Giving Voice to the Late Roman Emperor: Eumenius’s For the Restoration of the Schools (Pan. Lat. 9[4]) in Context

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-28
Author(s):  
Caillan Davenport
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Svante Fischer

In this paper, I discuss the context of a Late Roman solidus hoard found in the Casa delle Vestali on the Forum Romanum in Rome. The hoard consists of 397 solidi, Late Roman gold coins. Most of the hoard consists of uncirculated solidi struck in the name of the Western Roman emperor Procopius Anthemius (AD 467–472). By means of situating the hoard within the context of the reign of Anthemius and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the aim of this paper is to determine if the coins in the Vestal hoard can be related to other contemporary coin hoards by means of numismatic typology; this information could add to our understanding of why Anthemius’ reign is considered such an unmitigated failure and why the Empire collapsed soon after his murder. In this article, the composition of the hoard is examined, and the contents are compared to other contemporary solidus hoards in the Mediterranean, Gaul, Poland and Scandinavia. I argue that this comparison shows that the Vestal hoard is not part of a larger network but that the hoard constitutes the remains of an isolated occurrence—as initially suggested by its unusual composition and location.


1994 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Pazdernik

Examining a range of sixth-century (A.D.) literary sources, this paper explores the authors' attitudes toward the marital relationship of the Late Roman emperor Justinian I and his empress, Theodora. It emerges that the sources characteristically appeal to the agency of Theodora or to an underlying level of mutual understanding between the imperial couple in order to reconcile inconsistencies or apparent contradictions between the regime's rhetoric and its actions. Recourse to such an interior dynamic gave scope to the recognition and expression of contradiction without thereby entailing an admission of disorder: it enabled the imperial couple, and thus in an overarching sense the instrumental function of the imperial "role" in the state, to work if necessary at cross purposes while preserving an unbroken unity of purpose. Special attention is paid to the particular interests and expectations of two distinct groups: the classically-educated mandarinate of the Roman civil service, and the schismatic hierarchy of the nascent Monophysite church.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAGNAR K. KINZELBACH

The secretarybird, the only species of the family Sagittariidae (Falconiformes), inhabits all of sub-Saharan Africa except the rain forests. Secretarybird, its vernacular name in many languages, may be derived from the Arabic “saqr at-tair”, “falcon of the hunt”, which found its way into French during the crusades. From the same period are two drawings of a “bistarda deserti” in a codex by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1194–1250). The original sketch obviously, together with other information on birds, came from the court of Sultan al-Kâmil (1180–1238) in Cairo. Careful examination led to an interpretation as Sagittarius serpentarius. Two archaeological sources and one nineteenth century observation strengthened the idea of a former occurrence of the secretarybird in the Egyptian Nile valley. André Thevet (1502–1590), a French cleric and reliable research traveller, described and depicted in 1558 a strange bird, named “Pa” in Persian language, from what he called Madagascar. The woodcut is identified as Sagittarius serpentarius. The text reveals East Africa as the real home of this bird, associated there among others with elephants. From there raises a connection to the tales of the fabulous roc, which feeds its offspring with elephants, ending up in the vernacular name of the extinct Madagascar ostrich as elephantbird.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-259
Author(s):  
Ethan White

In the second century, the Roman Emperor Hadrian deified his male lover, Antinous, after the latter drowned in the Nile. Antinous’ worship was revived in the late twentieth century, primarily by gay men and other queer-identified individuals, with Antinous himself being recast as “the Gay God.”


Author(s):  
R. R. Palmer

In April 1792, France had declared war on the “King of Hungary and Bohemia,” that is the House of Austria or Hapsburg, which, since it possessed most of Belgium, was the most important of the powers that adjoined the French frontiers. By the following summer the French were also at war with the kingdoms of Prussia and Sardinia, and by 1793 with Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and the Bourbon Monarchy of Spain. Despite occasional appearances, or stated war aims, the war that began in April 1792 became an ideological conflict between new and old—between “democratic” and “aristocratic” forms of society in the sense explained in the preceding volume. This chapter focuses on this complex story and nations involved. It begins with a tale of two cities, involving ceremonial events in Frankfurt and Paris on July 14, 1792. It was, of course, Bastille Day, but it was also the date of the imperial coronation of Francis II, a young man of twenty-four who proved to be the last Holy Roman Emperor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-95
Author(s):  
Rémy Poignault

"Tyranny and Derision in Alexandre Dumas’ Caligula. This paper studies the character of Caligula in Alexandre Dumas’ Caligula (1837) in comparison with the image left by the Roman emperor in ancient literary sources. Dumas highlights a tyrannical regime based on denial and flattery, shows the emperor as a tyrannical lover and mocks aspirations to the divinity of the one who takes himself for Jupiter, but is afraid of thunder, who wants to be the master of the destiny of all, but doesn’t master his own, falling under Messalina’s machinations. Keywords: Latin historiography, drama, destiny, machinations, tyranny."


2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Chris Ellis ◽  
Jacky Sommerville

In March 2016, archaeological excavation was undertaken at four areas of land at Oxlease Farm, Cupernham Lane, Romsey, Hampshire. The fieldwork recovered a lithic assemblage from all four excavation areas, although the majority was recorded from a single flint-bearing deposit in Area 1. The assemblage included several elements that may belong to the Terminal Upper Palaeolithic Long Blade industry, as well as three flints of Mesolithic date. A small number of undated features were also uncovered, including pits and possible postholes, which may have been of a prehistoric date. A small and residual assemblage of Late Roman (3rd – 4th century AD) pottery was also recovered from probable medieval/post-medieval field boundary ditches or plough furrows.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document