh century, in spite of
the military experience of many subsequent incumbents, suggests that a
more fundamental consideration was also at work – namely, concern to
protect the emperor from the political and physical consequences of mili-
tary defeat, which the fates of Julian and Valens in the latter half of the
fourth century had particularly highlighted.156 The corresponding disad-
vantage of this change was that it limited the emperor’s contact with the
153
Dara: Whitby (b); other sites: Capizzi () –, -; Whitby (a) .
154
Procop. Wars ..–. 155
For the relatives, see Cameron, Alan ().
156
Cf. Whitby ().
. (‒)
For understandable reasons the reign of Justin I tends to be eclipsed by that
of Justinian, his nephew and successor (–). Not only was Justinian
already a powerful figure during his uncle’s reign, but Procopius of
Caesarea, the leading historian of Justinian, regarded his rule as effectively
including that period.1 In view of their common background and the con-
tinuity of imperial policy in certain areas, Justin’s reign is often associated
with that of Justinian in modern accounts.2 Although Anastasius had three
nephews, Hypatius, Pompeius and Probus, there was no designated succes-
sor when he died in . As magister militum per Orientem, Hypatius was away
from Constantinople, and Justin, then the head of the excubitors (the
palace guard), is said to have used cash destined for the support of another
candidate to bribe his troops to support his own name; as a result, on
July he was proclaimed by the senate, army and people and then
crowned by the patriarch.3
The new emperor was already elderly and his background was humble.
He originated from Latin-speaking Illyricum, having been born at
Bederiana, near Naissus (Nis), and he owed his success to his career in the
guard. According to Procopius he was illiterate,4 and in his religious views
he was staunchly Chalcedonian. Other contemporaries recorded the arrival
of this backward provincial in Constantinople in about and his subse-
quent success as something at which to marvel, and the story was depicted
in art.5 Though the family of Anastasius was to continue to have an
influential role,6 the new regime was bound to be very different; Justin lost
no time in giving the title of comes to his nephew Justinian, who was a can-
didatus, and seems also to have formally adopted him.7 Justinian was
1
See Cameron, Procopius . However, Justin’s reputation suffers in that the evidence comes from the
Secret History, where in his intent to blacken Justinian Procopius exaggerates the rusticity of Justin and
the ruthlessness of both uncle and nephew.
2
E.g. Evans () –; see, however, Stein, Bas-Empire .–; Vasiliev ().
3
Marcell. Chron. s.a. ; Malal. p. ; Evagr. HE .; further, PLRE , s.v. Iustinus .
4
SH .; see PLRE , s.v. 5
Zach. Rhet. HE .. 6
See Cameron, Alan ().
7
See PLRE , s.v. Iustinianus .
ANTAE
a
N S AVARS a
FRANKS IA LOMB GEPIDS
AR ALANS
D
DS
UN
ABK
SUEVI HA
SLAVS ZI
BURG
Milan CAUCASUS
DA
HI
Ravenna IBERIA
40°N
YT
LM
Luca Ariminum LAZICA
SC
Black Sea
AT
(Rimini) A 40°N
ET
I
VISIGOTHS
RU
Naissus
RIA
SARDINIA
Rome Amasea PERSIA
NIA
Constantinople
Chalcedon ME
CORSICA
Cumae Capua AR
Naples Thessalonica
BALEARICS
b
Carrhae Dara
(Harran) b
LYDIA
SICILY Athens
Carthage Syracuse Antioch
BYZACENA AR L
RHODES Berytus AB AKHM
PR
(Beirut) INC ID
CYPRUS IPA
CRETE LIT
Mediterranean Sea Y
30°N Caesarea
(Palestine)
Jerusalem 30°N
Alexandria TY
CI D
LI
I
PA
PR AN
AB SS
IN
Extent at Justinian's accession
AR GHA
Justinian's conquests
c c
SCALE
Re
0 250 500 750 1000 km
d
0 250 500 miles
Se
Himyar
a
B 0° C 10°E D 20°E E 30°E Axum F 40°E G
98
The numbers are variously given by John himself: Mitchell, Anatolia .–.
99
See Harvey, Asceticism and Society in Crisis –; Stein, Bas-Empire .–; Shahîd () .,
–.
100
For what follows see ch. , p. below; there is an authoritative treatment of Justinian’s relig-
ious policy in Grillmeier, Christ in the Christian Tradition ., and of doctrinal division in the east in the
sixth century in ibid. ..
101
Capizzi, Giustiniano ch. ; Stein, Bas-Empire .–; –.
102
Junillus, Instituta regularia divinae legis, PL .–; Facundus, Pro defensione, ed. Clément and
Vander-Plaetse, CCSL , , –; see further O’Donnell () ff.; Cameron, Averil ()
–. 103
Procop. Wars ..; Malal. .–; Marcell. Cont. s.a.
104
Stein, Bas-Empire .–. 105
Malal. .–; .–; cf. Theoph. Chron. .–.
106
Vict. Tunn. Chron. s.a. , .
125
Ibid. .–.; Malal. .–.. 126
Malal. .–..
127
Malal. De Insid. fr. . 128
Fr. Blockley, with notes: Stein, Bas-Empire .–.
.
Imperial succession
Despite his age and the conspiracies of his latter years, Justinian took no
steps to designate a successor. Whether he could not decide between the
merits of various relatives, or stubbornly preferred to allow the traditional
constituencies of senate, army and people to select a suitable candidate, is
unknown, but as a result the succession was presented to the man on the
spot, his nephew Justin, son of his sister Vigilantia and husband of Sophia,
the ambitious and competent niece of Theodora. Since at least the early
s Justin had been curopalatus, a position of modest significance but
central to palace life, and had shown resolution in quelling faction rioting
in , but his career does not appear as distinguished as that of his main
rival within the extended imperial family, his cousin Justin, son of
Germanus, who had won victories in the Balkans and was currently serving
as magister militum on the Danube. Justin the curopalatus, however, was in
Constantinople and was well supported: the comes excubitorum, Tiberius, was
a protégé, and his presence in command of the imperial bodyguard indi-
cates that Justin had been planning ahead; other supporters included the
quaestor Anastasius, and the newly-appointed patriarch of Constantinople,
John Scholasticus, who had transmitted the prediction of Justin’s succes-
sion made by Symeon Stylites at Antioch, and who now performed the cor-
onation; Callinicus, a leading senator, invited Justin to accept the
succession, while his brother Marcellus and son-in-law Baduarius were
both patricians. Sophia, too, was a powerful lady and will have had her own
network of friends.1
But no chances were taken. Before news of Justinian’s death could
spread, Justin was hurriedly crowned on the same day ( November)
within the Great Palace so that the populace, which had rioted in at a
rumour of Justinian’s demise, was presented with a fait accompli when Justin
entered the Hippodrome. Justin may also have feared that his cousin, Justin
1
For details on these individuals, see PLRE .
. Internal affairs
This initial generosity was reinforced by an edict in which remitted tax
arrears, though not exactions in kind or revenues from certain categories
of military land. But despite this, and comparable behaviour by Sophia who
in /, according to Theophanes, won praise for taking debt pledges
from bankers and returning them to the borrowers, Justin was to achieve a
2
Evagr. HE .; Life of Eutychius –. 3
Discussion in Cameron, Corippus.
4
Nov. ; Theophanes .–; Cor. In laudem .– with Cameron, Corippus .
5
Ostrogorsky () . 6
Menander fr. .–; Cameron ().
7
Whittow () –; Whitby (). 8
Nov. , ; Theophanes .–.
9
Cameron (); Allen ().
. External affairs
Justin is traditionally judged, and condemned, as a ruler mainly because of
his handling of the empire’s external problems. In the Balkans he achieved
initial success. After the diplomatic rebuff at Justin’s accession, the Avars
concentrated on westward expansion at the expense of the Franks, while
the two dominant tribal groups occupying Pannonia, the Gepids and the
Lombards, struggled for supremacy. Gepid victories persuaded the
Lombards to summon the Avars as allies on very favourable terms, and
10
Evagr. HE .; John Eph. HE .–; ., .
11
Patria .; Cedrenus .; Life of Symeon ; Cameron () – and () –.
12
Menander frr. , –, ; Whitby, Maurice –. 13
Discussion in PLRE .–.
14
Wickham () –.
15
Menander frr. –, .; Whitby, Maurice –. 16
Menander fr. ; Whitby, Maurice –.
17
Lee (a) –.
CAU
CAS
US
B l a c k S e a MO
UN
TA I
NS
Satala Dwin
40°N Sebaste 40°N
Theodosiopolis
(Erzurum)
PE
RS
C A P PA D O C I A A R M E N IA Ar
ax
A
M es
R
Citharizon
EN
S
U N T A IN Lake I
AZ A
MO
Caesarea
Van ER
S
U RU Comana Melitene
Martyropolis
B
A
TA Arabissus ARZANENE HAKKARI
IJ
Chlomaron
A
Amida
CA MOUNTAINS Lake
N
b RD
Urmiah b
Dara ur
U
OSRHOENE Constantina ab
ZA
CH
Edessa
BETH ARABAYE H GR
IA
Carrhae Nineveh O
Nisibis S
Theodosiopolis ab
M
(Resaina)
O
tZ
Antioch
U
ea
NT
SY
Arbela
Gr
Singara
AI
an Sea
Callinicum
Zab
NS
Chalcis
RIA
er
ur
ss
bo
Le
Sergiopolis
Kha
Apamea
rane
l
Diya
iter
Anathon
ris
Palmyra
BE
ed
TH
AR
M
AM
Euph AY
rat
Damascus es E
Ctesiphon
Seleucia
c
al-Hira c
PA L E S T I N E
Jerusalem
d SCALE d
0 100 200 300 400 km
.
. Succession
Justin’s failure to regain his sanity during forced the proclamation of an
imperial colleague. Sophia, keen to remain influential, identified the comes
excubitorum Tiberius as a loyal aide to Justin who would also serve her inter-
ests. Rumour held that she saw him as a replacement spouse, apparently
unaware that Tiberius was married with children, but our source, John of
Ephesus, was basically hostile to Sophia and the story might have been gen-
erated by jealousy at Tiberius’ newly-imperial family and by Sophia’s reluc-
tance to be ousted from the comforts and opportunities of the palace.
Whatever her intentions, Tiberius was proclaimed Caesar on December
when Justin, in a brief moment of lucidity, gave a simple but moving
speech that encapsulated his ideas about imperial rule and the supremacy
of God. For almost four years Tiberius functioned as junior but operative
colleague to Justin, until the latter’s death on October , when Tiberius
succeeded as Augustus. Sophia was still loath to relinquish her power: John
of Ephesus records ructions between the imperial women inside the
palace, while Gregory of Tours preserves stories about attempts by Sophia
to have Justinian, the cousin of Justin, proclaimed – even if the precise
18
Whitby, Maurice –. 19
Theophanes .–; Menander fr. ; Whitby, Maurice –.
20
John Eph. HE .–; Greg. Tur. Hist. .; Gregory Barhebraeus p. (Budge).
21
Nov. .
. Internal affairs
Such lack of success did little to dent Tiberius’ popular reputation. In con-
trast to Justin, who had come to be regarded as stingy, Tiberius retained an
image of conspicuous generosity: the contrast of regimes is made in the
stories of disagreements between Sophia and Tiberius about the level of
his charitable expenditure, with Tiberius expressing the laudable but quite
impractical attitude, at least for an emperor, that gold in the treasury was of
little use when the world was suffering from hunger.26 Quite apart from
charity, warfare and diplomacy in west and east cost Tiberius dear, at a time
when state income was reduced by almost per cent because of the tax
remission of : in his first year as emperor John of Ephesus alleges that
he spent , pounds of gold, , solidi, as well as quantities of silver
and silks – his expenses would have included a consulship, in imitation of
Justin, and an accession donative for the armies, but the outlay is still
impressive. Western rumour had it that he had benefited from the discov-
ery of the fabulous treasure of Narses, the former duke of Italy, but it is
not surprising that the empire was impoverished at his death.27
25
Menander frr. ., , ; John Eph. HE .–, –; Whitby, Maurice –.
26
Cameron (). 27
John Eph. HE .; Greg. Tur. Hist. ..
.
. Internal affairs
Finance was the key problem throughout Maurice’s reign: Tiberius’ gene-
rosity had apparently exhausted the central treasuries, so that Maurice had
to tackle the various external threats to the empire while struggling at the
28
John Eph. HE .–; .–; ., –. Cameron () .
29
Whitby, Maurice –.
. Eastern warfare
As his replacement in charge of the eastern armies, Maurice initially
appointed his former subordinate, John Mystacon, who continued opera-
tions in Arzanene in autumn and then through with mixed
success.36 Arzanene was a vulnerable salient of Persian territory, control of
which would allow the Romans to consolidate their hold on Armenia to the
north. For Maurice appointed a new general, his brother-in-law
Philippicus; negotiations occupied the first part of the year, possibly
another Persian delaying tactic, but in autumn and through
Philippicus ravaged the plains of Beth Arabaye near Nisibis and continued
operations in Arzanene, though progress slowed when Philippicus fell ill.
Raiding into Syria by Rome’s former allies, the Ghassanid Arabs, who had
been alienated by the arrest and punishment of their king, al-Mundhir, may
also have caused disruption.
In activity seems to have been on a different scale. Philippicus
thwarted a Persian invasion of Upper Mesopotamia with victory in a
pitched battle at Solachon in the plains south of Mardin, and thereafter
returned his attentions to Arzanene. Although unsuccessful in an attack on
the main city, Chlomaron, which Maurice had also failed to capture in ,
the Romans maintained the initiative during the rest of the year, building
or capturing strategic forts and raiding deep into Persia; Philippicus’ ill
health meant that much of this activity was conducted by Heraclius, the
father of the future emperor, and other subordinate commanders.
During winter / there were two developments: Priscus was
appointed to replace Philippicus, and he was ordered to introduce a reduc-
tion in military pay, a move whose unpopularity may have been offset by
improvements in conditions of service. Priscus’ arrival at the camp at
Monocarton was unhappy, and the army mutinied during the Easter festi-
val: Priscus was forced to retire to Edessa, his attempts to reconcile the
troops were rebuffed, and the mutineers chose as leader Germanus, duke
of Phoenicia. The mutiny persisted for a whole year, until Easter , but
the Persians were surprisingly unable to exploit this opportunity, which
may reveal the extent of Roman successes in recent years. Germanus
indeed defeated the Persians near Martyropolis and sent , captives to
Constantinople as a gesture of allegiance to Maurice. The troops were
finally won back through a combination of imperial emissaries, who dis-
bursed normal payments, and exhortations from Gregory, patriarch of
36
For discussion of these years, see Whitby, Maurice –.
C
AR
PA
Danube
N
PAT
a
NO a
N
IA
H IA N S
ra
D
va
Tisca
Siscia
Sava
Danube
45°N Sirmium 45°N
D Singidunum A
IN
THI
Viminacium
AR MO Danube
Istria
IC
Mora
ESIA Cataracts
SCY
AL
ILLYR
Dorostolon Tomi
PS
IA
Bononia
Salona va
DAC
Danube SIA
OE
k
Spalato
o
DA
Ti m
Novae
Yan
Black
Vi t
MOESIA
LM
ICU
Naissus Odessus
rat
NIA
LANINA Mesembria
b Justiniana R Tundzha b
M
Prima Serdica
DARDA
O Anchialus
A
Adrianopolis orus
s ph
rym
Dyrrhachium Bo
Constantinople
on
M AC E DO N I A Heracleia
Sea of
Thessalonica Marmara
Heracleia
Lyncestis CHERSONESE
40°N Hellespont 40°N
TH
EP
ES
CORFU Ioannina
IR
SA
S
U
LY
Nicopolis
Thermopylae
Thebes Aegean
Gulf of
Patras Corinth Athens Sea
c Corinth c
Argos
Sa Gu
Olympia
ro lf
LA
ni
c
CO
Sparta
NI
Monemvasia
A
A 20°E B 25°E C
.
Thus the grand hopes of imperial renewal proclaimed by Justin II and
resuscitated by the achievements of Maurice’s second decade were finally
dashed, but long-term failure should not prejudice assessments of individ-
uals or trends. In the late sixth century the Roman empire was still the
mightiest single political institution in the Mediterranean or near eastern
world, even if it was not powerful enough to dominate simultaneously on
all frontiers. The emperor controlled this great machine, a leader whose
images could excite envy in Gaul, whose grandeur prompted first submis-
sion and later imitation from the Avar Chagan, and whose legitimate
authority led a fugitive Persian monarch to beg for assistance. These emper-
ors were civilian figures, palace officials or notaries by background, who
dominated the administrative and military infrastructures through their
secular authority. In time-honoured fashion this authority was reinforced
by association with religious symbols, such as relics or festivals, which
influenced contemporaries and sustained the potent symbolism of the
heaven-endowed earthly empire. Such was the authority of the emperor
that even imperial madness or severe personal unpopularity did not at once
prompt a change of ruler: Justin remained sole Augustus for over four
years after the onset of insanity, while Maurice even in could have sur-
vived by making timely concessions to the Balkan mutineers, or might at
least have been replaced by a close relative.
These reigns have been analysed in terms of differing relationships
between emperors on the one hand and the senatorial aristocracy and
urban populace on the other,48 but the evidence is insufficient to permit
detailed investigation. With regard to the senate, the emperor was the
supreme patron throughout; senators desired stability as the guarantee of
their privileged position – hence their support for the rapid proclamation
of Justin II inside the palace to avoid public debate in the Hippodrome and
their pleas to Maurice not to leave the capital on a risky military expedition.
Undoubtedly there were tensions in this relationship, but there was also a
fundamental community of interest. With regard to the populace, emper-
ors seem to have managed to achieve a more secure control over the circus
factions, the most prominent or vocal representatives of public opinion: in
for the first time demarchs, official controllers, of the Blues and Greens
are mentioned, and these now maintained lists of registered followers who
47
Ibid. –. 48
Bury, LRE .–; Ostrogorsky () –.
BRITAIN
Cornwall
Wessex
b
Cambrai Cologne 50°N
Br Mainz
itt Soissons
an Rheims
Le Paris
y
Mans
Orleans
Tours
R.
Poitiers
II
Lo
PA
A N IA
Geneva N
ire
N
Lyons Agaune S
P
ON
b
L Sirmium
A Q U IT
40°N
IA
GALLAECIA Vienne A
IA
A Milan Friuli
Rh ô n e
Braga IM
R.
PT
TA
Dumio RR Toulouse S E Avignon R. Po
PYR Provence
E N Agde Arles Ravenna
A
EE
C O ro
Faenza
R.
N Narbonne
E
SI D
Reccopolis S R
IA
Mérida Spoleto T
Barcelona I
Toledo CARTHAGIN- CORSICA
C
IENSIS Rome
BAETICA BALKANS
S
I TA LY 40°N
E
Cordoba Constantinople
A
c Seville
Cartagena Benevento
Guadalquivir
R. BALEARICS
Medina Sidonia
SARDINIA
Ceuta
Hippo
Carthage SICILY
AFRICA c
PROCON-
Land over 1000 metres NUMIDIA SULARIS
SCALE
30°N BYZACENA
0 250 500 750 1000 km
d 0 250 500 miles
15
James (b). 16
Van de Vyver (, , ). 17
Wood ().
18
See ch. (Charles-Edwards), pp. ‒ below.
20
Chronology followed is that of Muhlberger () –; that in the entries in PLRE can be
erroneous.
25
Heather, Goths and Romans –. 26
PLRE , s.v. Liberius , –.
27
See ch. (Humphries), pp. ‒ below.
31
Dumville () –. 32
De Excidio ., ed. M. Winterbottom (Chichester ) p. .
33
Chron. Gall. A , ed. Mommsen, p. .
In general, the fifth and sixth centuries in the former provinces of the
western Roman empire saw the fragmentation and rapid disappearance of
the imperial administrative structures, and their replacement by the new
Germanic kingdoms. These were, however, dependent on Roman tradi-
tions of government, and in many cases benefited from the close involve-
ment in the administration of leading members of Roman provincial
society. Initially, some of these realms had the character of little more than
a military occupation, with most of the civil administration remaining in
Roman hands. The law codes of the German rulers were also largely
Roman in content and in the forms that they took. In some cases, such as
that of the Vandals, no real rapprochement ever seems to have taken place
between the German garrisoning forces and the Roman civil population,
even though many of the invaders appear to have become increasingly
Romanized in their lifestyles. This left their kingdom peculiarly vulnerable
once an eastern army was able to land in Africa in . Wars, largely moti-
vated by the expansionary needs of first the Visigothic and then the
Frankish kingdoms could also lead to the elimination of some of the minor
regional powers, such as those of the Burgundians in and of the Sueves
in . For those kingdoms that were able to survive and to expand, the
sixth century was marked by an increasing integration between the indige-
nous population and the conquerors, a process that was not completed in
either Gaul or Spain before the seventh century. However, in both the
Frankish and Visigothic kingdoms the elimination of religious conflicts
between the two elements of the population, symbolic not least of wider
cultural cleavages, opened the way to the disappearance of the division
between Roman and German. In the case of Spain the Arab conquest of
aborted this process, but it led in Gaul to the absorption of much of
the indigenous population into a new Frankish ethnic identity. In Britain,
where political fragmentation had been more intensive and the develop-
ment of alternative structures of power more localized, cultural and
governmental unity could not be re-established at more than a regional
level. In Italy, where imperial authority, however much diminished, had sur-
vived longest, the Ostrogothic kingdom had offered the best example of
the kind of Roman administrative and cultural continuity that could be
established under a dynasty of German kings. However, Justinian’s pro-
tracted war of reconquest wrought so much damage that the peninsula was
not to regain political unity for well over a millennium.
c
The figure of the late Roman emperor dominated his society as few rulers
before or since. To convey what it would be like to die and meet God, a
contemporary evoked the emperor emerging from his palace, and an age
obsessed with religion constantly linked emperor and God: ‘God needs
nothing; the emperor needs only God.’ The emperor’s body was human,
but his imperial power made him ‘like God’. Yet the all-powerful ‘Master
of Earth and Sea and Every People’ never appeared alone: he was always
accompanied by others, who bathed in the reflected glory of his splendour.
Onlookers envied the luck of his closest attendants and companions,
despite the realization that exalted rank at court was precarious.1
The concept of court conveniently encapsulates the convergence of
people and structures at the pinnacle of late Roman society around this
awesome figure. The remarkable social group surrounding the emperor
encompassed but transcended the chief institutions of government and
now assumed more elaborate forms. The recent and definitive establish-
ment of imperial residences in the new capitals of Constantinople and
Ravenna helped precipitate this change. A travelling monarchy yielded per-
manently to a sedentary one, and stable palace milieux began to drive roots
into capital cities. This occurred in both halves of the empire and affected
all other developments, although the evidence is much richer for the
eastern empire.
Obvious components like the government and kinship ties constituted
and shaped this milieu. Broader social factors were at work, too: friendship,
shared religious enthusiasms and hostilities, gender, common ethnicity and
professional experiences bound together and distinguished elements
within the court. On a linguistic level, the eastern court formed an enclave
of Latin or Latin–Greek bilingualism in a polyglot but Hellenized city:
though Greek ultimately prevailed, court jargon remained studded with
Latin loan words. The uniforms and insignia of government service visu-
ally assigned to courtiers their social and institutional rank. The laws, too,
1
John Chrys. Ad Theod. laps. , and ; Agapetus, Capitula admonitoria and ; ACO ..
p. .
6
Nil. Ep. .. 7
Deichmann (–) ..–. 8
Notitia , , ‒, .
9
Procop. Wars ... 10
John Eph. HE ..–. 11
Demangel ().
SCALE
0 1 2 km
G
o
ld
en
Cistern of
Aetius
H
ls
al
o
W
rn
n
Cistern of
sia
Aspar
do
eo
tine
Th
nstan
f Co
n
all o
W
Holy Apostles
Neorion
Aq Prosphorion
St ue
du
Column of Polyeuctus c t
Marcian Horrea
tine
lis
Baths of Strategion
stan
po
Constantius
Cistern
ro
Forum of
Ac
Theodosius
f Co
St Mocius Basilica
Mese St Irene
lo
Necropolis
Tetrapylon Great Church (St Sophia)
Wal
Forum of Forum of
Arcadius Constantine
Baths of Zeuxippus
e
Exokionion
m
ro
Harbour of
od
Sigma Harbour of GREAT
Aurelianae Theodosius Chalke Gate
pp
Julian PALACE
sian Walls
Hi
Helenianae
Palace of Lausus Kathisma
To Hebdomon Palace of Antiochus Palace of Hormisdas
Theodo
Sts Sergius
St John and Bacchus
Studios
Golden Gate
24
Deichmann (–) ..–; .
25
Deichmann (–) ..; John Eph. HE ..; Talbot Rice ().
26
Const. Porph. De Cer. .. 27
Deichmann (–) ..–.
28
Const. Porph. De Cer. .. 29
Deichmann (–) ..–; Hendy () n. .
30
Deichmann (–) ..; Cyr. Scyth. V. Sabae , and for an excavated hall: Talbot Rice ()
. Const. Porph. De Cer. .; cf. Deichmann (–) .., and Guilland () .–.
58
Unless otherwise noted, this section is based on data in PLRE and ; Basiliscus appears to be
non-Roman, but his origin is unclear: Krautschick () .
59
Petronius Maximus, Anastasius; Tiberius and Maurice both started out as notaries.
60
Whitby, Maurice .
61
Valentinian III; Anthemius, who married Euphemia; Olybrius; Theodosius II; Zeno; Basiliscus;
Justinian and Justin II.
70
Soz. ..; Theoph. AM . 71
Cf. John Eph. HE ...
72
Const. Porph. De Cer. .; Chron. Pasch. s.a. ; Joh. Mal. (slav.) .
84
John Eph. HE ..; Whitby, Maurice –; Theoph. AM and .
85
Jones, LRE ..
91
C.Th. ..; cf. CJ .. 92
Agathias ... 93
Severus Ant. Ep. Sel. ..
94
CIL .⫽.; Severus Ant. Ep. Sel. .; John Eph. V.SS.Or. .
Note:
N.B.: the dignity in parentheses is that held at the earliest attestation; the last attestation
may include retirement.
107
PLRE s.v. Paulinus ; Chron. Pasch. s.a. .
108
Oikonomides () .; Const. Porph. De Cer. .. 109
McCormick () .
121
Müller-Wiener () . 122
Theophyl. Sim. Hist. ..–.
123
Cameron, Circus Factions; cf. ch. (Liebeschuetz), pp. ‒ below. 124
V. Petr. Iber. p. .
132
Viereck () –.
133
Demandt (); Cameron (); Mango, Développement ; Harrison () and ; cf.
Deichmann (–) ..–. 134
Const. Porph. De Cer. ., cf. .; Kruse ().
135
Forsyth and Weitzmann () .
136
Procop. Buildings .., ., ., ., cf. Cameron, Averil () for Gaul; Deichmann
(–) ..–.
The late Roman period saw the development, for the first time in the
Roman world, of complex bureaucratic structures which permitted emper-
ors, who had now abandoned the campaigning or peripatetic style of most
of their predecessors during the first four centuries of imperial history, to
retain their authority. The emperor and his court with its glittering ceremo-
nies in Constantinople was the focus for the eastern empire, and from there
issued the laws which announced imperial wishes. The armies, though no
longer directly commanded by emperors, strove to preserve the frontiers
and maintain law and order inside them.1 But the smooth functioning of
this system required administrative structures which had to become more
complex and intrusive as the curial élites in individual cities, who had tra-
ditionally performed many vital tasks in the areas of revenue generation,
dissemination of imperial wishes and preservation of local order, slowly
declined in authority or surrendered control of some of these duties; here
was a cyclical process, with administrative developments responding to, but
also encouraging, a weakening of the curial class. The impact of adminis-
tration is reflected in a story from the Life of Theodore of Sykeon: devils
being exorcized cried out: ‘Oh violence! Why have you come here, you
iron-eater, why have you quitted Galatia and come into Gordiane? There
was no need for you to cross the frontier. We know you have come, but we
shall not obey you as did the demons of Galatia, for we are much tougher
than they, and not milder.’ It is telling that the author of the Life should have
seen the power of governors to cross provincial boundaries in pursuit of
bandits as an analogy for Theodore’s dealings with demons.2 Active emper-
ors, such as Anastasius and Justinian, could attempt to dominate and
reform the administration, but their interference raised hackles; passive
emperors might be treated with contempt for their laziness and neglect of
their subjects. Overall, the fifth and sixth centuries are a time of gradual
development in the key processes which permitted the empire to function.
1
See ch. (McCormick), pp. ‒ above, and ch. (Liebs) and ch. (Whitby), pp. ‒ and
‒ below.
2
See ch. (Liebeschuetz), pp. ‒ below. Life of Theodore , with which cf. Justinian, Nov. ;
Edict ; Jones, LRE .
.
The range of different types of source for government and administration
in the fifth to sixth centuries is extensive, and these can be exploited to yield
a wide range of conclusions (often, though, highly conjectural) on the
structures and methods of government, on its personnel, and on their
values and attitudes. The sources, however, are also tantalizingly patchy, too
often restricted to narrow areas of space and time. The range indicates the
pervasiveness of government, at least at literate levels of society, and the
role of emperors and their administration in defining social and economic
structures and ways of thought; the restrictions indicate the infrequency of
major change – people take special notice of institutions when they are in
peril.
The men who tell us most about the system are those who sat at its centre,
the emperors. Their laws, however, express not only the imperial will, but the
wishes both of the ministers who will in most cases have influenced, or
determined, the drafting of laws, and of other ministers and subjects whose
complaints, reports and recommendations evoked them, and without whose
active and passive co-operation the system could not work. When, in , the
emperor Theodosius II published the sixteen books of his Code, compiling
legislation from the time of Constantine onwards, four books were devoted
to laws concerning civil and military administrative duties, privileges and
precedence, four to taxation and the imperial fisc, and another to the admin-
istration of Rome and Constantinople.3 Of the Code of Justinian (,
revised in ) which superseded it, three out of twelve books are largely
devoted to these themes. In addition, we have a number of imperial laws
(Novels) published after the Codes, especially from Justinian, which also
handle administrative matters. Setting aside the content of individual laws,
this legislation tells us much about the interrelations of politics and govern-
ment. The Theodosian Code was compiled by a bureaucracy which had been
firmly established at Constantinople for a generation, and seems modestly
professional in its approach to the problems of running systems of govern-
ment and law that had both grown up haphazardly over centuries: indeed,
one aspect of this professionalism is the very process of identification and
collection of laws from provincial archives, in order to provide information
that had not been preserved at Constantinople in the period before it became
the settled capital of the eastern empire. The authorities were tidiers, rather
than innovators; it is notable that the volume of legislation included dimin-
ishes markedly in the early fifth century.
The Code also, however, reflects insecurity: the fact that the control of the
Theodosian dynasty over the western parts of the empire was dwindling,
3
In general on the Theodosian Code, see the papers in Harries and Wood ().
4
See ch. (Charles-Edwards), pp. ‒ below; also Barnwell (); Rousseau () .
5
Maas ().
6
Repetition of laws may also be a consequence of requests by officials and subjects for clarification
of the law: Harries in Harries and Wood () . On the curiales, see Heather in CAH .–.
7
See Mommsen (); also the introduction to his edition in MGH Auct. Ant. (Berlin, ),
and Barnish (), introduction.
9 10
Maas, John Lydus. Noble ().
11
Cameron, Procopius ch. ; the dialogue is edited by C. Mazzucchi, Menae Patricii cum Thoma
Referendario, De Scientia Politica Dialogus (Milan, ).
12
Scott (); Jeffreys, Studies –; Blockley () –. Note too the hypothesis of Howard-
Johnston () n. that behind the accounts of the Persian campaign of – in Theophanes
and Joshua the Stylite there lies an official report circulated as propaganda.
23
In general, for description see Jones, LRE chs. –. 24
Cf. Kelly in CAH .–.
25
Delmaire (). 26
Hänel () .
85
CJ ... 86
PLRE .–, s.v. Stephanus ; Nov. .; Edict (preface).
87
Cass. Variae .; ., –. 88
John Lydus, De Mag. ..
121
Greg. Reg. .; .; Brown, Gentlemen and Officers – with n. for other references.
122
Amm. Marc. .., the Romanus affair, where complaints from the curiales of Tripolis in
Africa were discredited by their fellow citizens. There were clearly divergent attitudes among leading
inhabitants of Gaul to the prefect Arvandus: Sid. Ap. Ep. ..
123
John Lydus, De Mag. .–, , , . 124
Anon. Peri politikes epistemes .
125
MacCoull, Dioscorus ch. ; and cf. pp. ‒ above on sources.
132
Cass. Variae ..; .–; .–, –. Goffart (); Barnes ().
133
Evagr. HE .. 134
Stein, Bas-Empire ..
173
Nov. .; . 174
MacCoull, Dioscorus –, –.
175
Dagron () –; Liebeschuetz () –, esp. –.
. . . .
.R
hine
Cologne
Trier
Le Mans
Metz
a Tours Orleans R. D
an
R.
ub a
L oir
e
Bourges Autun PA
e
Geneva N
E N
ône
Bordeaux IN
O
A
N
IT
R .Rh
Grenoble
IA
U Cahors
Q
A
40°N Ravenna
DALMATIA be
nu
Nice R. D a
U
Toulon 40°N
M
TUSCANY
BR
t
IA
THRACE
Rome Hadrianopolis
Cordoba Constantinople ARMENIA
Naples Helenopolis
A I Sykeon IA
Amalfi C
YN L AT IA O
B IT
H GA
D
b Caesarea
A
PHRYGIA
PP
A
S I Mopsuestia Edessa b
C
Ephesus Aphrodisias A U IA
R IC
Carthage SICILY Catania Corinth Athens AM P HY IA CI
L
Antioch
LYCIAP LIA
Side Korykos
Oro
Apamea
Myra
n te
SYRIA
s
HAURAN
Bostra
30°N ARABIA
Gerasa 30°N
Ptolemais
Cyrene Amman
Boundary of eastern empire Arsinoe
Alexandria NEGEV
Land over 1000 metres
c
SCALE c
0 250 500 750 1000 km
0 250 500 miles
Antaeopolis
R
.N
Panopolis
B 0° C 10°E D 20°E E 30°E F 40°E G
ile
Map Cities of the fifth and sixth century (places mentioned in chapter )
55
Sartre (), (). 56
Kraeling (). 57
Sartre () nos. –.
58
Ibid. no. . 59
Ibid. nos. –.
60
But building is recorded until : Zayadine () –, –, –.
61
Whittow () –; Kennedy (b).
62
The latest inscriptions: Sartre () –, but Bostra has not been excavated.
63
Kennedy (b); Conrad (). 64
Kennedy () –.
65
Mitchell, Anatolia .–. 66
See above, n. ; also Tate and Sodini ().
67
Donceel-Voûte (); building goes on longer than in cities: Sartre () –.
68
Sjöström (); Barker (). 69
Bagnall, Egypt –, –, ; Rathbone ().
70
MacCoull, Dioscorus –.
71
Vööbus (–); Tchalenko, Villages .–; Brown, ‘Holy man’; Hirschfeld (); Palmer
(). 72
MacCoull, Dioscorus . 73
Wipszychka () , –).
. Government by notables
When we look at the laws dealing with the administration of cities, we must
not be misled by the fact that the Code of Justinian includes a lot of laws
aimed at compelling decurions and their property to remain in the service
of their councils and so at the disposal of their cities, and generally gives
the impression that the councils remained essential for running the inter-
nal affairs of cities, as well as for the collection of the taxes of the empire.92
The Novels – that is, Justinian’s own legislation – and even such of
Justinian’s laws as were early enough to be included in the Code show that
this was no longer so. We read of certain officers or magistrates who might
be responsible for administration of a city. Generally the most important
89
Lib. Or. .; cf. Lieu () –.
90
See Gaudemet () –. Durliat () and Durliat (b) – are unconvincing.
91
Avramea (); Dagron () –; Feissel (). Considering the influence and resources of
bishops, references to their intervention in routine administration are surprisingly few.
92
Jones, LRE –.
142
Examples; Const. Porph. De Cer. .– (Justin I); Theophylact .– (Phocas).
143
Cameron, Alan, Factions –. 144
Roueché () –.
173
Cameron, Averil (); Duval and Caillet (); Modéran ().
174
Van Dam, Leadership and Community –; Harries (a). 175
Mathisen ().
176
Ward-Perkins, Public Building –. 177
E.g. Prinz (); Kopecek (); Mathisen ().
178
The same contrast between Lombard and Byzantine Italy: Wickham () –.
179
Ennen () –. 180
Dilcher (). 181
Loseby ().
182
Humphrey (); Clover ().
218
Zeumer (). 219
Wickham () . 220
Schmidt () –.
221
Greg. Tur. Hist. ., ., ..
222
Goffart (), Kaiser () – the traditional view – rather than Durliat (b).
223
PLRE s.v. Ecdicius . 224
Sid. Ap. Ep. ..–.
225
Sid. Ap. Ep. .; Greg. Tur. Hist. ..
226
Bachrach (); Rouche () –. In general on militarization in the west, see Krause ()
ff., who supplies a comprehensive survey of the evidence but tends to underestimate the scale of
the development. On fortified hill-fort refuges, frequent in frontier zones, and fortified villas, for which
there is some but not abundant evidence, see Johnson () –. In Italy, militarization occurred,
both under the Lombards and Byzantines, without ruralization (Wickham () , –).
.
The development of the late Roman city in east and west is a story of
infinite variety. Nevertheless, we are dealing with a single cultural institu-
tion liable to the same vicissitudes. Even if these did not affect cities
everywhere at the same time, the unity was manifest to the end. The
eastern urban revival of the late fifth and early sixth century, of which
there is evidence in the form of striking buildings at, say, Gerasa or
Apamea, and of a rich munificent city-based upper class at Aphrodisias
227
Leges Visigothorum ..–; cf. Thompson () –. 228
Prinz ().
229
Venantius Fortunatus .. 230
Claude (). 231
Bavand ().
232
Prinz () ff., ff.; Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms –.
233
Ennen () –; Wolff (). 234
Ennen () –.
235
Eck and Galsterer (); Picard ().
236 237
Deichmann (–). Rouche ().
238
Kempf (); Oswald, Schaefer, Sennhauer () , , .
239
Palol (); Fontaine ().
240
Conrad (); Durliat () argues that the immediate impact was rather less.
241 242
Huxley (); Wiseman (); Spieser (). Brown, Gentlemen and Officers.
243
Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms –.
244
Pirenne () ; cf. Hodges and Whitehouse (); Barnish ().
245
Wickham () . 246
Leo VI, Nov. –.
247
Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century –.
248
Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century – on ‘themes’.
ROMAN LAW
.
In Theodosius II decided to have all imperial constitutions since
Constantine brought into an official order on the model of the private col-
lections made under Diocletian, the Codex Gregorianus and Codex
Hermogenianus.25 The flood of imperial pronouncements had become so
great that no professional lawyer could pretend to master them all.26 The
first phase of the project was to be the collection of all constitutions since
Constantine which had general validity: the resolutions of the senate (in
reality, imperial communications to the senate), imperial edicts and other
leges generales even where applicable only in particular regions. All were to be
shorn of their legally superfluous outworks, especially the high-flown rhe-
torical introductions, distributed under titles according to subject matter
and, within those titles, set out in chronological order. The resulting collec-
tion was intended to be no more than the foundation for a more far-reach-
ing project: there was to be a volume of all contemporarily valid legal
materials, purged of all that was obsolete, ambiguous or contradictory. This
definitive work was to be assembled from what would, with the new addi-
tion, be the three extant collections of constitutions and from the private
juristic literature. According to the plan, it was this work which was to bear
the emperor’s name.
However, the larger ambitions were not destined to be realized. After
nearly seven years’ work assembling the constitutions, the emperor ordered
21
Just. Nov. . (.. ); (), now confined to encroachments contrary to the law.
22
Ed. by Zachariae von Lingenthal (b). 23
Just. Nov. –. 24
Tjäder (–).
25
C.Th. ..; Albanese (a); Falchi () –; Honoré ().
26
Nov. Theod. .; cf. Anon. De reb. bell. , with Brandt () ff.
32
C.Th. ..–. 33
Siems () f.; Viden (). 34
Nov. Theod. .f.
35
Nov. Valent. .
42
Knütel () –; Scheltema () ; Schminck () .
43
CJ ... (⫽Digest Const. Tanta ).
55
Scheltema () –. On the four remaining pieces of Byzantine evidence see Liebs ()
–. 56
Liebs () –, –.
57
van der Wal () ff.; Liebs () , –.
58
Simon et al. () –, supplemented by Liebs () , –.
59
Authenticum; also in the sequence of the fourth collection: CIC , but only the upper Latin text,
if identified as Authenticum and supplied with its original numbering. 60
CIC .
61
Simon and Troianos (). 62
See p. below, n. .
112
Sontis (). New evidence ed. Burgmann ().
113
Pieler () ; van der Wal and Lokin () f., f.
. . -
19
For the inclusion of Æthelberth’s Kent within the Frankish sphere, see Wood () and ().
20
Bede, HE ..
33
For this reason the judgement of Eckhardt () , that the Decretio Childeberti was solely a ter-
ritorial law for Austrasia, is open to question.
34
Constitutiones Extravagantes, , ed. de Salis, Leg. Burg. . 35
Beyerle () .
36
Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang. ., ed. L. Bethmann and G. Waitz, MGH, Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum
et Italicarum, saec. VI–IX (Hanover ), p. . On the date of the campaign, see Bognetti (–c)
. n. 37
Bognetti (–b).
38
Cf. Schmidt-Wiegand ().
39
PLS Prologue (pp. –); Eckhardt () –, but Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms is inclined to
date it to the seventh century. 40
Pactus Legis Salicae ed. Eckhardt () . (p. ).
41
Cf. mæ lfri in Æthelberht, c. , an medle otte tinge, Hlothhere and Eadric, c. . Gothic ma l is
likewise used in Mark . to translate agorá (Latin forum).
42
Causa may render sace in sacebarones etc. (cf. OE sacu).
110
Beyerle (). 111
Edictus Rothari Prol.; cc. , , .
112
Thus the evidence for royal responsibility for the Lex Romana is to be found in the Pref. (c. , ed.
de Salis, Leg. Burg: ) to the Liber Constitutionum rather than in the Lex Romana itself.
113
Constitutiones Extravagantes (in the form of a letter from Gundobad to all counts), . (ut
omnes comites, tam Burgundionum quam Romanorum).
114
Liber Constitutionum is the original name of the code: Pref. ed. de Salis, Leg. Burg. .
The end of the empire in the west brought about the extension of written
law to the barbarian settlers. Initially, Roman law itself remained in force,
alongside the laws of the various nations, even as far north as Cologne.
Only in Britain did Roman law virtually disappear; to judge by the later
Welsh law, as well as by Gallic attitudes to Bretons in the fifth and sixth
centuries, that may have been because of its weak hold on the Britons. In
Gaul, there is a marked contrast between the Roman pretensions of the
Burgundians, perhaps derived from the political ambitions of Gundobad
in the earlier part of his reign, and the Frankish tradition of law. Among
the Franks, the legal tradition remained attached to the constituent peoples
of the Frankish federation, to the Salians rather than to the Franks as a
whole. This was associated with a less overt role for the king in law-
making: until some date in Clovis’ reign the Salians had more than one
king. Among the Burgundians, however, a kingship that was much more
assertive in the legal sphere also ensured that one law prevailed for all the
Burgundians and any other barbarians within their kingdom. At the level
of Frankish or Burgundian identity, rather than, say, Salian identity,
Burgundian law is more ethnic precisely because it is more Roman and
more royal. Gregory of Tours says that Gundobad made laws for the
Burgundians, although he never says as much about any Frankish king.126
When rulers such as Gundobad asserted their independence as legislators
vis-à-vis the empire, they did so as kings of their own peoples; hence the
less overtly royal character of the Lex Romana Burgundionum as compared
with the Liber Constitutionum. Barbarian kings were most anxious to pro-
123
Cf. Lex Romana Burgundionum .. 124
Edictum Theodorici cc. –, ed. J. Baviera, p. .
125
Codex Euricianus , ed. Zeumer () p. . Cf. Classen (b) –; Zeumer ()
. 126
Greg. Tur. Hist. ..
The late Roman armies of the fourth and early fifth century are relatively
well documented: Ammianus and other narrative historians describe them
at work in their main theatres of operations on the Rhine, Danube and
Persian frontiers, as well as in Britain and North Africa; the Theodosian
Code preserves a range of laws pertaining to their creation, sustenance and
functioning; the Notitia Dignitatum offers a view, albeit complicated by
partial revision, of the structure and disposition of forces in both east and
west.1 The year marks a convenient break: between then and the
Persian wars of Anastasius’ reign (–), recorded by Procopius and
Joshua the Stylite, there is little reliable narrative of Roman military action,
and no Notitia; also, there are few relevant laws, since only seven of the
titles in Theodosian Code , the book devoted to military matters, date
from after , though eleven laws among the Novels of Theodosius II and
four of Valentinian III can be added. During these years the western
Roman army ceased to exist as a state institution, being superseded by the
military forces of the successor kingdoms in Gaul, Spain, Africa and finally
Italy, none of which maintained a standing army. In the east, however, the
army, and hence the empire, survived in a recognizable form through to the
early seventh century. The nature and causes of these distinct develop-
ments require explanation; but first, an overview of the late Roman army.
2
Keenan (); Rémondon (); Kraemer (). 3
Theodosius II, Nov. .; .
4
Theodosius II, Nov. ; CJ ...; Priscus fr. ..– (Blockley).
.
Relatively little is known about Roman fleets in the fifth and sixth century,
partly because there were few major sea battles. Vandal naval dominance
after their arrival in Carthage, a surprising achievement for a Germanic
group, posed a threat with which the western empire could not cope;
Sicilian and Italian coasts were regularly raided, which contributed
significantly to western collapse. In the proximity of Geiseric’s large
fleet encouraged the overthrow of Petronius Maximus, and the Vandals
then thoroughly pillaged Rome. In Ricimer defeated Vandal raiders on
the plains of Agrigento in Sicily, and on Corsica, but each time he seems
only to have achieved a land victory: these perhaps resembled the success
in Campania under Majorian when the Vandals, though prevented from
ravaging, could flee to the safety of their ships. In the Vandals deployed
sixty ships and, in spite of reverses, retained control of the sea and inter-
rupted the food supply of Rome, which contributed to the unpopularity
14
Marc. Com. s.a. ; Procop. Wars ..– (Marc. Com. s.a. records , men, but this
perhaps relates to only part of the overall force); Joshua , , ; Zachariah ..
15
Procop. Wars ..; Marc. Com. s.a. , . Whitby () sec. .
16
Procop. Wars ..–. 17
Marc. Com. s.a. ; Malchus fr. .–.
30
PLRE s.v. Aetius , at p. ; Bury, LRE .–. 31
PLRE s.v. Bonifatius .
32
Valentinian III, Nov. pref.; also Nov. .–, for contemporary recruitment problems.
33
Heather, Goths and Romans –.
34
Allocation of tax revenues: Goffart, Barbarians and Romans, though he accepts that tribesmen soon
became landowners (ibid. ch. ); Barnish (); Heather, Goths and Romans –.
35
PLRE s.v. Aetius , at pp. –; also Elton () –.
36
Sid. Ap. Ep. ..– with Elton () –, and Harries (b); Greg. Tur. Hist. ..
37
Moss () –; Marc. Com. s.a. .
38
Moorhead () –. 39
PLRE s.v. Odovacer; Moorhead () ch. .
40
Heather, Goths and Romans chs. –; Heather (); Moorhead () ch. .
48
CJ ...; SEG .; Malalas .–; Jones, LRE –.
49
Jones, LRE –; for use of terminology, see for example Maurice, Strategikon (consult index)
to the Dennis/Gamillscheg edn () for the different terms.
50
Malchus fr. ; cf. ch. (Whitby), p. below.
51
PLRE s.v. Narses and Sittas ; Malalas .–.; Justinian, Nov. ; Jones, LRE –;
Whitby () sec. .
60
Jones, LRE –; Haldon () . 61
Whitby () sec. ; CJ ..; .; ...
62
Procop. Wars ..–.
63
Haldon () ; Keenan (); Brown, Gentlemen and Officers –. Theophylact ..
64
P.Ryl. ; SEG .; Procop. Secret History .–; Procop. Wars ..–; Agathias, Hist.
.; Jones, LRE –.
65
P. Monac. , with Keenan () ; Justinian, Edict ..⫽CJ ..
78
Procop. Wars ..–; ..–; .; Michael the Syrian ., vol. pp. –; Sebeos
ch. . 79
Whitby () sec. . 80
Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops –.
.
Eastern emperors controlled the commanders and officers in their armies,
not just the manpower, and here too the contrast with the west is
significant: the army remained an institution under imperial authority, not
an independent force capable of dictating to its nominal masters. The
eastern counterparts of Ricimer and Odoacer were the magistri militum
Aspar and his sons Ardabur and Patricius, Armatus and his son Basiliscus,
and Illus: these generals dominated emperors and attempted to manipulate
the imperial succession by placing protégés on the throne or by insinuating
their families into the imperial house (both Patricius and Basiliscus were
proclaimed Caesar). But, whereas Ricimer killed Majorian, Leo disposed of
Aspar’s family inside the palace, while Zeno had Armatus killed when
leaving the palace to enter the Hippodrome and overcame Illus in civil
war.82 Other powerful military families, like that of the Goth Areobindus,
married into the aristocracy: the younger Areobindus fled Constantinople
rather than accede to popular requests that he champion orthodoxy and
supplant the Monophysite Anastasius, perhaps to the disgust of his wife
Anicia Juliana, daughter of the western emperor Olybrius.83 In the sixth
century, generals were often imperial relatives or members of the palatine
staff. Military unrest tended to be generated from the lower ranks disgrun-
tled about lack of pay or other specific grievances, and was led by junior or
middle-ranking officers, Stotzas in Africa in the late s, Germanus in the
east in or Phocas on the Danube in . The salient exception, the
sequence of revolts against Anastasius led by Vitalian, comes and then magis-
ter militum, had a religious motivation and in any case ultimately failed.84
Another aspect of the survival of the eastern army as a public institu-
tion is the emperors’ ability to keep control of soldiers in private service.
Prominent Romans had always possessed retinues with a capacity to act as
81
Evagr. HE .; Michael the Syrian .; Theophylact .. with Evagr. HE ..
82
For career details, see PLRE . 83
PLRE .– s.v. Areobindus ; Malalas .–..
84
Career details in PLRE ; discussion in Kaegi () chs. –, esp. –. Cf. ch. (Whitby),
pp. ‒ below.
85
Cameron and Long () n. .
86
Whitby () sec. ; Liebeschuetz, Barbarians and Bishops –.
87
CJ ..; Nov. ; cf. also Feissel and Kaygusuz (). 88
Malalas .–.
89
Gascou (a). 90
Procop. Wars ..–; ..
91
Procop. Wars ..; .., .; ..
92
Procop. Wars ..; .–; Maurice, Strat. ..; .–.
-
3
Throughout this and the following chapter I use ‘near east’ to describe the eastern provinces
between Egypt to the south and Asia Minor to the north. For Boeotia: Bintliff ().
Soissons
a
Le Mans
a
Tours
Poitiers
Bordeaux
Lyons
Aquileia
40°N
Ravenna
40°N
Mérida
IA
Rome
N
Constantinople
E
S. Giovanni
M
di Ruoti Anastasiopolis
AR
IA
Sykeon Ancyra OC
(Ankara) D
b
PA
MES
OP
CAP
O b
Nador BOEOTIA
TA
Déhès
M
Carthage LIMESTONE
IA
AFRICA LYCIA Antioch MASSIF
PROCON- Sergilla
SULARIS Apamea
Kaper Pera
30°N HAURAN
TRI Scythopolis
PO
LITA 30°N
NIA Madaba
LIBYAN Alexandria
NEGEV
WADIS
c Land over 1000 metres
c
SCALE Oxyrhynchus Cynopolis
0 250 500 750 1000 km
0 250 500 miles Aphrodito
B 0° C 10°E D 20°E E 30°E F 40°E G
Map Settlements of the fifth and sixth century (sites and regions discussed in chapter )
5
We do, however, know that Egyptian monks earned money, for charity and for their institutions,
by working at the harvest, because several of their recorded sayings refer to this: The Sayings of the Desert
Fathers (Apophthegmata Patrum) (trans. B. Ward, ), ‘John the Dwarf ’ nos. & ; ‘Isaac of the Cells’
; ‘Lucius’ ; ‘Macarius’ ; ‘Pior’ . 6
Tchalenko, Villages; Sodini et al. () for Déhès.
7
Apion estates around Oxyrhynchus: Hardy (); Gascou (). Aphrodito: Keenan () and
ch. c (Keenan), pp. ‒ below.
To Harran
510
520
530
540
550
560
570
570
540
550
560
Church 580
To Harim
590
Olive press
600
To
Baqirha
Church
590
I
Cistern
I Sˇ L
580
Tomb
570
560
Sˇ M
610
560
570
BA
58
59
0
0 600
F
O E
A G To
Sermada
LL
VI
ERN N
MOD
To Déhès
Fig. The late antique village site of Bamuqqa in the north Syrian limestone massif. Ancient
buildings are in black; areas of cultivable soil, in pockets surrounded by bare rock, are in grey.
(After Tchalenko, Villages , pl. )
happened after the early sixth century. In / a dreadful plague hit the
east, subsequently spreading to the west and also recurring intermittently
through the sixth and seventh centuries. The impact of this disease on
Constantinople was graphically described by the historian Procopius, who
witnessed it there and claimed that at its peak it killed over , people a
day, while for Antioch the local historian Evagrius provides not only the
detailed information that it had recurred four times in the city by the time
of his writing in , but also the irrefutably circumstantial evidence that it
14
Procop. Wars .–; Evagr. HE .. It was also witnessed, in the near east, by John of Ephesus,
whose description survives in fragmentary form (it is published only in the original Syriac, but is used
and discussed by Conrad () –). There is a good general discussion of the plague in the east in
Patlagean, Pauvreté –. For the plague in the west: Biraben and Le Goff ().
15
As questioned by Durliat (). For a general discussion of sixth-century eastern demographic
change: Whitby () –. 16
Black Death: Hatcher (). Later plagues: Slack () –.
17
For the details: ch. , pp. ‒ below. For discussion of this archaeological problem: Lewit
() –; Millett (). 18
Hope-Taylor () – and plates and .
Fig. 6 The fortified farmstead of Nador in Mauretania. On the left, as originally built in the fourth century; on the right, with the additional subdivisions of fifth- and
early-sixth-century date. The defences seem to have been conceived of as partly functional, partly decorative, since the facade received much more attention than the
equally vulnerable sides and rear. (After Anselmino etal (1989) 228, fig. 50)
23
Egypt: Bagnall, Egypt –; Keenan (). For Theodore, see p. above, n. ; for Nicholas:
The Life of Saint Nicholas of Sion ed. and trans. I. Ševčenko and N. Patterson Ševčenko, .
24
Villages are, however, much less apparent in the surveys carried out in Greece, where dispersed
settlement seems to have been common. For larger houses in (or just outside) villages: several exam-
ples in the north Syrian uplands, Tchalenko, Villages pl. ‒; and in the Hauran, Villeneuve ()
–. 25
Levi (). 26
Dagron (); Kaplan () –.
Upland
SCALE
0 10 20 30 40 50 km
Antioch Beroea
Chalcis
Apamea
Larissa
Epiphania
Fig. Ancient sites in the north Syrian uplands, of which the greater part are villages.
(After Tchalenko, Villages , pl. )
˛
Qal at Abu- Safyan
-
Churches
Wadi floor
SCALE
0 100 200 300 400m
Fig. The late antique large village of Kaper Pera (modern el-Bâra) in the north Syrian limestone
massif. (After Tchalenko, Villages , pl. )
Fig. South elevation and plan of the baths built in by Julianos and his wife at the village of
Sergilla, in the Syrian Jabal Zawiye. The plan shows the cistern and raised water conduit to the south.
(L⫽latrine; after Butler () ill. )
probably exceeded in size and splendour many ‘true’ civitates in the interior
of central North Africa, where the Romans had established their local
administration in a large number of very small centres. Villagers in the east
could also act corporately to enhance their village environment and to
defend their interests, in ways that we would more normally associate with
the classical city, and that can rarely be documented in the contemporary
west. A mosaic inscription of , for instance, excavated in the small
public baths of the village of Sergilla in Syria (see Fig. ), tells us that they
were built in honour of his home village ( patrē ) by a certain Julianos, in
conjunction with his wife Domna, and records the gratitude of the village
(kōmē ) towards its benefactor.27 Almost a century later, in and , the
villagers of Aphrodito, a large Egyptian settlement (which, admittedly, had
27
Inscriptions (– ) , no. . There is a recent discussion of this bath in Charpentier ().
For the plan of another Syrian village, with three churches, see Fig. , p. below.
32
Touraine and Auvergne: Longnon () –; Pietri () – (for the rural churches).
Similar evidence for villages in Maine, and in south-west Gaul in general: Latouche () –;
Rouche () . I and others are here making the assumption that vicus⫽‘village’, which may prove
over-optimistic. 33
Lewit () –; Van Ossel () –.
34
Africa: Rossiter (). Gaul: Venantius Fortunatus, Carm. .–; and the discussion of the late
Gallic villa in Percival ().
Fig. The villa at San Giovanni di Ruoti as it might have appeared in the late fifth century.
(Reconstruction drawing by E. Haldenby, from Small and Buck () fig. )
35
Gregory gives few clues, though Hist. . refers to an atrium, and to a new supertegulum, presum-
ably the apex of a tiled roof. On the archaeological and literary evidence for late rural settlement in
Gaul, including ‘villas’, see also Samson ().
36
Sid. Ap. Carm. (on the burgus of Pontius Leontius on the Garonne, written probably in the
s); Venantius Fortunatus, Carm. . (on the castellum of Nicetius of Trier on the Moselle, written
in the s).
Fig. The sixth-century monastery of a holy man, Elias, excavated at Scythopolis, in Palaestina II.
A is a hall or perhaps an open courtyard; B is the chapel. Many of the rooms had fine mosaics,
including inscriptions commemorating the patrons and asking for God’s blessing on them. The
intended tomb of one patron, ‘Maria’, was within the chapel (which she paid for); another patron, ‘John
the ex-prefect’, is thought to have been buried in the small chamber C. (After Fitzgerald () pl. )
(phrontistēs) and protector (kourator) long after his father’s death.50 This looks
remarkably like a small aristocratic ‘Eigenkloster’, of a kind very familiar in
the early medieval west, and designed to provide for both the spiritual and
the material needs of a family.
For the estates of the secular landowning class, the information at our
disposal is limited – except, again, in Egypt. Here, from the papyri, a rich
and varied picture can be built up. There were some huge Egyptian estates,
such as that of the Apion family, who perhaps held as much as two-fifths
of all the land in the neighbouring districts (nomes) of Oxyrhynchus and
50
Keenan in ch. c, pp. ‒ below; Thomas () and .
58
Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Hist. Mon. (ed. and French trans. P. Canivet and A. Leroy-Molinghen
–) .. The holy man (Abrahamēs) came to the village disguised as a merchant wanting to buy
nuts, and rented a house there in order to ply his business. 59
Bonneau () –.
60
Trier: Venantius Fortunatus, Carm. ., lines – (the bishop, Nicetius of Trier, also built a
watermill on the estate). Borders of Armenia: John Eph. Lives of the Eastern Saints, Syriac text and
English trans. E. W. Brooks, vols. – (⫽PO ., ., .), .– (on Addai).
61
For villagers acquiring powerful patrons, the classic text is Lib. Or. (esp. .). Here the
protection was given by military commanders against the villagers’ landlords. Theodoret of Cyrrhus,
Hist. Mon. ., however, reveals a village of freeholders in the fifth-century Lebanon, brutalized and
powerless in the face of a tax demand (until saved by an advance secured by a well-connected holy man).
-
Rh
ine
Paris
a Tours
a
Batavis Lauriacum
Poitiers
NORICUM
ône
Pavia
R. Rh
R . Po
40°N Preti
Ravenna
Luna e
Marseilles R. D an u b 40°N
Toledo
Rome
Ostia
A
Constantinople
NI
Thasos Sykeon
ME
Thessalonica
Proconnesos
AR
b
THESSALY
Phocaea Docimium
Sardis Edessa b
Ephesus A
Athens
Aphrodisias ICI Déhès
Carthage Corinth L
Cuicul CI
Antioch LIMESTONE
MASSIF
Aphrodito
B 0° C 10°E D 20°E E 30°E F 40°E G
Map Specialized production and exchange (sites and regions discussed in chapter )
Britain
There is some debate about whether the economic decline of Britain
started within the fourth century itself (and therefore before the arrival of
the Saxons). But most scholars would agree that, at least in the early fourth
century, the province of Britain was flourishing, with a rich villa economy
in the countryside, and a network of towns which included not only admin-
istrative capitals (civitates), but also secondary production and marketing
centres whose prosperity depended primarily on economic activity. Copper
coins are frequently found in excavation and were clearly in widespread use,
and the province had a number of specialized potting industries, produc-
ing standardized high-quality products, and capable of distributing them
even over long distances (see Fig. ).
By the end of the fifth century (at the vest latest) all this economic
sophistication had disappeared. There were no towns, no villas and no
coins. Specialized production and long-distance exchange were almost
entirely restricted to very high-value goods which were produced as much
to mark status as for their functional purpose, and which travelled perhaps
5
For the state and coinage: Hendy, Studies. For coins in commercial use: Millar () –; and the
useful overview in Greene () – and –.
6
See Durliat (a) for an extreme view of the essentially ‘artificial’ nature of Roman cities.
Fig. The distribution of one type of pot (Form ) produced by the third/fourth-century
Roman potteries located in the area of modern Oxford. (From Peacock () fig. )
Fig. A group of stone houses in the late antique Syrian village of Déhès. (From Sodini et al. ()
, fig. )
by the presence of numerous copper coins, even on rural sites (see Fig. ).10
In c. .. the contrast between the economies of the Near East and
Britain was enormous, and much more marked than it had been in c. .
Since the fourth century two things had occurred: the economy of Britain
10
See, for example, the finds of pottery and coin from the village-site of Déhès: Sodini et al. ()
–; Orssaud (). Or from the town-site of Pella: Walmsley () –; Watson ().
Italy
Britain and the Near East are extreme cases, and the economic history of
the regions that lay between them geographically is also somewhere
between them in character. For the provinces to the north of the
Mediterranean, I am best qualified to write about Italy, but the economic
histories of Gaul and Spain are probably broadly similar.
11
As argued by Kennedy ().
12
Abandonment: Kennedy () –. Déhès: Sodini et al. ().
13
Caesarea: Holum et al. () –. Rural churches: Piccirillo (). Jerash: Zayadine ()
– and –; Bellinger () (for the coins).
Africa
To the south of the Mediterranean, in the central provinces of Roman
North Africa (modern Tunisia and Algeria), the high point of sophistication
14
Greene () –; Lewit () especially – and –.
15
La pietra ollare (); Brogiolo and Gelichi ().
d
s
er as
I
id
d
an
ic
rd
II
I
liu
ya
in
ya
ric
n
ar
as
in
oc
ba
gi
ia
st
au
ac
ay
ay
al
au
st
bb
lin
in
Ju
m
th
Ju
m
M
st
A
Lo
ro
A
rU
Ju
Ca
rly
te
Ea
La
Fig. A comparison of the coin-finds from the town of Luna (modern Luni) in Liguria, Italy, and from the village of Déhès in the limestone massif of
northern Syria. The coins derive from excavations on a very different scale (those at Luna were far more extensive than those at Déhès). The information is
expressed as numbers of coins found from each possible year of the period of issue. (Based on the coins published in Frova () and (), and in
Sodini et al. () –)
(1)
(3)
(3)
(1) Constantinople
(1) Philippi
(1) (43)
(10)
(1) (1)
Thessalonica (1)
(14) (5)
(5)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1) (4)
(12)
Lesbos
Delphi (2) (1)
(1) (1)
(5)
(1) Ephesus
(1) (6) Samos (1)
Corinth Athens (7) Kiev
(6) (4) (1)
(2) (1)
(1)
(2) (1)
(1) (1)
Rhodes
(1) (5)
(1)
(2) Venice
Grado
(5)
(20) (1) Porecˇ
(1) (7) (1)
Ravenna (1)
(17) (2)
(2)
(2)
Rome (3)
(3) Constantinople (3)
Philippi (43)
(1)
Thessalonica(10)
(14) (3)
Thasos (1)
(5) Burdakli
(12) (16)
(1)
Lesbos (1)
Edessa
Delphi (5) (5)
Athens Ephesus
Corinth (6) (6) Samos (4)
(1) (7)
Marzamemi Rhodes
(12) (5)
(2) (1)
(2)
(1)
(2)
(1) (3)
(1) (1) (4) (1)
Latrun Jerusalem Madaba
(1) (5)
Cyrene (4) (1) (1) (4)
(2)
(2) (1) (1)
(1)
(1)
SCALE
0 250 500 750 1000 km
Fig. Distribution of recorded finds of one type of late antique chancel-screen. The marble used
is not always noted when the screens are published; but the vast majority were undoubtedly in the
grey-streaked marble of Proconnesos, an island in the Sea of Marmara near Constantinople.
(After Sodini () , fig. )
but made an immediate liturgical and visual impact), travelled widely, even
reaching inland sites in the Negev desert, and churches in the western
Mediterranean (where the marble of Luna had formerly dominated the
market for white stone) (see Fig. ). As we shall see later on, much of this
marble was produced for the state’s own ends (for instance, for the imperial
28
Loseby ().
29
Coins: Grierson () –. Pottery: Arthur and Patterson (). Recent archaeological work
on early medieval Rome has revealed (perhaps as we would expect) that it too had economic sophisti-
cations like coinage, and imported pottery and foodstuffs: Paroli and Delogu ().
30
Ravenna: e.g. Bermond Montanari (). Liguria: Ward-Perkins, Mills, Gadd and Delano Smith
() . S. Antonino: Murialdo et al. ().
33
Roman pottery production, with useful discussion of modern analogies: Peacock (). Some of
the state-run fabricae may well have been more like modern factories.
34
Garnsey and Saller () –; Durliat (a).
35
Garnsey () –, quoting and discussing a passage by Gregory of Nazianzus.
36
Joshua the Stylite: trans W. Wright (from the Syriac into English), –; ed. and trans. (into
Latin) J.-B. Chabot , –. Quoted in English, and discussed by Garnsey () – and –.
37
promise (not in the end delivered): Joshua the Stylite, trans. Wright, , and trans. Chabot, .
: Procop. Wars ... : Procop. Wars ...
38
Finley () –; Jones, LRE and –. 39
Whittaker ().
40
The argument for trade as important, and for archaeological evidence as vital in revealing it, has
been made most forcefully by a group of Italian archaeologists: see the papers by Carandini and others
in Giardina, Società romana .
Fig. Quantities of African red-slip ware recorded on five sites (or regional surveys) in the western
Mediterranean. B is a consolidation into a single graph of all the data presented in A. (From Fentress
and Perkins () figs. and )
51
Gaza wine: see the sources cited in Riley () –.
52
From the earlier empire several texts discuss the quality of oil from different types of olive and
from different regions: e.g. Columella, Rust. ..–; Pliny, HN . and .–; Athenaeus,
Deipnosophists .f–b.
53
However, see from the early empire Trimalchio’s ostentatiously labelled, one-hundred-year-old
Falernian: Petron. Satyricon .
58
Rates of taxation: Jones, LRE –; Wickham () –; Agnellus, Lib. Pont. Eccl. Rav. cap.
(seventh-century Sicilian estates). Impact of taxation: Jones, LRE –.
59
Durliat (b) argues for continuing taxation and a continuing paid army in the early medieval
west; but see Wickham () for what I believe to be a convincing demolition of this thesis.
60
Shift in direction of African exports: Reynolds () –; Fentress and Perkins () .
61
Lot (); Goffart (). 62
Wickham () and –.
63
A model proposed by Hopkins (a) for an earlier period of Roman history.
64
Wickham () n. . For the move to tax in coin: Jones, LRE .
72
Greene () –. The pioneering Mediterranean-wide work was Vita-Finzi ().
73
As argued by Randsborg () –. 74
Strab. ...
* Editors’ note: this chapter spans a wider period than that covered by the rest of the volume, in
order to provide a broad thematic coverage of an important subject which is best treated on a wider
chronological scale, and which was not specifically covered in Cambridge Ancient History volume .
1
Pan. Lat. ..
2
C.Th. ...
3
For a balanced account of the effects of Constantine’s conversion on his legislation, see
Liebeschuetz () (on the family, in particular p. ).
4
Among the more recent works, see, for example, with varying degrees of emphasis, Gaudemet
(a); Castello (); Sargenti (); Bagnall (); Evans Grubbs (); for the position of
5
women, see in particular Arjava (). Troplong ().
10
Gaudemet (a) .
11
Gaudemet () ; Bagnall () ff.; Arjava (); Brown () .
20
Hier. Ep. .. 21 Ibid.
22
For Byzantium, Karlin-Hayter () ; see also Vogel (). For the west, see for example
Bishop ().
23
As is shown in Augustine’s new Ep. * (CSEL .f.): Lepelley (). On the relation-
ship between marriage legislation and the episcopalis audientia, see for example CJ .. () and
().
38
Cameron, Rheotoric of Empire .
39
Shaw (a); for family affectivity in the Roman west, see also ch. (Wood), pp. ‒ below.
50
Patlagean () (the biggest weakness of this kind of enquiry is the lack of information on the
51
marriage rate). Goody () and (); for the traditional opinion, Weiss ().
52
Bettini ().
53
Shaw and Saller (); cf. Saller and Shaw (), Shaw (). The available evidence reveals
marriages with a parallel cousin, either german or more distant, on the father’s side; whereas those
between cross-cousins or parallel cousins on the mother’s side remain concealed (Shaw and Saller
() , ). This fact has been pointed out by Moreau () , in a brief criticism of Saller and
Shaw’s works. However, the quantity of data produced by these authors on the rarity (which doesn’t
necessarily mean absence) of marriages between parallel cousins in the pre-Christian west is decisive
in one respect: it rules out the possibility that Roman marriages between parallel cousins on the father’s
side were very rare, while instead those between parallel cousins on the mother’s side – or even other,
closer, forms of endogamic marriage – were very frequent. In fact, the Roman rules of marriage either
forbade or permitted marriages between cousins outright, without specifying further: ‘Les différences
de relation de cousinage ne constituent ni prétexte à un interdit, ni privilège préférential ou prescriptif,
dans le champ matrimonial’, a situation that is also perfectly reflected in the terminology (Bettini ()
). Moreau () also argues that the legal interdiction of consanguineous marriages would be
inexplicable if such marriages were very rare. Saller and Shaw, however, claim that they were rare in the
west, while taking it for granted that they were widespread in the east. Reservations on the epigraphi-
cal analyses are also expressed in Corbier ().
61
Harris (). 62
Boswell (). 63
CJ .. (); see also Nov. ().
64
For example, Bianchi Fossati Vanzetti () .
.
At the beginning of the fifth century the senatorial aristocracy of the late
empire seemed well assured of its future. Its great dynasties, the Anicii and
Symmachi among them, appear full of confidence in the letter collections
of the period – those of Symmachus himself, but also of Jerome,
Augustine and Paulinus of Nola.1 Nor were they much shaken by the
initial break-up of the western empire, despite panic-stricken reactions to
the arrival of the barbarians and to the invasions of the Huns. At the end
of the fifth century the Italian aristocracy appears as confident as ever in
the inscriptions of the Colosseum2 and in the letters of Ennodius of
Pavia. Its Gallic counterpart, a little less grand in status, but of nearly com-
parable wealth, dominates the letter collections of Sidonius Apollinaris,
Ruricius of Limoges and Avitus of Vienne, as well as having a significant
profile in that of Ennodius (Provençal by birth, albeit Italian in his
career).3 By the mid sixth century, however, the greatest of these dynasties
were no longer a power in the west: Justinian’s Ostrogothic wars had
destroyed their Italian base, although the Anicii themselves were still of
some importance in Constantinople. However, while the front rank of the
aristocracy had collapsed in Italy, in the successor states of Gaul its pro-
vincial counterpart survived,4 as is again evidenced by a letter collection,
this time the poetic epistles of Venantius Fortunatus.5 In all probability it
had also managed to hang on to much of its wealth. Moreover, these fam-
ilies had not held themselves aloof from the political changes which fol-
lowed the failure of the western empire; instead they, or at least individual
members of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, were involved in the new king-
doms of the Visigoths, Burgundians and Franks, whether at a local level
as bishops, or at the level of the state, as counsellors.6 As such they appear
in the Ten Books of Histories of Gregory of Tours, who was himself a
1
See above all, on the aristocrats, Matthews (); Arnheim () –; on friendship, Brown
() –; White (); Clark () –; on Paulinus of Nola, Fabre (); on the letter collec-
tions, Matthews () –. 2
Chastagnol (). 3
Wood (a); Mathisen ().
4
Stroheker () remains the classic work. 5
Brown () .
6
For a study of one individual and his family in the first half of this transitional period, see Harries
(); more generally, Mathisen ().
130
Wallace-Hadrill () –. 131
Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms . 132
Ibid. .
133
Greg. Tur. Hist. .; ..
1
It is also by way of an essay: a first attempt at descriptive analysis rather than an authoritative treat-
ment, which makes no claim to comprehensive knowledge of the relevant literature.
. Imperial heritage
In the late Roman empire, central government was exercised from central
imperial courts,2 local government from civitas capitals: urban centres con-
trolling dependent rural hinterlands. Situated between court and civitas were
regional administrative centres – praetorian prefectures, sometimes in their
own capitals – and a non-uniform range of assemblies, from provincial
level upwards, in which local élites would periodically gather. From c. ,
two regional forums had particular importance in the west: the Gallic
council in Arles and the Roman senate in Italy.3
The fourth century had seen the ever tighter linking of these levels, both
formally and informally. Traditionally, cities had been governed by councils
of city landowners: decurions or curials. From the third century onwards,
however, curials tended to graduate to imperial bureaucratic service,
leaving many fewer decurions available to undertake the numerous tasks
which the imperial authorities continued to assign to local councils. The
new imperial bureaucracy which thus had emerged by c. .. made
Roman emperors powerful on two levels. It gathered and processed infor-
mation, and wrote legislation, redistributing large amounts of wealth, and
making much of the empire operate as some kind of a unity. It was also a
patronage machine. By c. .., around , very good bureaucratic
jobs (those leading to senatorial status) existed in each half of empire, and
the total size of the bureaucracy was around ,. The system also
encompassed long waiting-lists for established posts and ever decreasing
lengths of service; both these features maximized the number of jobs avail-
able.
Bureaucratic numbers largely increased through consumer demand. In
the fourth century, it was increasingly in central government, rather than
cities, that money was to be made, and bureaucratic service also brought in
its wake senatorial status and a series of other rights and privileges. By ,
these honours defined a class of retired imperial servants – honorati – who
constituted a new local élite, whose dominance depended precisely on par-
ticipation in central structures of the empire.4 The political communities
generated around this changing structure were complex. Local pre-emi-
nence demanded that western landowners made efforts to become honorati.
Those who failed might fall into a second grade of local landowner. The
2
From the time of Valentinian and Valens () two imperial courts became the norm: an eastern
one at Constantinople, and a western at Trier or Milan, and later Ravenna.
3
General survey: Jones, LRE chs. , . For a more political treatment, Heather ().
4
In more detail, Heather ().
10
The revisionist impulse started in many ways with Wenskus () and continued on the conti-
nent in the work of Herwig Wolfram and the Vienna school around him. A more radical approach from
a different direction can be found in e.g. Goffart (), () and Barbarians and Romans esp. ch. and
conclusion. 11 Heather (a).
12
Goths: Heather () esp. ch. ; cf. Heather (b). Lex Salica and Ine’s Law both assign sur-
viving natives wergilds one-half of those of the now dominant intruders.
Bayeux
Chartres
Le Mans Châteaudun
Orléans
Angers
Blois
Tours
Nantes
Bourges
Poitiers
Saintes Clermont
Angoulême
Civitas
Périgueux Vellavorum
Bordeaux
Agen
Toulouse
SCALE
0 100 200 300 km Territories known to
have raised troops
0 100 200 miles
Fig. City territories of Gaul known (from Gregory of Tours’ Histories) to have raised troops in
the sixth century
were already enforcing this before their loss of southern Gaul, since ‘sen-
ators’ (i.e. Roman landowners) fought for them at Vouillé (or Voulon) in
.18 Italy, of course, was eventually divided between Lombards and
Byzantines.19 For the Lombard kingdom we lack early sources. All one can
say is that, if any Roman landowners did survive the invasion period, they
quickly came to be treated as an integral part of the kingdom and were
expected, as in Gaul and Spain, to provide the same services for their kings
as descendants of original Lombards. For Byzantine Italy, the situation is
harder to read. Justinian’s wars had adverse effects upon the senatorial land-
18
Visigothic Code .: detailed laws on levying, esp. ..– which specify the liability falling on
Romans as well as Goths. Vouillé/Voulon: Greg. Tur. Hist. ..
19
During the interlude of Ostrogothic rule, many Romans served in garrison forces, but (with
certain exceptions) field army service seems to have been reserved for Theoderic’s Gothic followers:
Heather () ch. .
20
Brown, Gentlemen and Officers esp. ch. and .
21
A subject much explored in the works of Leslie Alcock; see esp. Alcock () and ().
22
Brown, Gentlemen and Officers ch. , , .
23
Thessalonica: Soz. HE .; cf. Larson (). Antioch: Heather () –. The fourth
century also saw the suppression of revolts in Britain: e.g. Amm. Marc. ..–; ..–.
24
Gundovald: PLRE .–; Paulus: Julian, Hist. Wamb. in MGH, SRM .
25
Durliat’s arguments to the contrary (b) are not convincing; cf. Wickham (b).
26
Cf. Wickham (); Wood ().
29
Parthenius: PLRE .–. General survey: Barnwell (). Ostrogothic Italy was something of
an exception, but the Variae of Cassiodorus should not be taken as face-value proof of Roman conti-
nuity, even if Barnwell () ch. pushes his critique too far.
30
The arguments of Reuter () and () can certainly be applied to Merovingian contexts; cf.
Collins (b). On Lombard Italy, see Wickham () ff.; Harrison () passim.
31
Arrhenius ().
(a) Religion
According to the ideology of the late empire, the Divinity (after
Constantine, the Christian God) was the chief upholder of the state, and
the state existed to further the divine plan for mankind. Emperors were
thus much more than secular rulers, and the fully-fledged Byzantine
definition of the emperor as God’s vicegerent on earth was only the final
stage in a long process of development: the combination of New and Old
Testament images and Hellenistic concepts of kingship.32 The end of
empire in the west substituted several kings for one emperor, but led to
little diminution in the ideological claims being made. Visigothic and
Ostrogothic kings, Frankish, Burgundian and others, all, as they converted
to Christianity, presented themselves as appointed by God.33 In the longer
term, this ideological stance had some entirely practical effects in heighten-
ing a sense of community in the new realms.
Monarchs were responsible, for instance, for calling church councils.
Particularly in the Visigothic kingdom of the later sixth and seventh
century, and the Merovingian of the sixth century, this resulted in a
regular sequence of councils when a large proportion of the religious
leadership of the kingdom gathered together to discuss and legislate on
the issues of the day. There was an international dimension to such activ-
ity, of course, because the church always regarded itself as not confined
by political boundaries. A kingdom’s extent, however, both decided par-
ticipation – which bishops should attend – and dictated certain formal
elements of behaviour. Surviving proceedings suggest, for instance, that
councils opened with prayers for the king, whatever his brand of
Christianity. Thus a Catholic Roman synod of began with prayers for
the Arian Theoderic. The priests shouted thirty times ‘Hear us Christ.
Long live Theoderic.’34 Where a regular pattern of assemblies was estab-
lished, religious leaders became used to operating as a defined body and
to responding to a particular leadership. On these levels, assemblies added
a sense of religious community to the political boundaries of the new
kingdoms.35
32
See, for instance, Dvornik () esp. ch. , –; Liebeschuetz () ff.
33
The Variae of Cassiodorus and Ennodius’ Panegyric make this claim about Theoderic; cf. Heather
(). Julian of Toledo’s Historia Wambae and the councils of Toledo are some of many texts making
the same claim about Visigothic kings: cf. Collins (). Merovingians: Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms
ff. 34
Acta synh. habit. Romae , in MGH, AA , p. .
35
On Merovingian and Hispanic councils, see respectively Pontal () and Orlandis and Ramos-
Lissen (). Anglo-Saxon church councils were less restricted to individual kingdoms, but royal
influence, and particularly that of overkings, was still substantial: Cubitt () ff. This may well have
contributed to the development of a wider Anglo-Saxon (later English) consciousness.
40
Vict. Vit. Hist. Pers. bks –.
41
Thompson () ff. argued that Leovigild was being deliberately divisive, but this seems mis-
taken; cf. Collins (a) ch. .
42
Lex Gothorum: Tjäder () n. ; cf. Klingshirn () ff. Gregory of Tours, by contrast,
often vents his hatred of Arians, but if Gregory had lived under Arian kings, his opinions would prob-
43
ably have been more moderate. The case with the Visigoths; cf. Thompson ().
69
Preaching: Klingshirn (); cf. Hillgarth (). Proto-parish systems: the essays of Stancliffe
and Fouracre in Baker () with the studies collected in Cristianizzazione (). Much recent work
on the establishment of parish and proto-parish systems has been done in England, where these pro-
cesses did not take place within civitas structures: see generally Blair and Sharpe ().
70
Political structures: as p. above, n. . Ecclesiastical structures: Davies () ch. .
71
See generally James () –; Halsall () esp. ch. – provides a detailed case study.
(b) Freedmen
A second feature of the social structures of the post-Roman west is the
prominence and redefinition of a class of freedmen (liberti). Such a cate-
gory had long existed within Roman society, but, in the post-Roman period,
it evolved a new form. This was characterized by a permanent inherited
dependence of freed persons and their offspring towards the manumitter
and his or her descendants. The offspring of Roman freedmen, by contrast,
acquired total freedom. In Gaul, the new type of freedmen had become an
important social grouping by the end of the seventh century at the latest.
In the early-eighth-century will of Abbo of Provence, they form the most
numerous category of persons mentioned. In Spain, the church seems to
have made considerable use of this new style of manumission in the early
seventh century, with lay lords following suit later. From Italy there is less
evidence, but the mid-seventh-century edict of Rothari again includes a
series of provisions concerning this class.86
What prompted the evolution of a class of new, permanently dependent
liberti? For Visigothic Spain, it has been argued that they were generated in
an attempt to square the demands of Christian ethics with an existing
pattern of material, especially landed, wealth. Emerging Christian morality
declared the freeing of slaves to be a good thing, particularly for saintly
bishops. This tended to dissipate church assets, however, since people were
as important as land in agricultural production. Permanently dependent
liberti thus offered Christian gentlemen – ecclesiastical or lay – the oppor-
tunity to make their manumissions while, at the same time, preserving the
tied labour force which was central to their wealth.87 There is an obvious
plausibility to this picture.
I suspect, however, that the new liberti may also have something to do
with the militarization of society in the post-Roman world. According to
Visigothic law codes, all liberti were required to fight with their lords when
the army was mobilized. This prescription applied to only a percentage –
per cent, raised to per cent by king Wamba – of full slaves. A similar
distinction operated in the Merovingian kingdom, where liberti seem to
have been classed among the arms-bearing groups of society and expected
to fight, again under the aegis of their lord.88 The popularity of freedmen
85
Davies () esp. chs. –. Whether this peasant society represents unbroken continuity from
the late Roman world is unclear.
86
Will of Abbo: Geary () –. Spain: Claude (). Rothari’s Edict passim on aldii, esp. –.
87
Claude ().
88
Visigothic Code ..–. Salic Law .; although Laws of the Ripuarian Franks – distinguishes
church freedman from other liberti.
The Roman empire was a structure created and sustained by force that had
to be available for deployment both against external threats to the state’s
existence and against any of its inhabitants who attempted to reject or
avoid its authority. But for its first years the empire managed to main-
tain a considerable separation between civilian and military spheres: sol-
diers were legally and socially distinct from civilians, and to a large extent
geographically as well, since most major concentrations of troops were
located along the empire’s frontiers. As a result, many of the ‘inner’ prov-
inces could appear demilitarized:1 soldiers might pass along the arterial
roads or be on hand when a new census was held, but they were outsiders,
in the main recruited from, stationed in and demobilized into other less civ-
ilized (i.e. less urbanized) parts of the empire, either the periphery or the
uplands and other marginal areas. There was also, however, a close mutual
interdependence: the army consumed much of the surplus product of the
prosperous peaceful provinces, so that soldier and civilian were tied eco-
nomically; the emperor was both commander-in-chief of the armies and
the ultimate source of law, political authority and social status; provincial
governors and most other commanders of armies were members of the
senate, the pinnacle of the civilian social structure.
In the late empire this tidy picture was greatly complicated, primarily as
a result of extensive tribal invasions: provinces and cities that had once
been unmilitary had to remilitarize themselves; the army became an
important potential means of political and social advancement, successful
tribes created new centres of power where new rules governed relation-
ships; all the time the military had to extract resources from an economy
that was often suffering the effects of war. Over all, the military became
increasingly prominent in the different parts of the Roman, or former
Roman, world, but at differing speeds. What was happening in much of the
west in the fifth century only became noticeable in the east about to
years later, after a period when the east appeared to be moving in the
opposite direction. This progression parallels that of the Graeco-Roman
1
Cornell () –; cf. Rich in Rich and Shipley () .
2
Cf. ch. (Liebeschuetz), pp. ‒ above. 3
MacCormack () .; Olster () –.
4
Chron. Pasch. .–; cf. Burgess (/). 5
De Caer. . , pp. –.
7
Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms –; Bachrach () ; Wickham () –.
8
Heather (b).
50
Paulinus of Pella, Euch. –. 51
Bachrach () –; Greg. Tur. Hist. ..
52
Malchus fr. .–. 53
Miracula S. Dem. ..
85
Greg. Tur. Hist. .; Tabari – (Nöldeke). Cf. Belisarius in Africa: Procop. Wars ..–.
86
Malchus fr. ..–; Greg. Tur. Hist. .; ..
87
Procop. Wars ..–; John Eph. HE .‒; Theophylact ..; Antiochus Strategus –;
Chrysos () . 88
Brown, Gentlemen and Officers –.
89
Priscus fr. ..–; Joshua ; John Eph. HE .–; Procop. Wars ..– with Theophylact
..–.; Miracula S. Dem. .–; Maurice, Strat. ..–. Thompson () –, –.
.
The period between the accession of the Roman emperor Valentinian III
in and the death of the Visigothic king Leovigild in inevitably occu-
pies a central position in the debates relating to the transition from classi-
cal to medieval in western Europe, and more specifically to the questions
of continuity and discontinuity.1 There is, however, another way of reading
this century and a half, and that is as a period in its own right. Several his-
torians working on fifth- and sixth-century Britain have, for instance,
argued that between the history of the late Roman province of Britannia
and that of Anglo-Saxon England lies a shorter but none the less distinct
period that has been called ‘sub-Roman’.2
Britain can, of course, be seen as experiencing a history radically different
from that even of the other parts of western Europe. Its western half was
one of only two areas of the erstwhile Roman empire to witness the re-
emergence of Celtic kings, and the other area where a similar development
occurred, Brittany, had a history inseparable from that of Britain itself.
Meanwhile, or perhaps subsequently, Latin language and culture were more
thoroughly destroyed in the Germanic kingdoms of eastern Britain than in
any other part of what had been the Roman west. Yet the distinctions
between Britain and the rest of western Europe may seem clearer to us now,
when examined with the benefit of hindsight, than they were at the time.
Other regions in western Europe passed through an intermediate ‘sub-
Roman’ phase between the collapse of imperial Roman government and the
establishment of a new barbarian regime: this is clear for Gallaecia in Spain,
Aremorica and the area controlled by Aegidius in Gaul, as well as Noricum.
Certainly there are chronological differences between the sub-Roman
periods in each of these regions. In Britain it started earlier and lasted longer
than in most places: in Soissons it began with the murder of Majorian in
and ended with the defeat of Aegidius’ son Syagrius at the hands of Clovis,
in c. : in Noricum it was a relatively late development, and its end is
unclear, because the history of Noricum Ripense after the departure of the
1
E.g. Drinkwater and Elton (eds.), Fifth-Century Gaul.
2
The notion of a discrete period was central to Morris (): see more recently Esmonde Cleary
(); Higham (); Dark ().
7 8
On Wroxeter, Barker (). See in general the volumes of Gauthier et al. (–).
9
On the question of the date Wood () .
SCALE R. Rh
i a
ne
0 250 500 km
T HU RI N G I
0 250 miles Tournai ANS
Arras
Cologne
Cambrai BELGICA
Bayeux Soissons SECUNDA Mainz
b Rheims Trier
Paris
AR
EM
O R Le Mans 50°N
Angers I C Orleans
Troyes A NS
AM
A R.
AL Quintanis RUGI
Lo
Auxerre
ire
Bourges Augsburg Favianis Comagenis
A
Dijon UDI Lorch
PA
SA Kuchl
Asturis
Chalon- RAETIA NORICUM
Voulon sur-Saône RIPENSE
Geneva Chur
Clermont
Lyons
Lugo St Maurice
IA
EC INE Vienne d'Agaune
LA UI
TA
AL AQ Valence
Pavia
G
Toulouse b
40°N Arles
Marseilles Ravenna
Agde
Saragossa
SIS
c N EN
Mérida CO
A
RR Rome
TA
Map The northern and western provinces (places mentioned in chapter )
47
Gildas, De Excidio Britanniae . 48
Hydat. Chron. nn. , , .
49
Oros. Hist. Ad. Pag. ..–, ed. C. Zangemeister, CSEL (Vienna ); compare Zos. ..
50
Hydat. Chron. n. . 51
Eugippius, Vita Severini .; ..
52
Eugippius, Vita Severini .; .. 53
Eugippius, Vita Severini .–; .
54
Eugippus, Vita Severini .–.
55
Chronicle of , , , ed. T. Mommsen, MGH, AA (Berlin ); see Thompson ().
76
Dark () . 77
Hydat. Chron. .
78
The fullest discussion of Merovingian taxation is Goffart ().
79
Salv. De Gub. Dei ., –, , –.
80
Ewig () –; Heinemeyer (); Wightman (); Schütte ().
81
Greg. Tur. Hist. .–; for the Angers origin of the material, note the use of the verb venire in
ch. . 82
Greg. Tur. Hist. .. 83
Griffe (–) .–.
184
Sid. Ap. Ep. ... 185
Wolfram () –.
186
Sid. Ap. Ep. .: a letter which should be understood as both rhetorical and belonging to very
specific circumstances.
187
Council of Agde (), praef., ed. C. Munier, Concilia Galliae A.–A., CSEL (Turnhout
). 188
Gerberding () . 189
Chronicle of ().
190
Chronicle of (); on the problem of the date, Wood () –.
191
Marius of Avenches, s.a. , ed. J. Favrod, La Chronique de Marius d’Avenches (–) (Lausanne
). 192
Sid. Ap. Carm. .–; Harries () –. 193
Sid. Ap. Epp. ..; ...
194
Vita Patrum Iurensium – (=.), ed. F. Martine, Vie des Pères du Jura, SChrét. (Paris );
see also Greg. Tur. Liber Vitae Patrum ., ed. Krusch, MGH, SRM ().
195
Sid. Ap. Ep. ... 196
Greg. Tur. Hist. .. 197
Avitus, Ep. .
198
Ennod. Vita Epiph. –. 199
Council of Lyons (), ed. R. Peiper, MGH, AA ().
200
Greg. Tur. Hist. .. 201
Paxton (). 202
Wood () .
203
Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms –.
204
Liber Constitutionum, prima constitutio ed. L. R. von Salis, Leges Burgundionum, MGH, Leges ()
(Hanover ).
In , in the circus at Aquileia, the emperor Valentinian III watched the
ritual humiliation and execution of the defeated usurper John. This bloody
spectacle celebrated the restoration of Italy to its rightful place as the centre
of Roman imperial rule after two years of secessionist government.1 Less
than two centuries later, in , the Constantinopolitan emperor Phocas
ratified a series of treaties with the Lombards which acknowledged, impli-
citly if not explicitly, that large areas of Italy had been lost to imperial rule.2
Between these events occurred the dismemberment of Roman Italy,
together with its increasing marginalization in the empire. At the outset of
this period, Italy was still the centre of the empire; by its end, however, it
had become a frontier province, fought over by Lombard potentates and
Byzantine military governors.
This chapter will trace this political fragmentation and show how it was
reflected in the transformation of local society throughout Italy. The polit-
ical disintegration has long been known. Certain stretches of Italian history
in the fifth and sixth century are narrated in detail by contemporary histo-
rians and chroniclers, although overall the coverage is rather patchy, while
the epistolary, exegetical and hagiographical works of Gregory the Great
present a haunting vision of Italy after decades of debilitating wars. At an
institutional level, the letters of Cassiodorus give valuable insights into the
administration of Ostrogothic Italy, while inscriptions, though not so
numerous as for earlier periods, add further detail to the picture, announc-
ing the ambitions of rulers or recording the achievements of local aristo-
crats. Such sources, of course, present their own interpretative problems,
as factors like ideology impinge on their credibility.3 We must look else-
where for insights into the more mundane realities of life in Italy in the fifth
and sixth century. From Ravenna, a remarkable dossier of papyrus docu-
ments illuminates the daily concerns of Italian landowners.4 For the meta-
morphosis of local society throughout the peninsula, however, much new
detail has been provided by the greatly increased scope and sophistication
1
McCormick, Eternal Victory –. 2
Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang. ..
3
See e.g. Rouche () on Gregory’s letters; cf. Petersen () on the Dialogus.
4
Tjäder (–).
8
Trade between Africa and Italy after is a vexed problem: Wickham () – on continu-
ity (cf. ch. (Cameron), pp. ‒ below). For other areas: Wilson () –; Arthur () –;
Barnish (); Small and Buck () –. 9
Christie and Rushworth () –.
10
Harries () –.
11
For very different appraisals of Majorian, cf. Harries () ch. and O’Flynn () –.
12
O’Flynn () –.
13
Joh. Ant. fr. .. 14
Ennod. Vita Epiph. ; cf. O’Flynn () –.
15
Joh. Ant. fr. . 16
Clover (). 17
Marc. Com. Chron. s.a. ..
18
Procop. Wars ..–; Malchus fr. Blockley.
A 10°E B 15°E C
a a
Augusta
Praetoria VENETIA
Comum Opitergium Concordia
Bergomum
Castelseprio Tarvisium Aquileia
LIGURIA Brixia Vicetia ET
Vercellae Milan Altinum
Cremona Verona Patavium HISTRIA
45°N Turin 45°N
Placentia
Dertona
Veleia
ALPES Genoa
COTTIAE Ravenna
AEMILIA Classis
Luna FL
AM
IN
IA
Gubbio
TUSCIA ET basin
PIC
UMBRIA
Spoletium
EN
b b
UM
Cosa
Monte Gelato
Centumcellae Veii
CORSICA SAMNIUM
Rome Biferno
Ostia Valley
S. Vincenzo Sipontum
Luceria
al Volturno Canusium
C A Beneventum
M Venosa Barium
Egnatia
Naples PA APULIA ET
N CALABRIA
I Brindisium
S. Giovanni
A
di Ruoti
40°N Hydruntum
40°N
SARDINIA LUCANIA
ET
BRUTTIUM
Squillace
SICILIA
SCALE
0 100 200 300 400 km
39
Procop. Wars ..–. 40
Procop. Wars ..–.
41
Procop. Wars ..–; cf. Wilson () –.
46
Cities: Procop. Wars ..– (Naples), .. (Rome). Runaway slaves: P. Ital. . Famine:
Procop. Wars ..–. 47
Pelagius I, Ep. (in MGH Epistolae .).
48
Christie () –, in favour of a Byzantine initiative; cf., however, ch. (Collins), p. above.
49
Men. Prot. , ; cf. Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang. ..
50
Leciejewicz, Tabaczynska and Tabaczynski (), esp. –, –; Rando () –.
51
Wickham () ; Christie ().
A 10°E B 15°E C
nks
Fra
the
of
om
gd
Kin Avars
a a
Invillino
DUCHY OF
Trento FRIULI Cividale
Torcell Grado
KINGDOM OF THE Padua o Heraclia
Pavia Verona VENETIA
45°N Monselice Porecˇ 45°N
LOMBARDS
Pula
EXARCHATE
Genoa Ravenna
Classe
PE N
LIGURIA TA
PO
Rimini
LIS
OF
Y A
H GI
PER C
U
Perugia DU
b Spoleto b
DUCHY OF
SPOLETO
Rome
DUCHY OF
D
ROME U
C Bari
Capua H
Terracina Y
O CA
F
Benevento LA Brindisi
BR
Naples BE IA
NE
DUCHY OF
Otranto
VE
40°N NAPLES
40°N
NT
O
Cagliari
M
TIU
UT
Byzantine frontiers
BR
Lombard frontiers
Palermo
Via Amerina (Rome-Rimini)
c c
S I C I LY
Land over 1000 metres
Syracuse
SCALE
0 100 200 300 400 km
115
Moreland () –. 116
E.g. Mazzoleni (). 117
Barnish () –.
118
Heather () –. 119
McCormick, Eternal Victory –.
.
Under Lombards and Byzantines, then, Italy was very different from the
territory restored to Valentinian in . The pace of change had varied
from region to region, but, overall, Italy underwent a process markedly
different from the rest of western Europe. Whereas Gaul, Spain and Britain
had experienced considerable disruption in the fifth century, with the res-
toration of some form of equilibrium in the sixth, the situation in Italy was
almost completely the reverse. The deposition of the last emperor passed
almost without notice. Under Ostrogothic government the peninsula saw
considerable continuity with the Roman past, even if not all members of
the Roman élite acquiesced in Theoderic’s regime. The forcible reintegra-
tion of Italy into the empire by Justinian, however, belatedly brought to
Italy its share of cultural, economic, social and political dislocation.
To a major extent, of course, Roman Italy had always been a conglom-
eration of regions united by the veneer of Roman civilization and govern-
ment. Under Theoderic that veneer had held firm, but Justinian’s
reconquest set in motion a sequence of events that caused the structures
of the Roman state to collapse and the peninsula to disintegrate into sep-
arate regions.127 The tumultuous events of the later sixth century saw Italy
torn apart between the new reality of Lombard power and the outmoded
aspirations of the imperial government in Constantinople. Such contradic-
tions were echoed at the beginning of the seventh century by the complex
reactions of Phocas to the new state of Italian affairs. In one sense, Phocas
tacitly recognized that Italy was largely lost to the empire when he ratified
Smaragdus’ treaties with Agilulf. Yet if by such actions Phocas seemed to
acknowledge the changed nature of Italian political realities, he was prone
to ideological conservatism. In , Smaragdus erected a column and
gilded statue in Phocas’ honour by the Rostra in the Roman forum. On its
base an inscription claimed that Phocas was ‘triumphator, forever
Augustus’ who had achieved peace and libertas for Italy:128 the rhetoric is
substantially the same as that of Justinian.
By the early seventh century, the very act of setting up the column, statue
and inscription represented an anachronistic view of Rome and Italy and
their place in the empire. While the shift in power from Ravenna to
Constantinople meant that Italy was now a mere frontier province of the
Byzantine empire, the idea that it was an imperial possession continued to
beguile the emperors of Constantinople, and sixty years after Phocas one
last attempt was made to restore Italy to the empire. In , Constans II
came to Italy in person, aiming to wrest Italy from Lombard hands. Despite
some early successes in southern Italy, Constans failed to achieve his ambi-
127
Wickham () –, –. 128
CIL ..
The period from .. to the eve of Islam was a momentous one for
North Africa. At its start, what is now seen to have been one of the most
prosperous and urbanized of Roman provinces, even if that development
came somewhat later than elsewhere, passed without real struggle into
Vandal control. The monarchy then established lasted until .. /,
when a Byzantine force under Belisarius re-established Roman rule, again
with surprising speed. The new province established by Justinian’s
Pragmatic Sanction of endured in theory, if not fully in reality, until the
fall of Carthage itself to the Arabs in .. ; even though Arab armies had
defeated and killed a Byzantine exarch in –1 and founded an Islamic city
at Kairouan in , ties between the province and Constantinople were not
entirely broken.
These changes of fortune also implied political, religious and economic
changes which have been the subject of much recent discussion. The main
stimulus for this re-examination has come from archaeology – first and
foremost the important series of excavations conducted by a number of
national teams at Carthage during the s under the general auspices of
UNESCO; these have provided, in many cases for the first time, reliable
information at least about parts of the city and its development during this
and other periods, and have stimulated and made possible further impor-
tant developments in such disciplines as the study of ceramics. In turn, the
results of these excavations, even though not all are yet fully published,
have contributed to the re-examination of issues such as long-distance
trade and its place in the Mediterranean economy in the sixth and seventh
century. One result has been that the period of Vandal rule in North Africa
is no longer seen as one of severe economic decline; rather, overseas trade
continued as before. In assessing the level of this exchange, historians have
depended heavily on the recently developed study of late Roman pottery,
and in particular of late Roman African slipwares. But recent work on
Justinian’s fortifications in North Africa, survey evidence and work on
some major sites, if as yet only incomplete, is also enabling historians to
1
Gregory: PLRE ., s.v. Fl. Gregorius .
15
Luxorius: Rosenblum (); Florentinus (Anth. Lat. ): Clover (b); Clover () –;
Cameron () . 16
Vict. Vit. Hist. persec. .. 17
Clover () –. 18
Parsons ().
19
Vict. Vit. Hist. persec. .–; ., ; Huneric as persecutor: Procop. Wars ..–.
20
Parsons () ch. .
21
Ferrandus, Vita Fulgentii –; cf. his Tres libri ad Thrasamundum and Responsiones contra Arianos,
CCSL , . Thrasamund: Procop. Wars ..–. 22
Courtois () –.
23
Humphrey (); Mattingly and Hitchner () . Cities: Brett and Fentress () –.
24
Vict. Vit. Hist. persec. .; see Mattingly and Hitchner () . 25
Lepelley ().
26
Clover (b) –; the epigrams of Luxorius make it clear that games and entertainments were
still popular: Rosenblum (). 27
Anth. Lat. . 28
Stevens et al. ().
29
References and general discussion in Mattingly and Hitchner () –; an important kiln
survey is also under way.
a Belalis a
Hippo Maior Carthage
Kelibia
Regius das
R. Bagra
PROCONSULARIS Segermes
Thuburbo
Maius Ksar
Cuicul/Djemila
Lemsa 36°N
36°N Hadrumetum
Kairouan
Sitifis NUMIDIA Lepti Minus
h ul
Ain Ksar ut
M BYZACENA
Theveste
R.
Timgad Sbeitla
(Thamugadi) (Sufetula) Ras Kapoudia
Kasserine Ruspe
b
Thelepte (Cillium) b
Iunci Sofiana
34°N
34°N
SCALE
0 50 100 150 200 km
c c
0 50 100 miles
– for instance, lamps.30 Far from being cut off from the rest of the
Mediterranean, African exports continued throughout the period, and
indeed up to the seventh century; interpretation of the evidence remains
controversial, but while there is evidence of decline from the mid fifth
century, combined with a significant increase in imports of eastern
amphorae to the west, the argument is one of scale. Geiseric’s aggressive
policy against Italy cannot have helped the cause of African exports; yet
kiln evidence shows that at Lepti Minus, for example, production was
continuous. Indeed, the ending of the annona at Rome, which had acted
as a stimulus to African production but also deprived the province itself
of much of the grain which it produced, may have increased local
resources during the Vandal period. It is not clear to what extent the level
of long-distance exchange was affected by the substitution for Roman
currency exports to North Africa of a local Vandal coinage and the con-
tinued use of fourth-century bronze.31
30
See ibid. –, with Panella (), (); in general, Giardina (ed.), Società romana ; Fulford, in
Fulford and Peacock (eds.) (). Discussion in Wickham (), especially at –; Mattingly ().
31
References in Mattingly and Hitchner () nn. –.
53
Coins of Constans II: Guéry, Morrisson and Slim (); events of .. : Theoph. Chron,
p. de Boor.
54
Cameron () –. A main source is the Chronicle of Victor of Tonnena, who was among those
imprisoned. 55
Vict. Tunn. Chron. s.aa. –; for the African bishops see Maier ().
56
Cameron () –, with Markus (), (). Against the view of Donatism as identifiable
with rural resistance (Frend ()) see Mattingly and Hitchner (), works cited in n. .
C
sag Regius
a
Io Caesarea/
a Cherchel a
Cuicul
Tingi R Sava
Hadrumetum
Septem helif
R. C MAURETANIA Sitifis
35°N R. Loukkos
35°N
MAURETANIA SITIFENSIS Thamugadi
MAURETANIA (Timgad) Aures Mts
R. Se bou
Sala CAESARIENSIS
TINGITANA
Volubilis
ha
NUMIDIA
luc
b b
Mu
.
R.
n s
M o
l a s
A 5°W A t B 0 C 5°E D 10°E E
SCALE
0 100 200 300 400 km
30°N C Y R E N A I C A 30°N
c c
62
See the discussion in Pringle () .–. 63
Morrisson and Seibt ().
64
See Duval () , nos. , , ; .ff., –. Funerary epitaphs, largely still Latin:
Ennabli (), () (Carthage); Prévot () (Maktar); Duval and Prévot () (Haidra); Pringle
() .–, with Cameron () – and Cameron ().
65
Maximus’ letters are to be found mostly in Migne, PG . 66
See Cameron () –.
67
Jones, LRE .–; according to Durliat () the office of magister militum Africae came into
being only in the late s. For detailed discussion of the military and provincial organization as a whole
see Pringle () .–.
68
Jones, LRE .; the administrative reforms of Maurice: Pringle () .–.
69
See Procop. Wars ..–. 70
Justin II, Nov. (.. ); Tiberius II, Nov. (.. ).
.
The literary evidence for the history of Asia Minor and Cyprus is abundant
for every period, but it suffers to some extent from too much familiarity:
Asia Minor and Cyprus were the homeland of so many writers and readers.
There was nothing exotic about this area, the heartland of the eastern
empire, and so authors felt little need to describe it; much has to be deduced
from what they assume. Furthermore, the chief characteristic of Asia
Minor and Cyprus in the fifth and sixth century was that they were at peace,
so that there was little to recount in historical narratives. The exception,
here as in other things, is Isauria, whose turbulent history in the fifth
century brought it into the history of the empire.
The lack of ‘historical’ events can therefore convey a spurious air of
immobility. In such a situation, the contribution of archaeological evidence
is particularly important; and as the archaeology of this region in this
period has developed, it has revealed more and more evidence of marked
change. The majority of early excavations concentrated on city sites, and it
was common for the late Roman material to be dealt with cursorily during
the search for ‘more interesting’ periods. More recently, excavators have
come to treat such material more attentively; moreover, since the s,
archaeologists have been surveying the countryside, and their work is start-
ing to provide a more balanced picture of this very large area. Recent work
on Roman defences and fortifications has also produced a great deal of evi-
dence for the period. Because of the changes in approach and emphasis,
and also because so much archaeological work is going on at present, it is
necessary to look at the most recent work possible, while remembering that
one year’s observations are sometimes reversed by those made a year later.1
1
For Asia Minor, regular reports in English are to be found in ‘Archaeology in Anatolia’, edited by
Professor M. Mellink, in the American Journal of Archaeology, and normally in Anatolian Studies; regular
summary articles, ‘Archaeology in Asia Minor’, appear every five years in Archaeological Reports, published
with the Journal of Hellenic Studies. An important source of information is the reports on current work
– in various languages, but usually in Turkish – which are given by excavators at the annual symposia
organized by the Turkish Department of Antiquities. For Cyprus, the principal source is the annual
Report of the Department of Antiquities in Cyprus; summary reports also appear every five years or so in
Archaeological Reports.
a PA a
RO O N I A
U A G
H L
E Constantinople Chalcedon HELENOPONTUS
P y s
Nicomedia A H al Amasea
P R.
40°N Nicaea cus ARMENIA I 40°N
R. Ly
BITHYNIA
HELLESPONTUS Sykeon GALATIA I
Ilion
Anastasiopolis ARMENIA II uphrates
R. E
Ancyra
IA PAC AT I A N A
Germia
GALATIA
Pergamum
I
PHRYGIA SALUTARIS
A
Amorium
A
SALUTARIS
OCI
IA II
LY D I A ARMENIA IV
S
C A P PA D
Smyrna Sardis ARMENIA III
C A P PA D O C
I
Caesarea
Claros IA
RYG
A
Ephesus Nysa ID
IS MESOPOTAMIA
PH
b Magnesia b
P
Miletus on the Aphrodisias
LY C A O N I A
Maeander Sagalassos
Didyma
CAR S
IA N
Iasos O CILICIA II
P A Cremna M
E
T A U R U S I
MPHYLIA
CIA
U
I
C IL OSRHOENE
P
Oenoanda
?Sion Side Alahan Korykos
H
Xanthos LYCIA Phaselis ISAURIA SYRIA I
R
Arycanda
Antioch R. Euphra
A
Myra Seleuceia tes
on the
R. Or o n t e s
T
Anemurium E
Calycadnus N S
I S
Land over 1000 metres
35°N SCALE 35°N
0 100 200 300 km Salamis-Constantia
Soloi
c CYPRUS c
0 100 200 miles
Paphos
Curium
25°E B 30°E C 35°E D 40°E E
6
See ch. (Heather), pp. ‒ above, and Heather ().
7
Just. Nov. , , , , (all of ), , ().
25
Arycanda/Arif: Harrison and Lawson (). For a very lucid summary of work on Lycia, with a
useful bibliography, see Foss ().
27
See Brandes (). On this process throughout the empire see ch. (Liebeschuetz), pp. ‒
above.
1
See Sartre () – and the ‘index onomastique’, – for numerous examples; also
MacAdam () –.
2
For the settlement of Arabs in the villages of Syria along the fringes of the desert and the
Damascus area after the break-up of the Ghassānid federation in , see Sartre () –; for a
more general account of the Arab presence in Syria in the early seventh century, Donner () –;
for Arab expansion in Iraq in the sixth century, Morony () –. Further, ch. c (Conrad), p.
below, and in general Shahı-d ().
3
For the meagre evidence for Jewish life in Antioch, Downey () ; in Edessa, Segal ()
–. Sartre () – found no evidence of Jews in Bostra after the early fifth century, and the
same seems to be true of Scythopolis: see Binns () –; for Caesarea, Levine () –.
Further, Cameron ().
4
Hachlili () , –. For a general survey of the synagogues in Palestine, Levine (),
which concentrates on archaeological and artistic aspects; the most recent discussion is Urman and
5
Flesher (). See, for example, the communities of the Golan described in Urman ().
6
There is little recent discussion of the Samaritans in late antiquity but see Crown, Pummer and Tal
(); for Samaritan revolts see pp. and below. 7
Malalas p. Bonn.
A 35°E B 40°E C
Martyropolis
MESOPOTAMIA
Amida
Rhabdion
a Dara a
CILICIA II
E UP
Edessa
ISAURIA AND Nisibis
CILICIA I
HR
OSRH OE NE
Hierapolis
A
Beroea
T
E
Antioch SYRIA I
S Callinicum
N
IS Birtha
Tripolis
IM
RIT
PHOENICIA
MA
LIBANENSIS
Botrys
IA
NIC
Heliopolis
Berytus
Damascus
PHOE
Tyre
ARABIA
PALESTINA
II Bostra
b Caesarea b
Pella
Scythopolis
Gerasa
Neapolis
PALESTINA I
Madaba
Jerusalem Approximate eastern limit
Gaza of imperial control
Elusa
Metropolitan bishopric
Petra SCALE
PALESTINA III 0 50 100 150 200 250 km
0 50 100 150 miles
30°N 30°N
c
c
A 35°E B 40°E C
tice, Elusa in the Negev seems to have been the most important centre in
the fifth and sixth century.8 The province of Arabia, originally established
by Trajan in , had been truncated in the south by the creation of
Palestine III.9 Bostra remained the capital in late antiquity, but the province
8
See Gutwein ().
9
The borders of the province in late antiquity are discussed in Sartre () –.
17
On the status of Jerusalem in this period see Honigmann (); before Chalcedon: ibid. ,
–. 18
See Honigmann (), a study of one important monastery.
19
Honigmann (); see also Meyendorff () – and –; ch. (Allen), pp. ‒
below. For Bostra: Sartre () –.
20
Severus b. al-Muqaffa’, History of the Patriarchs ed. and trans. Evett (PO () ), quoted by
Meyendorff in his discussion of this period () –.
21
Malalas pp. – Bonn; for a full and vivid narrative of these campaigns W. Wright, The Chronicle
of Joshua the Stylite (London ) caps. xlviii–lxxxi.
While the politics of the area were comparatively placid, the same cannot be
said of the religious history. The area was the birthplace of Christianity, its
bishoprics were amongst the oldest Chritian institutions in the empire, and
its monasteries and ascetics were rivalled only by those in Egypt. By the
majority of the towns were at least nominally Christian, the public perfor-
mance of pagan rites had been outlawed and some of the major temples
destroyed.27 Pagan cults persisted with considerable vigour in some places,
notably at Carrhae (Harran), right through the period.28 In Edessa, in many
ways the spiritual centre of Syriac Christianity, sacrifices were still being
made to Zeus at the end of the sixth century. The magister militum per Orientem
Illus promised to restore pagan cults during his rebellion against the emperor
Zeno (–), and this attracted some support, though it is not clear
how widespread this was.29 John of Ephesus says that the Christians of
Heliopolis were a small and oppressed minority and that when an imperial
agent came to put an end to the persecution they were suffering, he uncov-
ered a pagan network in which the vicarius of Edessa and the patriarch of
Antioch, no less, were alleged to have been implicated.30 In the countryside,
25
John Eph. HE .–, ; Sartre () –; Shahı-d () (a different view).
26
For the situation at the time of the Muslim conquests, Kaegi () –; in general, Shahı-d
(), with ch. c (Conrad), pp. ‒ below.
27
For the destruction of the temple of Zeus at Apamea (c. ) and the Marneion at Gaza in
see Trombley, Hellenic Religion .– and .–.
28
For Harran, where the pagan cult is well attested from Islamic times, see Green (). For the
cults of Syria in general: Drijvers (). 29
Trombley, Hellenic Religion –, –.
30
John Eph. HE .–; see Bowersock, Hellenism –.
40
See Patrich (); Binns (); and Honigmann () –. For the archaeology of the
Palestinian monasteries, Hirschfeld ().
a a
St Symeon Stylites
sate
(Qal'at Sim'an)
Rafada
Euphr
Antioch Aleppo
36°N 36°N
Orontes
al-Bura
LIMESTONE
MASSIF
Androna
Apamea
Qasr Ibn Wardan
Hama
b b
MOAB
Palmyra
Mediterranean
34°N 34°N
Sea
Damascus
c c
-
HAWRAN
.
Bostra
Jordan
Jerusalem
-
Lejjun
Dead Sea
d d
Subeita
NEGEV 200 mm isohyet
aba
SCALE
r
Wadi A
0 50 100 km
0 50 miles
EGYPT
.
By the year , Egypt had achieved a provincial arrangement that would
last for well over a century.1 A single province under the principate, it had
come under Diocletian to be divided into three smaller provinces. It all
began in the last decade of the third century when a new province of
Thebaid, coterminous with the old Theban epistrategia, was created out of
the southern part of the original province of Egypt (Aegyptus); subse-
1
Literary and legal notices for the history of Egypt after are scattered; some will be found in
the text and notes below. A text of Justinian’s Edict is included in Corpus Iuris Civilis, vol.
(Novellae), th edn, by R. Schoell and W. Kroll (Berlin ), –. The fourth-century record of
monastic traditions, preserved in Greek, Latin and Coptic texts, yields in the fifth century to the Coptic
writings of Shenoute and Besa. What is unique about Egypt, in this as in other periods, is its wealth of
documentary evidence preserved on papyrus. Any account of Egypt must rely heavily on this. The
years – are represented by a few papyri in Latin and Coptic, by a great number in Greek, some
from the fifth century, but most from the sixth. Important editions include: P.Monac. (revised as
P.Münch.), P.Lond. .– (for Syene’s Patermuthis archive); P.Cair.Masp. ‒, P.Lond. , P.Flor.
–, P.Mich. , P.Michael. – (for Aphrodito); BGU , P.Herm. (for Hermopolis); P.Oxy.
and , and PSI (for Oxyrhynchus); Stud.Pal. , , , SB, especially vol. , BGU (passim), and
some volumes in the CPR series, most recently and (for the Fayum). Papyri from these and other
editions are cited according to the conventions set out in J. F. Oates, R. S. Bagnall, W. H. Willis and K.
A. Worp, Checklist of Editions of Greek and Latin Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets th edn (Bulletin of the American
Society of Papyrologists Suppl. : Atlanta, GA, ).
The papyrus evidence, despite its richness, has its limitations. One is that it derives from a limited
number of sites, none of which can be taken as typical of Egypt as a whole. The most important of
these are (from south to north): Syene, Aphrodito, Hermopolis, Oxyrhynchus and the Fayum
(Arsinoite nome). Of these, Oxyrhynchus has drawn the most scholarly attention, the Fayum (the state
of whose documentation is improving, but still in great disarray) the least.
Besides its geographical spottiness, the papyrus evidence is limited in other, equally important ways.
The papyri mostly concern local and regional, rarely imperial events. The plague of , for example,
extensively described in Procopius (Wars .–), finds but one obscure and probably figurative allu-
sion in the papyri (P.Cair.Masp. with ed. intro.). When papyri do refer to seemingly important
events, it is necessary to resort to speculation in seeking their ‘fit’ into the larger imperial scheme. See,
for example, Maehler (). Similar, though probably more successful, have been efforts to find the
‘fit’ between the documentary papyri and the late imperial law codes (esp. C.Th., CJ, Just. Nov.), though
see the remarks of A. H. M. Jones, JHS () , on how hard it is ‘to weave together the bits and
patches of the papyri with the tangled skein of the Codes and Novels’.
For bibliographical guidance beyond what is provided here, see A. Bataille, Les papyrus (Paris :
Traité d’études byzantines ); O. Montevecchi, La papirologia, nd edn (Milan ), pt , esp. –,
(for papyrus archives); H.-A. Rupprecht, Kleine Einführung in die Papyruskunde (Darmstadt ),
passim. My thanks to Terry G. Wilfong for the map that locates places mentioned in this discussion and
for advice on Coptic and other late sources.
2
Kramer (); Notitia Dignitatum ed. Seeck, Or. ., ., .⫽; Jones, LRE Appendix .
Cf. Keenan (). See now P.Oxy. , , with introductions; , n.
3
SB mentions five Arcadian cities and one district: Herakleopolis, Cynopolis, Memphis,
Letopolis, Nilopolis and ‘the Arsinoite’.
4
Or. .–; Augustamnica was mistakenly excluded from Or. .– and .–, cf. Jones, LRE
.
5
Not. Dig. ed. Seeck, pp. – (Aegyptus, Augustamnis, Thebaida, Libia sicca, Libia pentapolis, Archadia),
cf. Jones, LRE , .
6
For the vexed question of the edict’s date, see Rémondon (). For papyrus fragments of the
edict, see now P.Oxy. .
Fig. Leaf from the Notitia Dignitatum. Fifteenth-century copy of a Carolingian original. Insignia of
the comes limitis Aegypti (Count of the Egyptian Frontier) with a schematic map of the Egyptian delta
region. The Bodleian Library, Oxford. MS Canon. Misc. , fol. r. (Photo: courtesy of the
Bodleian Library)
SCALE
0 50 100 150 200 km
0 50 100 miles
a a
Alexandria
A
Pelusium
EG
Kell ICA
Y
ia
MN
PT
TA
US
S
Scetis GU
AU
Letopolis
30°N 30°N
Memphis
ARSINOITE NOME Karanis
(FAYUM)
Arsinoe
Hawara
Tebtunis Nilopolis
Herakleopolis Magna
ARCADIA
(HEPTANOMIA)
Oxyrhynchus Cynopolis
Antinoopolis
Hermopolis Magna
b b
Lykopolis
Antaiopolis
T
Aphrodito
Red Sea
H
E
Panopolis
B
(Sohag)
A
ID
Latopolis
25°N 25°N
Omboi
Elephantine Syene
Philae
Tropic of Cancer
c c
le
Ni
A 30°E B 35°E C
Map Egypt
Fig. Relief from the upper half of a limestone grave-marker showing a bearded monk with hands
raised in prayer. Saqqara, sixth or seventh century .. Dumbarton Oaks -. (Photo: courtesy of
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC)
Much time has so far been spent on Theodore’s will, but its value as a mech-
anism for identifying phenomena typical of late antique Egypt has not
quite been exhausted. Three more items are worth remark.
First, in the will’s final clauses, Theodore manumits his slaves and estab-
lishes trust funds for his nurse and her daughter. Apparent in these meas-
ures is a fundamental characteristic of Egyptian slavery in this as in earlier
periods of history – that is, slavery was an urban rather than a rural phe-
nomenon. Egypt was a land whose agriculture, even as conducted on great
estates, depended on the toil of a large class of peasants, not the efforts of
gangs of agricultural slaves. What slaves there were – and these were seem-
ingly much fewer in late than in early imperial times – tended rather to be
domestic slaves owned by those in society’s higher reaches.40
Second, some of the proceeds of Theodore’s estate were to be devoted
to the pious cause of ransoming prisoners.41 The will does not specify, but
37
Esp. P.Oxy. (/), Apiones of Oxyrhynchus.
38
In general: Cameron, Circus Factions; Antinoopolis: Turner () (the codex leaf); Humphrey
() –.
39
Berger () s.v. Lex Falcidia (citing Inst. ., D. .; ; CJ .) and – s.v. piae causae
(citing CJ .). In general: Hagemann (). 40
Bagnall, Egypt ch. . Cf. Fichman [Fikhman] ().
41
Cf. Just. Nov. (), . (); Shenoute, Opera ed. Leipoldt, .–. In general: Amirante
().
the original editor and those who have followed him assume that the pris-
oners in question were persons kidnapped by desert nomads, especially the
Blemmyes, in raids on the Nile valley. Toward the close of the third century
Diocletian had secured Egypt’s southern frontier,42 but there were later
break-throughs, and the full length of the Nile valley could not, in any
event, always be safeguarded. The Thebaid was especially vulnerable to
attack, and there are indications that the second quarter of the fifth century
42
Procop. Wars ..–.
Although the history of the family can be notionally traced back to the mid
fifth century, the first known household head with the name Apion only
comes into evidence toward the close of the century, and then he appears
51
Bagnall, Egypt ch. ; Maas, John Lydus . Later evidence is scrappy and sometimes indirect:
Geremek ().
52
Counts: P.Oxy. , Stud.Pal. . High office: Bernand () . (decurion who is dux
et Augustalis of the Thebaid). Curiales as landlords: e.g. P.Cair.Masp. , SB , Stud.Pal.
(sixth- and seventh-century land leases), P.Cair.Masp. , , , PSI (sixth-
century rent receipts); further (assorted fifth-century evidence): P.Michael. , P.Oxy. , .
53
Maas, John Lydus chs. –. (The quotation is from p. .)
54
If P.Cair.Masp. ⫹ bis concerns his brother, then Theodore’s grandfather would
have been a count (comes). 55
Discussion and examples: Keenan () – and notes.
62
Hardy () ; Gascou () ; PLRE .– (Strategius). Apion diptych: CIL .⫽
Dessau, ILS .; medallion: Schefold () with plates and ; career: PLRE .– (Fl.
Strategius Apion Strategius Apion ). 63
P.Oxy. ; ; .
64
P.Oxy. , with P.Lond. . and the long discussion in the relevant note, together with
Gascou’s equally long discussion of the attendant dating (and other) problems: () n. .
65
Liebeschuetz (). Synoptic discussion and full bibliography: The Coptic Encyclopedia .–,
s.v. Pagarch (B. Verbeeck). 66
BGU , CPR .
67
P.Oxy. () and other documents; Gascou () and references in n. .
68
P.Oxy. is the key proof, though far from problem-free, of Strategius II’s position as prin-
cipal heir to Apion II. 69
P.Oxy. , many other refs. in Gascou () n. .
It is clear from this summary that the Apion family had a long and distin-
guished history, traceable for some six generations from the late fifth into
the early seventh century. If there are any trends to be perceived in all this,
70
P.Oxy. ; PLRE . (Fl. Praeiecta ). Praeiecta appears in most discussions (and
stemmata) as Strategius II’s wife; for arguments that she was his sister: CPR , p. n. .
71
PLRE . (Fl. Georgius ); P.Oxy. , –, P.Erl. .
72
P.Oxy. , additional refs. in Gascou () n. , to which may be added numerous
new references in P.Oxy. .
73
Cameron () –; Gascou () ; PLRE .– (Fl. Apion ). Eusebia and her mother
figure often in Gregory’s epistles, but leave no imprint in the documentary papyri.
74
Details in P.Oxy. .– n., intro. 75
P.Oxy. .
76
Gascou () – and n. ; CPR , pp. –; PLRE .– (Fl. Strategius ).
77
Hardy () –, Gascou () –.
The sixth-century history of that village and its regional and imperial con-
nections can be partially reconstructed thanks to the survival of an archive
preserved by one Flavius Dioscorus.99 Although Dioscorus himself was
probably not born until around , the archive includes a few papers
of earlier date. The family’s Egyptian roots are intimated by the name of
its earliest known member, ‘old man Psimanobet’,100 who presumably
reached his prime in the mid fifth century. Psimanobet, whose Egyptian
name signified ‘son of the gooseherd’, had a son, Dioscorus, who in turn
had children, including a son named Apollos. It is this Apollos, father of
Flavius Dioscorus, whose activities come to light initially in the Dioscorus
papyri. He first appears in as a village headman (prwtokwm thv) of
Aphrodito, appearing later, in the s, as a member of the village’s board
of ‘contributaries’ (suntelesta‹ ), jointly responsible for the village’s tax
collection.101 He may also have served the local great landlord, count
Ammonius, as ‘collector’ (˛pod kthv);102 but all the while he was operat-
ing as an entrepreneur in his own right, taking land in lease concurrently
from many absentee landlords – from curiales of Antaiopolis, from bureau-
crats and lawyers from Panopolis and (probably) Antinoopolis, and from
one of the village churches. He sublet these parcels or saw by other means
to their being worked by a local force of free tenant farmers.103 In the last
decade of his life, by , Apollos became a monk,104 without fully retiring
from worldly business. The year found him in the imperial capital in
the company of his fraternal nephew, a priest named Victor. There the two
villagers took out a loan of twenty solidi from a banker named Flavius
Anastasius, a ‘waiter of the sacred table’, due for repayment four months
97
See on the irrigation works, their operation and maintenance, Bonneau (), with special atten-
98
tion to the Apiones. Schnebel ().
99
Discussions of the village and its chief family: Bell (); Keenan (a); MacCoull, Dioscorus
esp. –; Gagos and van Minnen (). Dioscorus’ career: PLRE .– (Fl. Dioscorus ),
differing in some details from what is presented here. 100
P.Lond. .–.
101
First appearance: P.Flor. ; Apollos’ career: Keenan (b).
102
Hardy () ; Thomas () , , approved by MacCoull (a) n. . Count
Ammonius: PLRE .– (Fl. Ammonius I).
103
A critical document is P.Cair.Masp. ; discussion: Keenan (a), cf. Thomas () –.
104
PSI .
105
P.Cair.Masp. ; discussion: Keenan ().
106
See esp. P.Cair.Masp. , cf. Thomas () , .
107
RE . () – (Kroll). 108
P.Cair.Masp. , with Keenan (b).
109
Critical documents include P.Cair.Masp. (rescript), (contract with exsecutores negotii,
also accessible as Meyer, JJP and FIRA ), SB (letter of recommendation for
Dioscorus); synoptic discussion with pertinent references: Keenan () –. Further, esp. on
P.Cair.Masp. : Geraci () with extensive bibliography.
110
Kuehn () (for the connection); van Minnen () esp. – (opposed).
111
MacCoull, Dioscorus esp. ch. (pp. –); cf. MacCoull () and (b) (⫽MacCoull (b)
chs. and ).
112
Early (negative) appraisal: Maspero (). Current standard edition for most of the poems:
Heitsch () –; a new edition by J.-L. Fournet is in preparation. See further Viljamaa (). Re-
evaluation: Baldwin () .–; MacCoull, Dioscorus esp. ch. (pp. –); Kuehn ().
113
This point is made in Gagos and van Minnen () –.
114
List of works: Bell () ; Homer: P.Cair.Masp. –; life of Isocrates: P.Cair.Masp.
; Anacreon: P.Cair.Masp. v F, with MacCoull, Dioscorus esp. –; glossary: Bell and
Crum (). 115
For much of what follows: Keenan (a). 116
P.Lond. .–.
117
E.g. P.Cair.Masp. .. 118
P.Cair.Masp. .
119
Divina domus: Zingale (–); signatories: P.Cair.Masp. with intro. and Jones, LRE
–. 120
Topographical and other data in Calderini () –.
The sense conveyed by all of this – when added to the agrarian dealings of
Apollos, the literary efforts of his son, and the villagers’ journeys to
Constantinople – is one of vitality, activity and variety, not, as was once
maintained, ‘appalling dullness’; and the sense of variety might be further
developed by appealing to other archives: the Taurinus archive from
Hermopolis, for example, with its landowning soldiers and bureaucrats, or
the Patermuthis archive from Syene (modern Aswan), with its border
guards and boatmen, house sales and inheritance disputes.125 The
Dioscorus archive ends with unfortunate abruptness with a document of
no great significance, a pasture lease dated to April ;126 but Dioscorus’
village reappears in the early eighth century with another important (and
final) Greek-Egyptian archive, embodied in the correspondence between
the district pagarch, Flavius Basilius, and the Arab governor of Egypt,
Kurrah ibn Sharik. There the linguistic shift from administrative Greek to
Arabic is clearly seen to be under way.127
The intervening years, in particular those down to , were marked by
a turbulent and confusing rush of events, of great significance for Egypt
and for the Byzantine empire at large. The record, especially for events set
forth in the damaged, biased but invaluable Chronicle of John, bishop of
Nikiu,128 gives an unremitting series of examples of courage and cowar-
dice, carnage and cruelty on all sides. There was, of course, the familiar
street violence in Alexandria, ignited by politics and religion, tempered at
121
See esp. P.Mich. , cf. P.Cair.Masp. r, .–, P.Lond. .–, P.Michael.
.–. 122
P.Cair.Masp. (grand old houses); P.Mich. .
123
Evidence in MacCoull () (⫽MacCoull (b) ch. ). Comparable variety in other Egyptian
locales: Fikhman () (in Russian).
124
Calderini () –: P.Lond. , P.Cair.Masp. (gardens); P.Flor. (olive
works).
125
Taurinus archive: BGU , with extensive introduction by H. Maehler, cf. now also Palme ().
Patermuthis archive: P.Münch., P.Lond. –, with Farber () and the series of articles in BASP
() –. 126
P.Cair.Masp. r. 127
See e.g. P.Lond. , cf. Abbott ().
128
Charles ().
¨
CA S P I A N TR A NS OX IA NA
L. Van
Van
a Amida ARMENIA SEA a
A
RI L. Urmia
ay TUR K ES TA N
D
Y
Edessa Dara la
S
KURDISTAN Canzak
m
Carrhae Nisibis
A D H A R B A IJA N Elb GURGA N Khorasan
urz
Callinicum M
Ira ts Rayy
35°N Eu M ni PA RTH IA 35°N
p ED an
M
hr IA Pl
a te
E
a
Tig
a
S
s
al
Great Kavir
(M
te
O
Diy
is
Salt Desert
au
P
A
H
Zagros
O
Palmyra
)
Gates
T
Perozshapur Ctesiphon
A
Zagros Mts
M
b Veh Ardashir b
IA
Hira Susa
K
The
U
H
AS HU R E S TAN Sawad ZI Dasht-i Lut
ST
n
AN
ru
Ka
N
30°N HA 30°N
ES Istakhr
M
Persepolis
PE
FA RS
Land over 1000 metres
R
S
c c
SCALE
IA
0 100 200 300 400 400 km
N
G
0 100 200 300 miles
U
L
F
B 40°E C 45°E D 50°E E 55°E F 60°E G
8
Discussions in Blockley (); Cameron (/); Cameron, Procopius; Blockley (); Whitby,
Maurice. 9
Howard-Johnston () –. 10
Procop. Wars .–.
25
Cf. Nöldeke () –; () . 26
For a survey of views, see Schippmann () –.
27
Shaki ().
31
Duchesne-Guillemin, in Yar-Shater () ; cf. Boyce in Yar-Shater () .
32
Elishe Vardapet in Langlois () –; cf. Eznik of Kolb in Boyce () –.
37
Widengren () –; Rubin () –.
38
Duchesne-Guillemin in Yar-Shater () –; Khuzistan Chronicle chs. , , , .
39
Karnamak Artakhshir-i Papakan ed. Edalji Kersaspji Antia (Bombay ) ch. , – (English trans.)
and Nöldeke () – for annotated German trans.; Tabari – (Leiden edition)⫽ Nöldeke
() – (German trans.); also Bosworth () ‒ for an annotated English translation.
40
The efficacy of royal control is stressed by Howard-Johnston (), but his model is based on a
hypothetical interpretation of archaeological finds rather than the more explicit literary evidence.
Limitations on ability to tax: Altheim and Stiehl () –.
41
Altheim and Stiehl () –; cf. Lukonin () –, specifically on the foundations of
Ardashir I and Shapur I.
42
Tabari (Leiden)⫽Nöldeke () . al-Masudi, Muruj al-Dhahab (ed. De Maynard and De
Courteille) , –; al-Jahiz, Kitab al-Taj – (ed. Ahmed Zeki Pacha)⫽Pellat () – (French
43
trans.). Boyce ().
44
For these categories, see Schippmann () ; cf. Wiesehöfer () –; () –.
. .
‘Armenia’ has always had an ambiguous place between the major powers,
be they the east Roman empire and Sasanian Iran, the Byzantine empire
and the caliphate, or the Ottoman empire and the Safavids. Armenian loy-
alties have not been consistent, either in support of a coherent internal
policy or with regard to external diplomacy. The very definition of
‘Armenia’ highlights the problem. Does the term refer to a geographical
entity – and if so, what are its borders? Or does it refer to a people with
common bonds – and if so, are those bonds linguistic, religious, cultural or
political?1
1
The emphasis in this chapter will be on Armenian reactions to events as expressed by the native
historians. The principal Armenian sources for the period are:
Agathangelos: an anonymous history, written at the end of the fifth century, which gives the traditional
account of the conversion of king Trdat and the missionary activity of St Gregory the Illuminator at
the beginning of the previous century. Although replete with legendary tales and hagiographical com-
monplaces, it is important for the Armenian Arsacid reaction to the overthrow of the Parthian Arsacid
dynasty by the Sasanians.
The Buzandaran: this traces the history of Armenia from the death of king Trdat c. to the divi-
sion of the country into Roman and Iranian spheres c. . The author is unknown. The work is a com-
pilation of epic tales describing the gestes of the Arsacid dynasty, the noble house of the Mamikonean
family (which played the leading role in the fourth and fifth century), and the descendants of Gregory
in the patriarchate. It is the last witness to the disappearing Iranian traditions of Armenia, although the
Christian author did not himself comprehend the original significance of all the aspects of social and
political life which he described.
Koriwn: a disciple of the inventor of the Armenian script, Mashtots. His biography of the master is
probably the earliest original composition in Armenian.
Moses of Khoren: author of a history of Armenia from the days of Noah to the death of Mashtots,
whose pupil he claims to be. Very important as the first account of Armenian origins, in which oral tra-
ditions are integrated into the schema of Eusebius’ Chronicle, it is the most learned of early Armenian
histories. Moses used many Greek, Jewish and Syriac sources (via Armenian translations). But his
strong pro-Bagratid bias and his clear distortions of previous writers suggest a later authorship than
that claimed. The date and authenticity are hotly contested. But it is significant that the Bagratids did
not gain their ultimate prominence until the eighth century, and Moses’ history is not quoted until the
tenth.
Elishe: unknown author of a history describing the revolt against Yazdgard II in –, the defeat of
the Armenian army led by Vardan Mamikonean at Avarayr, and the ensuing imprisonment of surviv-
ing Armenian nobles. This is probably not an eye-witness account as claimed, but a rewriting of the
shorter version of these events in Lazar. Its great importance is the adaptation of the story of the
Maccabees to the Armenian situation, and the identification of Christian with patriotic virtues. A
sophisticated literary work, it shaped Armenian attitudes to the interaction of religion and politics
down to the present time.
Lazar of P’arp: author of a history of Armenia from , picking up where the Buzandaran ends, to
the appointment of Vahan Mamikonean as governor of Persian Armenia in . His history is an enco-
mium of the Mamikonean family. But despite its bias, it is valuable as an account by someone who knew
the major participants. (Most other early Armenian histories are by unknown authors and of uncertain
date.)
Sebeos: a ‘History of Heraclius’ by a bishop Sebeos is mentioned by Armenian authors of the tenth
and later centuries, but their quotations do not match the untitled text discovered in the early nineteenth
century and published as the work of Sebeos. This anonymous work is important, none the less, as a
product of the seventh century by an author familiar with events in the Armenian patriarchate. The
emphasis is on Armenia in the context of Byzantine–Iranian rivalry from the time of Maurice
(–) to the accession of Muawiya as caliph in .
Book of Letters: a compilation of documents dealing with ecclesiastical matters from the fifth to the
thirteenth century. Of particular importance are the letters exchanged between official representatives
of the Armenian church and foreign dignitaries of the Greek-speaking imperial church in the Byzantine
empire, of the Syriac-speaking church in Iran, and of the church in Georgia.
2
This is the usually accepted date for the consecration of Gregory at Caesarea, which marks the
beginning of the formal organization of the church in Armenia. For the origins of Christianity in
Armenia see Thomson (/).
3
For the Iranian heritage in Armenia see Garsoïan (), and for the religious background Russell
(). 4
For this division and the geographical setting see Adontz () ch. .
5
Toumanoff () –. 6
Procop. Buildings ... Loeb translation.
10
Garsoïan () esp. –. 11
For this office see Christensen () –.
12
For these three – Surmak, Brkisho and Shmuel – see Garitte () –.
C
SCALE AB A
K U
0 50 100 150 km
A
H
C
0 50
˛
Ts khumi
Z A
a 100 miles
S a
IA
(Dioscurias) U
Armenian lands SUANIA S C a s p i a n
L A
Georgian lands
ha )
i (P sis M
O
R. Rion
Albanian lands and border territories ˛ ˛ U
N
Z
P ot i Kutais
42°N Line of 387 T 42°N
(Phasis) ˛ ˛ A
I
s) Up lis-Ts ikhe
yru R. I N
C
Line of 591 A r(
C
˛ ˛ la A
Ku Mts khet a za
ni S
R.
Petra I A Armazi Tiflis S e a
(A R Samshvilde Ujarma
B l a c k S e a E
cam
(CHOSROID)
I BERUSHET I
˛
G
Bolnisi R. K KAKHETIA
p
sis
Artanuji (GUARAMID) ur (
AN
R. Ior
˛ Cy i ˛
W -
ru
G
b JAVAKHET I I Qabala b
D) s)
MI NE ASHOTS TASHIR T
A
A
ZE
ARTANI RE
IR
R HE
R
E
UA AR A ND
Lori H
(G OL i KOL N S
A
H A O A E GA
C okh T N N E I
or E RD AR -
VA
h AC AMATUNI n RAN N
R. C ID ) Kars IR a M
Sper I K O N Ani A
d
(Boas) A
S
B
raz
N) ˛ N
AM YK (KAMSARAKA L. A L Partav˛
R. H
Smbatavan (BAGRATID) ( M TA ˛ Ereruyk
40°N
ROMAN SYSPIRITIS
es
ARSHARUNIK
Bagaran
Sevan (Bardha a)
40°N
R. A
r ax A Valarshapat
I Dvin Avan
(MAMIKONID)
Theodosiopolis (MAMIKONID)
N BAGRAVANDENE Artaxata
ACILISENE
EMPIRE N
IA E
Dariunk S I U N I A
E M Bagavan
RM ˛
P E R A R Tat ev
U P (BAGRATID)
c A KOGOVIT Nakhchevan c
(MAMIKONID)
Archesh -
TARAUN Manazkert I Avarayr R. Ar
Arsamosata UN
axes
˛ N
Eu ph rate s G E
E N
R. Khlat (ARTSRUNI)
N E Mush
SO P H E MARDASTAN T
L. Van A
Van P
-
Balesh O
RS LB R
A
Martyropolis (Bitlis) HT Ostan AK T
38°N UN ˛
IK ANDZ MA A 38°N
E VA JOR
A R Z A N E N E MOXOENE TS ˛ ˛
Amida IK
I)
d TS RUN L. d
(BAGRATID)
TAMORITIS (AR
R . Ti gris Urmia
A 38°E B 40°E C 42°E D 44°E ALBAK MINOR E 46°E F 48°E G 50°E H
13
For a comparison of the various recensions and versions of this history see the introduction to
Thomson ().
14
There is no general study in a western language of the impact of the Syrian strain in Armenian
Christianity more recent than that of Ter-Minassiantz (). Aspects of Syrian liturgical influence are
brought out by Winkler (), which has a good bibliography.
15
For a survey of the early period see Thomson () and in general Renoux ().
39
Tacitus, Annals .; .. My translation.
40
Cf. Charanis () and for a later period Kazhdan ().
THE ARABS*
.
29
Goldziher (–) .–. 30
See Pellat (–), (). Cf. also Lancaster , –.
31
Robin () , .
54
Soz. HE ..–. Cf. Cook () ; Millar (a) –.
55
On the topos of the scheming Jews, see Schafer ().
60
Al-Bakrı̄, Mu¨jam mā sta¨jam .–. Cf. Kister () on similar arrangements at the time of the
Prophet. The same system is still widespread today.
61
See Simon () –; Morony () –; Donner () –; and for modern examples,
Jabbur () –, –, –, . Cf. also Nelson ().
62
Wellhausen () –; Brunschvig () .–; Crone () –.
63
Jones () ; Hendy () –. Cf. also Crone () . Not all trade was profit-driven,
however; see Villiers ().
64
Lughda al-Is·fahānı̄, Bilād al-¨arab e.g. , , , –, , , , , ; Muh·ammad ibn
H·abı̄b, Muh·abbar –; al-Marzūqı̄, Kitāb al-azmina wa-l-amkina –. Cf. also al-Afghānı̄ ();
65
H·ammūr (). Kister (); Dostal (); Lecker ().
Black Sea a
Ca
a
sp
ian
40°N 40°N
Sea
Edessa
Dara
Antioch Beroea
R. Oro
(Aleppo) Nisibis
R. Tig
b b
nte
s
Tadmur R. E u ri s
ph
(Palmyra)
ra
e
t
Damascus
- Ctesiphon
al-Jabiya
Jerusalem
W
.S
-
al-Hıra
ir h
Gaza .
-an
Mu tah.
˛
Petra
30°N s 30°N
Ayla -
al-Duma
P
a Straits of
e
m
um Hormuz
r
-R
s
al
Tayma-
ia
.
n
˛
W
H
G
ul
I
f
Gerrha
J
c c
– Z
A
Yathrib
R
(Medina)
e
Mecca SCALE
- . al-Da 0 250 500 750 km
al-Ta
. if W
˛
w
a sir
-
-
Najran
dra
˛ Qarnaw . H. a . mawt
S
M
I- N
A
d
Shabwa W d
a-
A
San
.
˛ ˛
Mar ib T ˛
˛ W
B
A Tamna MA
˛
YEME A
DR Arabian Sea
N
-N H. A .
B A
TA
Ba
QA
-b
Aden
al
M
-
an
dab C
A 40°E B 50°E
78
Nöldeke (); Simon () –, –; Sartre (); Peters (). On the term phylarch,
which originated as a post in the provincial administration, not necessarily relating to nomads, see
Macdonald () –.
79
John Moschus, Pratum spirituale –, –, – nos. , , ; Delehaye () –;
al-T·abarı̄, Ta©rı̄kh . (cf. also Nöldeke () n. ); al-Washshā©, Kitāb al-fād·il fol. r. Cf. also
Foss (); () –; Schick () , –.
80
Abū l-Baqā©, Al-Manāqib al-mazyadı̄ya .–. Early Islamic works on jihād also mention the prob-
81
lems posed by these elements. Gaube ().
82
Much valuable material is collected in ¨Abd al-Ghanı̄ () –.
83
Nicholson () –; Blachère (–) .–; ¨Abd al-Ghanı̄ () –.
91 92
For the date, see Conrad (a). Crone ().
93
But not immediately; see Donner () –.
94
Watt () – and in numerous publications of his thereafter. Cf. the review by Bousquet
().
95
Simon (), trans. Simon (); Peters (); Crone (). Cf. the highly polemical review of
Crone in Serjeant () and the reply in Crone ().
108
Sebeos, Histoire d’Héraclius –. Cf. also the quotations from Dionysius of Tell Mah·rē (d. )
in Michael I Qı̄ndāsı̄, Chronique de Michel le Syrien .– (trans.); .– (text); Chronicon ad annum
Christi pertinens .– (text); .– (trans.). Discussion in Crone and Cook () –;
Hoyland () –.
109
E.g. al-Walı̄d ibn Muslim (d. ) in Ibn ¨Asākir .–; al-T·abarı̄, Ta©rı̄kh .; al-Maqrı̄zı̄,
Khit·at· ..
110
Ibn ¨Asākir .. 111
Ibn A¨tham al-Kūfı̄, Kitāb al-futūh· .–.
112
Donner () –, –; Kaegi () –, –.
.
The s mark a turning-point in the history of the Balkan provinces of
the Roman empire. Since the s the region had been under pressure from
various tribes who were themselves being stimulated to challenge the
strength of imperial defences by the threat posed to them by the westward
movement of the awesome Huns across the south Russian steppe. By ,
but not much before, the Huns had reached the Danube, establishing
themselves on the Hungarian plain, asserting their authority over other
tribal groups along the Danube, and beginning to challenge Roman impe-
rial authority in both west and east.1 South of the river, the prosperity of
urban and rural life varied. Most cities survived the period of Gothic rav-
aging and settlement, partly because Goths were not skilled besiegers, but
rural hinterlands upon which the vitality of cities depended had been seri-
ously affected. This stimulated a significant change in the pattern of settle-
ment, with the abandonment of isolated rural villages that previously had
served as nuclei for exploiting the countryside and a migration of popula-
tion to the safety of urban defences or upland refuges.2 Some cities might
benefit from an influx of wealthy rural inhabitants who now relocated their
grand villas inside the walls, while others in more exposed places received
impoverished country people but lost their élites. Walls were strengthened
or rebuilt, perhaps to enclose a restricted, more defensible, circuit, though
habitation might still extend beyond the central defended area, as at Athens.
Urban and rural prosperity basically increased with distance from the
Danube, in areas which had been less intensively ravaged in the fourth
century and where, as for example in the Thracian plains, the expansion of
Constantinople stimulated interest in the countryside and made agricultu-
ral land a desirable commodity.
North of the Stara Planina, however, and particularly in Pannonia, con-
ditions were very different. Although some areas seem to have remained
prosperous until the Hun raids of the mid fifth century – for example, Upper
1
Heather, Goths and Romans –; Heather (); Whitby, Maurice –.
2
Amm. Marc. ..; .; Poulter (b) .
C
AR
PA
Danube
N
PAT
NO
sca)
a a
Dr
os N
a
IA
H IA N S
Tissus (Ti
(D
rav
a)
Sa Noviodunum
os
( S a v a)
45°N Sirmium 45°N
(Ister)
Singidunum A
THI
Viminacium
Danube
MO Margus Cataracts
SCY
ESIA
Mora
ILLYR
e
Danub Constantia
IA
Salona Appiaria
DAC
va
Nova
E SIA
Danube
k
D e
o
A O
Ti m
LM Ratiaria Asemus M
Yan
Black
Naissus M O E S I A
IC U
Marcianopolis
t
HA
ra
Nicopolis
NIA
A
EM Sea
T
U ad Istrum
SM
IA
b Justiniana T S (STARA PL AN IN A ) b
M
Prima Serdica
DA
Tundza
˘
R Philippopolis
Adriatic H THRACE
O
DAR
D Hebrus (Mari
O
Str
ca
Sea PE )
ym
Via Eg A Selymbria
n
na C E Topirus
tia D Philippi
ON leia Sea of Constantinople
Heracleia
IA Herac
Marmara
Lyncestis Thessalonica
CHERSONESE
40°N 40°N
EP TH
IR ES
SA
LY
U
S
O CIS
PH
Thermopylae
Thebes Aegean
AEA
ACH Athens Sea
c PE c
LO Corinth ATTICA
PO
N
N
ES
E
Monemvasia
A 20°E B 25°E C
subjected to the same treatment.20 But Attila knew that diplomacy with the
sophisticated Romans could not rely just on personal passion, and ensured
that he was supplied with people of suitable education to present his
written messages to emperors in appropriate form. Aetius had furnished
20
Priscus fr. ..
SCALE
N 0 200 400 600 800 1000m
Acropolis
walls
antique St David
te
La
St Demetrius
St George
Panaghia
Akheiropoietos
Arch of
Galerius
St Sophia
Hippodrome
Late
antique
palace
Harbour
were reinforced in the late s by the construction of Long Walls, which
ran from the Black Sea to Selymbria on the Sea of Marmara; another long
wall was built at the Isthmus of Corinth, to deny access to the Peloponnese,
and the defences at Thermopylae were probably also strengthened at this
time. The administration of the Illyrian prefecture was moved from
Sirmium to Thessalonica, which was provided in the early s with a
massive set of walls that are largely extant (see Fig. ); in due course these
35
Priscus fr. ..–.
36
Priscus fr. ; Heather, Goths and Romans –; Procop. Wars .; Frantz () .
SCALE
0 50 100m
Fig. Tsaricin Grad (Justiniana Prima). (After Bavant in Villes et peuplement.) For a different
reconstruction of the walled circuit, see Fig. , p. below
63
Menander fr. .–; Kollautz and Miyakawa () .–.
64
Mirac. S. Dem. .–; László (); Lengyel and Radan () –; Kollautz and Miyakawa
() .–.
65
Theophylact ..–; Menander ..–; Michael the Syrian .; Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio . Germanen part for illustrations of the wealth of burial
treasures.
66
Menander frr. , , . 67
Theophylact ..–.; Whitby, Maurice –.
68
Whitby, Maurice –, –. 69
Frantz () ch. .
ad
Themistoclean Wall
to
th e
Ac
ad
em
y
Kerameikos
Sacred
Way Sacred Gate
Val
erian
Wa
ll
Poikile
Stoa Library of
Hadrian
Agora Boule
Hephaisteion
Her Post
ulia
nW
all
Roman
Agora
Lykeion
Melitides Areopagus
Gate
Acropolis Zappeion
Pnyx
Parthenon Gymnasium
Odeion Bath
Asclepeio
n
Theatre
N Il i s s
os
Palladion
Olympeion
St
ad
ion
SCALE
0 200 400 600 800 1000m
Metroon
[Stoa of
Attalos]
Tholos 'Palace
of the
Giants'
Water
Mill
SOUTH ROAD
Church of
Holy Apostles Water
Mill
Bath
Late
antique
houses
UTH ROAD
UPPER SO
AR
EO
PA G
US
SCALE
0 25 50m
SCALE
0 25 50m
Tetraconch
Church
Libr
ary
of H
adri
an
Fig. Gamzigrad (Acquis), sixth-century church within the ruins of the palace of Galerius.
(After Bavant in Villes et peuplement )
Greece there is plenty of evidence for the erection and decoration of sub-
stantial churches and other ecclesiastical structures – for example, at
Distomo and Kirra in Phocis, or Nea Anchialos in southern Thessaly,
where there was clearly a flourishing Christian community; in Macedonia,
at Kitros and Makryialos, late Roman basilicas have been discovered within
the past decade, while at Philippi the decoration of the episcopal palace has
revealed that the bishop lived in conditions to match the impressive group
of basilicas in the centre of his town.75 At Thessalonica, as at Athens, the
late fifth century seems to have been the crucial period for the monumen-
tal establishment of Christianity at the centre of the city: the city’s patron
saint and protector, Demetrius, received a grand church, the unused mau-
soleum of Galerius was converted into a church to St George with lavish
mosaic decorations, and there were also churches for St David and the
Panaghia Akheiropoietos; these are just the structures that survive.76 As
Christian buildings were becoming more prominent in the provincial cities
and towns, so the bishops were emerging as the dominant local figures: the
role of the bishops at Thessalonica and Heracleia during the passage of
Theoderic’s Goths in has already been noted; this is matched at a lesser
level by bishop Epiphanius who was responsible for a construction at
75
All information reported in Archaeological Reports for –. 76
Spieser (a).
88
Gregory () –. 89
Men. frr. .; ..–; Procop. Buildings ..; Farkas (–).
90
Theophylact ..–, .–; Greg. Reg. .; Whitby, Maurice –.
1
Jones, LRE –, and the related notes, can only be admired and palely imitated in the space
available here. Baus, Beck, Ewig and Vogt () is also useful, especially chs. –, and –. See
also Ducellier, L’Église byzantine, especially for the relations of church and emperor.
2
See PGL s.v. ρχιεπ¬σκοποv, πατριάρχηv. 3
Canon .
16
See ch. below. 17
Beck in Baus, Beck, Ewig and Vogt () –.
18
Baus in Baus, Beck, Ewig and Vogt () –.
22
Gaudemet and Basdevant () .
23
The Council of Épaone in , presided over by Avitus of Vienne after Sigismund’s rise to power,
had only two references to heretics and their buildings. The same applies to the momentous Council
of Toledo III in , after Reccared’s conversion (see Orlandi in Orlandi and Ramos-Lisson ()
–, esp. –).
24
Orleans , , can. (not can. as in Gaudemet and Basdevant () n. ).
.
The wealth of the church affected the economy of the whole empire.38
The clergy in the cities enjoyed regular pay. In country areas the presbyt-
ers and deacons might have to work at farming or other gainful craft. A
church’s income derived from two chief sources: the offerings of the
faithful, and endowments in the form of rents. There were also govern-
ment grants, but these seem to have been mainly charitable funds admin-
istered by the church.39 The biblical tenth or tithe was not imposed, but
was seen as a model of voluntary generosity.40 Endowments began seri-
ously with Constantine I, but were soon huge, especially in Rome and
Constantinople. A constant stream of gifts, including the estates of
deceased clergy, swelled the property. In the sixth century, popes, Gallic
councils and the emperor Justinian all forbade the setting up of new
churches without sufficient endowment to pay the clergy.41 The Register
of Gregory I shows that the pope gave much attention to the management
of his estates, ‘the Patrimony of Peter’, through agents in Sicily, Italy and
Gaul. His administrative efficiency enabled him to deal effectively with the
immense social and humanitarian problems which afflicted Rome as a
result of war and plague. Bishops were supposed not to alienate lands or
goods, but often did. Various forms of simony, such as a candidate for the
episcopate promising to give church lands to those who support him, were
rife and often banned, notably at Rome under Odoacer and Theoderic.
The emperor Leo in decreed against it at Constantinople, and this rule
was variously repeated by Anastasius and Justinian.42 Protection of the
church’s property was an important reason for the attempts to impose cel-
ibacy on the clergy. Reluctantly approving the appointment of a married
bishop in Syracuse, pope Pelagius I (–) insisted on a complete listing
37
Caesarii Arelatensis Opera Omnia (CCSL –: .– for the ancient Vita Caesarii). For litera-
ture see Collins (); Klingshirn (). See also Beck ().
38
The chapters by Jones in LRE and The Roman Economy are indispensable and rarely superseded,
though occasionally his interpretation is challenged, as by Greenslade () .
39
Jones, LRE –.
40
A special penance at the second council of Tours; recommended as a neglected practice at the
second council of Matisco in . 41
Jones, LRE . 42
Jones, LRE –.
.
Christianity is a doctrine, historical, philosophical and practical. Dedicated
bishops always set store by teaching. Caesarius illustrates this in the late
empire. He delegated financial duties to free him for preaching. The doors
of Arles cathedral were shut to make people stay for the preaching, and
when absent he had the clergy read his sermons in his place. He urged the
duty of preaching on fellow bishops, and had copies of his sermons dis-
tributed in Gaul, Spain and Italy. Collections of sermons were therefore
made in his lifetime, many of which survive. They have strong moral
emphasis: common sins like lying and adultery are rebuked, and simple
religion encouraged, notably repentance, tithing, almsgiving, and Bible-
reading. Homiliaries thereafter became familiar books in churches, the
Gallican, Roman and Toledan being influential examples.46 Caesarius’ rule
for the nuns was imitated all over Gaul.47 This story of the high-born
43
Pelagius, Ep. to Cethegus; cf. Vogt in Baus, Beck, Ewig and Vogt () .
44
Jones, LRE –. 45
Jones, LRE –.
46
Sermons in CCSL – and SChrét. , , ; also Grégoire ().
47
Caesarius of Arles, Œuvres monastiques (SChrét. ); McCarthy ().
48
Articles with bibliographies: Recchia (); Markus (); see also Richards ().
49
See Rommel and Morel ().
MONASTICISM
5
Binns () f.
6
For the phrase and its significance, together with appeal to the idiosyncratic character of church
life in Scythopolis, see Binns () f.
7
Besa, Vita Shenoudi (CSCO Script. Copt. ) , , , . Shenoute died at an extremely
advanced age, probably in .. . A useful and fully documented account is provided by Elm ()
–.
8
Still the fundamental survey is that offered by Chitty (), which may now be supplemented by
Gould () and Binns (), although the latter may exaggerate Egyptian influence (f.).
9
Hirschfeld () , , . For pilgrimage and Christian developments in fourth-century and fifth-
century Palestine, see Hunt, Holy Land Prilgrimage and Walker, Holy City, Holy Places? The surviving biog-
raphy of Chariton is late and has to be used with caution, since it may justify custom he never foresaw:
see Garitte () and the English translation by Di Segni in Wimbush () –.
13
Chitty () f.
14
Community arrangements: V. Euthym. f. Liturgy: V. Euthym. f. (Note also the implications of
; and compare V. Sab. , .) Own cell a cœnobium: V. Euthym. (an ordered liturgy and hospitality
to strangers were to be central). Stability: V. Euthym. , tr. Price () . Pastoral responsibility: V.
Euthym. , , f. Euthymius’ habitual Lenten retreat finds an interesting and contemporary parallel
in Eparchius of Clermont-Ferrand (Greg. Tur. Hist. .). The earliest monastic churches for which
we have archaeological evidence were built no differently from those in settled centres, and seem
designed to fulfil the same liturgical and pastoral needs: see Walters () f.
15
For convenience of reference, see Chitty () f. and Chitty (); also Zacharias of Mitylene,
HE (CSCO Script. Syr. , –) ., ..
20
Vita Melaniae , f. Melania had already set up monastic houses for both men and women during
a stay in Africa, under the shadow of another bishop and ascetic legislator, Augustine. In that instance,
Gerontius is frustratingly vague (perhaps he knew less) (f.) but mentions (among the women)
reading, fasting, prayer and spiritual direction. Augustine’s own enterprises will be discussed below.
Gerontius himself was later to achieve prominence in the very same milieu.
21
V. Euthym. . For events in Jerusalem meanwhile, see f.
26
Theod. HR ., ., ., ., .. A static distinction between two states is very rare: ..
Compare V. Sab. . 27
Theod. HR ., .. 28
Theod. HR ., ., , ..
29
See expecially Tchalenko, Villages (in which specifically monastic references are interwoven with
other material), and the Appendix by André Caquot, an invaluable gazetteer with bibliography (Villages
.–).
30
Theod. HR ., .; and ., f. . is rare in its ‘mediating’ or ‘patronal’ authority. This is
the context of Peter Brown’s famous analysis, ‘The rise and function of the Holy Man’ (), which
is taken by Palmer (() f.) to apply also in the Tur ‘Abdin. Clearly, there are anecdotes which
support the view; but a coenobitic and, indeed, pastoral context is almost always implied: see Rousseau
(). 31
Theod. HR ., ., ., ., ., . 32
Theod. HR .f., , ..
50
See Rousseau, Basil of Caesarea f. and Gribomont ().
51
Cyr. Scyth. V. Sab. , tr. Price () .
60
Cassian, Inst. preface f., confirmed in Conlationes (CSEL ) preface to . Inst. .– discusses
food.
61
That emphasis becomes more and more evident as the Conferences proceed, but is heavily accen-
tuated in . 62
Cassian, Con. prefaces to and . Adaptation to the west: Inst. ..
63
Although it was not as a monk that he journeyed to Ireland and worked there.
64
His prefaces in the Institutes and Conferences bear witness to a complex web of relationships; and
he had come to Gaul in the first place under the patronage of Proculus of Arles. See Rousseau, Ascetics
f., f.
65
Sid. Ap. Ep. ..; ... Lérins was not the only source of such recruits. Rusticius of Narbonne,
whose episcopate spanned more than thirty years (from .. ), was a monk from St Victor, one of
Cassian’s foundations in Marseilles. It was to him that Jerome wrote, recommending an ascetic career
as the visible guarantee of worthiness for the priesthood: Ep. ..
66
Familiaris . . . præsumptio: Boniface of Rome, Ep. ‘Exigit dilectio’, PL .f.
67
See Mathisen (), (), and Drinkwater and Elton, Fifth-Century Gaul.
68
Concilia Galliae A. –A. ed. C. Munier (CCSL ) f. Faustus became bishop of Riez some
ten years later, after more than twenty-five years as abbot, and died c. .. . The details of this con-
troversy are treated fully by Mathisen () –; see especially f. In this particular instance (..
), the bishop of Fréjus was specifically warned to keep his nose out of the monastery’s internal
affairs: a stipulation that modified significantly the exactly contemporary strictures of Chalcedon.
69
Vita sancti Cæsarii (trans. W. Klingshirn, Liverpool, ) . and . Aurelianus, his later succes-
sor (.. –), followed his example: see following note.
70
For texts and references, see Desprez ().
71
The biographies cover the period from c. to the death of Eugendus in , and were prob-
ably written shortly after that date. Romanus died c. , Lupicinus in .
77
De Vogüé () . discusses possible connections between the so-called Regula orientalis and
Condat under Lupicinus and Eugendus.
78
Stability: V. Eug. . Rebuilding and its results: , (refutato archmandritarum orientalium instari,
ed. Martine (), ), . Monastic regime: f., , , . External relations: , . Death:
. His prayer: , f. Travelling monks: f. Charismatic insight: . Leunianus: .
79
Note that the numeration and nomenclature of PL .–, – are not always used
by more recent and more reliable editors.
80
Statuta (Et quamvis), (Ad cellarium), (at Matri quæ), (Te vero); Recapitulatio, (Et licet),
(Vos tamen, PL tandem). Compare regulari sceptro in Greg. Tur. V. pat. ., ed. .
81
Reg. mon. ed. G. Morin (Maredsous ) :f.; :f. (PL , ). See especially Sermons –.
82
Superiors: Reg. mon. ed. Morin, :f. (PL ); see also :f. (PL ), and Statuta (at Matri
quæ). Common life: Reg. mon. ed. Morin, : (PL ); Statuta (Nulli liceat). Stability: Statuta (at Si qua).
Women: Statuta (Convivium), f. (from Illud ante). Bishops: Statuta (Ante omnia propter), (Ante
omnia observandum); Recapitulatio (Illud etiam), (Vos tamen, PL tandem); and compare Greg. Tur. Gloria
. Books: Vita sancti Caesarii .. 83
Ed. Morin, –. See also Vita .f., .
84
Witness the splendid portrait in Greg. Tur. Hist. . – an eastern ascetic in Gaul who even
imported his own food! One may note how the Apophthegmata, when translated into Latin, were re-
arranged according to theme – though still in no way constituting a rule.
85
For other instances of royal involvement, see Greg. Tur. V. pat. and ; and compare . with
V. Lup. –. Gregory’s personal interest in the famous ‘rebellion’ that occurred after Radegund’s death
prompts him to describe the practices of the convent and its endowment with land, which led to the
development of widespread estates with officials and tied labourers, supporting an army of domestic
servants responsible for the upkeep of urban buildings: Hist. ., .f., .f. For a brief but
authoritative account, see Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms –.
86
Greg. Tur. V. pat. (urban and generous), and (characteristically penitential). See also
Hist. . (an ascetic who ‘stands’ – very Syrian), . (a hermit’s imported herbs, and much else), .
(a merchant with St Sergius’ finger), x. (a Syrian bishop), and . with . (a travelled abbot).
87
V. pat. ., ; Gloria (iuxta regulas monasteriorum . . . secretius tamen atque peculiarius, ed. Krusch,
), . Having accustomed ourselves to the often extensive communities of the east, it is worth
attending to hints at scale: three monks, for example, in V. pat. ; collectis secum paucis monachis in Gloria
, ed. Krusch, . Yet Gregory the Great would attribute Rome’s safety from the Lombards to the
prayers of , nuns within its walls, Ep. .. A founder: V. pat. .
93
Sid. Ap. Ep. .. 94
Bede, HE ..
95
Illtud may have come from northern Gaul. Much of our information comes from later hagiogra-
phy, which is unreliable; but dedications and archaeology provide useful hints. Ireland is well placed in
the wider European context by Mayr-Harting () esp. (for our purposes) –, –.
96
Columbanus’ works are edited by G. S. M. Walker (Dublin ). Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms, pro-
vides extensive, documented, convenient reference. See also Clarke and Brennan () and the com-
mentaries provided by Adalbert de Vogüé () in collaboration with Pierre Sangiani and Sister
Jean-Baptiste Juglar.
97
His preoccupations were not predominantly monastic; but he may have been a pupil of Illtud, and
he travelled abroad as far as Rome in the Ostrogothic period. For some background, see Higham ().
98
The Acœomitæ had long had a reputation for attachment to western views of orthodoxy. Among
other later impressions, see Greg. Tur. Hist. .f. For links with Lérins and the Jura, see De Vogüé
() f., ; Theurillat () and Masai ().
99
Regula magistri (ed. A. de Vogüé, vols.) (SChrét.) –)) ., and express typical and
detailed caution. 100
See, for example, Regula magistri .f. 101
Regula magistri ., f.
102
Most clearly formulated in relation to the abbot, Regula magistri .
117
Dial. .., .. 118
Dial. .., ..f.
119
Dial. ..: artem quidem aliquam nescio, sed hortum bene excolere scio, ed. De Vogüé, ..
120
Dial. .., .; ..; ..f.; .. (produce given to refugees).
121
Dial. ... Benedict’s straitened circumstances in ..f. hint at limited agricultural opportu-
nities. 122
Dial. ..; ..; ...
123
Ep. . especially – a Roman example – and see also ., ., ..
124
Dial. , preface. The paradox is repeated in ... 125
Dial. .f.
126
Dial. ... For the insight of the living preferred to the power of the dead, see ..
127
Dial. . provides a vivid example. For the principle, see ...
128
Preaching, Dial. .., .; generosity, .., in the context of .. and ..f.
HOLY MEN
Some time in the s, the Great Old Man Barsanuphius, an Egyptian
recluse, wrote from his cell in the vicinity of Gaza, in order to comfort a
sick and dispirited monk:
I speak in the presence of Christ, and I do not lie, that I know a servant of God,
in our generation, in the present time and in this blessed place, who can also raise
the dead in the name of Jesus our Lord, who can drive out demons, cure the
incurable sick, and perform other miracles no less than did the apostles . . . for
the Lord has in all places his true servants, whom he calls no more slaves but sons
(Galatians .) . . . If someone wishes to say that I am talking nonsense, as I
said, let him say so. But if someone should wish to strive to arrive at that high
state, let him not hesitate.
(Barsanuphius, Correspondance , trans. Regnault () )
Throughout the Christian world of the fifth and sixth century, the
average Christian believer (like the sick monk, Andrew) was encouraged to
draw comfort from the expectation that, somewhere, in his own times,
even, maybe, in his own region, and so directly accessible to his own dis-
tress, a chosen few of his fellows had achieved, usually through prolonged
ascetic labour, an exceptional degree of closeness to God. God loved them
as his favoured children. He would answer their prayers on behalf of the
majority of believers, whose own sins kept them at a distance from him.
Thus, when the bubonic plague struck the eastern Mediterranean in /,
the Great Old Man wrote at once to reassure his monks on the state of the
world:
There are many who are imploring the mercy of God, and certainly no one is more
a lover of mankind than he, but he does not wish to show mercy, for the mass of
sins committed in the world stands in his way. There are, however, three men who
are perfect before God, who have transcended the measure of human beings and
who have received the power to bind and to loose, to remit our faults or to retain
them. They stand upright in the breach (Psalms .) to ensure that the world is not
wiped out at one blow, and, thanks to their prayers, God will chastise with mercy
. . . They are John, at Rome, Elias, at Corinth, and another in the province of
Jerusalem. And I am confident that they shall obtain that mercy.
(Barsanuphius, Correspondance , Regnault () )
1
Baynes () –.
It is important to have lingered over the nature of the sources that the his-
torian uses in approaching the holy man. They give the impression that the
‘holy man’ existed largely in the eye of the believer. This, of course, was not
the whole story. Contemporaries believed that sanctity was achieved
through ascetic labour, through humility and through the grace of God,
according to long traditions of spiritual guidance, of which we have more
abundant evidence for this period, the golden age of Christian ascetic
wisdom, than that provided by the vivid Lives of the saints, which form the
basis of modern studies of late antique hagiography. Yet, reassuring – even
infectious – though the undemonstrative sanctity of many Christian men
and women might be to their fellow believers, contemporaries wanted
something more from a holy man. Even though he might be careful always
to present himself as no more than one humble ‘servant of God’ among
many, in the quiet manner of a mature monastic tradition, the holy man was
frequently approached, in his own lifetime, as
a brilliant star, spreading its rays . . . an unshakeable column . . . who puts demons
to flight, who gives healing to the sick, a father to orphans, a food-supply to the
poor, a covering to the homeless . . . a source of repentance to all sinners and a
staff to the indigent. (Life of Theodore of Sykeon , ed. Festugière () )
To find anything else was disappointing. A peasant who had walked in to
Ancona to visit the holy man Constantius was very surprised to be shown
a little man perched half-way up a ladder, busily lighting the lamps of the
shrine. He had, of course, expected to find a grandis homo, a Big Man (Greg.
Dial. ..).
Certainly, the holy man came to be seen as such in retrospect. He was
almost invariably presented in this manner by those who had developed a
strong interest in his reputation – most often by disciples connected with a
monastic establishment that had grown perilously large in the lifetime of the
saint, and that faced a recession of gifts and visitors once the glory of his
living presence had departed. The Syriac Panegyric on Symeon Stylites
(–) was an oratorical performance, designed for the annual gathering
9
Fentress and Wickham () .
10
Doran (). 11
Besa, Vita Sinuthii , tr. Bell () .
12
A fact seen most clearly in the reception of late antique hagiography in Ireland: Picard () and
Herbert (). 13
Bakhtin () .
14
Fentress and Wickham () . 15
Ed. Martine (). 16
Stancliffe () –.
17
Chadwick ().
18
See esp. Hillgarth (), which corrects Brown () –, and Delaplace ().
Given the nature of our sources, it is relatively easy to evoke the various,
agreed local versions of the place that holy persons might occupy in the
memory and expectations of distinct Christian regions. It is less easy to
explain the rise and function of the holy man in terms of the wider social
and religious world in which he was expected to be active. Here we are
faced by a problem of perspective. The foreground of the life and activ-
ities of the holy man is supremely well known to us. Vivid and deliberately
circumstantial evidence presents the holy man interacting with all manner
of persons. The emphasis is placed on specific incidents of healing, good
advice, cursing and successful intercession, both with God in heaven and
with the powerful on earth. Yet, seen in terms of these sharply delineated
actions, the holy man stands out, like a figure in a Chinese landscape,
against an indistinct and seemingly measureless background. How to relate
foreground and background, the known activities of the holy man with
their wider social and religious implications; and hence how to explain their
overall significance for contemporaries and their relative importance in
relation to other forms of religious activity has remained a tantalizing
problem. It is a problem that admits no single, unambiguous solution. Let
us, therefore, begin with what is easiest to know, with the foreground.
It must never be forgotten that the holy man’s activities, though usually
presented in the sources as dramatic and exceptional, were no more than a
highly visible peak in a spiritual landscape that rose gently upwards from
the expectations and activities of ordinary Christians in towns and villages.
A community of believers, endowed by baptism with the gift of the Holy
Spirit, all Christians were potentially ‘holy’. In late antique conditions, this
fact was expected to be shown by the possession of spiritual powers. To
take one well-known example: Augustine’s mother, Monica, took for
granted that she would receive God-given, premonitory dreams; and
25
Wood () .
26
Till () no. , .
27
Turner and Turner () .
29
Valerius of Bierzo, Ordo Quaeremoniae and Replicatio, ed. Aherne ().
30
A world now brought alive by Hirschfeld ().
31
John Eph. Lives of the Eastern Saints , PO .–; Chronicon pseudo-Dionysianum ., tr. R.
Hespel, CSCO , Script. Syri (Louvain ) –; see also Palmer ().
32
V. Sym. Jun. , Van den Ven () : a Georgian priest who had set up a healing shrine with
a hnana of Symeon was accused of working miracles through sorcery by the priests whose karpophoriai
had been intercepted by his shrine.
33
Brown, ‘Holy man’ (now in Brown, Society and the Holy ) succumbed with gusto to that temp-
tation. What follows should be read as a corrective to the views advanced in that article: see also Brown
() –, (), with Howard-Johnston and Hayward () and Lane Fox ().
The Christian holy man emerged at a crucial moment in the overall relig-
ious history of post-imperial western Europe and the Byzantine middle
east. He was a figure of genuine spiritual power at a time when the holy
stretched far beyond the somewhat narrow confines of the triumphant
Christian church. It is no coincidence that a figure of the stature of Symeon
Stylites should have appeared in northern Syria at just the time when the
ecclesiastical structures of the region had been in place for some genera-
tions, when the pagan temples had been officially closed for a quarter of a
century, but where a strong form of local religious leadership had not yet
arisen to negotiate an honourable surrender for the gods. Firmly placed on
a column which in itself may have linked his person to ancient memories
of holy stones,38 administering banal and widely-recognized forms of
blessing (the hnana of the dust from the sacred enclosure beneath his
column), summoning local church congregations through their priests to
what amounted to gigantic revivalist meetings associated with Christian
penitential supplication, Symeon stood on the low slopes of the limestone
ridge as a highly personalized challenge to the ancient pilgrimage site on
top of Sheikh Barakat. Despite the splendid buildings that were lavished
on it after his death, it is not the relatively low-lying area of Telnesin, but
the conical shape of Sheikh Barakat that still catches the eye of the travel-
ler in the Jebel Sem’an as it towers with an immemorial sacrality above the
plain of Dana. In a similar manner, the column of Symeon’s later imitator,
Symeon the Younger, holds in view – but now at eye-level – the opposing
peak of the oracle of Zeus on Mount Kasios.
Symeon negotiated many surrenders of the gods. Bedouin tribesmen
burned their idols in his presence (Theodoret, HR .). Whole villages
entered into a ‘covenant’ with him. A polytheist village in the mountains of
Lebanon was told that, if they followed his commands by placing stones
carved with the sign of the cross or blessed by portions of his holy dust on
the four corners of their fields, and if they destroyed their shrines and
household idols, they would enjoy protection from creatures of the wild –
from werewolves and ravenous field mice (V. Sym. Syr. and , Doran
() and , with comments on –). A century later, villages
touched by the ministrations of Symeon the Younger did not abruptly
convert from ‘paganism’ to ‘Christianity’. Rather, in a Christian empire that
had used many forms of cultural and physical violence against polytheists,
38
Frankfurter ().
47
Well characterized by Doran () –.
The definition of orthodoxy between and finds expression primar-
ily in the decrees or statements of the Oecumenical Councils of Ephesus
I (), Chalcedon () and Constantinople II (), which to a large
extent were held at imperial instigation. The difficulties of enforcing such
definitions, which often had to be upheld by the legislative, military, and
even theological and liturgical interventions of emperors, prove that ortho-
doxy so defined was by no means acceptable to all Christians in the empire.
This was particularly the case with the Council of Chalcedon, for its recep-
tion and promulgation, or its rejection and condemnation, were played out
not only in imperial and patriarchal circles, but also among great numbers
of monks and faithful. What, in fact, constituted right belief ? Both propo-
nents and opponents of Chalcedon laid claim to orthdoxy, tracing their
pedigree in right belief back to the Council of Nicaea (). An additional
complication in assessing the definitions of orthodoxy in this period and
the manner in which they were enforced is caused by the development and
differentiation in the expression of doctrine. The interpretation of
Chalcedon by its sixth-century adherents, for instance, was to differ from
the perception of orthodoxy among their fifth-century counterparts.
Furthermore, imperial policies adopted for the enforcement of orthodoxy
were often dictated by a desire for ecclesiastical unity rather than for the
preservation of right belief, which in such cases was used as an administra-
tive tool. Increasingly, different perceptions of orthodoxy, and contrary
opinions regarding its enforcement, caused ruptures not only among
Christians of the eastern empire, but between east and west as well.
.
On his accession to the throne after the death of Zeno in April ,
Anastasius I (–) determined to use the Henotikon as an oecumenical
tool, interpreting the document as being in no way an annulment of
Chalcedon. In working towards restoring relations with Rome as well,
Anastasius tried to make the Henotikon the basis of negotiation. However,
since he aimed primarily at ecclesiastical peace rather than at a uniform
belief, the new emperor was usually willing to allow cities that were pre-
dominantly of one persuasion or another to be governed by bishops sym-
pathetic to their cause. This policy caused confusion and polarization,
according to the sixth-century church historian Evagrius, who identifies
three groupings: () rigorous anti-Chalcedonians who were satisfied only
with a condemnation of Chalcedon and Leo’s Tome; () rigorous, uncom-
promising defenders of Chalcedon; () Chalcedonians and anti-
Chalcedonians who abided by the Henotikon.21 The emperor’s enforcement
of the Henotikon as the basis for negotiation is demonstrated clearly also by
the deposition and exile of the Chalcedonian patriarch of Constantinople,
Euphemius (–), who did not support the Henotikon. On the other
hand, adherence to the document availed a patriarch nothing if, like Flavian
of Antioch (–), he was unable to deal with unrest within his juris-
diction.
The reign of Anastasius is decisive for the history of opposition to
Chalcedonian orthodoxy in that, as well as proving the failure of compro-
mise documents like the Henotikon, this period produced two of the great-
est theologians of the anti-Chalcedonian ‘one nature’ (Monophysite)
christology – Philoxenus of Mabbug and Severus of Antioch, both of
whom tried to enforce an anti-Chalcedonian interpretation of the
Henotikon. Philoxenus not only induced the monastic body at Antioch to
oppose the Chalcedonian patriarch Flavian, but also persuaded Anastasius
to have Euphemius’ successor Macedonius summon the home synod,
where a confession of faith was composed (?) in which the Antiochene
and Leonine tradition as evident in Chalcedon was condemned. In , at
20
Felix, Ep. , in Schwartz () , lines ff. 21
Evagr. HE ..
22
See Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition . – for an assessment of the contents of the
Typos. 23
De Halleux () –. 24
Theod. Lect. HE ed. Hansen .–.
41
Cameron, Procopius () –.
42
John Eph. Lives of the Eastern Saints , ed. E. W. Brooks, PO ..
43
Brock (); Speigl (); Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition . –.
44
CJ ..; ...
Although by the end of the sixth century the Council of Chalcedon was
generally accepted in the west, in the east the separation between the
Monophysite and Chalcedonian churches continued. Among anti-
Chalcedonians in Syria and Egypt, in particular, an increasing part was being
played by nationalism, fuelled by the long-standing rivalry between Antioch
and Alexandria. Whether or not orthodoxy was successfully defined at
Chalcedon, its enforcement by emperors and ecclesiastical hierarchy had
failed, as had attempts to restore enduring unity between Christians in the
empire. Neither imperial legislation, which especially under Justinian
became an autocratic tool for enforcing orthodoxy, nor compromise theo-
logical statements nor the deposition or exile of their bishops had per-
suaded convinced anti-Chalcedonians to accept the council of and the
Tome of Leo. The Second Council of Constantinople and its attempt to
remove all suspicion of Nestorianism from Chalcedon had succeeded only
in driving another wedge between east and west. But it was not simply that
orthodoxy as defined by Chalcedon had resisted enforcement. Monophysite
orthodoxy and cohesion were threatened by the rise of splinter groups and
by growing anarchy among the adherents of the one-nature christology.
88
For Peter’s side of the dispute see Ebied, Van Roey and Wickham ().
89
Greg. Ep. , ; Murphy and Sherwood () –.
.
The dominant pagan philosophy of the fifth and sixth century .. was
Neoplatonism. By this period Platonism had absorbed the other philosoph-
ical traditions of antiquity. Aristotle was extensively studied but in a
Platonist context, and usually as a preparation for the study of Plato himself.
Epicureanism and Scepticism had faded away. Many elements of Stoicism
do reappear in Neoplatonist logic and metaphysics but altered and trans-
posed so as to fit into a very different philosophical system: the Stoics were
materialists, whereas for the Neoplatonists the intelligible world is not only
distinct from the material one but superior to it in reality and power.
Neoplatonism was initiated by Plotinus in the third century and continued
into the fourth by Porphyry, Iamblichus and their followers; by it had
spread all over the Mediterranean world. There were several different
schools, in the physical sense, and this chapter will consider those in order.
I shall begin with the school of Athens, proceed to Alexandria and then
conclude with a brief account of philosophy elsewhere in the empire. The
two principal schools were in Athens and Alexandria. These schools have
often been seen as differing in doctrines and attitudes as well as in their geo-
graphical location. However, recent research has undermined this conven-
tional picture.2 I shall argue later in the chapter that there were some genuine
differences in emphasis and attitude between the two schools. However,
they both derived from the Iamblichean tradition of Neoplatonism, and I
shall begin by summarizing the main features of that tradition.
The contrast between an intelligible world, accessible only to the mind,
1
Several biographical works are important sources for the history of philosophy in this period:
Marinus, Life of Proclus (English translation in Rosán (); discussion in Blumenthal ());
Damascius, Life of Isidorus (discussion of the period heavily based on Damascius in Athanassiadi (),
and see now P. Athanassiadi, Damascius, The Philosophical History (Athens, )); Zacharias, Life of
Severus. For bibliography on individual philosophers see Sorabji () ff., with the addition of
Hoffmann () on Damascius. For the archaeological evidence see Frantz (), Roueché,
Aphrodisias –, Fowden (a), Smith ().
2
The Athenian and Alexandrian schools were sharply distinguished in Praechter (). For the case
against Praechter see, in the first instance, Hadot (). For a recent, balanced discussion see
Blumenthal ().
3
Marinus ch. . 4
See e.g. Plotinus ...–.
19
Praechter () ff. Hadot () chs. , , . Hadot (a).
20
Damascius, Life of Isidorus fr. Zintzen.
31
Hirschle ().
32
Olympiodorus, In Gorgiam –, .–.; In Alcibiadem .–., .–.
41
Roueché, Aphrodisias –. Smith ().
42
Lydus, De Magistratibus .. Maas, John Lydus ch. . Fotiou ().
†
Throughout the fifth and sixth centuries .., and to some extent later also,
the education of the young followed patterns established in outline almost
a thousand years earlier. Changes in content and in institutional arrange-
ments had certainly taken place during the long period. The gradual disap-
pearance in the Greek world of the element of physical training and of the
institution which provided for it, the gymnasium, is an example. But change
on the whole had been slow and almost imperceptible. Traditional atti-
tudes, methods and values had sunk deep roots in ancient society, roots
which remained relatively undisturbed by the social, political and religious
changes of the period. Education of all kinds was marked by rigid conser-
vatism. There was no resistance to innovation because there was no inno-
vation to resist. In the words of a recent study, ‘Late antique schools of
grammar and rhetoric were sound-proof against the outside world, their
methods and their status largely untouched by the profound political and
religious changes taking place around them.’1 Such general statements call
for some qualification when one looks more closely at particular regions,
periods or ethnic groups, but on the whole they provide a valid and impor-
tant characterization of late antique education and of the culture which it
reflected and perpetuated.
The ancient world was and remained largely illiterate. The vast majority
of the peasants whose labour sustained its wealth could neither read nor
write, and the few who could had had little opportunity to pursue their edu-
cation any further. However, there clearly were exceptions. Vegetius men-
tions literate recruits to the Roman army, who were presumably peasants.2
Education was a function of urban society, serving not only to distinguish
the citizen from the countryman, but also to mark an élite within each city.
It was, with only a few exceptions, in cities that instruction in ‘grammar’ –
the art of reading, understanding and, on occasion, imitating the works of
classical writers in Greek or Latin – and rhetoric – the art of structured and
persuasive oral and written communication – was available. The grammar-
ian and the teacher of rhetoric were conspicuous figures in late antique
1
Kaster, Guardians of Language ix. 2
Vegetius, De Re Militari ..
3
Festugière () ., .. 4
PG ..
5 6
Zalateo (); Wouters (); Harrauer and Sijpesteijn (). Hasitzka () passim.
7
Kaster, Guardians of Language. 8
Vita Isidori fr. Zintzen.
9
Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria ...
10
Diomedes, Ars Grammatica (Grammatici Latini ed. H. Keil (Leipzig –) ) .–.
11
Sid. Ap. Ep. ... 12
Hilgard (–). 13
Cramer (–) .–.
14
Cramer (–) .– (partial edition; the bulk of the work remains unpublished).
15
Grammatici Latini .–. 16
Grammatici Latini .–, –.
17
Grammatici Latini .–. 18
Grammatici Latini .–; .–.
19
Grammatici Latini –. 20
Grammatici Latini .–.
21
On the relation between the teacher’s written text and his oral exposition cf. Holtz () –.
22
Thilo and Hagen (–).
32
Kugener () , –. 33
Kugener () . 34
Kugener () –.
35
Kugener () . 36
Kugener () . 37
Kugener () –.
38
Wilson () , –. 39
Choricius, Laudatio Marciani Secunda .
40
Dagron () Miracle .. 41
PG ..
44
Eus. Vita Constantini .–. 45
Cavallo () and nn. , . 46
PLRE .–.
47
PLRE .–.
-
Doctors in late antiquity learnt their craft either by a kind of apprentice-
ship under a senior doctor, or by a formal course of study, or perhaps in
both ways. Most large cities had one or more public doctors, who received
both a salary from the state or from the city authorities, as well as fees from
their wealthier patients. These public doctors appear to have been under an
obligation, perhaps customary rather than legal, to teach pupils. This was
probably the way in which the majority of doctors learnt medicine. When
they had completed their training to the satisfaction of their teacher, they
received a letter of attestation or testimonial. The formal study of medi-
cine was pursued above all in Alexandria, where a school of medicine
existed until after the Arab conquest in the mid seventh century. The
subject was regarded as a branch of philosophy, and several of the teach-
ers of medicine there are described as philosophers. The link between med-
icine and philosophy was an old one; Galen had already observed that no
one could be a good doctor unless he had studied philosophy. David, head
of the Alexandrian school of philosophy in the early sixth century, wrote
a commentary on Hippocrates’ Prognostica.66 Asclepiodotus (late fifth
century), a polymath with a touch of charlatanism, studied medicine in
Alexandria and taught both medicine and philosophy in Aphrodisias and
later in Alexandria. There was also formal teaching of medicine in
Constantinople, probably in the fifth century. Agapius, a native of
Alexandria, where he studied and probably taught medicine, went to
Constantinople in the mid fifth century as a teacher of medicine, perhaps
in the framework of the revived ‘university’ of Theodosius II.67 Hesychius
of Damascus practised and taught medicine in the capital about the same
period.68 His son and pupil Iacobus was comes et archiatrus there in the reign
of Leo I. He is said to have lived on his official salary and to have charged
no fees. He was an advocate of therapy by cold baths, whence his nickname
Psychristos (‘Cooled’).69 He numbered among his patients both Leo I and the
philosopher Proclus, and statues of him were set up in Constantinople and
Athens.
66
Westerink (). 67
PLRE .. 68
PLRE .. 69
PLRE .–.
71
For a catalogue raisonné of Greek catenae cf. Geerard (–) .–.
72
Vööbus (), especially –, –, –, –, –, –.
Under detailed scrutiny, the period from to is seen to represent a time
of significant and conspicuous artistic production and stylistic change and
complexity. If the fourth century appears a time of transition, yet dominated
by traditional forms and techniques, then in contrast it is easy to see that the
fifth century witnesses considerable change, and that by the forms of
Christian art have become distinctive, and many of the aspects of later med-
ieval art have been determined. This is the period which produced the
present church of St Sophia at Constantinople (–), one of the most dra-
matic and influential buildings in world architecture. This achievement alone
gives the period an identity in its own right. Yet in the broad view, it is clear
that Christianity adapted rather than rejected the values of classical ‘pagan’
art. Hence the predominant discussions of the art of this period in terms of
continuity and change, or – put more precisely – in terms of classical and
non-classical elements, and either their interplay or their independence.
This priority for the art-historical analysis of these centuries is
superfically justifiable, but one soon suspects that it may mask a whole set
of more serious problems. It may, however, still offer a way of identifying
the strengths and weaknesses of the current state of research; the question
of the stage of ‘classicism’ embodied in the art of this period should not
necessarily be evaded, so long as one remains aware that it encourages the
framing of questions in terms of style, and identifies the issues from the
surface appearance. It helps to assess how far the identification of stylistic
change is limited in its conceptual value. If it is the case that both pagans
and Christians as viewers confronted the artistic representation of their
various religious beliefs and values in very similar visual manners, then their
cognitive responses to these similar forms must have differed, and we need
to find ways of discovering these responses. This must involve setting the
evidence of texts against the evidence of art in order to relate visual expres-
sion to spiritual and ideological change in this period, and it may ultimately
need the framing of pictorial material within parameters set by texts rather
than simply by the images themselves.1 This chapter, however, will track
1
For a coverage of these issues see Barasch ().
Fig. Laocoön. Miniature from the Vatican Virgil, early fifth century. Vatican Library (Cod. Vat.
Lat, , fol. v). (Photo: Biblioteca Vaticana)
Fig. Mosaic panel of the Hospitality of Abraham from the nave of S. Maria Maggiore, Rome,
–. (Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY)
decoration. The nave imagery is more than mere narrative, and involves just
as complex symbolic and liturgical references as the triumphal arch. For
example, the panel on the left wall nearest to the sanctuary shows a narra-
tive sequence of Abraham meeting the three angels at the oak of Mamre,
his hospitality, and their prediction of Sarah’s pregnancy, but the evocations
are rich and deeply theological: among these are the reference to the typo-
logical connection between Sarah and Mary, and the implication that the
31
MacCormack (); Van Dam, Leadership and Community; Cameron (); McCormick, Eternal
32 33
Victory. Davis (). Pelikan () is constructed around this tapestry.
Fig. Silver paten (from the Riha Treasure) with partially gilded repoussé relief and niello
inscription showing the Communion of the Apostles, probably . Byzantine Collection,
Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC
well as a censer; the Stuma and Riha patens are highly refined productions;
and the Cross of Justin II and Sophia, now in the Vatican collections, was
an imperial gift with a value far beyond the metal itself.34 In form and style,
much metalwork did tend to be traditional, and it is in this medium that the
vocabulary of classicism was most obviously continued and recreated in
this period.35 Another medium which shows the mark of tradition is that
of floor mosaic: the vast areas of floor mosaic found in the Great Palace
in Constantinople continue to defy a precise dating, actually because of
their ‘classicism’, and are variously attributed to the fifth century, the period
34
Cruikshank Dodd () and (); Mango, M. M. () and Boyd and Mango ().
35
Kitzinger ().
36 37 38
Maguire (). Volbach () and Cutler (). Murray ().
39
The extreme statement is by Onians ().
Fig. The nave of St Sophia, Constantinople (–), looking east, when in use as a mosque,
recorded by Gaspare Fossati between and (lithograph after a watercolour).
(Photo: Foto Marburg/Art Resource, NY)
42
Mainstone ().
43
Macrides and Magdalino (); and Majeska () for the Russian perception. For local myths
of the church see the Narratio on the building of St Sophia, discussed by Dagron () –.
44
The fundamental studies are Deichmann () and (, , , ).
45 46
Pizzaro (). Wharton ().
47
Von Simson (); Nordström (); also Gregg and Groh ().
48
The information about Julius Argentarius (and his sponsorship of , solidi) is from Agnellus
., : see Mango () –.
51
Barber () and Clark () esp. –. 52
Von Simson (). 53
Matthews ().
54
Cecchelli (–). 55
Durand () cat. no. .
57
Asgari (); a problem here is whether the quarries went entirely out of use in the sixth century
or whether the procedures for working in the quarries changed.
58
Megaw and Hawkins (); Megaw and Hawkins have dated the apse of Kiti to the late sixth
59
century; Barber () argues for the late seventh century for Kiti. Hawkins and Mundell ().
60 61
Cameron, Procopius. Kostof ().
62
For the evolution of architecture over this period see fundamentally Grabar () and Lassus
(); also Tchalenko, Villages. A more pragmatic coverage is offered by Krautheimer, Early Christian
and Byzantine Architecture and Mango, Byzantine Architecture. The range of possibilities is obvious from a
comparison of the Church of the Hundred Gates at Paros; Basilica B at Philippi (unfinished); the
church of St John at Ephesus; and Kasr Ibn Wardan in modern Jordan.
Fig. Encaustic icon of the Virgin and Child with angels and saints, sixth century, in the monastery
of St Catherine, Sinai, Egypt. (Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)
Fig. Sixth-century lead ampulla from the Holy Land with the Ascension of Christ. Cathedral
Treasury at Monza. (Photo: Foto Marburg/Art Resource, NY)
.
Buildings are the most tangible witnesses of the character of a civilization.
Their scale, their function, their elaboration and their novelty as compared
to earlier types are all significant pointers. A survey of architecture in the
fifth and sixth century leads to one inescapable conclusion: mutatis mutan-
dis, life in both city and countryside went on as before in areas under the
effective control of the empire. If a citizen of Ephesus of .. had
been reborn in .. , he would not have found himself in an alien envi-
ronment. The forum or agora remained a focus of city life (Fig. ), as did
the bath (Fig. ) and circus. Of course, most of these traditional buildings
were not newly built structures in late antiquity, since most cities had
received lavish public buildings in the imperial period. Made to last, they
needed upkeep but not replacement, unless they burnt or fell in an earth-
quake. Unless, therefore, a city was expanding (e.g. Constantinople (Fig.
), Caesarea, Jerusalem, etc.), was a new foundation (Dara, Justiniana
Prima (Fig. )) or had been raised in status (Dyrrhachium), there was little
call for new public buildings. One novelty was the invasion of the city
centres by large churches, but even in this domain, the essential structures
had been architecturally developed in the century prior to .. ,
although there was still room for expansion. Other new architectural ele-
ments were monasteries (Figs. –), martyria (Figs. –) and welfare
establishments. Village architecture of this period is also abundantly repre-
sented by buildings, many still standing to roof height, in the limestone
massif of northern Syria: churches, baptisteries, baths, shops, and andron,
inns, monasteries, houses and tombs (Figs. , , –).
In addition to standing structures and the archaeological record, knowl-
edge of the architecture in the period is available in a wide variety of narra-
tive and other sources: the Liber Pontificalis, Sidonius Apollinaris, Venantius
Fortunatus, Gregory of Tours, Malalas, Agnellus and, in particular,
Procopius, who describes in detail building carried out over much of the
empire during forty years (from the s to the s).1 This information is
1
Mango () – for a selection of texts in English.
Baths of
Diocletian
Mausoleum
of Hadrian
St Sta. Maria
Peter's Maggiore
0 1 2km
S. Adriano
N
SS.Cosma
e Damiano
Fig. Plan of Rome, fifth–sixth century, indicating monuments mentioned in the text
SCALE
0 1 2 km
G
o
ld
en
Cistern of
Aetius
H
l
al
o
W
rn
n
Cistern of
sia
Aspar
do
eo
Th
n
Holy Apostles
Aq
ue St Paul's
l
al
du Orphanage
W
Forum of ct
n
Marcian
tinia
St
Cistern Polyeuctus
stan
of St Mocius Forum of St Mary
Theodosius Chalkoprateia St
Con
Senate Law Irene
Forum of Leo
Mese Courts Hospital of Samson
Tetrapylon St Sophia
Forum of Forum of Augustaion
Arcadius Constantine Senate
e
m
Baths of Zeuxippus
ro
Harbour of
od
Theodosius PALACE
pp
Sigma
Hi
sian Wall
Sts Sergius
and Bacchus
Theodo
St John
Studios
Golden Gate
Fig. Plan of Constantinople, fifth–sixth century, indicating monuments mentioned in the text
Cathedral
Baptistery
Church Church
Villa
Principia?
Double basilica
Baths
Church
Aqueduct
Church
SCALE
0 50 100m
Church
Fig. Plan of Justiniana Prima. (After Bavant, Kondic, Spieser () site plan.) For a different
reconstruction of the walled circuit, see Fig. , p. above
Inn (?)
AD 436
N Tomb
Gate
AD 431 Church of
St Paul and Moses
AD 418
Baptistery
AD 515
Tower
AD 551 Houses
House AD 360, 364
AD 451
Tombs
Press
AD 456
Houses
AD 295, etc.
House
AD 462
Church of
St Sergius
Houses AD 485 AD 537
Baptistery AD 567
Church of
the Trinity House
AD 435
Presses
SCALE
0 20 40m
Fig. Plan of Dar Qita, a village in the Jabal Barisha, Syria. Three churches, baptistery and several
houses (‒) were built in the fifth and sixth century. Kyros, Symeon and Eusebius, three technitai,
built one church and two houses, respectively. (After Butler ())
12
Cass. Variae .; .–, ; .; ..; Procop. Buildings ..–.; .–; ...
13
Ward Perkins, Public Building n. , –; Krautheimer () –.
a Ravenna a
Marseilles
Narbonne Luna
Justiniana
Tarragona Prima
40°N Rome 40°N
Ostia
Dyrrhachium Constantinople
Stobi Philippi Nicomedia
Naples
Thessalonica
Elche San Giovanni
di Ruoti
Thebae Germia
Phthiotis
Sardis Mopsuestia Edessa
Athens Priene Ephesus
Samos Aphrodisias Alahan Antioch
Corinth Aegina Miletus Perge Beroea
Carthage Side
b
Argos Epidauros Didyma Seleucia Chalcis
Pieria b
Thuburbo Apamea
Anemourion Epiphania
Timgad Majus
Salamis Emesa
Tabessa Tripolis
Berytus
Tyre
Scythopolis Gadara
Caesarea Bostra
Apollonia Gerasa
Jerusalem
Ptolemais Gaza
Cyrene
30°N Gasr Mismar Alexandria Birosaba
Land over 1000 metres Uadi Senab
30°N
Kom el-Doseh
St Menas
Kellia
SCALE Mt
c 0 250 500 750 1000 km Saqqara Sinai
c
Bawit
B 10°E C 20°E D 30°E E
Map Building in late antiquity (places mentioned in chapter ; see also Map , p. below)
14
Mango, Studies on Constantinople .–; .–; Addenda, ; Mango () –; Krautheimer,
Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture . 15
Mango, Studies on Constantinople .–; .–.
PC Excavated
peristyle court
ST SOPHIA
[TRIKLINOS] Possible location BASILICA
based only on a (Law Courts)
literary text
Restoration based
on literary sources
BAPTISTERY
SENATE
CA BATHS OF HOUSE
RC ZEUXIPPUS
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[CHALKE]
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SCALE
0 50 100 150m
Fig. Plan of Augustaion and surrounding area, Constantinople. (Based on Mango () fig.
and Müller-Wiener () fig. )
Fig. Column in the Forum of Leo, Constantinople. (From Peschlow () fig. )
may have been law courts, a stoa and a basilica were erected there by .
In the following years, Theodosius II built another basilica known as that
of Anatolius, described as ‘large and well illuminated’. In c. a senator
constructed a tetrapylon adorned with bronze as well as two basilicas
having ‘brilliant stonework’ and paved in Proconnesian marble. Following
riots in , two basilicas, two tetrapyla and the governor’s praetorium were
rebuilt. Porticoes, baths and other public buildings were restored in and
Fig. Ephesus, Arcadiane built c. with four honorific columns added during the reign of
Justinian. The columns supported statues of the Four Evangelists, a fascinating example of the
Christianization of a monument which in its setting and style appears traditional and secular.
(From Forschungen in Ephesos () fig. )
following various disasters, as were, apparently, the law courts after an
earthquake in .16
Comparable late monumental building has been excavated in other
cities, where pre-existing monuments were often rebuilt or remodelled
during this period, employing re-used materials. At Ephesus, the main por-
ticoed thoroughfares often bear the marks of late antiquity. The long
colonnaded Arcadiane, presumably built by Arcadius in c. to link the
harbour and theatre, incorporated on its south side, opposite the baths
rebuilt by Constantius II, an exedra with decorative architecture and a water
basin. During the reign of Justinian four large columns, each supporting a
statue of an evangelist, were inserted into a central crossing of the street
(Fig. ). In the fifth century, the square in front of Ephesus’ theatre and
the main porticoed street leading south from it were renovated and repaved
in marble. About this time the agora behind it was rebuilt and the nearby
Library of Celsus (of the second century) was transformed into a monu-
mental fountain, so that its two-storey façade ornamented with statues was
reflected in a pool added below. Two other public fountains of more
16
Western cities: Ward-Perkins, Public Building –, –; Gaza and Antioch: Mango, M. M.
() Gazetteer, .. , , , , , , ; .. –.
Fig. Caesarea Maritima, porticoed street rebuilt in the sixth century. Shops and, on the right side,
the offices of the Archive Building open behind the portico. The central street is paved with slabs
and the covered passages have mosaic pavements. (After Holum () fig. )
28
Rome: Ward-Perkins, Public Building –; Yegül () , ; Constantinople: Mango (b)
.–; Janin () –; Zeuxippus excavations: Mango () –.
29
Yegül () –; Mango, M. M. () Gazetteer, .. , th, , –.
30
Antioch: Mango, M. M. () Gazetteer, .. , , , /–/, ; Alexandria:
Nielsen () catalogue no. , fig. ; Scythopolis: Tsafrir and Foerster () – and n. .
31
Foss () ; Yegül () , –.
Cold pool
C Shops
P
Cold
F pool C P
P Exedra
Basilica
T?
P (C) PALLADIUS
Piscina STREET
Pillared P
hall
P
F Cold pool
s et
op re
Sh s St
d iu
lla
Cold pool Pa
um
ae
yl
op
Pr
(B) PROPYLAEUM
ENTRANCE
0 20m Mosaic 0 1 2 3 4 5m
Fig. Scythopolis: (a) plan of thermae built in the fifth century and remodelled in the sixth, when the ‘basilica’ and the pools were added in the palaestra on the west side;
(b) the propylaeum entrance composed of reused carvings is situated on the south side; (c) porticoed Palladius Street, with shop-lined exedra added, probably in the sixth
century. (P⫽praefurnium; C⫽caldarium; T⫽tepidarium; F⫽frigidarium.) (After Yeivin et al. (‒) fig. and Tsafrir et al. () figs. , )
Fig. Gadara, thermal springs, isometric drawing of baths. Improved by the empress Eudocia
(–) later enlarged, and finally modified by the caliph Mu¨awiya in . (S⫽hot spring; C⫽
caldarium; F⫽frigidarium; A⫽apodyterium; H⫽entrance hall with pool). (After Yegül () fig. )
(a) Barracks
Barracks are mentioned several times by Procopius in listing Justinian’s
building accomplishments throughout the empire. Actual remains are
available in Syria, where the barracks are square enclosures with accommo-
dation built around the inside of the wall, and incorporate a church or
chapel. In barracks (called kastellos and dated to in an inscription) at
Umm idj-Djemal a chapel is attached to one of the enclosure walls. In the
barracks (/) at Androna and possibly in those (c. ) at Qasr Ibn
Wardan, a church stands in the centre.39
37
Ephesus: Foss () –; Antioch: Stillwell () –; Toprak en-Narlica: Stillwell ()
–; Caesarea: Holum () –.
38
Pavia and Rome: Ward-Perkins, Public Building , , ; Constantinople: Mango (b)
.–; Ephesus: Foss () ; Antioch and Gerasa: Mango, M. M. () Gazetteer, .. c;
.. ; Aphrodisias: Roueché (); Scythopolis: Tsafrir et al. () –.
39
Mango, M. M. () Gazetteer, .. ; .. c; .. .
(d) Monasteries
The monastic rule of Basil the Great, which represents the norm of
Byzantine monasticism, advocated a self-sufficient community. Hence
many monasteries were land-based and engaged in agriculture, so that early
monasticism is more associated with the countryside than the city. However,
40
Mango, M. M. () Gazetteer, .. ; .. ; .. /; .. , ; .. ;
... 41
Miller (). 42
Anna Comnena, Alexiad ..–; Mango, Développement .
a a
40°N 40°N
Martyropolis
Amida
b Qartmin b
Deir
˛
Edessa Zaf aran Dara
Mopsuestia
Perge Alahan
Side
Anemourion Callinicum
Neocaesarea Zenobia
Rusafa
Circesium
Salamis Epiphania
35°N 35°N
Dura
Emesa Europos
Tripolis 40°E C
36°E
Berytus
c
Tyre
c ˛
Qala˛ at
Sim an
Antioch Kaper Barada
Daphne Dar Refade
Qita Babisqa Beroea
Seleucia Wondrous Behyo
Pieria Mountain Chalcis
36°N 36°N
Alexandria Ruweiha
Kaper Pera Frikya
Midjleyya Umm
Serjilla el-Halahil
30°N Androna
30°N Qasr ibn
36°E Apamea
Wardan
Capernaum 36°E
Zorava
Tiberias Philoteria
32°N 32°N
Emmaus
Jericho
Jerusalem Mt Nebo
Bethlehem Monastery of
Land over 1000 metres Martyrius
Horvat
Gaza Susiya
SCALE
Birosaba
0 100 200 300 400 km
SCALE
0 100 200m
Fig. Kellia, laura monastery in the Nile delta built between the sixth and eighth century. Plan of
some of the walled units. (After Bridel ())
49
Ravenna: Deichmann () –; Pavia and Verona: Ward-Perkins, Public Building –.
50
Ebersolt (); Mango () –.
51
Ebersolt () –, –; Mango () .
52
Brett, Macaulay and Stevenson (); Talbot Rice (); Mango () –.
(a)
(b)
Fig. Athens, ‘Palace of the Giants’ of c. : (a) restoration of the entrance
façade and (b) isometric reconstruction of complex. (From Frantz () plate )
semicircular portico (Fig. ). The principal façade was modelled on a tri-
umphal arch, and incorporated colossal figures reused from the Antonine
period. What is considered the sixth-century praetorium of the proconsul
of Asia based at Ephesus has a transverse double-apsed entrance hall (
metres long) followed by a large reception room somewhat reminiscent of
the imperial Chrysotriklinos at Constantinople. Decorated with stucco,
painting and floor mosaics, the room, metres square, has four large
corner niches and a projecting apse where the seated governor could
receive visitors. A bath was attached to one side, and a chapel was added
to another. Other possible praetoria of the fifth to the sixth century have
Fig. Constantinople, partial plan of the private palaces of possibly two praepositi sacri cubiculi,
Antiochus and Lausus, built in the early fifth century. Both houses had semicircular porticoes.
(From Bardill () fig. )
Cyprus (with elaborate stucco decoration) (Fig. ) and at Apamea in Syria,
the latter being occupied into the seventh century. Many of these late
antique houses were elaborately decorated and provided with sophisticated
amenities, such as those of the partially excavated house at Aphrodisias,
which had an intricate system of water channels and pipes and which was
ornamented with statues, two of which, attributed to the fifth century, were
recovered.56
Multi-storeyed houses and apartment buildings, well known at Rome,
were apparently commonplace at Constantinople, judging from the legisla-
tion made to limit the number of storeys permissible. No such buildings
56
Argos: Akerström-Hougen (); Carthage: Gazda () – and Dunbabin () –,
p. ⫽reconstruction of the house after .. ; Apollonia: Goodchild (); Salamis: Argoud,
Callot and Helly (); Apamea: Balty () –, –; Aphrodisias: Erim () , figs. –.
Fig. Salamis, two-storey porticoed house decorated with elaborate stucco work; built in the fifth
century and subsequently remodelled. (From Argoud, Callot, Helly () plates . and )
Villas
Sidonius Apollinaris describes several villas of the fifth century in Gaul.
His own at Avitacum near Clermont faced north and south to attractive
vistas; in addition to its bath suite, it had a portico on the east overlooking
a lake, a living-room (diaeta), a summer drawing-room (deversorium) open to
the north, a winter dining-room (triclinium) with fireplace, a small dining-
room (cenatiuncula) with stibadium (a semicircular couch) and sideboard, a
ladies’ dining-room near a storeroom and a weaving-room. The villa of his
friend Consentius near Narbonne had colonnades, a bath, a chapel, an
entrance court, gardens, olive groves and vineyards. The villa of another
friend, Pontius Leontius, had a crescent-shaped atrium, a double portico
and marble facing on the façade, as well as a winter house (hiberna domus), a
dining-room with curved portico and fish tanks, a weaving-room, winter
baths, a summer portico and granaries. In the second half of the sixth
century, Venantius Fortunatus describes other villas in Gaul which also
seem to have been very much in the classical tradition. A singular example
of the type from this period in Italy is the villa at S. Giovanni di Ruoti,
which was rebuilt in c. over an earlier villa (Fig. , p. above). The
complex includes a reception hall with polygonal apse, a room with a
mosaic floor, and another room, of uncertain function, which was roofed
with a dome, as well as a tower and stables.58
The Roman villa rustica is less associated with the eastern empire,
although proasteia – that is, suburban estates near a city – are well known
from written sources. Remains of such villas have been found outside the
walls of Caesarea in Palestine. They were also built in the fifth and sixth
century between the Constantinian and Theodosian walls of
Constantinople (Fig. ), an area where tessellated pavements of a secular
nature have been unearthed. At Daphne, outside Antioch, houses paved in
mosaics, some built close together on irregular plans, had two main periods
of construction – in the second to the third century and in the fifth to the
sixth, when the size of rooms increased; the largest rooms (up to metres
wide) may have been courtyards. One large complex, possibly built by
Ardabur when he was magister militum per Orientem at Antioch (–),
included a bath. What may be described as a forerunner in eastern Syria of
the Arab desert palace is the walled complex built in – at Qasr ibn
Wardan, which includes a palace, a church and barracks. The square sym-
metrical palace, in opus mixtum, centres on an unporticoed court; on the side
57
Foss () –.
58
Sid. Ap. Carm. ..–; Epp. ..–; .iv.; Venantius Fortunatus, Carm. .–; .;
.–. On the villas’ baths see n. above; S. Giovanni di Ruoti: Small and Buck () –.
Fig. Refade in the Jabal Sem¨an in Syria, house built in . The heavy carved mouldings
terminating in large volutes which frame the upper colonnade are characteristic of the region.
(From de Vogüé (–))
opposite the entrance is a suite of apsed rooms on the upper storey which
recalls that in the episcopal palace at Bostra (see p. above).59
Village houses
In northern Syria some villages, such as Dar Qita (Fig. ) and Behyo, were
composed of small, simple houses, while others, like Refade, contained
larger, well-decorated houses (Fig. ) with certain amenities, such as an
upper-storey lavatory. These houses were so well built that some are re-
inhabited today. On those with imposing façades, the decoration of niches
and mouldings became more elaborate by the sixth century. The plans of
houses are marked by consistency: all are organized around a court and on
two levels having different functions. The ground floor was used as stables
for animals, and the upper floor, which alone had windows, for living-quar-
ters (Fig. , p. above). Each room is a separate unit entered from the
front. The houses vary from to , metres square, and are composed
of from one to three – rarely four – units, to which are added an entrance
porch, a subterranean room, a portico and an olive or wine press. The
manner of construction (of the beams, floors, etc.) has been compared
with that of houses in Cyrenaica, while other features (a blind ground floor,
stone stairs, the placing of cisterns) have been compared to houses in Lycia
in Asia Minor.60
(b) Tombs
Imperial mausoleums in the fourth century, such as those built for Helena
at Rome and for Constantine at Constantinople, were large rotundas. In
the fifth and sixth century, imperial and royal tombs in both east and west
59
Caesarea: Holum () –; Constantinople: Mango, Développement ; Daphne: Stillwell
(); Qasr ibn Wardan: Mango, Byzantine Architecture –. 60
Tate () –.
. Churches
In function, churches were either congregational, or pilgrimage shrines, or
monastic. They were built in cities and villages, in forts and monasteries.
Chapels were added to churches, dwellings and barracks. In addition to
churches built with imperial or other official support, many were financed
privately, a form of public benefaction which came to supplant the more
traditional forms of civic responsibility borne by the curial class. At the
village of Kaper Barada, in northern Syria, various parts of a church are
inscribed with separate dedications, indicating piecemeal subscription
61
Ravenna: Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture –; Constantinople: Mango,
Studies on Constantinople .; Toulouse: Mackie ().
62
Constantinople: Deckers and Sergadoǧlu (); Mango () –; Syria: Tate () –;
Jerusalem and Scythopolis: Mango, M. M. () .. th; .. .
(a) The longitudinal church: the basilica and the hall church
The Roman civil basilica, which continued to be built in the secular sphere
during late antiquity, had been adopted and adapted for church architecture
by the time of Constantine, if not before. In its ecclesiastical form it occa-
sionally had a single aisle (in which case it is termed a ‘hall church’), but the
great majority of church basilicas were divided into three (Fig. ) or five
(Fig. ) aisles by piers or big monolithic columns. Most also had a timber
roof, with or without a coffered ceiling below, although in areas where long
63
Kaper Barada, Rihab: Mango, M. M. () .. –; ..; Thantia (Umm idj-Djemal):
Lassus () –; Androna: Butler () , –; Constantinople: Mango, Studies on Constantinople
.. 64
On church architecture and liturgy see Mathews ().
65
Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture –; Mango, Byzantine Architecture –.
(a)
(b)
Fig. Longitudinal sections of (a) Ravenna, cathedral church, showing western features of a long
nave and clerestory wall above colonnade (as in the eighteenth century; by Amadesi Buonamici, );
(b) Thessalonica, Acheiropoietos church of c. , showing eastern features of a shorter nave and
upper-storey colonnade opening into a gallery above each side aisle. (From Krautheimer, Early
Christian and Byzantine Architecture fig. )
timbers were unobtainable, masonry vaults replaced them. The basilica was
equally popular in city and village (Figs. –, –, –). At least six were
built in the Syrian village of Androna, and, although Constantinople is better
known for its centralized or domed churches (Sts Sergius and Bacchus, St
Irene, and St Sophia) (Figs. –), timber-roofed basilicas were built there
too in the fifth and sixth century: St John Studios, St Mary Chalkoprateia, the
Blachernae church, and those unearthed at Beyazit and in the Saray.66
Although all of the same basic type, there were many differences across
the empire in the details of the basilica’s design. For instance (Fig. ),
western basilicas tend to be longer than eastern ones. In the east there were
66
Mango, Byzantine Architecture –; Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture –.
Androna: Butler (, ) B, , –; Constantinople: Mathews () nos. , , , ; Procop.
Buildings ..–.
(a)
(b)
Fig. Thessalonica: (a) reconstruction and (b) plan of the pilgrimage church of the martyr St
Demetrius as built in the fifth or sixth century. The transept at the east end was a feature of
earlier martyrial churches at Rome; the hexagonal shrine of Demetrius (S) stood in the nave
near the north arcade. (From Mango, Byzantine Architecture figs. ‒)
Fig. Ephesus, plan of the pilgrimage church of St John the Evangelist as it was rebuilt with dome
by Justinian by . (B⫽baptistery; C⫽ciborium; S⫽synthronon.) (From Foss () fig. )
with an outer ambulatory or aisle surrounding the inner nave; the sanctu-
ary, whether a single room or three, projects to the east.69
A series of aisled tetraconch and related churches was built in the eastern
provinces between the later fifth and the mid sixth century. These had an
inner chamber defined by colonnades, surrounded by an ambulatory.
Churches of this design have been found in the provincial capitals of
Apamea, Amida, Rusafa and Bostra, as well as in the cities of Seleucia Pieria,
69
Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture –; Mango, Byzantine Architecture –,
–, –.
(a)
(b)
Fig. Constantinople: (a) isometric drawing and (b) plan of Sts Sergius and Bacchus, built by
Justinian in –. In contrast to most aisled tetraconch churches, the increased number and
weight of the internal piers of this church provided an adequate support for a masonry dome.
(From Mango, Byzantine Architecture figs. –)
73
Harrison (). 74
Mango, Byzantine Architecture –, . 75
Mainstone ().
(b)
Fig. Constantinople: (a) drawing and (b) plan of St Sophia as rebuilt by Justinian, –. The
drawing by R. Mainstone shows the primary structural system with the secondary systems cut away.
(A, C⫽main arches; B⫽upper north and south arches; D⫽east and west barrel vaults;
E⫽exedrae semidome arches; F⫽exedrae semidomes (cut away at the top); G⫽main eastern
semidome (western counterpart cut away to show better the structure behind); H⫽pendentives
(western ones cut away to show structure behind); a⫽pier projections.)
(From Mainstone () ill. and Mango, Byzantine Architecture fig. )
76
Xydis (); Boyd () –, figs. .–.. 77
Xydis (); Tchalenko ().
78
Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture , , –, and n. , –; Lassus
() –.
Fig. Jirade in the Jabal Zawiye in Syria, isometric reconstruction of a village church built in the
fifth century, showing the liturgical furnishings including the altar, the chancel-screen, the
U-shaped bema in the nave and the reliquaries in the north aisle and north-east chamber.
(R⫽reliquary.) (From Tchalenko () pl. )
Fig. Behyo in the Jabal il A¨la in Syria, isometric drawing of a village church built probably in the
first half of the sixth century. In contrast to the Jirade church (Fig. ), which has closely spaced
columns supporting the lateral arcades, this church has widely spaced piers which open up the space
between nave and aisles. (R⫽reliquary.) (From Tchalenko, Villages pl. )
were built in the fifth century at the Lateran cathedral in Rome, in the
sixth century at St Sophia’s cathedral in Constantinople (Fig. ), at
Marseilles and at the pilgrimage churches of St John at Ephesus (Fig. ),
St Symeon Stylites (Qal¨at Sim¨an) near Antioch (Fig. ) and St Menas
near Alexandria. The two built for the orthodox and Arian cathedrals at
Ravenna are still elaborately decorated with mosaic. The two baptisteries
(a)
(b)
Fig. Telanissos, pilgrimage shrine of St Symeon Stylites the Elder (Qal¨at Sim¨an). Isometric
drawing of (a) baptistery with adjoining basilical chapel built in c. – by the technites Agapius and
others and (b) its pool. (From Tchalenko, Villages pls. ‒)
. Synagogues
The synagogue had similar architectural requirements to the church, as it was
a place for prayer and reading the Torah, as well as a house of assembly.
Attached to its main building could also be a ritual bath, an infirmary and a
hostel. Out of some synagogues known, at least are situated in the
Holy Land. The largest, however, was excavated at Sardis in Asia Minor. This
was probably a secular building which was acquired and converted for use as
a synagogue. Like many others, it was basilical in form. Other diaspora syn-
agogues from the Roman period have been excavated at Ostia near Rome,
Naro near Carthage and Elche in Spain, and at Stobi, Corinth, Aegina, Delos,
Priene, Miletus, Dura Europos, Apamea and perhaps Mopsuestia in Cilicia,
Neocaesarea (Dibsi Faraj) on the Euphrates and Emesa (Homs) in Syria.
Further diaspora synagogues are known from texts. Those at Antioch,
Callinicum, Edessa, Berytus and Gerasa were destroyed or converted to
other uses between and . In the Holy Land, synagogues are referred
to in written sources or have been excavated in both city (including Caesarea,
Gaza, Jericho, Scythopolis, Tiberias, Gadara, Birosaba) and village, well-
known rural examples being those at Capernaum and Beth Alpha.80
What most synagogues shared was prayer directed to Jerusalem (shared
also with eastern churches), and the use of Jewish symbols in the decora-
tion. The wall facing Jerusalem had an aedicula or niche on a raised plat-
form for holding the Torah scroll kept in an ark, as at Horvat Susiya in
Palaestina Prima (Fig. ). Recent studies in synagogue architecture have
focused on the Torah shrine and on problems of dating. It now seems that,
as with other buildings, the sixth century was an important period for syn-
agogue building in the near east. The location of the Torah shrine within
the synagogue varied locally. By the fifth century, a church-like apse was
sometimes added to an existing synagogue to hold it, replacing the smaller
aedicula or niche; by the sixth century, the apse was an integral architectu-
ral feature, except in the north of Palestine. Synagogues were often elab-
orately decorated. The Jerusalem Talmud states that during the late third
and fourth century the walls and floors of synagogues started to be deco-
rated and that this was tolerated. Tessellated pavements (illustrating the
Temple façade or Torah ark flanked by the menorah, shofar, lulav and
ethrog; the zodiac; biblical scenes; animals) were certainly common in syn-
agogues between the fourth and the sixth century.81
79 80
Khatchatrian (). Levine (); Hachlili ().
81
Levine () –; Hachlili () –, –.
.
The period to is traditionally seen as active and innovative only in
the building of churches. However, although this was much more marked
in the east than in the west (reflecting the greater political stability and pros-
perity of the former), the fifth and sixth century also saw considerable con-
tinuity of the ideal and the reality of the ancient city. Entirely new
scaled-down versions were built into the reign of Justinian at Justiniana
Prima in the Balkans and Anastasiopolis/Dara in Mesopotamia, while in
many other cities porticoed streets, fora, baths, fountains and aqueducts
continued to be maintained or even built for public enjoyment, alongside
new and elaborately decorated palaces and private houses for the ruling
classes.
Continued prosperity and the growth of Christianity did, of course, also
foster a boom in church building, and churches did eventually come to
replace the public baths as the largest buildings of public congregation. In
church architecture our period saw the evolution of what was to prove an
enduring split – between the centralized church in the east and the longitu-
dinal basilica in the west. By the mid sixth century, the masonry dome
poised on piers had been perfected, exemplified by St Sophia at
Constantinople, which was to remain for centuries the largest and most
structurally complex church in Christendom. The recent introduction of
monasticism occasioned the development of a communal architecture
which in a rural setting recalled the Roman villa.
Up until the seventh century, in the east at least, new architectural forms
evolved slowly out of old, with no obvious breaks in continuity and devel-
opment. Continuous traditions of urban life, combined in many regions
with favourable economic and political conditions, ensured that this was so.
Only in the troubles that beset seventh-century Byzantium did the scale of
all building, outside the Moslem east, decline dramatically; and only then
were a number of traditional forms of building abandoned for ever.
No other volume of The Cambridge Ancient History raises such major ques-
tions of periodization or historical interpretation as Volume XIV, the last
in the series. Indeed, the very decision to extend the original coverage of
the series by two extra volumes and to allow an overlap with the new
Cambridge Medieval History is an indication of the lively state of research on
this period and the variety of interpretative schemes currently proposed.
We can no longer be content with a simple ‘transition from classical antiq-
uity to the Middle Ages’, nor can we propose a single point where the line
between them may be drawn. The conventional date of the fall of the
Roman empire in the west, confidently placed by previous generations in
the year .. , was already found inadequate by Edward Gibbon, while
the lack of interest shown in the supposed event by contemporaries has
been noted as a problem by many historians.1 ‘Transformation’ is now a
term more commonly used than ‘fall’ to describe the process of historical
change in the west from the last centuries of classical antiquity to the
Middle Ages, and the search for a chronological divide is felt with less
urgency than before as concentration focuses instead on a longer time-
scale of change. Meanwhile, the historic changes in eastern Europe in the
late twentieth century encouraged a re-examination of the processes which
led to the formation of Europe, and in particular a reconsideration of what
the very concept of Europe might entail.2
Despite its similarity of title to the original version of The Cambridge
Ancient History, a series of fourteen volumes completed at the end of the
twentieth century ought indeed to look different from one that appeared
over sixty years ago. Volume XIV in particular is different in format. In part,
this is a function of the political geography of the period: given the conti-
nuity of Roman government in the east and the multiple changes taking
place in the west, a unitary narrative is no longer possible, and even the the-
matic chapters tend to concentrate on either western or eastern material.
Moreover, the undoubted vitality of urban life and the richness of the evi-
1
Momigliano (); Croke (). For the ‘Pirenne thesis’, see Pirenne (); Brown ();
2
Hodges and Whitehouse (). Webster and Brown (); Davies () introduction.
3 4
Cf. Brown (). For the east see Fowden, Empire to Commonwealth.
5
Piganiol (); de Ste Croix (); see Brown ().
21 22
Clark (); Mattioli (). Elm ().
23 24
Brown (); also Wimbush and Valantasis (). Dagron ().
ABBREVIATIONS
Full references to editions of primary sources and standard collections can be
found in, for example, Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary, Liddell, Scott and Jones,
Greek Lexicon, and Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vols. –.
AA Auctores Antiquissimi
AAntHung Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarium Hungaricae
AASS Acta Sanctorum, vols. –
AB Analecta Bollandiana
ACHCM Actes du Congrès d’Histoire et de Civilisation du Maghreb
ACO Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum, ed. E. Schwartz, Berlin,
–; J. Straub, Berlin, –
ACOR American Centre for Oriental Research, Amman
Actes XI Cong. Int. Actes du XI Congrès International d’Archéologie Chrétienne
d.Arch. Chrét.
AHR American Historical Review
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
Anc.H.Bull. Ancient History Bulletin
Annales:ESC Annales: Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, ed. H. Temporini
Ant. Afr. Antiquités Africaines
AO Acta Orientalis
APF Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete
AR Archaeological Reports
ARCA Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs,
Liverpool
AS Anatolian Studies
BAR British Archaeological Reports, Oxford
BASOR Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research
BASP Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists
BF Byzantinische Forschungen
BGU Aegyptische Urkunden aus den Königlichen (later Staatlichen) Museen
zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden
BIFAO Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale
BMGS Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
Secondary Sources
¨Abd al-Ghanı̄, ¨Ā. () Ta©rı̄kh al-H · ı̄ra fı̄ l-jāhilı̄ya wa-l-Islām. Damascus
Abel, F.-M. () ‘I’Ile de Jotabe’, RB : –
Abū Wandı̄, Riyād·, et al. () ¨Īsā wa-Maryam fı̄ l-Qur©ān wa-l-tafāsı̄r. Amman
al-Afghānı̄, S. () Aswāq al-¨arab fı̄ l-jāhilı̄ya wa-l-Islām. Damascus
Ahlwardt, W. () Bemerkungen über die Ächtheit der alten arabischen Gedichte.
Greifswald
CONCLUSION
Brogiolo, G. P. (ed.) () Early Medieval Towns in the Western Mediterranean, Ravello
– September (Documenti di Archeologia ), Società Archeologica
Padana s.r.l.
Brown, P. R. L. () ‘The later Roman empire’, Economic History Review , ser.,
: – (⫽Brown, Religion and Society –)
Brown, P. R. L. () The World of Late Antiquity. London
Brown, P. R. L. () ‘Mohammed and Charlemagne by Henri Pirenne’, Daedalus :
– (⫽Brown, Society and the Holy –)
Brown, P. R. L. () ‘Eastern and western Christendom in late antiquity: a
parting of the ways’, in The Orthodox Churches and the West, Studies in Church
History (Oxford) – (⫽Brown, Society and the Holy –)
Brown, P. R. L. () Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity. Madison
Cameron, Averil () ‘The language of images. The rise of icons and Christian
representation’, in D. Wood (ed.), The Church and the Arts (Studies in Church
History ) (Oxford) – (⫽Averil Cameron, Changing Cultures )
Cameron, Averil and King, G. R. D. (eds.) () The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near
East : Land Use and Settlement Patterns. Princeton
Christie, N. and Loseby, S. T. () Towns in Transition: Urban Evolution in Late
Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Aldershot
Clark, G. () Women in Late Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Life-Styles. Oxford
Consolino, F. E. (ed.) () Pagani e cristiani da Giuliano l’Apostat al Sacco di Roma,
Soveria Mannelli and Messina
Cormack, R. () Painting the Soul: Icons, Death Masks and Shrouds. London
Croke, B. () ‘.. : the manufacture of a turning point’, Chiron : –
Dagron, G. () ‘Le saint, le savant, l’astrologue. Étude de thèmes hagiogra-
phiques à travers quelques recueils de “Questions et réponses” des Ve–VIIe
siècles’, in Hagiographie, cultures et sociétés (IVe–VIIe s.), Études Augustiniennes.
Paris (⫽G. Dagron, La romanité chrétienne en Orient (), London, )
Davies, N. () Europe: A History. London
Elm, S. () ‘Virgins of God’: The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity. Oxford
Goffart, W. () The Narrators of Barbarian History: Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede
and Paul the Deacon. Princeton
Hayes, J. () Late Roman Pottery: A Catalogue of Roman Fine Ware. London (British
School at Rome)