Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T09:18:57.651Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - Beside the Rim of the Ocean

The Edges of the World in Fifth- and Sixth-Century Historiography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2019

By
Peter Van Nuffelen
Edited by
Peter Van Nuffelen
Peter Van Nuffelen
Affiliation:
Universiteit Gent, Belgium
Get access

Summary

In his panegyrical description of Hagia Sophia, delivered between 24 December 562 and 6 January 563, Paul the Silentiary praises Justinian for having domesticated seas and rivers. ‘These things’, he continues, ‘together with Western, Libyan, and Eastern triumphs, honour your power beside the rim of the Ocean’.1 This is reminiscent of the praise of Pseudo-Themistius for an emperor tentatively identified with Justinian.2 Such statements are topical, for imperial power was inherently universal: the claim to dominate the entire world is the spatial expression of the Roman Empire.3 As C. Nicolet has shown for Augustus, claims of world domination go hand in hand with claims to knowledge about that world.4

Type
Chapter
Information
Historiography and Space in Late Antiquity , pp. 36 - 56
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×