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
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

18 results

  • 13 - Religious Violence in the Later Roman Empire

  • from Part II - The Ancient World
  • Edited by Ben Kiernan, Yale University, Connecticut, T. M. Lemos, Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, Tristan S. Taylor, University of New England, Australia
  • General editor Ben Kiernan, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book:
    The Cambridge World History of Genocide
    Published online:
    23 June 2023
    Print publication:
    04 May 2023, pp 353-375

  • Summary

    Beginning in 302 CE, the four emperors of the Roman tetrarchy collectively issued a series of edicts that decreed severe penalties against the Empire’s Manichaean and Christian subjects. These decrees constituted the most widespread and systematic religious persecutions in imperial history. In this chapter, I explore these edicts and their consequences in the context of a global history of genocide. I argue that, while these persecutions may not satisfy modern juristic definitions of genocide, which tend to emphasize physical violence, they nonetheless suggest that the emperors aimed to eliminate alternative systems of knowledge, to remove particular religio-cultural populations from the civic collective, and to prevent these groups’ social reproduction. I suggest the tetrarchy’s edicts comprise something akin to a “cultural genocide” by the Roman government. I conclude with some brief reflections on the use of cultural genocide as an interpretive tool for understanding ancient acts of community violence.

  • 14 - The Good, the Bad and the Middling

  • from Part III - Ethnicity and Identity in the Roman Empire
  • Edited by Jonathan J. Price, Tel-Aviv University, Margalit Finkelberg, Tel-Aviv University, Yuval Shahar, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book:
    Rome: An Empire of Many Nations
    Published online:
    14 April 2022
    Print publication:
    21 April 2022, pp 239-259
    • Chapter
      • You have access
      • Open access
    • PDF
    • HTML
    • Export citation

  • Summary

    Talmudic literature, throughout all its chronological phases, relates to various Roman emperors. Nine emperors are mentioned explicitly by name, and among these are six who are especially notable, from three different periods. First, the period of the major Jewish revolts: Vespasian and Titus are mentioned for the War of the Destruction of the Temple, Trajan for the Diaspora revolts and Hadrian for the Bar Kochba Revolt. These are the “wicked” emperors of Talmudic literature, with Hadrian presented as the worst of all. Second, the golden age of relations between Judaea and Rome in the Severan period: “Antoninus,” usually identified with Caracalla, is presented as the “good” emperor par excellence. Finally, in the middle of the scale between the “wicked” and the “good” emperors we find Diocletian, the interesting emperor whose presence is strongly felt, as he was responsible for the development of the whole region.

  • 14 - The Good, the Bad and the Middling

  • from Part III - Ethnicity and Identity in the Roman Empire
  • Edited by Jonathan J. Price, Tel-Aviv University, Margalit Finkelberg, Tel-Aviv University, Yuval Shahar, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book:
    Rome: An Empire of Many Nations
    Published online:
    04 August 2021
    Print publication:
    23 September 2021, pp 239-259

  • Summary

    Talmudic literature, throughout all its chronological phases, relates to various Roman emperors. Nine emperors are mentioned explicitly by name, and among these are six who are especially notable, from three different periods. First, the period of the major Jewish revolts: Vespasian and Titus are mentioned for the War of the Destruction of the Temple, Trajan for the Diaspora revolts and Hadrian for the Bar Kochba Revolt. These are the “wicked” emperors of Talmudic literature, with Hadrian presented as the worst of all. Second, the golden age of relations between Judaea and Rome in the Severan period: “Antoninus,” usually identified with Caracalla, is presented as the “good” emperor par excellence. Finally, in the middle of the scale between the “wicked” and the “good” emperors we find Diocletian, the interesting emperor whose presence is strongly felt, as he was responsible for the development of the whole region.

  • Reconsidering the frieze on the Arch of Constantine

  • C. Brian Rose
  • Journal:
    Journal of Roman Archaeology / Volume 34 / Issue 1 / June 2021
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    19 March 2021, pp. 175-210
    Print publication:
    June 2021

  • This article proposes that nearly all of the sculpted frieze of the Arch of Constantine in Rome, generally regarded as Constantinian, derives from a triumphal monument of Diocletian commissioned shortly after his Vicennalia in 303 CE. The basis of the argument is the sculptural technique evinced by the frieze, especially the separately-worked heads of the emperor in four of the frieze slabs, together with the missing legs and feet of several of the other figures. These anomalies suggest that much of the frieze was spoliated from another monument that had honored a different man; Diocletian is the only emperor whose career fits the iconography. A Diocletianic date for most of the frieze blocks necessitates a reconsideration of long-standing interpretations of the spolia on the arch and, in turn, its historiography.

  • 28 - Suicide and Martyrdom among Christians and Jews

  • from Part V - Violence, Crime and the State
  • Edited by Garrett G. Fagan, Pennsylvania State University, Linda Fibiger, University of Edinburgh, Mark Hudson, Max-Planck-Institut für Menschheitsgeschichte, Germany, Matthew Trundle, University of Auckland
  • Book:
    The Cambridge World History of Violence
    Published online:
    13 March 2020
    Print publication:
    26 March 2020, pp 572-586

  • Summary

    Martyrdom was a central component in the fashioning of both ancient Jewish and early Christian identities. Within Christian circles martyrdom is often presented as an exclusively Christian phenomenon that emerged in the context of persecution by the Romans. The presence of ‘suicidal’ martyrs in both Jewish and Christian traditions demonstrates both that martyrdom is not the exclusive property of the Christian tradition and also that prior to the third century CE it and suicide were not clearly distinguished from one another.

  • A New Fragment of Diocletian's Currency Regulation from Aphrodisias*

  • Angelos Chaniotis, Takashi Fujii
  • Journal:
    The Journal of Roman Studies / Volume 105 / November 2015
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    02 July 2015, pp. 227-233
    Print publication:
    November 2015

  • An inscription found in Aphrodisias in 2014 is recognized as a fragment of a dossier concerning Diocletian's currency regulation. This dossier, probably consisting of two edicts and a letter, was inscribed on two blocks of the civic basilica wall. The new fragment belongs to the letter that accompanied the edicts. The reference to the diocese suggests that the letter was addressed to the rationalis of the diocese of Asia. The new fragment belongs to the bottom right corner of the upper block. Thus, it provides new possibilities for the reconstruction of the fragments of the upper block.

  • 30 - Constantine and the ‘peace of the church’

  • from Part VI - ‘Aliens’ become Citizens: towards Imperial Patronage
  • Edited by Margaret M. Mitchell, University of Chicago, Frances M. Young, University of Birmingham
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Christianity
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    19 January 2006, pp 538-551

  • Summary

    The reign of Constantine was momentous for Christianity. Before it, and indeed during Constantine's first years, Christians continued to suffer persecution; after it, all but one emperor followed Constantine's example in supporting Christianity. The term the 'peace of the church', used by Christians to denote the ending of persecution, is something of a misnomer in light of the violent quarrels which followed during the rest of the fourth century and after. The years 305-12 CE saw the breakdown of the tetrarchic system established by Diocletian under the pressure of individual ambition, of which Constantine was by nomeans innocent. Constantine is remembered for his alleged vision of a cross in the sky immediately before he went into battle against Maxentius. This version depends on the later and highly embellished story in Eusebius's De vita Constantini, which he claims came from the emperor himself.

  • 11 - The Byzantine empire in the seventh century

  • from PART II - THE SEVENTH CENTURY
  • Edited by Paul Fouracre, University of Manchester
  • Book:
    The New Cambridge Medieval History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 December 2005, pp 289-316

  • Summary

    At the beginning of the seventh century, the Byzantine Empire was part of a political configuration focussed on the Mediterranean world, which had been familiar for centuries and was characterised by two factors, one external and the other internal. The administration of the Byzantine Empire, both civil and military, was essentially what had emerged from the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine in the late third and early fourth centuries. The authors describe the life of the Byzantine church in the seventh century emerging from the 102 canons of the Quinisext Synod, called by the emperor Justinian II in 692.The end of the seventh century saw the Byzantine Empire still in a process of transition and redefinition: the Arab threat to Constantinople was to continue well into the eighth century, and Iconoclasm, which is seen as a further stage in the Byzantine Empire's search for its identity and ways of expressing this in the aftermath of crisis of the seventh century.

  • 8 - Provinces and frontiers

  • from PART III - THE PROVINCES
  • Edited by Alan Bowman, Brasenose College, Oxford, Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 September 2005, pp 212-268

  • Summary

    Under the Severan emperors there was a significant advance of the limits of territory under direct Roman occupation, in Mesopotamia to the river Tigris and in Africa to the northern fringes of the Sahara desert. Only in the later years of Severus Alexander, last of the Severan dynasty, were there indications of new threats to stability along the northern and eastern frontiers. The half-century between the death of Severus Alexander and the accession of Diocletian appears to have been dominated by inroads of peoples from the north and Persian aggression from the east. The years of stable relations with Germans and Sarmatians across the middle Danube came to an end around the middle of the third century. The general character of Roman frontier deployment in the European provinces has long been known but only recently have there emerged detailed accounts of the eastern frontier between the Black Sea and the Red Sea.

  • 7b - Epiclassical law

  • from PART II - GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
  • Edited by Alan Bowman, Brasenose College, Oxford, Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 September 2005, pp 200-211

  • Summary

    The classical period of Roman law is conventionally taken to end in 235 with the death of Alexander Severus. The third-century rescripts which survive cluster into groups. The vast bulk of surviving rescripts is from the reign of Diocletian. The reign of Diocletian saw the compilation of two codifications of imperial rescripts, the Codices Gregorianus and Hermogenianus. The first evidently collected rescripts from the reign of Hadrian up to 291, while the second covered 293-4. The Codex Gregorianus was evidently divided into fifteen or sixteen books up to forty in a book. The five books of sententiae attributed to Paul were the most successful and widespread of epiclassical juristic works. They were used already by the compiler of the Fragmenta Vaticana in about 320 and they were given a boost by being officially approved by Constantine. Some odd surviving works may be best attributed to activity in the schools in the epiclassical period.

  • 2 - Maximinus to Diocletian and the ‘crisis’

  • from PART I - NARRATIVE
  • Edited by Alan Bowman, Brasenose College, Oxford, Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 September 2005, pp 28-66

  • Summary

    The fifty years following the death of Severus Alexander were among the most disruptive ever experienced by the Roman Empire. Historians conventionally refer to them as a period of 'crisis', which began in 235, reached its peak around 260, and then gradually yielded to the ministrations of a series of reforming emperors, ending with Diocletian. The outstanding characteristic of this crisis was war, both civil and foreign. C. Iulius Verus Maximinus was a man of late middle age. Though of relatively humble stock, he had exploited the opportunities for promotion in the reformed army of Septimius Severus, winning high rank and equestrian status. Between 235 and 285 the Roman Empire experienced great dislocation and distress. The principal causes of these disturbances have now been generally agreed by historians and may indeed be inferred from what Diocletian eventually did to bring them to an end.

  • 5 - The army

  • from PART II - GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
  • Edited by Alan Bowman, Brasenose College, Oxford, Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 September 2005, pp 110-130

  • Summary

    The disposition of the Roman army in 235 shows in general terms the main strategical pre-occupations of the empire. Twelve legions and over 100 auxiliary units were concentrated along the Danube from Raetia to Moesia Inferior, while a further eleven legions and over eighty auxiliary units guarded Rome's eastern territories from Cappadocia to Egypt. Aurelian strengthened the army by recruiting two thousand horsemen from Rome's erstwhile enemies the Vandals, and also received offers of troops from the Iuthungi and the Alamanni. This was very much in the Roman tradition of recruiting good fighting peoples from the periphery of the empire and channelling them into the Roman system. Diocletian inherited a long-established military structure, in which many key provinces contained two legions and auxilia. Constantine significantly altered the balance of Rome's military forces established by Diocletian. In the context of the early fourth century, Constantine's arrangements probably provided the best chance of preserving the territory and prestige of the Roman Empire.

  • 6d - The new state of Diocletian and Constantine: from the tetrarchy to the reunification of the empire

  • from 6 - The emperor and his administration
  • Edited by Alan Bowman, Brasenose College, Oxford, Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 September 2005, pp 170-183

  • Summary

    In 293, two soldiers, Constantius Chlorus and Maximianus Galerius, were raised to the purple as Caesars. The diarchy was transformed into a tetrarchy. With the partition into four areas, the western parts to Maximian and Constantius Chlorus, the eastern to Diocletian himself and Galerius, the centres of decision were brought closer to the more critical frontier zones. It was an attempt to resolve a structural problem in a large territorial Byzantine empire. To strengthen the new regime a new legitimation of imperial power was devised: one that exploited a particular religious climate, while at the same time aiming to trace its roots in the Roman tradition. The administrative reforms, which were connected with the reorganizations of the army, of taxation and even of the coinage, were an effective response to danger from without and to the threat of disintegration. The main feature of Aurelian's reform was the division of the existing provinces into smaller territorial entities.

  • 9 - Developments in provincial and local administration

  • from PART III - THE PROVINCES
  • Edited by Alan Bowman, Brasenose College, Oxford, Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 September 2005, pp 269-312

  • Summary

    The Roman Empire's need to mobilize continuously and more exactingly than before its economic, financial and human resources in order to meet the demands of collective defence, entailed a strengthening of the administrative structure at all levels-central, provincial and local. The revision of traditional theories has had the effect of modifying the chronological periodization, by showing the Severi to have been more continuators of the Antonines than precursors of Diocletian, and by redefining the tetrarchy itself as a phase in the transition between the classical imperial system and the most characteristic innovations of the late empire, which do not appear before Constantine. Throughout the whole period the diplomatic relations maintained by the various emperors with the eastern cities, in the purest traditions of hellenism seem to conform to the ideal expressed by Aelius Aristides some decades earlier. Severan reforms are said to have revised the political presuppositions and the juridical configuration of the land tax.

  • 10 - Egypt from Septimius Severus to the death of Constantine

  • from PART III - THE PROVINCES
  • Edited by Alan Bowman, Brasenose College, Oxford, Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    08 September 2005, pp 313-326

  • Summary

    This chapter sketches the social and economic features of the Roman province which have a bearing upon some of the key issues in the history of the later empire. The province of Egypt played a central role in the military and political struggles in the east during the 260s and 270s. The reforms under Diocletian and his immediate successors amount to a radical overhaul of the Egyptian administration, brought about by stages over more than two decades. The changes and developments in Egypt between Septimius Severus and Constantine are exceptionally important, not least because of the implications for the history of the empire in the third and early fourth centuries as a whole. Recent studies of fundamental aspects of the agricultural economy in the Fayum and the Oxyrhynchite Nome reveal management strategies which are both sophisticated in the case of day-to-day organization and relatively stable in the case of landholding and tenancy.

  • 35 - Introductory

  • from PART VI - LATER PRINCIPATE
  • Edited by E. J. Kenney, W. V. Clausen
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Classical Literature
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 March 1982, pp 681-691

  • Summary

    This chapter explores the period that extends roughly from the middle of the third century to the middle of the fifth century AD. The period, that of Diocletian and Constantine saw the re-establishment of firm central power in the empire on a new basis. By Constantine's death stability had been restored in the military, administrative and economic spheres. Literature and art began to find patrons and the pen began to replace the sword as an instrument of persuasion. The period, in the first half of the fifth century, saw the political separation between the eastern and western parts of the Roman empire, which had been a temporary expedient in the past, become permanent. Christian writers, with their essentially historical view of the world, were more sensitive to the signs of change than the pagan contemporaries. Augustine's City of God in its way marks the end of the ancient world in the west as clearly as do the great barbarian invasions.

  • 37 - Biography

  • from PART VI - LATER PRINCIPATE
  • Edited by E. J. Kenney, W. V. Clausen
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Classical Literature
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    18 March 1982, pp 723-731

  • Summary

    The form of imperial biography established in the second century by Suetonius continued to be followed during late antiquity, and was later adopted as a model by Einhard for his Life of Charlemagne. The Historia Augusta is a collection of lives of emperors from Hadrian to Numerian, dealing not only with reigning emperors, but with co-emperors and pretenders as well. There are thirty biographies in all, some dealing with groups of emperors or pretenders. They are addressed to Diocletian, Constantine and various personages of their period, and purport to have been written at various dates from before 305 till after 324. They are attributed to six authors: Aelius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus, Vulcatius Gallicanus, Aelius Lampridius, Trebellius Pollio and Flavius Vopiscus. The Confessions were written about 397, in the early years of Augustine's episcopate of Hippo.