Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire: Civil War, Panegyric, and the Construction of Legitimacy

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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. Cover Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire: Civil War, Panegyric, and the Construction of Legitimacy Copyright Dedication Preface: sine ira et studio Contents List of Figures List of Abbreviations PRIMARY MATERIAL SECONDARY MATERIAL Typographical Note Part I I: Usurpation, Legitimacy, and the Roman Empire WHY USURPATION?: THE PROBLEM OF THE IMPERIAL SUCCESSION ‘THIS LITANY OF MANIFEST USURPERS AND REBELLIOUS GENERALS’ : WHY HAD THE IMPERIAL SUCCESSION BECOME SO UNSTABLE BY THE THIRD CENTURY? ‘THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TYRANT AND A KING IS ONE OF DEEDS, NOT OF NAME’: HOW WAS USURPATION UNDERSTOOD IN THE LATE ROMAN EMPIRE? ‘LET THESE THINGS GO UNSPOKEN’: USURPATION AND MODERN RESEARCH II: Usurpation, Legitimacy, and Panegyric KNOWN UNKNOWNS, AND UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS: HOW TO USE PANEGYRIC AS A SOURCE ‘IN WHICH I WOULD TELL MANY LIES’: WHO DICTATED THE CONTENT OF PANEGYRIC? ‘AND WOULD BE VIEWED WITH FAVOUR BY THOSE WHO KNEW THEM TO BE SUCH’: PANEGYRIC, AUDIENCE, AND INFLUENCE PROPAGANDA AND POWER Part II III: A House Divided Against Itself IV: ‘At last Roman, at last restored to the true light of Empire: ’Diarchy, Tetrarchy, and the Fall of the British Empire of Carausius BIRTHING THE LATE ROMAN STATE:DIARCHS, TETRARCHS, AND A NEWLANGUAGE OF POWER EMPERORS AND BANDITS: THE BRITISH EMPIRE UNDER CARAUSIUS AND ALLECTUS V: Tyranny and Betrayal: Constantine, Maximian, Maxentius, and Licinius CONSTANTINE’S USURPATION: CONSTANTINE, GALERIUS, AND MAXIMIAN THE TYRANNUS: MAXENTIUS AND THE REWARDS OF CIVIL WAR NOTABLE BY HIS ABSENCE: LICINIUS AND THE RISE OF THE CONSTANTINIAN DYNASTY VI: Tyranny and Blood: Constantius, Constans, Magnentius, and Vetranio SMILING FOR THE CAMERAS: THE SONS OF CONSTANTINE, 337–50 THE SON OF THE FATHER: CONSTANTIUS THE TYRANT-SLAYER VII: Usurper, Propaganda, History: The Emperor Julian THE VOICE OF A USURPER: JULIAN’S RISE TO POWER BLEACHING THE STAINS: JULIAN’S SOLE RULE VIII: Panegyric and Apology: The Accession of Jovian and the Usurpation of Procopius THE NEED FOR VICTORY: JOVIAN AND THE DEMANDS OF IMPERIAL RHETORIC THE ENEMY INSIDE: VALENTINIAN, VALENS, AND PROCOPIUS ‘HE WHO SOUGHT RULE FOR HIMSELF BEHIND THE CLOAK OF A LITTLE BOY’: THE USURPATION OF VALENTINIAN II IX: Dismembering the House of Valentinian: The Usurpation of Theodosius and the War with Magnus Maximus ‘AND NOBLY HE MADE THE VOTE HIS OWN’: THE USURPATION OF THEODOSIUS DIVIDED LOYALTIES: THE USURPATION OF 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 Translations Separate editions APPENDIX II: Quantifying Usurpation Notes to Accompany Figure I.2 Bibliography Index