Research Catalog

Title

Emperors and Usurpers in the later Roman Empire : civil war, panegyric, and the construction of legitimacy / Adrastos Omissi.

Author

Omissi, Adrastos, 1986-

Publication

• Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2018.
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvii, 348 pages : illustrations, map; 25 cm.

Summary

One of the great maxims of history is that it is written by the victors, and nowhere does this find greater support than in the later Roman Empire. Between 284 and 395 AD, no fewer than 37 men claimed imperial power, though today we recognize barely half of these men as 'legitimate' rulers and more than two thirds died at their subjects' hands. Once established in power, a new ruler needed to publicly legitimate himself and to discredit his predecessor: overt criticism of the new regime became high treason, with historians supressing their accounts for fear of reprisals and the very names of defeated emperors chiselled from public inscriptions and deleted from official records. In a period of such chaos, how can we ever hope to record in any fair or objective way the history of the Roman state? Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire is the first history of civil war in the later Roman Empire to be written in English and aims to address this question by focusing on the various ways in which successive imperial dynasties attempted to legitimate themselves and to counter the threat of almost perpetual internal challenge to their rule. Panegyric in particular emerges as a crucial tool for understanding the rapidly changing political world of the third and fourth centuries, providing direct evidence of how, in the wake of civil wars, emperors attempted to publish their legitimacy and to delegitimize their enemies. The ceremony and oratory surrounding imperial courts too was of great significance: used aggressively to dramatize and constantly recall the events of recent civil wars, the narratives produced by the court in this context also went on to have enormous influence on the messages and narratives found within contemporary historical texts. In its exploration of the ways in which successive imperial courts sought to communicate with their subjects, this volume offers a thoroughly original reworking of late Roman domestic politics, and demonstrates not only how history could be erased, rewritten, and repurposed, but also how civil war, and indeed usurpation, became endemic to the later Empire."--Publisher's website.

Series Statement

Oxford studies in Byzantium

Uniform Title

Oxford studies in Byzantium.

Subject

• 284-476
• Rome > History > Empire, 284-476

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-338) and index.

Contents

I. Usurpation, Legitimacy, and the Roman Empire -- II. Usurpation, Legitimacy, and Panegyric -- III. A House Divided Against Itself -- IV. 'At last Roman, at last restored to the true light of Empire': Dyarchy, Tetrarchy, and the Fall of the British Empire of Carausius -- V. Tyranny and Betrayal: Constantine, Maximian, Maxentius, and Licinius -- VI. Tyranny and Blood: Constantius, Constans, Magnentius, and Vetranio -- VII. Usurper, Propaganda, History: The Emperor Julian -- VIII. Panegyric and Apology: The Accession of Jovian and the Usurpation of Procopius -- IX. Dismembering the House of Valentinian: The Usurpation of Theodosius and the War with Magnus Maximus -- X. Crisis and Transformation: Imperial Power in the Fifth Century -- Conclusion: Those Made Tyrants by the Victory of Others -- Appendix I: The Panegyrics -- Appendix II: Quantifying Usurpation: Notes to Accompany Figure I.2 [graph].

Call Number

JFE 18-8473

ISBN

• 0198824823
• 9780198824824

LCCN

2017959060

OCLC

1008759559

Author

Omissi, Adrastos, 1986- author.

Title

Emperors and Usurpers in the later Roman Empire : civil war, panegyric, and the construction of legitimacy / Adrastos Omissi.

Publisher

Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2018.

Copyright Date

©2018

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Oxford studies in Byzantium

Oxford studies in Byzantium.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-338) and index.

Chronological Term

284-476

Research Call Number

JFE 18-8473