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23990 results in Ancient history

Page 955 of 1200

  • 8 - The church as a public institution

  • from PART II - GOVERNMENT AND INSTITUTIONS
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 238-276

  • Summary

    The Christian church in the Roman empire had been transformed from an object of official indifference and active hostility into the recipient of favour, privilege and protection. The bishops at Sardica in 343 began to formulate the appellate jurisdiction of the Roman bishop ostensibly as a reaction against the rush to involve the imperial power as a court of last resort for settling church issues. At Constantinople the tally of church buildings increased steadily in the generations after Constantine, while in the time of bishop Macedonius, under Constantius II, the eastern capital also began to witness the emergence of a network of monasteries and charitable establishments. Although the bishop's role of judge and arbitrator for his fellow citizens had a history in earlier church procedure, and was enhanced by the increased public profile of the church in the fourth century, it was also given an institutional footing by the endorsement of imperial decrees.

  • 15 - The Germanic peoples

  • from PART IV - FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE BARBARIAN WORLD
    • By Malcolm Todd, Principal of Trevelyan College and Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 461-486

  • Summary

    Roman written sources suggest little change within the social order of the Germanic peoples from the first contacts to the migrations. The impact of environmental change in the later Roman Iron Age must also be allowed for, in certain areas at least, most notably in the northern coastlands. From some areas of northern Gaul, however, there have come clear signs of German settlement dating from the late fourth and early fifth centuries. The peoples of the northern German coastlands who posed an increasing threat to the security of the frontier on the lower Rhine and to the coasts of northern Gaul and Britain in the fourth century were lumped together by Roman sources as 'Saxons', though that name embraced wide ethnic variety. By the early fifth century, whether in Gaul, the Danube lands or Scandinavia, Germanic leaders could express a growing confidence that their place in a changed world was assured as never before.

  • 6 - Senators and senates

  • from PART II - GOVERNMENT AND INSTITUTIONS
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 184-210

  • Summary

    This chapter discusses the total revolution in the nature of the imperial senatorial order. It considers the institutional changes put in place in the course of the century, the new career patterns which resulted, and the evolving political role of senators, both in central, imperial politics and in the governing of localities. The most obvious institutional innovation of the fourth century was the creation of the senate of Constantinople. The new body did not spring fully formed from the head of the emperor Constantine, however, having at least three marked phases of development. The link between the bureaucracy and the senate was fully institutionalized in the reign of Valentinian I and Valens. The fundamental changes in the nature of the senatorial order naturally affected the type of careers being followed by its members. Individual senators and institutional bodies dominated by senators were involved in a wide variety of ways in imperial politics: the formulation of policy and regimes.

  • 20 - Asceticism: pagan and Christian

  • from PART V - Religion
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 601-631

  • Summary

    In a tense and ambitious age, asceticism was one possible form of achievement among many. Most important of all, late Roman asceticism would not have been so exuberantly creative if the 'statements' made by differing ascetic traditions and 'read' by those around them had not varied dramatically. To a modern reader all late antique ascetic practices can appear equal, because all seem to be equally a departure from what we have been accustomed to regard as the less ascetic, more world-affirming tone of the classical period. This chapter concentrates on the differences in meaning, attached by differing groups, to what were often commonplace ascetic practices. With Augustine the process is complete. Only through Christ and the Catholic church had the tragic gap between the world of unchanging truth and the world of time been bridged. In the next centuries, the history of asceticism, especially in the west, would increasingly coincide with the history of die Christian church.

  • 2 - Julian

  • from PART I - CHRONOLOGICAL OVERVIEW
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 44-77

  • Summary

    It was at Nicomedia that Julian first encountered the teaching of Libanius. Libanius' own claim is that Julian was moved to Nicomedia on the orders of the emperor, for fear of his growing popularity in 'court circles' in the capital. Julian remained at Nicomedia when his older brother was elevated to imperial rank in March 351; the two met as the new Caesar passed through the city en route to taking up his residence at Antioch. More significant, though, is Julian's misrepresentation of his position as Caesar in relation to Constantius and the existing military establishment in Gaul. The Paris proclamation displays some of the classic ingredients of a late Roman usurpation. When the law on the qualifications of teachers was issued in June 362, Julian may already have embarked on the journey from Constantinople to Antioch, with the intention of assembling an army to resume the war against Persia which Constantius had left unfinished.

  • 14 - The eastern frontier

  • from PART IV - FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE BARBARIAN WORLD
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 437-460

  • Summary

    Any description of the eastern frontier must start with a discussion of the relationship between Rome and Persia. During most of the reign of Yezdegerd I (399-420) and in the first years of Theodosius II (408-50), relations between Rome and Persia were marked by a policy of mutual tolerance. In the fourth century the Arab nomad forces, 'Saracens', as they are called in the contemporary literature, became an important factor in the warfare between Rome and Persia to an extent previously unknown. The Jews in Palestine and the Diaspora had enjoyed a considerable degree of autonomy under Roman rule from the second century onward. The military organization of the second half of the fourth century had more in common with that of the sixth than with that of the third. This period witnessed the institution of territorial commands held by duces as distinct from the field arm.

  • 22 - Education and literary culture

  • from PART VI - ART AND CULTURE
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 665-707

  • Summary

    This chapter concentrates on literary culture and the cognitive aspects of cultural systems. The traditional rhetorical education continued to be valued throughout the period; it was indeed the only kind of education available, except in special fields like philosophy and law. Christians and pagans alike were deeply influenced by Neoplatonism, and especially by certain key texts. The late fourth century is remarkable for the intensity of literary and intellectual activity among certain members of the upper class, both Christian and pagan; for the sheer volume of surviving works, this is surely the richest period of antiquity. It is hardly surprising if Christian and pagan epistolography followed a similar pattern, with an emphasis on letters of recommendation, consolation and encouragement, in accordance with the demands of late Roman amicitia. A dense and complex ascetic literature, ranging from the more or less popular to the highly rhetorical, developed in the eastern empire from die fourth century onwards, and spread to the west.

  • 12 - The cities

  • from PART III - THE EMPIRE: ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 371-410

  • Summary

    The Roman empire of the fourth and early fifth centuries remained, as it had always been, city-based, with political, religious and aristocratic life revolving around the civitates and around major capitals. Although their importance remained unchanged, the cities of the late empire differed in several obvious ways from the cities of the earlier Roman world. The three changes, in the political, military and religious role of the cities had a marked effect on the politics of city life and on the way that the aristocracy played out its role within the cities. The fourth to sixth centuries saw the decline of the centuries-old ideal of the classical city governing the patterns of local political life and spending. These centuries also saw the gradual emergence of a 'new' city, playing an important part within the overall administrative, financial and military structures of church and state, and increasingly focused on a Christian ideology of saints and their churches.

  • 23a - Syriac Culture, 337–425

  • from PART VI - ART AND CULTURE
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 708-719

  • Summary

    Syriac culture was heir to three quite different literary cultures: ancient Mesopotamian, Jewish and Greek. In the period up to 425, elements from all three can be readily identified, in varying proportions, in the extant literature; from the early fifth century onwards the Greek element became the predominant influence, while the other two fade into the background. This applies equally to the history of Syriac culture in the Sasanian empire, although there the influence of Greek culture on Syriac literature does not become strong until the sixth century. The interaction between Greek and Syriac culture in Syria and northern Mesopotamia was in fact a complex affair, and in the period under consideration the juxtaposition of the two literary cultures resulted in mutual enrichment. In the sixth century, at a time when the prestige of Greek culture was resulting in ever stronger influence on Syriac literature, Syriac was actually gaining ground as a written language to the west of the Euphrates.

  • 11 - Late Roman social relations

  • from PART III - THE EMPIRE: ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 338-370

  • Summary

    The most obvious characteristic of Roman society, its verticality, became more accentuated in late antiquity. The history of social relations in late antiquity certainly benefits from being illuminated by sources notable for their quantity and quality. The sources issue, as always in antiquity, from the upper classes of society, and the silence of the lower classes is almost total. Christian charity undoubtedly represented a significant departure from the typical forms of munificence of the pagan empire, precisely because of the universalistic ideology which directed it towards groups which were normally neglected. In the second half of the fourth century, a way of advancement opened up for Christian women in the form of an ascetic lifestyle. The increased verticalization of the society of late antiquity is most apparent in the emphasis on the figure of the emperor. At Constantinople between the fourth and the fifth century the arbiters of the political struggle are the barbarians in the army and the bishops.

  • 4 - The dynasty of Theodosius

  • from PART I - CHRONOLOGICAL OVERVIEW
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 111-137

  • Summary

    The legacy of Theodosius I to the Roman world contained three elements of capital importance. First, his insistence that the Nicene version of Christian orthodoxy prevail routed Arianism from its strongholds in the Balkans and in Constantinople itself and laid down the lines of development for Roman Christianity, both east and west. Second, his settling as autonomous federates the barbarian peoples who had crossed into the Roman empire both before and after Adrianople, his gready increased use of federate troops in the Roman armies, and his cultivation of the chieftains of the barbarians, especially the Visigoths. Finally, Theodosius' determination that his dynasty should rule the whole Roman world led to a costly civil war against Eugenius and, at his own death shordy thereafter, the division of the empire between his two young and incapable sons, controlled by ministers whose rivalries split the resources of the state at a time when they needed to be united.

  • 18 - Polytheist religion and philosophy

  • from PART V - Religion
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 538-560

  • Summary

    This chapter talks about the hand of the state and about its role, whether active or passive, in the foundering of public polytheism. The reign of Constantius is peculiarly elusive for the historian of religion. Julian was a polytheist who believed firmly in individual gods who inhabited particular parts of the earth. Though there was some anti-polydieist reaction immediately after Julian's death, his successor Jovian (363-4) espoused a 'Constantinian' policy of broad toleration which permitted, according to Themistius, 'legal sacrifices'. About the year 386, for example, one finds bishop Marcellus of Apamea encompassing, in that famous centre of polytheist religion and philosophy, the destruction of the temple of Zeus. As a form of local and especially rural religion, polytheism showed remarkable powers of resistance. Although there is an obvious connection between the triumph of Christianity and the demise of polytheism, these were two distinct processes with independent timetables.

  • 16 - Goths and Huns, c. 320–425

  • from PART IV - FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE BARBARIAN WORLD
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 487-515

  • Summary

    The geographical area dominated by the Goths before the arrival of the Huns is broadly defined by the extent of the Cernjachov culture. In the past, the association of this culture with the Goths was highly contentious, but important methodological advances have made it irresistible. It is traditional to conceive of the Goths as being divided in the fourth century into Visigoths and Ostrogoths. A huge revolution in Gothic society, started some fifty years earlier by the Huns, had finally come to fruition in the creation of the Visigoths. Theoderic I established a new order in Gotho-Roman relations. Goths and Romans co-operated in Spain, destroying one out of two Vandal groups, and savaging various groups of Alans. For the Romans, the Goths had become a lesser evil, and, with that in mind, they were willing to countenance their autonomous settlement within the Roman frontier and sanction it with a formal alliance.

Page 955 of 1200