Christian emperors and Roman elites in late antiquity /

Lizzi Testa, Rita,

Christian emperors and Roman elites in late antiquity / Rita Lizzi Testa. - pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Constantine and the senatorial aristocracy : the men and women he could not ignore -- Julian and the pagan tradition on Constantine -- Quintus Aurelius Symmachus in Bauli : literary genres and political projects -- Roman senators and imperial officials at the court of Valentinian I -- The brooms in bloom : the Roman aristocracy and the haruspices -- Ammianus, Phrynichus and ancient historians' self-censorship -- Pagan senators and Christian bishops : the Roman Senate at work (382-384 AD) -- Just before the sack : between political crisis and religious anxiety in Rome -- Saint Valentine and the Symmachi.

"This book brings together a number of case studies to show some of the ways in which, as soon as the Roman Senate gained new political authority under Constantine and his successors, its members crowded the political scene in the West. In these chapters, Rita Lizzi Testa brings together the fruit of decades of research, and makes much of her work available here in English for the first time. She demonstrates how Roman senators were chosen as legates to establish proactive relations with Christian emperors, their ministers and military commanders, and Eastern and Western provincial elites. Senators wove a web of relations in the Eastern and Western empires, sewing and stitching the empires' fabric with their diplomatic skills, wealth, and influence, while lively and highly litigious assembly activity still required of them a cultured rhetoric. Through employing astute political strategies, they maintained their privileges, including their own beliefs in ancient cults. Christian Emperors and the Roman Senate in the Fourth Century provides a crucial collection for students and scholars of Late Antique history and religion, and of politics in the Late Roman Empire"--

9781472440846 9781032262512

2021055816


Rome. Senate.


Emperors--Religious aspects--Christianity.--Rome
Christianity and politics--Rome.
Christianity and other religions--Roman.
Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600.


Rome--Politics and government--284-476.
Rome--Religion.

JC89 / .L59 2022

320.0937