Ruling the Later Roman Empire

Christopher Kelly

Published by Harvard University Press 2006

Ruling the Later Roman Empire

Christopher Kelly

Volume 15 in the series Revealing Antiquity

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674039452

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this highly original work, Christopher Kelly paints a remarkable picture of running a superstate. He portrays a complex system of government openly regulated by networks of personal influence and the payment of money. Focusing on the Roman Empire after Constantine's conversion to Christianity, Kelly illuminates a period of increasingly centralized rule through an ever more extensive and intrusive bureaucracy. The book opens with a view of its times through the eyes of a high-ranking official in sixth-century Constantinople, John Lydus. His On the Magistracies of the Roman State, the only memoir of its kind to come down to us, gives an impassioned and revealing account of his career and the system in which he worked. Kelly draws a wealth of insight from this singular memoir and goes on to trace the operation of power and influence, exposing how these might be successfully deployed or skillfully diverted by those wishing either to avoid government regulation or to subvert it for their own ends. Ruling the Later Roman Empire presents a fascinating procession of officials, emperors, and local power brokers, winners and losers, mapping their experiences, their conflicting loyalties, their successes, and their failures. This important book elegantly recaptures the experience of both rulers and ruled under a sophisticated and highly successful system of government.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Prologue: First Thoughts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I . The Bureaucrat’s Tale
Introduction: John Lydus: A Man and His Book Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
1 All the Prefect’s Men Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
2 The Competition for Spoils Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
Part II. Ruler s and Ruled
Introduction: Passages from the Principate to Late Antiquity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
3 Standing in Line Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	114
4 Purchasing Power Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
5 Autocracy and Bureaucracy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
Epilogue: Last Judgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	327

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Pages
- Main content: 352

eBook

Published: July 5, 2021
ISBN: 9780674039452