Empire of the Romans (eBook)

JOHN MATTHEWS is Professor Emeritus of Classics and History, Yale University, USA. He received his PhD from Oxford University in 1969 and taught Greek and Roman history at Oxford for many years before moving to Yale in 1996. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1990. He is author of many books including Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, A.D. 364-425, The Roman Empire of Ammianus,??Laying Down the Law: A Study of the Theodosian Code, and Roman Perspectives: Studies in the social, political and cultural history of the First to Fifth Centuries. He is also co-author of the acclaimed Atlas of the Roman World.

Preface vii

List of Maps xv

List of Figures xvii

Part I Building an Empire 1

1 Introduction: The Roman Republic and its Discontents 3

2 The Tragedy of Julius Caesar 19

3 Caesar's Heir 29

4 A New Order 37

5 Succession, and the Nature of the Imperial Office 57

6 The Julio-Claudian Dynasty: Loyalty and Dissent 67

Bibliographical Notes to Part I: Building an Empire 83

Part II Pax Romana: "A Polite and Powerful Empire" 91

7 Frontiers and Provinces 93

8 From Flavians to Severi 117

9 Age of the Antonines 137

10 Religious Change and Early Christianity 173

Bibliographical Notes to Part II: "A Polite and Powerful Empire" 185

Part III Rising to the Challenge 197

11 Into an Age of Iron 199

12 Political Change and the Economy 213

13 Diocletian and the Tetrarchy 223

Bibliographical Notes to Part III: Rising to the Challenge 239

Part IV A New Empire 245

14 The Ascendancy of Constantine 247

15 Cities of Constantine: Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem 263

16 The House of Constantine 281

17 Julian, Hellenism, and Christianity 297

18 Christianity and Roman Society 307

19 The Late Roman State 321

20 Rome and the Barbarian World 333

Bibliographical Notes to Part IV: A New Empire 345

Part V Facing the Future 355

21 The Fall of Rome 357

22 Into a Post-Roman World 373

23 East and West after the Fall of Rome 389

24 Royalty at Ravenna 403

25 Dialogues with the Past: The Reign of Justinian 417

26 Retrospective 437

Bibliographical Notes to Part V: Facing the Future 447

Abbreviations and Short Titles 457

Bibliographical References 459

Index 479