THE SOCIETY FOR LATE ANTIQUITY

 

presents

 

Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity VI:

 

Romans, Barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World

 

An Interdisciplinary Conference

 

The University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign

 

March 17-20, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visigothic Buckle, courtesy the Spurlock Museum, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

 

 


 


 

THE SOCIETY FOR LATE ANTIQUITY

 

 

presents

 

 

Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity VI:

 

Romans, Barbarians, and the Transformation of the Roman World

 

An Interdisciplinary Conference

 

The University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign

 

March 17-20, 2005

 

 

COLLECTED ABSTRACTS

 

Ralph W. Mathisen

Danuta Shanzer

Editors


 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS          ...................................................................................3

 

ROSTER OF PARTICIPANTS          ...................................................................................5

 

CONFERENCE PROGRAM          ...................................................................................8

 

ABSTRACTS          .................................................................................14

 

MAP          .................................................................................32

 


          ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

This conference was supported by the generous assistance of

 

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, UIUC

The Medieval Studies Program, UIUC

 

with additional support provided by

 

The Department of History, UIUC

The Department of English, UIUC

The School of Art and Design, UIUC, and

The Department of the Classics, UIUC

 

Local Arrangements and Program Coordination:

 

Ralph Mathisen (UIUC)

Danuta Shanzer (UIUC)

 

Program Committee:

 

Thomas Burns (Emory University)

John Eadie (Michigan State University)

Hal Drake (Univ. of California-Santa Barbara)

Ralph Mathisen (UIUC)

Danuta Shanzer (UIUC)

 

Spurlock Museum Exhibit of Merovingian Artifacts:           

 

Douglas J. Brewer, Museum Director

Christa Deacy-Quinn, Collections Manager

Barbara Oehlschlaeger-Garvey, Guest Curator

Beth Watkins, Education/Volunteer Coordinator

Jennifer White, Registrar

Bailey Young, Guest Curator

 

Publicity:

Rick Partin

 

Contact Information:

ralphwm@uiuc.edu, shanzer@uiuc.edu


Student Assistants:

 

Michael Collart

Jen Edwards

Chris Fletcher

Karl Goetze

Marcus Heckenkamp

Andrew Johnston

Becky Muich

Stephanie Renguso

Sarah Scalziti

Loula Strolonga

Erik Thompson

Angela Zielinski

 

Webpages:

www.sc.edu/ltantsoc/sf6reg.htm, home.earthlink.net\~ruricius\sf6reg.htm

 

The encouragement and support of the following faculty and administrators, all from the University of Illinois, also is gratefully acknowledged:

 

Robert Barrett, Dept. of English

John Buckler, Dept. of History

William M. Calder III, Dept. of the Classics

Martin Camargo, Head, Dept. of English

Jesse Delia, Acting Provost, Univ. of Illinois

Karen Fresco, Dept. of French

Kirk Freudenburg, Chair, Dept. of the Classics

Peter Fritzsche, Chair, Dept. of History

Anne D. Hedeman, Director of Medieval Studies

Stephen Jaeger, Dept. of Germanic Languages and Literatures

Marianne Kalinke, Head, Dept. of Germanic Languages and Literatures

Richard Layton, Dept. of Religious Studies

Sarah Mangelsdorf, Acting Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Megan McLaughlin, Dept. of History

Richard Mitchell, Dept. of History

Robert Ousterhout, Dept. of Architecture

Bruce Rosenstock, Dept. of Religious Studies

Larry Schehr, Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Carol Symes, Dept. of History

Charlie Wright, Dept. of English


 

 

          ROSTER OF PARTICIPANTS

 

 

          Presenters

 


 

Scott de Brestian

Univ. of Missouri-Columbia

scd274@mizzou.edu

 

Amelia Robertson Brown

Univ. of California--Berkeley

arbrown@socrates.berkeley.edu

 

Richard Burgess

Univ. of Ottawa (Canada)

rburgess@uottawa.ca

 

Gillian Clark

Univ. of Bristol (England)

gillian.clark@bristol.ac.uk

 

Elizabeth Digeser

Univ. of California-Santa Barbara

edigeser@history.ucsb.edu

 

Jan Willem Drijvers

Univ. of Groningen (Netherlands)

j.w.drijvers@let.rug.nl

 

Linda Ellis

San Francisco State Univ.

ellisl@sfsu.edu

 

Steve Fanning

Univ. of Illinois at Chicago

sfanning@uic.edu

 

 

 

Salim Faraji

Claremont Graduate University

salim.faraji@cgu.edu

 

Moshe Fischer

Tel Aviv Univ. (Israel)

fischer@post.tau.ac.il

 

David T. Fletcher

Indiana Univ.

dfletche2004@yahoo.com

 

Greg Fisher

McGill Univ. (Canada)

greg.fisher@mcgill.ca

 

Walter Goffart

Yale Univ.

walter.goffart@yale.edu

 

Cam Grey

Univ. of Chicago

cgrey@uchicago.edu

 

Katharine C. Hunvald

Univ. of Missouri--Columbia

kcha93@mchsi.com

 

Edward James

University College, Dublin (Ireland)

edward.james@ucd.ie

 

 

Michael Jones

Bates College

mjones@bates.edu

 

Kimberly Kagan

Yale Univ.

kimberly.kagan@yale.edu

 

Young Kim

Univ. of Michigan

yrkim@umich.edu

 

David Klingle

Florida State Univ.

davekexpl@yahoo.com

 

Noel Lenski

Univ. of Colorado

lenski@colorado.edu

 

Scott John McDonough

UCLA

sjm1@ucla.edu

 

Jason Moralee

Illinois Wesleyan Univ.

jmoralee@iwu.edu

 

Luis Garcia Moreno

Univ. of Alcala de Henares (Spain)

luis.garcia@uah.es

 

Ekaterina Nechaeva

Univ. of Siena (Italy)

neekaterina@mail.ru

 

Barbara Oehlschlaeger-Garvey

Early American Museum, Mahomet IL

bgarvey@earlyamericanmuseum.org

 

 

\

Patrick Périn

Musée des Antiquités nationales (France)

patrick.perin@culture.gouv.fr

 

David Riggs

Indiana Wesleyan Univ.

David.Riggs@indwes.edu

 

Michele Renée Salzman

Univ. of California--Riverside

msalzman@ucr.edu

 

Johanna K. Sandrock

Louisiana State Univ.

jsandr1@lsu.edu

 

Jeremy Schott

Duke Univ.

jms13@duke.edu

 

Andreas Schwarcz

Univ. of Vienna (Austria)

andreas.schwarcz@univie.ac.at

 

Yuval Shahar

Tel Aviv University (Israel)

syuval@gvat.org.il

 

Cristiana Sogno

Cornell University

csogno2002@yahoo.com

 

Dmitry Starostine

Univ. of Toronto (Canada)

dstarostin@mail.ru

 

Kevin Uhalde

Ohio Univ.

uhalde@ohio.edu

 

 

 

Edward Watts

Indiana Univ.

edward.watts@gmail.com

 

Andrew W. White

Univ. of Maryland--College Park

awhite@wam.umd.edu

Mary Williams

San Mateo

marywilliams30@hotmail.com

 

Bailey Young

Eastern Illinois Univ.

cfbky@eiu.edu

 

Hartmut Ziche

Univ. of Antilles and Guyana (France)

hgz1000@cus.cam.ac.uk

 

 

 

Session and Plenary Chairs:

 

Scott Bradbury

Smith College

sbradbur@email.smith.edu

 

Thomas Burns

Emory Univ.

histsb@LearnLink.Emory.Edu

 

William M. Calder III

Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

wmcalder@uiuc.edu

 

Hal Drake

Univ. of California-Santa Barbara

drake@history.ucsb.edu

 

Kirk Freudenburg

Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

kfreuden@uiuc.edu

Judith Evans Grubbs

Washington University

jsgrubbs@artsci.wustl.edu

 

Stephen Jaeger

Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

csjaeger@uiuc.edu

Edward James

University College, Dublin (Ireland)

edward.james@ucd.ie

 

Richard Mitchell

Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

rmitchll@uiuc.edu

 

Sarolta Takacs

Rutgers University

stakacs@rci.rutgers.edu

 

Elizabeth C. Teviotdale

W. Michigan Univ.

elizabeth.teviotdale@wmich.edu

 

Dennis Trout

Univ. of Missouri

troutd@missouri.edu


        CONFERENCE PROGRAM

 

 

            THURSDAY, MARCH 17

 

10:00            Tour of the Classics Library (419a Main Library) by Bruce Swann,

            Classics Librarian

 

            (General Lounge, 210 Illini Union)

 

1:00-2:45            Registration and Refreshments

 

1:30-2:30            Tour of the Spurlock Exhibit of Merovingian Artifacts by Barbara

            Oehlschlaeger-Garvey (Early American Museum)

 

2:45-3:00            Welcomes:

 

            Charles Stewart, Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences           

            Anne D. Hedeman, Director, Program in Medieval Studies

            Paula Kaufman, University Librarian

 

 

            SECTION I: DEFINING BARBARIANS

 

3:00-4:30            SESSION I: Literary Perspectives on Barbarians and Romans

 

Chair: Kirk Freudenburg (UIUC)

 

Mary Williams (San Mateo) "Polybius and Ammianus on Barbarians"

 

Cristiana Sogno (Cornell U.) "Barbarians as Spectacle: An Interpretation of Symmachus, Oratio 2.10-12"

 

Jason Moralee (Illinois Wesleyan U.) "'The Barbarous-Sounding Enemy: Commemorating the Defeat of Barbarians in a Recently Discovered Epigram from Late Roman Petra"

 

4:30-5:00            Refreshment Break

 

 

 

 

 

5:00-6:00            SESSION II: Internal 'Barbarians'

 

Chair: Judith Evans Grubbs (Washington U.)

 

Yuval Shahar (Tel Aviv U.) (Israel) "Unifying or Dividing the Barbarians? Diocletian, the Jews, and the Samaritans"

 

Andrew W. White (Univ. of Maryland--College Park) "Proper Care and Feeding of the Wild Mime: A Study in Domestication from Late Antiquity"

 

6:00-7:00             Reception

 

 

7:00-8:00             Plenary Lecture introduced by William M. Calder III (UIUC)

 

RICHARD BURGESS (Univ. of Ottawa) (Canada) "Romans, Barbarians, and the Fall of the Roman Empire"

 

 

            FRIDAY, MARCH 18

 

            (Third Floor, Levis Center)

 

7:30-8:30             Continental Breakfast

 

 

8:30-10:00            SESSION III: Religion and the Construction of Roman/Barbarian

             Identity

 

Chair: Sarolta Takacs (Rutgers U.)

 

Jeremy Schott (Duke U.) "Porphyry's Allegorical Interpretations of Barbarian Religion and Philosophy and the Construction of Identity in the Later Roman Empire"

 

Elizabeth Digeser (Univ. of California-Santa Barbara) "Hellenes, Barbarians, and Christians: Religion and Identity Politics in Diocletian's Rome"

 

Young Kim (Univ. of Michigan) "A Theological and Historical Definition of Barbarism in the Panarion of Epiphanius of Cyprus"

 

10:00-10:30             Refreshment Break

 

 

 

10:30-12:00            SESSION IV: Artistic Manifestations of Romanitas and Barbaritas

 

Chair: Elizabeth C. Teviotdale (Medieval Institute, Western Michigan U.)

 

Moshe Fischer (Tel Aviv U.) (Israel) "Assimilation, Acculturation, Barbarization: The Corinthian Capital in the Eastern Mediterranean"

 

Johanna K. Sandrock (Louisiana State U.) "Cernunnos ego sum: The Myth of Actaeon on Provincial Roman Funerary Reliefs"

 

Katharine C. Hunvald (Univ. of Missouri--Columbia) "Breaching a Seventh-Century Artistic Frontier: The Warnebertus Reliquary"

 

12:00-1:30             Catered Lunch in the Levis Center

 

 

            SECTION II: ROMAN-BARBARIAN ENCOUNTERS

 

1:30-3:00             SESSION V: The Transformation of Identity in Post-Roman Britain

 

Chair: Stephen Jaeger (UIUC)

 

Michael Jones (Bates College) "Text, Artifact and Genome: The Disputed Nature of the Anglo-Saxon Migration into Britain"

 

Greg Fisher (McGill U.) (Canada) "The Transformation of Romanitas: Creating a New Identity for Post-Roman Britain"

 

David Klingle (Florida State U.) "Romano-British vs. Anglo-Saxon Identity in England: The Evidence of Burials"

 

            (Colonial Room, 103 Illini Union)

 

3:00-3:30             Refreshment Break

 

3:30-6:00            SESSION VI: The Construction of Identity in Western Frontier Zones

 

Chair: Edward James (University College, Dublin) (Ireland)

 

Linda Ellis (San Francisco State U.) "To Be or Not To Be Roman: Geographic Approaches to Analyzing Human Relatedness in the Lower Danube Region (2nd-7th Centuries)"

 

Scott de Brestian (Univ. of Missouri--Columbia) "Vascones and Visigoths: Creation and Transformation of Identity in Northern Spain"

 

Luis Garcia Moreno (Univ. of Alcalà de Henares) (Spain) "Building an Ethnic Identity for a New Gothic and Roman Nobility: Cordoba, 615 A.D."

 

Dmitry Starostine (Univ. of Toronto) (Canada) "Barbarians and/or Romans: Discourses of Justice in Merovingian Court Verdicts and Narrative Sources"

 

Featured speaker: Bailey Young  (Eastern Illinois U.) "Auguste Moutié and the Pioneering Days of Merovingian Archaeology"

 

 

6:00-7:00             Reception

 

 

7:00-8:00             Plenary Lecture introduced by Bailey Young (Eastern Illinois U.)

 

PATRICK PERIN (Musée des Antiquités nationales) (France) "Identity and Ethnicity in the Era of Migrations and Barbarian Kingdoms in the Light of Archaeology in Gaul" (co-author M. Kazanski)

 

 

            SATURDAY, MARCH 19

 

            (Colonial Room, 103 Illini Union)

 

7:30-8:30            Continental Breakfast

 

8:30-10:00            SESSION VII: Romans, Barbarians and Religion in North Africa

 

Chair: Dennis Trout (Univ. of Missouri--Columbia)

 

Gillian Clark (Univ. of Bristol) (England) "Augustine and the Merciful Barbarians"

 

Kevin Uhalde (Ohio U.) "Barbarian Traffic, Demon Oaths, and Christian Scruples: Augustine, Epist. 46-47"

 

David Riggs (Indiana Wesleyan U.) "Vandal Contributions to the Christianization of North Africa"

 

10:00-10:30             Refreshment Break

 

 

10:30-12:00            SESSION VIII: Romans and Barbarians Beyond the Eastern

            Frontiers

 

Chair: Hal Drake (Univ. of California--Santa Barbara)

 

Salim Faraji (Claremont Graduate U.) "Rome and Kush: Cultural Encounters on the Egyptian Southern Frontier"

 

Scott John McDonough (UCLA) "Were the Sasanians Barbarians? Roman Writers on the 'Empire of the Persians'"

 

Jan Willem Drijvers (Univ. of Groningen) (Netherlands) "Rome's Image of the 'Barbarian' Sassanians"

 

12:00-1:00             Lunch on your own

 

 

            SECTION III: ROMANS, BARBARIANS, AND POLITICS

 

1:00-3:30            SESSION VIIII: Romans and Barbarians in Imperial Politics

 

Chair: Thomas Burns (Emory U.)

 

Kimberly Kagan (Yale U.) "Spies Like Us: Treason and Identity in the Later Roman Empire"

 

Michele Renee Salzman (Univ. of California--Riverside) "Symmachus and the 'Barbarian' Generals"

 

Edward Watts (Indiana U.) "Pope Leo the Antichrist and the Fall of the Western Roman Empire"

 

Edward James (Univ. College, Dublin) (Ireland) "Rex Francorum, Rex Romanorum Revisited"

 

Steve Fanning (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago) "Reguli in the Later Roman Empire and the Germanic Kingdoms"

 

3:30-4:00             Refreshment Break

 

 

 

 

4:00-6:00            SESSION X: The Barbarian Invasions

 

Chair: Scott Bradbury (Smith College)

 

Amelia Robertson Brown (Univ. of California--Berkeley) "'The Overthrow of the Temples and the Ruin of the Whole of Greece': Rhetoric and Archaeology in Barbarian Invasions of Late Roman Greece"

 

David T. Fletcher (Indiana U.) "Constantine III and the Barbarian Invasion of Gaul"

 

Featured Speaker: Walter Goffart (Yale U.) "The Three Meanings of 'Migration Age'"

 

7:00-11:00             Banquet, Dance, and Open Bar  (Illini Union 170)

 

Guest dance instructors: Ron Weigel and Susanna Vasquez Weigel

 

SUNDAY, MARCH 20

 

            (Colonial Room, 103 Illini Union)

 

            SECTION IV: SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

 

8:30-11:00            SESSION XI: Social and Economic Manifestations of Roman-

            Barbarian Encounters

 

Chair: Richard Mitchell (UIUC)

 

Ekaterina Nechaeva (Univ. of Siena) (Italy) "The Problem of Deserters in Roman-Barbarian Diplomatic Relations in Late Antiquity"

 

Noel Lenski (Univ. of Colorado) "Slavery, Captivity, and Romano-Barbarian Interchange"

 

Hartmut Ziche (Univ. of the Antilles and Guyana) (France) "Barbarian Raiders and Barbarian Peasants: Models of Ideological and Economic Integration"

 

Cam Grey (Univ. of Chicago) "The ius colonatus as a Model for the Settlement of Barbarian Prisoners-of-War in the Late Roman Empire?"

 

Andreas Schwarcz (Univ. of Vienna) (Austria) "Visigothic Settlement, Hospitalitas and Army Payment Reconsidered"

 

 

11:00-12:30            Farewell Brunch & Business Meeting of the Society for Late Antiquity


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    COLLECTED ABSTRACTS

 

 

 

     SECTION I:

 

     DEFINING BARBARIANS


          SESSION I: Literary Perspectives on Barbarians and Romans

 

Polybius and Ammianus on Barbarians

Mary Frances Williams

San Mateo

 

Although some scholars have observed that Polybius and Ammianus write in the same historiographical tradition, none has noted their similar descriptions and uses of barbarians. Polybius' attitude was new in historiography since he defined barbarism not by ethnicity or custom (Hdt. 8.144), or Greek language (Thuc. 2.83.5), but rather by culture, education, and law, which, he believed, indicated a civilized man (Polyb. 1.65.6-8; 18.37.8-9). Polybius uses barbaroi as a generic term for those on the edge of the world. Ammianus calls those beyond the borders of Gaul, in Germany, and across the Danube barbarians (20.4.7; 20.8.16; 20.4.1; 21.4.8; 21.3.3; 21.9.1; 22.7.7; 24.3.4). In Polybius those under Greek rule, such as the Persians, are not barbarians. Ammianus, likewise, calls the Persian King Sapor, who attacks Rome, a barbarian, but does not use the term either of auxiliaries who fight for Rome (eg., 20.4.2) or of the Persians.

 

I focus on five parallels: (1) both say justice derives from education and barbarism from lack of education (e.g., Polyb. 1.656-8; R.G. 28.1.6, Huns are ignorant, unreasoning beasts (31.2.11); but the Armenian eunuch Eutherius was educated and upright (16.7.5) and Roman soldiers are trained in war (27.10.13); (2) both authors are Stoic and connect irrationality, madness, disorder, and barbarism (e.g, Polyb. 32.3.6-9; R.G.: insane man like beast 27.6.1; 27.7.4; Sapor 20.7.8; Goths 31.2.11; Saxons 30.7.8; Moors 27.9.1; Austoriani 28.6.4); (3) barbarians in both are lawless (Polyb. 18.37.8-9; 21.40.2; 21.40.2; 3.3.5; 10.31.10-11; R.G. 31.2.10). Polybius believes that tyranny is barbaric because it defies law and justice (2.59.4-6), the civilized man loves freedom, and good laws produce good private behavior (6.47.1). Law and justice are the basis of empire in Ammianus (14.1.4; 19.12). Barbarians rely not on law but on violence (17.12.17); the Odrysae roam[ed] about without civilization or laws (27.4.10). (4) Both use the wild beast simile to describe barbarians (Polyb. 1.67.4-11; 1.81.7, 10; R.G., 31.15.2; 14.4.1; 31.8.9; 16.5.17-18); (5) Both historians transfer barbarian qualities and the wild beast simile to rulers, and use education as an explanation. Philip V was cruel, unjust, treacherous (13.3.1), and bestial (15.20.3-4). Polybius also says terror teaches men to be beasts (23.15.2-3; 1.81.5). Constantius was treacherous (21.3.4-5) and he and Gallus condemned men without law or justice (e.g., 14.7; 14.9.3-6). Valens was unjust because uneducated (31.14.5-8; 29.2.18); Probus unjust (27.11.1-2); Valens (29.1.27), Rusticus (27.6.1), Gallus (14.9.8), Paulus (14.5.6), and Procopius (31.7.9) were beasts; Maximinus was bestial because of poor education (28.1.6).

 

Because Polybius praises the Romans' laws (1.65.6-8) and links the Persian War and the Second Punic War (9.9.5-8; 3.3.5), he raises Roman civilization to the level of the Greek. The Greeks and Romans share common virtues and are opposed to barbarians (21.40.1-4). In Ammianus, the Roman emperors claim to be freedom fighters against the barbarians (20.5.5). But since Ammianus continually alternates his descriptions of barbarians with the cruel despotism of the emperors who are like barbarians, he shows that Roman civilization had become barbaric (e.g., 14.6; 20.4.6) through brutality, disregard for law, and lack of education.


 

Barbarians as Spectacle: An Interpretation of Symm. Or. 2.10-12

 

Cristiana Sogno

Cornell University

 

The focus of this paper will be the second Oration delivered by Symmachus in honor of Valentinian I on the occasion of the Emperor's third consulship, shared with his brother and co-regent Valens in 370. The main theme of the panegyric is the praise of Valentinian's fortifications along the Rhine. Valentinian's vigorous defense of the limes is commended as the best investment of tax-revenues: the tax-money is well spent for granting securitas imperii, and a revealing contrast is drawn between the annual levies and the "eternal" advantages of a strong frontier against the barbarian menace (Symm. Or. 2.1, quae sumis, annua sunt, quae condis, aeterna). Among the great enterprises witnessed by the Roman senator while campaigning with the emperor, the building of the fort at Altaripa (2.4 and 2.18-22), the grandiose line of fortifications along the Rhine (2.1 and 2.26), and an actual fight against the barbarians (2.10-12) are given special emphasis. However, the fight against the Alamanni amounts to little more than a skirmish, in which the clearly superior Roman forces easily put to flight a disoriented group of barbarians, and Valentinian was able to show his clementia rather than his military prowess. The description of the battle strongly suggests that, if Valentinian did not actually stage the battle, he carefully picked his enemy to impress his guest and senatorial delegate. Military service was not part of the regular experience of a late Roman aristocrat, and the safety of the Empire was entirely the responsibility of the Emperor and his officials (and had been so for centuries). As his correspondence shows, Symmachus was well-acquainted with the staged violence of gladiatorial games, but had no direct experience of the battlefield. But did his literary knowledge of military affairs lead Symmachus to suspect that he was being fed a staged performance?


 

"The Barbarous-Sounding Enemy": Commemorating the Defeat of Barbarians

in a Recently Discovered Epigram from Late Roman Petra

 

Jason Moralee

Illinois Wesleyan University

 

The 1998 American excavation of the area defined as the northern ridge of Petra led to the discovery of a church. In one of the rooms adjacent to the church was found a ten-line hexameter epigram inscribed on a block. The inscription was in secondary use, proving that it had been inscribed sometime before the construction of the church complex, tentatively dated to the fifth century. The epigram is of interest because it praises a man for routing the "barbarous-sounding" enemy and saving the inhabitants of the city, the surrounding region, and indeed the province of Palaestina Salutaris. In connection with this event, a certain man (perhaps Orion or Dorion) paid for the construction of a defense work, perhaps related to the wall adjacent to the church.

 

As this potentially important inscription has received little notice and is as yet not fully restored, it is important to draw attention to the text and to offer suggestions for the historical circumstances that may lie at the root of the narrative. First, I will provide a range of dates for the inscription based primarily on the mention of the provincial name Palaestina Salutaris, which apparently was organized after 358, but was renamed Palaestina Tertia by 388, thus establishing a date in the middle-late fourth century. Second, I will attempt to identify this "barbarous-sounding" enemy and the "war" that is commemorated by the epigram. An attractive possibility is the famous revolt of the Arab queen Mavia in 378, a conflict broad enough to justify the scope of the "war" described in the epigram. If this identification is correct, the inclusion of Petra in the defense of the east against Mavia's forces increases our understanding of the conflict itself, the history of late Roman Petra, and the local characterization of Arabs according to their spoken language.


SESSION II: Internal 'Barbarians'

 

Unifying or Dividing the Barbarians? Diocletian, the Jews and the Samaritans

 

Yuval Shahar

Tel Aviv University

 

Diocletian's reforms in a number of fields B military, economic, administrative, cultural etc. B were intended to re-unite the Roman Empire after the chaos which preceded him. In many respects he actually achieved this goal. His religious policies played a particularly important role in this. In the eastern Roman Empire, including Palestine, these religious policies tended towards the extreme, and included methodical persecutions of Christians. The results were often the opposite of those he had intended.

 

This paper will examine a secondary process that took place in Palestine. Here, and particularly in its capital Caesarea Maritima, two similar 'barbarian' ethnic and monotheistic groups lived side by side: Jews and Samaritans. The Roman religious policies of Diocletian strengthened the tendencies to division between these two 'barbarian' groups. The legal status of the Jews in the Roman Empire was long-established, and they were allowed to live according to their own laws under an autonomous leadership. The evidence for the legal status of the Samaritans is not so clear, but it seems that, at least de facto, they enjoyed an autonomy similar to that of the Jews. Thus, up to the last decade of the third century, the borderlines between Romans and Jews were very similar to the borders between Romans and Samaritans. This impression is in keeping with the detailed evidence in the Talmud concerning the relationships between Jew and Samaritan on the one hand, and the attitude towards the gentiles on the other hand.

 

Up to the beginning of the 3rd C. CE, the Jews of Palestine tended to relate to their Samaritan neighbors as distant relatives. During the 3rd C. however tendencies among Jews to reject the Samaritans increased, but the latter were still perceived by Jews as nearer to themselves than to non-Jews: the conceptual borderline left the Samaritan nearer to the Jew and separated both these distant relatives from the gentiles. Towards the end of the 3rd C. and at the beginning of the 4th C., the frontiers shifted. Jewish religious law and traditions pushed the Samaritan over the line and placed him next to the gentiles. This process is clearly expressed in the Jewish religious ban on drinking the wine of the Samaritans. For generations the drinking of gentile wine had been forbidden, for fear that it had been used in pagan cult, but Samaritan wine had been permitted. Now the Palestinian Talmud says, "When Diocletian the king came here he decreed, 'all the nations, except the Jews, have to make [pagan] libations', and because the Samaritans made [pagan] libations, their wine was banned."

 

It is clear that Diocletian wanted to strengthen and broaden the common ground between Romans and barbarians alike, and to reduce the number of exceptions B in this case the Jews. His policy was aimed at re-defining the borders between Romans and various ethnic barbarian groups, but he was not aware of its possible repercussions upon the relationships between two neighboring ethnic groups, the Jews and the Samaritans. The Talmudic evidence demonstrates that shifting the borders between Romans and Samaritans, by demanding pagan libations, hastened the process of shifting the borders between Jews and Samaritans.


 

Proper Care and Feeding of the Wild Mime: A Study In Domestication From Late Antiquity

 

Andrew W. White

University of Maryland -- College Park

 

This presentation will attempt to expand concepts of Roman vs. barbaric identity by discussing the evolution in status of the mime, arguably the most conspicuous alien within the Empire's borders. Excluded from Caracalla's much-hyped edict of "universal" citizenship, mimes were regarded as outside the purview of the ius civile and B like other aliens B remained subject to magisterial coercitio. Unable to quit the stage and subject to both economic and sexual exploitation, the mime in Late Antiquity had occupied a shadowy, effectively alien world for centuries.

 

The rise of Christianity and the new faith's vision of universal brotherhood (among converts, at least) initiated an often contentious process that sought to integrate theatre artists into the fabric of Roman society. In reviewing the Theodosian and Justinianic codes, as well as patristic writings and canons of the early Church councils, a picture emerges of a mass rebellion among late antique theatre artists, many of whom sought to leave the profession in search of social respectability and citizenship. Unfortunately, this profound internal revision of the concept of Romanitas has gone under-investigated: theatre histories prefer an epic battle between the forces of good B "Theatre" B and evil B "Church," while Byzantine histories tend to focus on Procopius of Caesarea's mythic whore-cum-Empress Theodora. Both approaches result in caricatures of the late antique actor, and have failed to address adequately the questions of who the mimes of Late Antiquity were, what happened to them, and why.

 

Beyond the legal and canonical realm, the results of this social upheaval are reflected in two unique specimens of late antique literature: Choricius of Gaza's oration in defense of the mimes, and the hagiographic sub-genre of the mime martyrology. A detailed analysis of Choricius' Apologia Mimorum, translated into English for the first time by the present author, reveals a concerted effort to humanize the actor and, as part of that process, to reveal some of the more basic aspects of her/his craft. And a survey of tall tales about martyred mimes -- who convert to Christianity live, onstage, and usually in the middle of satiric baptism sketches B reveals the challenges inherent in the Church's attempts to "convert the inconvertible" and integrate them into the Christian community.


 

 

PLENARY LECTURE

 

 

Romans, Barbarians, and the Fall of the Western Empire

 

R. W. Burgess

The University of Ottawa

 

For a number of centuries now scholars, philosophers, amateur historians, journalists, retired generals, and just ordinary people have been writing books and articles claiming to have discovered the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire: over-taxation, lack of morale, barbarian invasions, military weaknesses, dependence on slavery, lack of technological advance, chance or accident, economic collapse, inflation, economic corruption, moral corruption, oppressive bureaucracies, old age, an ineffective legal system, climatic change, soil exhaustion, class warfare, Christianity, race mixture, systematic extermination of the most capable and brightest in Roman society, disease, fate, fascism, communism, widespread and systemic lead poisoning, the natural and inevitable collapse of complex systems, and so on. I now include myself among them. I begin first by wholeheartedly accepting of the ideas of both decline and fall, and I then describe the actual circumstances of the fall itself. I then proceed from first principles to analyze the multiple causes of that fall. This paper is not intended as the final word (I wish!) but as the starting point for a renewed discussion of what once was the most important yet recently has become the most neglected event of Late Antiquity.


 

 SESSION III: Religion and the Construction of Roman/Barbarian Identity

 

Porphyry's Allegorical Interpretations of Barbarian Religion and Philosophy

and the Construction of Identity in the Later Roman Empire

 

Jeremy Schott

Duke University

 

The Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry of Tyre was one of the most influential figures in later Greek philosophy. In addition to writing commentaries on Plato and Homer, an introduction to Aristotle's Categories, and editing Plotinus' Enneads, Porphyry was also interested in the traditions of Egypt, Phoenicia, Persia, and other forms of "barbarian wisdom." Whether cast positively as a form of ancient "multiculturalism" or described more negatively as the "orientalization" of classical Greek thought, the interest of late ancient philosophers in "barbarian wisdom" has often been seen as a fruitful site for the cross-cultural exchange of literature, religion, and philosophy in the later Roman Empire. Drawing on the insights of post-colonial theorists concerning constructions of identity and power in imperial contexts, this paper examines three Porphyrian texts (On Abstinence, On Statues, and On Philosophy from Oracles) in order to understand the ways in which this late ancient philosopher applied techniques of allegorical interpretation to these foreign religious and philosophical traditions.

 

Far from being a balanced and level exercise in cross-cultural appreciation Porphyry's intellectual project was based on classic asymmetrical distinctions between Greeks and barbarians. While Porphyry thought that the ancient traditions of all peoples were philosophically valuable, he did not think that all peoples were of equal value. Allegorical interpretation draws an important distinction between inferior "literal" or "corporeal" meanings and higher, "intellectual" or "universal" meanings. I argue that Porphyry applies these distinctions to non-Greek mythologies and religious iconographies in order to recover "universal" philosophical truths from barbarian artifacts by distinguishing them from their "native" Egyptian, Phoenician, or Persian contexts. By making a distinction between (for instance) the ancient wisdom hidden in Egyptian mythology and native Egyptians, Porphyry's interpretive methods paralleled and in many ways dovetailed with the division of the Roman Empire into metropolitan center and provincial periphery. Porphyry's interpretive strategies, I go on to argue, are integrally related to the way in which Porphyry constructed his adopted identity as a Greek philosopher. His own transformation from "Malchus," a Syrian provincial from Tyre, to "Porphyry," preeminent Greek philosopher living in Rome marks an erasure of his "native" identity that parallels his treatment of "barbarian" traditions. By situating Porphyry's allegorical readings of "barbarian" traditions in the context of the social and material realities of imperial power and subjugation, this paper encourages scholars to view ethnic and cultural identity as fluid and dynamic, rather than fixed and monolithic, and challenges the divisions between "philosophical" and "political" fields of knowledge and action that underlie many discussions of political and religious change in late antiquity.


 

Hellenes, Barbarians, and Christians:

Religion and Identity Politics in Diocletian's Rome

 

Elizabeth Digeser

University of California, Santa Barbara

 

Although Eusebius of Caesarea found the tremendous acculturation of Christianity in the late third century to be a reason for celebration (Eus. HE 8.1), certain Neoplatonist followers of Plotinus believed in response that Christian belief and practice was undermining the divine legal foundations of the various ethnic communities (ethnoi) that comprised the Roman polity. In the view of these philosophers, this situation not only jeopardized the relationship between these ethnoi and the divine and so challenged the foundation of Rome itself, but also threatened the potential for particular individuals to draw closer to the divine through Greek philosophy. The best evidence for their position exists in fragments of Against the Christians (ca. 293) and the Philosophy from Oracles (ca. 302) by Porphyry of Tyre. Thanks to Arnobius (2.11, 62), we know that Porphyry's ideas were shared among a circle of "new men."

 

Drawing on the recent work of J. O'Meara, this paper will argue that these philosophers, and Porphyry in particular, felt compelled to address these issues publicly. Adopting Plato's model society from the Laws, their goal was to encourage the Tetrarchy to repress Christian practice. They did so by arguing for the validity of traditional "barbarian" religio as a first stage in the soul's enlightenment, where truths about the divine were conveyed symbolically through rites and images. For the many, these practices would ensure that their communities were well-protected in that they were governed in harmony with divine law. For the few, perceiving the truth about the divine in these traditional rituals prepared them to understand the deeper truths of Greek philosophy. Not only was the engagement with philosophy good for these individual souls, it was also good for the many in that one of the philosopher's duties was to advise the sovereign about the content and enforcement of divine law. There is substantial evidence that these arguments circulated widely ca. 300, and that Porphyry presented some of them at Diocletian's court in 302. So, although we often think of Greeks as denigrating the peoples whom they termed barbaroi, in the view of these pagans living under the aegis of Rome, barbaroi were an essential fiber in the makeup of society -- a society whose fabric they believed it was Christianity's goal to rend.


 

A Theological and Historical Definition of Barbarism

in the Panarion of Epiphanius of Cyprus

 

Young Kim

University of Michigan

 

Traditional perceptions of barbarian identity in the Roman world focus on cultural, linguistic, and geographic differences. The world of Late Antiquity experienced new realities in Roman and barbarian interaction, and the construction of barbarian identity consequently shifted away from established factors of differentiation. The introduction of Christianity into outside communities certainly added another complicated dimension to the formation of barbarian identity. Modern scholars have closely examined in particular the adoption of what was traditionally called Arian Christianity among certain barbarians and how doctrinal allegiances affected the social and political climate of the later Roman Empire. Thus belief became an added ingredient in the recipe for a barbarian. However, my aim is not to revive any discussion of barbarians and Christianity per se; rather, I will discuss how one particular Christian, Epiphanius, conceptualized barbarian identity in theological and historical terms and how his geographical orientation may have also colored his perception of the reality of barbarians in the late fourth century. Scholars have written a great deal especially concerning Christian attitudes toward barbarians in the Latin West. I will argue that Epiphanius' eastern orientation afforded him a different perspective.

 

The Panarion was an encyclopedic heresiology consisting of eighty different heresies, each of which Epiphanius sought to expose and refute. Curiously the first four entries, entitled "Barbarism," "Scythianism," "Hellenism," and "Judaism," were not heresies at all. Together these four entries constituted a history of humanity and civilization, with a particular emphasis on the development of sin, culminating in Greek culture and heresy. In his own reconstruction of human history, Epiphanius revealed that ever since Adam and Eve had been ejected from Eden, barbarians had always existed. Two factors defined barbarism in Epiphanius' eyes: first, the function of natural law as a moral guide among humans and second, the absence of any developed sectarian beliefs or practices. All men at some time were barbarians, and the subsequent developments of various civilizations were actually morally and spiritually worse than those of the earliest men. Epiphanius offered this rather pessimistic view of humanity in order to highlight the longevity and purity of true Christian belief from Creation down to his own time.

 

The Panarion was written in the early 370s, just before the disaster at Adrianople. Pressures on the eastern frontier had not yet damaged the empire's stability, so eastern Christians may very well have had a different perspective on barbarians from Western ones. Epiphanius wrote from the safety of the island of Cyprus in a time of relative stability. However the ensuing events of the late fourth century brought to the forefront the reality of barbarians existing within the empire. I will examine how other Christian authors, especially those in the east, considered barbarians in a Christian world, and I will compare their perspectives to Epiphanius'. Ultimately, Epiphanius' unique perspective became less and less meaningful as the century drew to a close and the social and political realities of the Roman empire changed dramatically.


SESSION IV: Artistic Manifestations of Romanitas and Barbaritas

 

Assimilation, Acculturation, Barbarization?

The Corinthian Capital in the Eastern Mediterranean

 

Moshe Fischer

Tel Aviv University

 

Changes which occurred in the Roman world throughout its long history have been the object of many scientific works dealing with political, social, ethnic and cultural transformations. To the latter we propose to add transformations in architecture and its decoration, focusing on the Corinthian capital. This architectural decorative element became from its very beginning a typological and chronological feature reflecting artistic and implicitly social developments, changes, and interactions. Introduced to the Middle East during the Hellenistic period Corinthian capitals were designed according to Classical Greek and Orientalizing principles reflecting the syncretistic trend of the last three centuries BCE. Roman expansion in the Mediterranean and its establishment during the Empire had their impact on the diffusion of the Corinthian building style, including the Corinthian capital. The development signalled now is of great importance: a more or less canonical/orthodox type ("the 'Vitruvian' capital), which was assimilated by the provinces mainly following the extensive marble importations spread over the whole Empire, was undergoing changes resulting from the Hellenistic-Orientalizing process and cultural contacts with the regions at the fringes of the Empire. Components of the capitals completely changed their original meaning, and their decoration became the reflection of an 'art pour l'art' tendency. Artistic changes in the capitals reflect transformations in the design and purpose of the buildings themselves. An insight into the design of the Corinthian capital during the Byzantine period and its transfer into the Early Islamic period leads to interesting thoughts not only concerning the longue durée of this artistic element but also its ability to accommodate itself to religious changes and artistic taste. This paper attempts to interpret these changes as reflecting, on the one side, assimilation and, on the other side, acculturation and even barbarization of societies that tried to keep alive an earlier, "Roman," way of life.


 

Cernunnos ego sum: The Myth of Actaeon on Provincial Roman Funerary Reliefs

 

Johanna K. Sandrock

Louisiana State University

 

Reliefs depicting the myths of the Greeks and Romans are characteristic of funerary monuments from the provinces of Noricum and Pannonia in the second and third centuries CE. Of 150 reliefs and 61 mythological scenes thus identified, the myth of Actaeon appears on seven monuments. One depicts Actaeon spying on the goddess Diana while she bathes, another six show his punishment for this transgression. In varying degrees of artistic skill and preservation, Actaeon appears with horns sprouting from his head and dogs attacking him. Scholars have remarked on the appropriateness of this punishment scene in a funerary context, and usually interpret it according to the tenets of Pythagoreanism, i.e. as punishment for upsetting the balance between gods and men. In light of comparative iconography, the Pythagorean interpretation may be only a piece of a much larger puzzle.

 

The use of Greco-Roman myth on provincial tombstones has traditionally been attributed to the systematic Romanization of these provinces. Recently, however, the extent of Romanization has been called into question, due to the one-sided nature of the argument that the Romans entered conquered lands and spread Roman institutions and customs. While the iconography of the Actaeon myth is undoubtedly Greco-Roman, an overlooked factor in the interpretation is the reception of these funerary monuments by the natives of the province.

 

The natives of Noricum and Pannonia were primarily Celts, who had their own mythology and belief system. They worshiped a hero similar to Hercules (another frequent figure on provincial funerary monuments), and their god of the Underworld was Cernunnos, depicted in art sporting deer antlers. Thus, when the natives saw a depiction of Actaeon, they may not have recognized the figure as the Actaeon familiar to the Romans from Greek mythology, but as Cernunnos, the Celtic god of the Underworld.

 

The purpose of this iconographic ambiguity may be explained by the unique position of Noricum and Pannonia within the Roman empire. During the second and third centuries CE, these provinces provided a buffer zone between Italy and the barbarian tribes who lived north and east of the Danube. Because the native Celts had put up such strong resistance to Roman rule, the Romans had to ensure that the provincials would support Rome against barbarians invading from the north. Benefits of Roman citizenship may have been subtly suggested, possibly through the medium of art that transcended the language barrier between provincial and Roman.

 

On the one hand, Cernunnos would be an appropriate subject in a funerary context, and the similarity in iconography may have demonstrated that the Celts and Romans were ideologically close to one another. Underlying the Celtic image of Cernunnos was the threat of punishment, represented by the myth of Actaeon, if the natives turned against the Romans and sided with the barbarians. That art was used as a medium of communication between Romans and native peoples has far-reaching implications for the study of Roman provincial relations, and for the interpretation of other mythological funerary reliefs in the provinces of Noricum and Pannonia.


 

Breaching a Seventh-century Artistic Frontier: The Warnebertus Reliquary

 

Katharine C. Hunvald

Columbia, Missouri

 

Decorative styles of the 7th C. in western Europe generally fall into two large categories on either side of an artistic and cultural divide. In one are found symbols and designs derived from the artistic traditions of late Rome and early Byzantium. These were popular throughout the Mediterranean region. In the other are symbols and designs that prevailed in the Germanic kingdoms and can be traced back to the art of the migrations. The Warnebertus Reliquary, an elaborate example of early medieval metalwork, physically embodies both these decorative traditions, and at the same time displays symbols of the Christian faith. By combining all these elements on a single object, the reliquary reveals an instance in which both artist and patron deliberately crossed an important artistic frontier.

 

The reliquary is a luxurious Christian cult object named for the client who commissioned it c. 677. An inscription on the base plate informs us that Warnebertus was both an abbot and a bishop. An individual fitting that description, who lived at a time consistent with the style of the work, was abbot of the important monastery of Saint-Medard in Soissons, as well as bishop of that Neustrian city in northern France. Almost all that we know of Warnebertus can be found in a ninth-century supplement to the Vita of Saint Medardus. Two recent studies offer an explanation of the reliquary's unusual surface decoration that juxtaposes designs and symbols drawn from very different cultural traditions. Close examination of certain objects traditionally linked to the reliquary have revealed the existence of a group of patrons who chose to demonstrate, through the ornament and its placement, that they were Germanic in origin, Christian in faith, and sophisticated in their attraction to designs typical of Mediterranean decorative arts. The probable geographic origin of this type of decorated object has been established by the important discoveries of the workshops in the Crypta Balbi in Rome.

 

The Warnebertus Reliquary also is evidence of breached frontiers in another way. The earliest customers of this blended decorative style were probably Lombards, though Warnebertus himself was most probably a Neustrian. His reliquary may have been made in northern Italy and exported to the north whole, in sections or as models for casting. It could also have been begun in Italy and completed farther north, perhaps in Burgundy. In either case, it was carried north by an itinerant artist or commercial traveler, many of whom were responsible for the dissolution of artistic frontiers, as they sought clients at church councils and fairs throughout western Europe.


 

 

SECTION II:

 

ROMAN-BARBARIAN ENCOUNTERS

 


SESSION V: The Transformation of Identity in Post-Roman Britain

 

 

Text, Artifact and Genome:

The Disputed Nature of the Anglo-Saxon Migration into Britain

 

Michael E. Jones

Bates College

 

The historiography of the Anglo-Saxon conquest and settlement has been shaped by a dialectic defined by two extreme alternatives. Was the Anglo-Saxon migration into Britain a mass popular movement that reshaped even the biological basis of British history? Or was it a relatively small-scale migration of eventually triumphant military elites?

 

Limited literary and archaeological evidence may be used to support conflicting theories. Recently, evidence from both ancient and modern DNA has joined archaeological and textual information in the debate concerning the origin and identity of the English. This paper offers a historiographical overview and summary of the current state of the debate.


 

The Transformation of Romanitas:

Creating a New Identity for Post-Roman Britain

 

Greg Fisher

McGill University

 

The relationship between the Britons and their Roman colonizers has recently come under fresh scrutiny, with both archaeologists and historians re-assessing the impact of Romanitas B the complex quality of "being Roman" B on diverse aspects of culture, religion and political organization in Britain. In particular, a variety of theories have emerged that address the problematic question of concepts of identity in sub-Roman Britain (400-900). Some scholars now argue that the British maintained a distinct core of tribal identity which, predating and surviving the Roman occupation, insulated the British from "becoming Roman" (C. Snyder & N. Higham), a process aided by the failure of Roman urbanism in Britain (R. Reece). Conversely, others suggest that a strong nucleus of Romanitas persisted well into the seventh century, indicating that the Britons consciously identified themselves with the Empire long after its dissolution on the Continent and the evacuation of its administrators and soldiers from the British Isles (K. Dark). A reappraisal of two key late antique British texts, however B the De excidio Britanniae of Gildas (c.540) and the anonymous Historia Brittonum (c. 830) B offers a different view: far from being somewhat passive recipients of either Romanitas or "traditional" tribal values, the British adapted and re-used elements of Romanitas with immense creativity to produce not only a new history for themselves, but also a unique concept of identity which, as an indigenous product, stood distinctly apart from the new histories written by the Germanic heirs to empire on the Continent. The analysis of these two texts, as well as of select Continental sources, emphasizes the extent to which the creation of identity was an ongoing process as the British struggled to come to terms with the colonial experience. Gildas, a cleric who had received a "Roman" education, built on separatist leanings long evident in Britain and which spoke to the shallow imprint of Romanitas on the culture and society of the island. Writing of the British as a gens quite distinct from the Romans and deriding Roman administration and law, Gildas nonetheless admired the Roman military as the only force capable of successful resistance against the Saxons. The triumphant leader of the British struggle against the Saxons was thus symbolically endowed with an imperial lineage and a Roman name B Ambrosius Aurelianus. Roman military assistance was only acceptable, however, when offered, and not imposed, and it is possible to see in the De Excidio an attempt to equate the post-imperial Britons with their erstwhile colonizers. This process was completed by the Historia Brittonum, a text which not only provided a Trojan origin myth for the British but also removed Ambrosius and replaced him with an unambiguously British champion. The Historia confirms Gildas' rejection of empire B but in resolving the ambiguities of the De Excidio, the Historia clearly demonstrates the process by which Romanitas was selectively rejected, recycled and reused as the British developed their own distinctive sense of identity in Late Antiquity.


 

Identity in England: Romano-British vs. Anglo-Saxon:

 Evaluating the Survival of Romano-British in England 400-600 CE

through the Archaeological Study of Burial Practices and Osteological features

 

David Klingle

Florida State University

 

In 410 CE the Roman Empire abandoned the island of Britain, and by 450 CE the Anglo-Saxons had invaded eastern England. The Anglo-Saxon invasions seemingly led to the destruction of the Romano-British inhabitants and their society, and by 600 CE Anglo-Saxon kings ruled all of England. An archaeological analysis of Roman, British, and Anglo-Saxon burials, though, shows that the Romano-British probably survived the invasions to become acculturated into the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the 7th century CE.

 

As many cultures practice distinct interment styles, burial analysis is an appropriate technique for understanding the ethnicity of a population. Scholars have argued that identifiable features of "Christian" Romano-British burials are relatively unfurnished inhumations, with west-east orientation, in linear cemeteries. Typical "pagan" Anglo-Saxon burials are furnished cremations or extended inhumations, with south-north orientation, in cluster-based cemeteries. These groups also had goods that were culturally distinct to them or placed in very ethnically specific arrangements. There have even been arguments that the Anglo-Saxons were physically quite different than the Romano-British and that larger, healthier bodies are evidence of their presence.

 

Distinguishing Romano-British from Anglo-Saxon burials and bodies, nonetheless, is problematic, for the Anglo-Saxons and their Germanic relatives exchanged goods and ideas with the Romano-British before and after their invasions. Factors such as trade, tribute, intermarriage, and the reuse of old objects make ethnic identification difficult. The material needs of a community often overshadowed its emphasis on religious and cultural "strategies of distinction." In the case of 5th-7th century England both the Romano-British and Anglo-Saxons had been reduced to such similar levels of subsistence and organization that distinctions in health, wealth, and availability of resources and goods between these populations may have been quite fluid and difficult for modern scholarship to detect. In conclusion, this presentation will demonstrate that there existed such a state of economic, political, and social flux that any attempt to use burial analysis for judgments about ethnicity in England between 400-600 CE is fraught with excessive difficulties and must be made with considerable care and scrutiny.


SESSION VI: The Construction of Identity in Western Frontier Zones

 

To Be or Not To Be Roman: Geographic Approaches to Analyzing Human Relatedness

 in the Lower Danube Region (2nd-7th Centuries)

 

Linda Ellis

San Francisco State University

 

The monolithic label 'barbarian' raises the questions: What was the basis for the Roman appellation 'barbarian'? What criteria were used in identification? Could identity change and how? Modern scholarship on ethnicity is still haunted by the elusive role of genetic bonds in defining human communities. Therefore, proposed here is the application of ideas from new approaches to regional geography for understanding "human relatedness" in Late Antiquity. The concept of "human relatedness" analyzes groups of individuals based on unifying cultural, social, and political structures, while separating them from other communities, defined in a like manner. However, the criteria for identifying human communities do not remain fixed--all human groupings evolve over time, categories of relatedness can encroach upon one another, and individual identification can change within one's lifetime. Equally problematic for Roman-barbarian relations was Roman metageography itself: Roman organization and categorization of geographic space, the linkage of peoples (nationes) with place, and the shifting of military frontiers (limites). The Roman Empire always felt under threat by disaffected groups, especially migrating, transhumant, and displaced populations. Part of Roman colonial strategy was to fossilize mutable populations, making behavioral diversity more manageable, and to impose an ethnic appellation--whether correct or incorrect--onto people and subsequently link them to place. The difficulties in reconciling cultural identity with geographic space were reflected in Roman policies on official languages, citizenship, religious conversion, urban residence, land ownership privileges, military recruitment and deployment, and forced resettlement initiatives. Foreigners were not identified as 'barbarian' exclusively on the basis of today's standards of language, religion, national origin, etc., but more probably judged by their pattern of behavior and whether that behavior was (in)compatible with Roman norms concerning how a people should relate or 'belong' to place. Data from ancient texts and material culture illustrate both how the Romans continually sought to both fix and transform human relatedness, and, as a result, how personal alignments of "barbarians" could change depending on the exigencies of politics, economics, and security under Roman hegemony.

 

For the Romans, the Danube River was a geomorphological limes that was porous to human migration. The Roman province of Scythia Minor (SE Romania) was a strategic area enclosed by the northward bend of the Danube as it empties into the Black Sea and serves as a case-study on Roman-barbarian relationships and how human relatedness intertwined with geographic space. Inheriting native Iron Age populations and well-established Greek colonial cities, the Romans added yet another layer to the cultural mosaic over the course of their five-century occupation of Scythia Minor (2nd-7th centuries AD). The invasions of Goths, Huns, and Slavs during Late Antiquity illustrate how their behavior was at variance, and also could not be reconciled, with Roman paradigms of how these mutable populations should be identified with space. The movements of foreign peoples through Scythia Minor--a gateway to the Balkans--and their own evolving identification with place beginning in Late Antiquity, would contribute to the tragic consequences of competition over cultural linkage to contested space in the 20th century.


MAP 1


MAP 2


 

Vascones and Visigoths: Creation and Transformation of Identity in Northern Spain

 

Scott de Brestian

University of Missouri-Columbia

 

During the late 19th and early 20th century, historians and ethnographers interested in the origins of the Basque people sought to create a coherent picture from the scattered literary and archaeological sources. As was the case with many contemporary inquiries by ethnic minorities into the distant past, these scholars sought to establish the roots of the Basques as a way to promote national feeling in the face of Spanish political domination.

 

The traditional model developed during this period incorporated both literary and archaeological evidence. The late medieval Basque population was believed to descend directly from the Vascones appearing in early medieval sources, and these in turn were felt to be the same as the Vascones described by Roman geographers. The discovery of cave sites throughout the País Vasco with Bronze Age occupation levels followed by Late Roman material was thought to be evidence for an autochthonous population that remained unchanged from the Bronze Age except for a late and superficial Romanization. These people reasserted themselves after the collapse of Roman power and formed the nucleus of the later Basque population.

 

Over the last few decades, both elements of this interpretation have been increasingly questioned. Linguistic study of personal and place names throughout the region shows that the vast majority are Indo-European in origin, with few Basque examples. Close analysis of the cave data indicates that they were temporarily reoccupied after a long hiatus, and the Late Roman material is not the tail end of a continuous tradition. The discovery of Iron Age settlements in the northern País Vasco has shown that there was no cultural divide during the pre-Roman period. Despite these findings, many elements of the traditional interpretation continue appear in scholarly works covering the period.

 

This paper suggests alternative approaches to understanding the development of the region in Late Antiquity. During the Early Imperial period, stratification within the region between the agrarian south and the largely pastoral north was accentuated. This was not due to resistance by the natives to Roman culture but to economic changes brought about by Roman rule. The collapse of Roman power led both the north and south to engage in a process of cultural self-dialogue that accentuated existing differences. In the Ebro valley, elite identity became associated with Christianity and the preservation of Roman culture. The lack of Christianization among the inhabitants of the western Pyrenees and the position of the region between Merovingian and Visigothic spheres of influence prevented the political and cultural unity that had bridged these differences during the period of Roman rule.

 

From the perspective of ethnogenesis, the independence of the Vascones during Late Antiquity should be seen as a gradual process of cultural differentiation rather than rising Basque nationalism. The expansion of the term "Vascones" to embrace a wider geographic and ethnic compass is one seen in other instances in northern Spain and need not imply continuity of early Iron Age political organization.


 

Building an Ethnic identity for a New Gothic and Roman Nobility: Cordoba 615 A.D.

 

Luis A. García Moreno

University of Alcalá, Spain

 

In A.D. 615, in the old Roman city of Cordoba, a document was signed establishing a dowry and other gifts to be given at a marriage. The bride was a noble girl from a Gothic family, also linked to the Assembly (Curia) of the former Roman colony. The document contains as much information about Germanic and Gothic as about Roman legal institutions.

 

This paper examines how such a nobility of mixed ethnicity emerged in Cordoba early in the 6th C. The power and the specially blended ideology of this nobility can help explain both Cordoba's multiple attempts to obtain and keep a position of political independence in the mid-6th C, and the extreme importance of the city, briefly a royal residence, just before it became the seat of the new Islamic power in Spain.


 

Barbarians and/or Romans:

Discourses of Justice in Merovingian Court Verdicts and Narrative Sources

 

Dmitri Starostine

The University of Toronto

 

 

This paper will suggest that descriptions of Merovingian royal justice represented narrative strategies that had already become common for late antique writers, strategies long employed to construct the representations of barbarians and Romans. Depending on their perspective, court verdicts and narrative sources portrayed settlement of conflicts in remarkably different ways. Using administrative conventions of imperial rescripts, court records known as placita described resolution of conflicts in terms that helped legitimize royal authority as the Merovingian kings' power was waning. These records sought to construct the Frankish identity in a way that illustrated how kings and aristocrats followed the traditions of the imperial or provincial courts. But in episcopal Lives and miracle stories educated monks and bishops used different narrative strategies and paid less attention to procedures and orderly character of proceedings. In their descriptions they contrasted Frankish aristocrats, who respected episcopal authority, with the true "barbarians" who questioned the ecclesiastical ideals these bishops promulgated. In their narratives clerics described court proceedings as divine providence and cast them in terms of Christian rituals that accompanied Easter and other important church holidays. Depictions of the ways in which kings and their courts sought to put an end to conflicts thus significantly differed depending on the type of source. Although the two ways of describing the workings of the royal court may seem to reveal a dichotomy between barbarian and Roman identities, closer investigation reveals a more complex picture. Both strategies of representation originated in the traditions of Roman Late Antiquity and they can be traced back to authors such as Priscus, Sidonius, Cassiodorus, and others. Merovingian descriptions of conflict resolution thus illustrate how, as a result of continuous interaction between the Empire and the peoples outside it, the dichotomy between "barbarians" and Romans gave way to other, early medieval, ways of constructing the "Other."


 

 

FEATURED PRESENTATION

 

 

Auguste Moutié, a Pioneer of Merovingian Archaeology,

and the Spurlock Merovingian Collection

 

Bailey K. Young

Eastern Illinois University

 

In 1832 Auguste Moutié, a young man from Houdan (today in the Yvelines, west of Paris) was shown a quarry site (La Butte des Gargans) where graves with artefacts had been turning up for several years. Filled with enthusiasm, he himself bought some of the land so that he could conduct excavations himself. By 1843, when he made a report on his excavations to Société archéologique de Rambouillet, he had concluded that this was a Merovingian site (a dozen years before the Abbé Cochet published his La Normandie souterraine). His presentation was supported by an Album with watercolor drawings of artefacts by his friend, the artist Paul Guégan, today conserved at the Musée des Antiquités Nationales at Saint-Germain-en Laye. In this, and in published articles, Moutié displays an understanding of methodological principles for the excavation and interpretation of cemeteries in advance of his time (he presents a number of grave assemblages, for example). Many of the Houdan artefacts were conserved in his personal collection, with precise descriptive labels. This passed after his death into the hands of Dr. Baudon, a physician and prehistorian in the Oise region. In 1924 Dr. Baudon's collection was bought for a new museum at the University of Illinois--Urbana (today the Spurlock World Heritage Museum). Research on this collection by Barbara Oehlschlaeger-Garvey led to the discovery that Moutié's collection was preserved by Baudon, and that some parts of the original tomb assemblages described in the 1843 Album, can now be identified in the Spurlock collection.


 

 

PLENARY LECTURE

 

 

Identity and Ethnicity in the Era of the Migrations and the Barbarian Kingdoms

in Light of the Archeology of Gaul

 

Patrick Périn

Musée des Antiquités nationales, Paris

(co-author Michel Kazanski, University of Caen)

 

Ethnogenesis has profited from spectacular advances on the part of historians, while the approach of archaeologists remained stationary. It used to be customary to assume without question that to each barbarian people there corresponded a specific material culture that permitted its identification. Archaeologists have now learned from historians. Today more emphasis is placed on the periods when the migrating populations were resident in one location, for the majority of them were settlers and were able to leave archeological traces, than on their periods of movement or raids, when, in general, no material witnesses could remain. The warlike aspect of the migrations is likewise balanced by all the peaceful movements of barbarian populations, often less numerous and more widely-dispersed than was formerly believed. In most cases the ethnic and cultural heterogeneity of barbarian groups is stressed, as is the cultural role that mobile international élites played, particularly with regard to fashions. In the end it is clear that the barbarians who reached the Roman world were a minority and that their acculturation was inevitable -- except in the few special cases where their failure to acculturate led to their elimination (Ostrogoths and Vandals).

 

It is thus only with a prudent and a highly critical eye that one ought to assess archeological criteria that might permit the possible identification of population-groups or of isolated individuals as of possible foreign origin relative to the dominant population, be it Roman or barbarian. Funerary practices can in this way be significant in the later Roman world. Relevant examples would include deposits of arms in graves, or -- for the very beginning of the Merovingian period -- cases of incineration, tumulus-burials, or adjacent burials of horses. In these cases it is reasonable to see these as signs of genuinely Germanic settlement.

 

Other markers of ethnicity seem equally significant: artificial cranial deformation, a practice that originated in the Iranian steppe; ceramics made without using the potter's wheel in a society where such simple handmade ware no longer existed; the bearing of "ethnic" arms by men, foreign fashions for women (for example the Danubian style); or also the diffusion in Gaul of the famous "Second Germanic Animal Style." This enables us rationally to assessment possible traces of "barbarians" in the archeological record -- in this particular instance, in Gaul.

 

From the 4th to the mid 5th C. archeological evidence permits us to confirm the presence of the Germanic auxiliaries in the Roman army attested by the written sources. Occasionally from the middle of the 4th C. certain Germans and eastern nomads can be identified using archeological remains in places where their acculturation in a later Roman military context is assured. Finally the second half of the 5th C. saw the diffusion in the west, in a military context that was still Roman, of strategies of distinction that perhaps issued from the Danubian region, e.g. the Tomb of Childeric, father of Clovis, at Tournai.

 

From the end of the 5th C. and above all the 6th C. other more subtle indicators allow us, to a certain extent, to identify not movements of peoples, but the circulation of individuals. For this we are at the mercy of the evidence for individual contacts suggested by texts (embassies, exogamy, contacts occasioned by military expeditions) and reflected by women's fashion: thus in the case of Gaul assemblages of jewelry suggestive of women of Anglo-Saxon, Alamannic, Ostrogothic, or Visigothic origin.

 

From the 7th C., at least for Merovingian Gaul, funerary archeology can no longer make its contribution to the question of ethnicity, since the significant geographic distribution of certain finds suggests that regional identities emerged at that time, as in Burgundy and in Aquitaine, that is to say in the former Germanic Burgundian (443-534) and Visigothic (418-507) kingdoms.


SESSION VII: Romans, Barbarians and Religion in North Africa

 

Augustine and the Merciful Barbarians

 

Gillian Clark

The University of Bristol

 

Are barbarians human or animal? Are they rational beings whose language is other than Greek or Latin, or do they lack recognizable language because they are not rational? Can they be Christian? Such questions have been debated from Aristotle to the early modern period: this paper starts from Augustine's presentation of the barbarians who invaded Rome in 410. "These Romans who are hostile to the name of Christ - are they not those the barbarians spared on account of Christ?" (City of God 1.1) Barbari pepercerunt, "the barbarians spared," is startling enough, and Augustine piles on the vocabulary: bloodstained raging enemies, frenzied slayers, monstrous urges to wound and enslave, all are restrained. Why did Alaric's Goths allow Romans to take refuge in martyr-shrines and basilicas? "It must be ascribed to the name of Christ, to Christian timesYHeaven forbid that any sensible man should ascribe it to the ferocity of the barbarians! It was Christ who terrified, who bridled, who wonderfully calmed those most fierce and savage minds" (1.7). Here are the stereotypes of the bestial barbarian who must be controlled by taming, not by persuasion. Christian buildings become sanctuaries, not because the Goths are Christians, but because Christ's power is so great. But surely Christianity should transform barbarians? 'There is neither speech nor language where their voices are not heard; their sound is gone out into every land, and their words to the ends of the earth.' (Ps. 18[19]. 4) In Confessions (13.10.26) Augustine applied this psalm-text to God's messengers who fly over the earth, beneath the firmament that is God's scripture. If God's word has reached the speakers of every language, are there any barbarians left?

 

It depends whether 'barbarian' means someone who does not speak Latin (or commits 'barbarisms' by speaking it badly), or someone who lacks any articulate language. Earlier in Confessions (11.3.5) Augustine talks of 'a truth without organs of speech or sound of syllables, a truth neither Hebrew nor Greek nor Latin nor barbarian'. Here 'barbarian' means only 'foreign'; late Platonist philosophers agreed that 'barbarian' wisdom could express the truth. A century before Augustine, Eusebius (PE 1.4) claimed that Christian teaching transformed the behavior even of irrational and bestial barbarians. Late Antiquity saw the first attempts to take barbarians the saving word in their own language. In Augustine's lifetime, Goths came to church in Milan, and in Constantinople John Chrysostom preached through an interpreter and found Gothic-speaking clergy. But did Augustine think seriously about barbarians? City of God misses opportunities. The savage barbarians of book 1 could reappear in book 19, motivated, like all living beings however savage, by the desire for peace. Augustine says (19.7) that language divides, and Latin as a universal language is a force for peace, but again the barbarians are missing: he discusses the cost in human life of imposing Latin on the world. Merciful barbarians remain a contradiction in terms, and barbarians remain a stereotype, not potential members of the City of God.


 

Barbarian Traffic, Demon Oaths, and Christian Scruples: Aug. Epist. 46-47

 

Kevin Uhalde

Ohio University

 

"Not only on the frontier, but throughout all the provinces," wrote Augustine of Hippo to a landowner named Publicola around 397, "the security of peace rests on the oaths of barbarians." Claude Lepelley recently commented on this letter and the one that provoked it, in which Publicola asked what danger might come from contact with pagan rituals, particularly demonic oaths barbarians swore to Christian estate managers and military officers in frontier regions. Lepelley argued that Publicola's questions reveal "a crude religiosity and a strongly mediocre intelligence," and that his understanding of oath swearing in particular reflected antiquated "scruples." Swearing, of course, was old-fashioned: neither the rise of Christianity nor the passage of centuries significantly affected the types of oaths Publicola mentioned. Moreover, oaths remained part of everyday life in the countryside, along frontiers, and in diplomacy for many future generations. The first part of this paper will present a survey of the literary and documentary evidence for oath swearing, especially where a literary source describes, or a documentary source survives from, frontier zones. Although indirect or circumstantial evidence drastically outweighs direct testimony of oath rituals, it will be clear that the situation Publicola described was an ordinary part of conduct along the borders of the later empire. Augustine's answer to Publicola's main question, whether a Christian must refuse to engage barbarians with oaths sworn by demons, was practical: borders need securing, business needs alliances, and in this world oaths stand in the place of trust between friends and strangers alike. The second part of this paper will suggest that his response reflected how much the practical limits of political and religious authority influenced the way Christian intellectuals viewed their world. Oaths like those Publicola described sealed associations that cut across religious, ethnic, and political boundaries. Publicola's letter exposed to Augustine, not lowbrow religious attitudes, but the prevalence of pragmatism over ideology, whether the ideology in question were political or religious. Even while the church famously enjoyed its triumphal moment, information of barbarians swearing oaths with Christians caused Augustine to reflect on how much work was yet to be completed within the frontiers of empire and church. Therefore, by combining an assessment of Augustine's intellectual stance on oaths with a survey of testimonia to oaths taken at frontiers throughout the later Roman Empire, this paper will try to illuminate the form and function of those oaths that officers, landowners, and bishops all hoped could preserve the peace for a troubled empire.


 

Vandal Contributions to the Christianization of North Africa

 

David L. Riggs

Indiana Wesleyan University

 

According to Salvian, the Vandals viewed their occupation of the African provinces as divinely ordained and employed various measures to try to suppress vice and impurity in the cities of late Roman Africa (among which Salvian includes the persistence of pagan rites). While one cannot take Salvian's rhetoric at face value, his representation of Vandal efforts in North Africa might prompt us to ask: what possible impact did these barbarians have on the local narrative of Christianization? The conventional (if unfounded) conviction that Christianity had already supplanted Romano-African paganism as the dominant religious force in late Roman Africa has left scholars little inclined to pose such a question. Instead, scholarly interest in Vandal contributions to North African religious life has been limited to their persecution of Catholics. This paper will demonstrate, however, that if one sets traditional notions aside, there is sufficient testimony in the literary and archaeological records to suggest that the Vandals did in fact play a rather significant role in advancing the process of Christianization in North Africa: both in terms of undermining pagan infrastructure and practice and in terms of enhancing the architectural prominence of African Christianity.


 

SESSION VIII: Romans and Barbarians Beyond the Eastern Frontiers

 

Rome and Kush: Cultural Encounter on the Southern Frontier

 

Salim Faraji

Claremont Graduate University

 

The church historian Eusebius in his Church History and Life of Constantine created a portrait of the emperor Constantine that portrayed him as a divinely-favored king and triumphant conqueror of the known world who had subdued barbarian nations from Britain on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire to the Blemmyans and Ethiopians in the south. Despite this portrayal of the "southern frontier," the Roman Empire in fact co-administered the Dodekaschoinos in Lower Nubia with the Meroitic-Kushite state of the "Ethiopians." The major location of cooperation between Rome and Kush was the temple of Mandulis at Kalabsha. This religious center brought together and blended Roman and Kushite religious and military culture, creating Greek-speaking Nubians and Roman soldiers who worshiped Nubian gods. After the political collapse of the Meroitic state in the mid-4th C. Rome would have to enter into a complex of political alliances by establishing federate status with the successor states, the Noubadae and the Blemmyans, in order to secure the southern frontier. Ultimately, in the mid-fifth century, the Noubadae defeated the Blemmyans in Lower Nubia and claimed -- in a radical twist of history -- that the Roman Christian god had given them the victory. In sum, during Late Antiquity Rome's southern frontier in the Middle Nile Valley was a zone of cultural encounter and dialectical exchange between two imperial traditions that exercised strong mutual effects upon each another.


 

Were the Sasanians "Barbarians?" Roman Writers on the "Empire of the Persians"

 

Scott McDonough

University of California -- Los Angeles

 

Late Roman writers purveyed an image of "barbarians" rooted in a firm belief in their own society's organizational, military, cultural and moral pre-eminence. Yet their long established literary paradigm of Roman versus barbarian was fundamentally challenged by the vexing conundrum of Sasanian Iran. The Sasanians remained stubbornly un-subdued, and quite possibly un-subduable, by Roman arms or diplomacy. Moreover, the urban, hierarchical "barbarian" polity of the Sasanians fundamentally challenged Roman writers' confidence in the absolute superiority of their own civilization. Indeed, Iranian kings claimed to be the heirs of Near Eastern civilizations vastly more ancient than Rome, and the chosen defenders of a Magian faith already ancient at the time of Augustus and Christ.

 

In this paper I will categorize and contrast varied Roman literary responses to Sasanian Iran throughout Late Antiquity. On the one hand, Roman authors emphasized the foreign and repugnant aspects of Sasanian culture, eventually extending Herodotean notions of the conflict of civilizations to encompass an eschatological vision of the Sasanians as the great apocalyptic foe of Christian Rome. Yet many of these same authors evince a wary respect for the sophisticated empire of the Sasanians, likening its organization and military achievements to past Roman examples, extolling the justice and valor of its kings, while elevating the Sasanian King of Kings to a state of equality with the Roman Augusti.

 

This multiplicity of perspectives represents the long effort by Roman thinkers to find a place for the Sasanians in their vision of the world. In their conflicted, and occasionally contradictory, rhetoric about Sasanian Iran, Roman authors struggled to define a conceptual category for a aggressive, organized, and, above all, successful challenge to the universal ambitions of Roman imperial power. In the end, Roman portrayals of these "barbarians" owed as much to the limitations of the late Roman literary imagination as they did to any real contact with their Sasanian foes.


 

Rome's Image of the "Barbarian" Sassanians

 

Jan Willem Drijvers

The University of Groningen

 

Modern discussions about Romans and barbarians focus mainly on northern and western barbarians such as Alamanni, Franks, Goths, Huns etc.; these peoples are considered the barbarians par excellence. Rome's "greatest enemy" in Late Antiquity, the Sassanian Persians, are generally not ranked among the barbarian peoples. It is even said of the Persians that the Romans considered them their political and cultural equals. However, this image of the two superpowers of Antiquity as equals is far too simple. The Persians were in fact thought of as barbarians but in a more complex way than the northern and western types.

 

Since the 'invention' of the barbarian in 5th-century Greece, Persian society was considered inferior to the Graeco-Roman world. In particular for the Romans, whose first serious contacts with Persian society date from the 1st century BCE, Persian civilization was an alter orbis. In spite of frequent contacts B economic, political, military, and cultural B between the Roman and Persian empires, there existed a wide gulf between the two powers. Unfortunately, through lack of sources hardly anything is known about how the Persians perceived Roman society, but we do know that for the Romans the Persian world was a world which they found hard to understand, about which they were prejudiced, and to which they felt superior. This conception of Persian society in turn helped shape Roman identity as a predominant power. The concept of Orientalism as formulated by Edward Saïd is not a notion relevant to the modern world alone.

 

In the world of Late Antiquity friendly and less friendly interactions between the Romans and the Sassanian Persians took place on a regular basis. Whereas the Roman image of Parthian society has received considerable attention, this cannot be said of the perception the Romans had of Sassanian society. In my paper I suppose to reconstruct the way in which the Romans perceived the Sassanian Persians and their society. Three historiographic sources B the works of Ammianus Marcellinus, Procopius and Agathias B will form the basis of my investigation. Environmental, physiognomic, military, and political aspects were important for shaping the Roman image of the Sassanian "barbarian" and these factors will be referred to in my analysis. It is to be expected that the late antique Roman image of the Sassanians and their society was traditional and consistent with the view the Romans had of the Parthians in the Late Republic and early Empire. It is also to be expected that this image conformed to some extent to that of the barbarian but also that it was more balanced and subtle than the view the Romans had of Huns, Alamanni and other peoples.


 

 

 

SECTION III:

ROMANS, BARBARIANS,

AND POLITICS


SESSION VIIII: Romans and Barbarians in Imperial Politics

 

Spies Like Us: Treason and Identity in the Later Roman Empire

 

Kimberly Kagan

Yale University

 

What makes a Roman or a foreigner a traitor to his country, according to fourth-century Roman norms? Did the Romans have differential attitudes toward treasonous behavior on different frontiers in the 4th C.? The idea of defection seems peculiar to the eastern frontier, as the cases of the Roman official Antoninus to the Persians in A.D. 359 (Ammianus 18.5) and of Hormisdas from Persia to Rome, show. Are barbarian kings who enter Roman service at this time seen as defectors to Rome? Other incidents to investigate include the scutarius who casually reveals to the Lentienses information about Gratian's movements, the satrap of Corduene who helps Ammianus spy on Persian movements, a Roman army deserter employed as a spy by the Persians, and deserters in Africa helping Firmus. These episodes tell us about permeability of frontiers: which identities can acceptably be held together, and which cannot, what happens to one's identity when one betrays the state, and what is considered acceptable political exchange between two states or peoples.


 

Symmachus and the "Barbarian" Generals

 

Michele Renee Salzman

University of California, Riverside

 

Even if many scholars now agree that the Romans were unconcerned about the ethnicity or ethnogenesis of particular barbarian groups, the elite literature of the fourth and fifth centuries is filled with negative, antibarbarian images and sentiments. So, for example, in his Contra Symmachum the poet Prudentius summed up the sentiments of many a late Roman aristocrat: "What is Roman and what is barbarian are as different from each other as the four-footed creature is distinct from the two-footed or the dumb from the speaking." (2.816-817) The fourth century panegyrists frequently maligned barbarians as unreliable, cruel and destructive. Some aristocrats veiled their antibarbarian sentiments by disparaging barbarians on aesthetic grounds; so, for example, Sidonius Apollinaris (cf. Ep. 1.7.6; 2.1.2, 5.5.3) mocks barbarians for their being skin-clad, smelly and uncultured. Despite these negative attitudes toward barbarians, late Roman aristocrats had to come to grips with the reality of a growing number of barbarians in their midst. It would become increasingly necessary for late Roman aristocrats to build friendships with the growing number of barbarians, and especially with those barbarians in high military office. But given these antibarbarian sentiments, how could fourth century Roman aristocratic society encompass the barbarian in their midst? This paper will argue, using the Letters and Orations of Symmachus, that late Roman amicitia was exceptionally useful and flexible for building social networks across the Roman/ barbarian divide. Analysis of Symmachus' letters to Richomeres (Ep. 3.54-69) and of his letters to Stilicho (Ep. 4.1-14) indicates that the language of amicitia took precedence over any notions of "barbarian" difference. There is little to suggest the non-Roman origins or culture of these two important men. The prominence of these two men led Symmachus to adopt a carefully crafted prose style that conformed in content and style to the norms of elite epistolography with no trace of antibarbarian sentiment. Symmachus' letters to Arbogastes (which most scholars presume were omitted from the collection after the failed usurpation) were probably likewise cast in the obliquely formal and impersonal language of amicitia.

 

Symmachus' Letters to Bauto (Ep. 4.15-16), however, are different. As Ep. 4.15 shows, Symmachus adopts a critical and superior stance to point out Bauto's serious breach of etiquette: Symmachus did not receive a consular gift from Bauto at the beginning of his year in office (385). Given Symmachus' position as Praefectus Urbi, this was a serious lapse. The letter defends Symmachus' reputation. Perhaps Bauto was not familiar with the rules of amicitia, or perhaps he been deceived. Symmachus' letter may also be a veiled comment on Bauto's non-Roman, non-elite origins. Nonetheless, their friendship can survive this breach, claims Symmachus. Symmachus' willingness to engage the more powerful Bauto on this breach of etiquette reveals the ways in which the bonds and language of amicitia can build ties between Romans and barbarians. A brief overview of the Orations reinforces the impression left by the Letters: regardless of antibarbarian stereotypes held by late Roman aristocrats, the language of amicitia was serviceable precisely because it could, when desired, make little distinction between Romans and "barbarian generals."


 

Pope Leo the Antichrist and the Fall of the Western Roman Empire

 

Edward Watts

Indiana University

 

The supposed fall of the western Roman Empire in 476 is one of the great manufactured historical moments. Though the event soon became, and long remained, a prominent part of the late antique historiographic tradition, a link between Odovacer's deposition of Romulus Augustulus and the moment when "the western Empire of the Roman people perished" (Marcellinus Comes, 476.2) first appears in historiography only in the early decades of the sixth century. This fact suggests that 476 was an apparent turning point only when glimpsed retrospectively. The coup itself evidently did not seem particularly different from earlier coups, at least to mainstream Italian and Constantinopolitan authors.

 

This paper will take a slightly different approach to illustrate how the events of 476 can inform our understanding of late Roman political identity. Instead of focusing upon the parts of the world most directly effected by this event, it will direct attention towards an underutilized Palestinian Anti-Chalcedonian perspective on the "fall" of the western Roman Empire. This comes from the Plerophories of John Rufus, a rather belligerent anti-Chalcedonian monk living in Gaza. The Plerophories is a work designed to preserve and disseminate the apocalyptic oral traditions that circulated in the anti-Chalcedonian monastic circles of Palestine and Egypt. These traditions generally were attributed to respected Anti-Chalcedonian leaders such as Peter the Iberian or Timothy of Alexandria. They single out the leaders of the Chalcedonian movement, especially patriarch Juvenal of Jerusalem and Pope Leo, and describe the misfortune either already brought about or soon to come because of their deeds.

 

John's mention of the fall of Rome comes in just such a context. It is preserved as an oral tradition derived in part from a statement made by bishop Timothy of Alexandria (460-77). In it, we are told that, because of the apostasy represented by the Tome of Leo, the "Roman Empire has ceasedYand the city which was the mistress of the world has been taken and placed under the dominion of barbarians (Syr. barbarya)." This statement is significant for two reasons. First, it seems to be the earliest classification of Odovacer's coup as the "fall of the Roman Empire" (if this is accepted as a genuine oral tradition, it must date from 476 or 477). Second, the ambiguity of Odovacer's action, which it seems was left unresolved (at least initially) by Italian and Constantinopolitan sources, is stripped away by John Rufus. To John, the Goths are barbarians, who control Rome politically, and their political domination of the city of Rome signals divine displeasure. This tradition relies upon a simplistic dichotomy between Romans and barbarians to make a point to an audience living far from Italy in a Palestinian monastery. At the same time, this statement also further underlines how, for those authors with more experience of the Gothic regime, the historical division between Roman and "barbarian" control of the state was neither clear-cut nor particularly worth emphasizing.


 

Rex Francorum, Rex Romanorum Revisited

 

Edward James

University College, Dublin

 

 

In Gregory of Tours's History II.12 we read that the Roman general Aegidius became rex Francorum, while at II.27 we read that Syagrius, the son of Aegidius, became rex Romanorum, based in Soissons. Back in 1988 I questioned the habit -- particularly common among cartographers -- of assigning much of northern Gaul before the time of Clovis to a "royaume de Syagrius" or a "royaume de Soissons", and suggested that Gregory need not, or should not, be read in that way. Since then, the work of several scholars, including Steven Fanning and Penny MacGeorge, have looked at this question. This paper revisits the question, and attempts to reassert, with modifications, my earlier stance that the answer lies in Gregory's purposes and methods rather than in the realities of fifth-century Gaul


 

Reguli in the Later Roman Empire and the Germanic Kingdoms

 

Steven Fanning

University of Illinois at Chicago

 

The study of the political structure of the Germanic peoples is almost entirely dependent on the Latin sources and their Latin political terminology. One of the most common figures encountered in that study, especially for the period when they were outside the Roman Empire and for the early Anglo-Saxons is that of the regulus (a term also used at times for Roman emperors). The interpretation of the position and role of these often rather obscure reguli is commonly based on the standard definition of regulus as a petty king or kinglet, which produces the view that they are relatively insignificant figures. This paper will explore the meaning of regulus and its related word subregulus in Latin texts from Livy in the early first century AD to the eighth century, for both Roman and Germanic figures, and will conclude that the meaning of regulus that is most consistent with textual usage throughout these centuries is not 'petty king,' but rather 'co-king' or 'joint ruler,' and that subregulus is best seen as a joint ruler of subordinate authority but not necessarily with reduced power. Thus the reguli and subreguli of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages ought to be considered to be figures of much greater significance than they are in modern scholarship.


 

SESSION X: The Barbarian Invasions

 

'The Overthrow of the Temples and the Ruin of the Whole of Greece':

Rhetoric and Archaeology in Barbarian Invasions of Late Roman Greece

 

Amelia Robertson Brown

The University of California, Berkeley

 

Ancient and modern historians alike have long blamed a series of 3rd-6th C. barbarian invasions for the final destruction of most ancient Greek cities and sanctuaries, and archaeologists have followed suit. The few surviving ancient accounts of these invasions, however, were mainly composed in Constantinople or Rome, by authors practiced in imitating the accounts of Classical historians and employed in praising their present patrons and new religion. Their rhetoric and biases, however, have customarily been overlooked or minimized by archaeologists assembling narratives of destruction at their sites in Greece. Those historical narratives have remained largely unquestioned, too, since excavation in Greece has been devoted mainly to finding beginnings and not clarifying endings of sites.

 

Recently, some historians and philologists have begun to recognize and chart the biases that writers such as Eunapius of Sardis, Claudian, and Zosimus brought to the subject of the barbarian invasions of Greece. However, few archaeologists working in Greece have translated this recognition into a much-needed reappraisal of the literary sources that underlie both their narratives of invasion and their dates for destructions. In this paper I outline the surviving sources for barbarian invasions of later Roman Greece, point out some of their biases, and suggest some ways in which archaeologists and historians might cooperate to construct a new framework for approaching the archaeology of Late Roman Greece. For while Costobocs, Herulians, Goths and Slavs all invaded Graecia or Hellas on paper, their concrete effect on the material record at specific sites must take ancient writers and modern excavation methodologies into consideration.


 

Constantine III and the Barbarian Invasion of Gaul

 

David T. Fletcher

Indiana University

 

Despite a lengthy debate among scholars and a paucity of illuminating evidence which might be called upon to clear away the lingering mysteries, the question of the relationship between Constantine III's rebellion in Britain and the barbarian invasion across the Rhine (in 406-7 CE) refuses to die. What more can we make of sources which tell us that Constantine III was the last of three successive usurpers in Britain, that he ostensibly took power to defend the west from rampaging barbarians in 407, but that he seems to have done more fighting against Sarus and the forces of Honorius than against the barbarian raiders?

 

I propose five interrelated arguments, all of which fit together to create a plausible explanation for the ancient contention that Constantine III became a usurper to defend the west from barbarians. First, Constantine III and his supporters did not usurp the throne for the express (or even the primary) purpose of fighting the Gallic invaders; on the contrary, barbarians were not a serious problem in the eyes of the western military -- rather, Honorius's government was the problem. Second, the invasion occurred at an opportune moment for Constantine nonetheless, and was subsequently utilized as a justification for his clearly illegal action. Third, Constantine's propaganda (which stated that he stepped forward to save Britain and Gaul) outlived Constantine himself, and was ironically maintained by his foremost political opponents after his death -- for political reasons that involved the need to rebuild relations between the northwestern Roman troops and Honorius's court. Fourth, the main literary accounts of Constantine III's rebellion which are extant today, Orosius and Olympiodorus of Thebes repeated this propaganda without attempting to change it, and thus perpetuated the false cause of Constantine's rise to power. Fifth and finally, the reason that these two writers (neither of whom desired to defend Constantine III, and who each composed his history after the usurper's execution) perpetuated this myth was perhaps two-fold. They seem to have both used a common literary account (written in Latin, but now lost) for their own versions of western events in these years -- an account written with the intent to rebuild harmony between Honorius and the western Roman soldiery, as these troops were still needed in c.411-13 to maintain order in Gaul; and further, neither Orosius nor Olympiodorus probably wished to alter that harmony (if they knew another reason for the usurpation), as this also remained highly important in their own respective times of writing. The implications of this theory extend to both Roman-barbarian relations in the early fifth century and to late antique historiography.


 

 

FEATURED PRESENTATION

 

 

The Three Meanings of "Migration Age"

 

Walter Goffart

Yale University

 

The term "Migration Age" is the English counterpart of German Völkerwanderung or Latin migratio gentium. In whatever language, "Migration Age" is a concept in everyday academic use, similar to "the Crusades" or "the Hundred Years War" as the name for a historical period. While the phrase "barbarian invasions" is earthbound, a major shift takes place when the neutral term "migration" enters the discussion, as it did as early as the sixteenth century. "Migration Age," or Völkerwanderung, associates a certain set of events with timeless anthropological, sociological, historical, and biblical processes of human movement. This talk explores the three meanings of "Migration Age" in common use: the primary or core meaning, identical to "the barbarian invasions," and its two chronological and spatial expansions, one Asian and the other "Germanic." It describes and discusses these three meanings and argues that the period name should be limited to its core sense, clearly defined in time and space.


 

 

 

SECTION IV:

SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

 


SESSION XI: Social and Economic Manifestations of Roman-Barbarian Encounters

 

Phygades, kataphygontes, apodidraskontoi, aytomoloi:

The Problem of Deserters in Late Antique Diplomacy

 

Ekaterina Nechaeva

The University of Siena

 

A border can both divide and unite the people who cross it. The crossing of frontiers has always been part of life, throughout history. For Late Antiquity this aspect of interaction of the two worlds B barbarian and Roman B seems to be especially important.

 

The question of deserters was one of the most discussed in the late antique diplomacy. Deserting has various aspects, showing different ways and forms of Roman and barbarian integration and interaction. Individuals frequently fled from the Roman empire to the territory of an enemy or vice-versa, in war as well as in peace. The importance and danger of such escapes was certainly primarily connected with the problem of information, intelligence brought to an adversary, and such cases are well attested in the written sources. But on the other hand there existed the phenomenon of fleeing, in a sense of the passing over to the enemy's side, of rather large groups of people, a part of a tribe or even a whole one. Both for individual and for "group" deserters ancient authors writing in Greek often used the same or similar terms, such as phygades and kataphygontes and this, as it seems, caused some confusion in ancient and in the modern times.

 

Special attention will be paid to the problem of deserters in the context of Roman-Hunnic relations, especially Attila's negotiations with the eastern Roman Empire. Examination of Priscus of Panium leads to the problem of the apparent (but maybe only seeming) misunderstanding between Attila and Roman diplomats: all the treaties contain a stipulation about the return of the deserters who had left the Empire of Attila for the Roman one, yet only a handful of them was later repatriated. A detailed analysis of the evidence from Priscus, as well as that from Menander and Procopius seems to allow to suppose that kataphygontes in Priscus was a terminus technicus to define the groups of people and even peoples who had seceded from a "Hun unit" and joined the Roman Empire. This approach may also explain the passage in Menander Protector, where he speaks of the gold kalodia sent to the Avars among the other diplomatic gifts being used to ergein te ton apodidraskonton B this traditional set of gifts was a honorable donation, but at the same time marked the subordinate state of the tribe who received it. In this connection another subject, also to be touched upon in the presentation is the problem of perception of these groups of deserters by the Romans, by the Persians and by different barbarians.


 

Slavery, Captivity, and Romano-Barbarian Interchange

 

Noel Lenski

University of Colorado at Boulder

 

Sometime in the 370s Ausonius sent his friend Paulus a series of delightful poems describing the Suebic girl Bissula, with whom he was infatuated and whom he had, until recently, owned. Bissula pleased Ausonius not just because of her blond hair and blue eyes but also because of her charming obsequiousness and perfect command of Latin. She embodied, for him, the ideal admixture of domesticity and exoticism: delicium... horridulum non solitis sed, domino venustum. Bissula's charms of course eventually won her freedom, but probably only at the cost of submitting to the sexagenarian's advances. Bissula's situation was hardly unique. Certainly the most intimate and probably the most regular contact between Romans and barbarians in Late Antiquity occurred between slaves and masters, between captives and conquerors. This applied in both directions, for by the period of Late Antiquity the traffic in humans was as likely to lead to the capture of Romans by barbarians as the reverse. In either instance, the effects were profound. Covering the broad span of Late Antiquity both geographically and temporally, this paper will examine the effects that this traffic had on individuals, politics, cultures, and societies.

 

The impact of human trafficking on individuals was of course profound. The capture of exogenous prisoners for ransom, generally Romans captured by barbarians, put cives romani at regular risk of losing their freedom or fortune, and even when they were redeemed, former captivi often owed money debts or client services to their redeemers for years to come. The sale or capture of slaves, generally barbarian slaves, brought non-Romans into humiliating servitude while helping reinforce the assumptions of Romans about their cultural superiority. The political ramifications were also substantial. The political turmoil resulting from the Roman defeat at Adrianople in 378 had its roots in the Roman trade in Gothic prisoners, and the Hunnic wars of the early fifth century were provoked at least in part by the breakdown in negotiations over the exchange of captives. Cultural consequences could also be profound. Barbarian house-servants such as Bissula were something of a cliché in Late Antiquity, setting a fashion which fed Roman aesthetic preferences. So too, Roman captives like Ulfilas and the unnamed servant girl of the Georgian king Mirian III played a crucial role in the conversion of barbarian peoples to Christianity. Finally the traffic in slaves and captives deeply affected social frameworks. The Germanic law codes reveal the presence of slaves in fifth and sixth-century Germanic societies on a previously unheard-of scale. This growth in slave-holding must have stemmed at least in part from the demand created by Roman slave markets and the ready supply of money and goods from ransomed captives. Indeed, much as the colonial slave trade in west Africa generated new and fiercer social structures -- thankfully kept at a distance from Europe and the new world by geography -- the Roman thirst for barbarian slaves and desire to redeem captives contributed significantly to the new and fiercer barbarian social structures that came to dominate the geography of the former empire.


 

Barbarian Raiders and Barbarian Peasants: Models of Ideological and Economic Integration

 

Hartmut Ziche

Université des Antilles et de la Guyane

 

Traditionally, both in Roman contemporary writing and in much of the subsequent scholarship on the late Roman world, barbarians are depicted as a disruptive and destructive force. This paper does not intend to deal with the impact of barbarians, either positive or negative, on Roman culture or the institutions of the Roman state, but will limit itself to a discussion of the effect of barbarians upon the late Roman economy and perceptions of their impact in this sphere among contemporary Roman observers. The time-frame for this discussion will include developments from the 4th to mid-5th C., but will exclude the economic role of the barbarians in the independent kingdoms in the west during the latter parts of the 5th C.

 

The first part of the paper will examine various contemporary opinions on the destructive impact of barbarians on the economic development in the provinces which were exposed to their incursions. Writers to quote in this context include Ammianus, who deals with barbarian depredation during of Julian's Gallic campaigns, and also sections of the anti-Gothic tirades of Synesius of Cyrene. However, some were able to see the influx of barbarians as a potentially positive contribution to the economy of the border provinces. E.g. Themistius' comments on the Goths settled in Thrace by Theodosius. Some analysis of the motivations of particular writers is necessary: are accounts of barbarian depredation simply the result of an anti-barbarian ideology? Is Themistius' positive opinion pure flattery for his emperor? Are contemporary opinions solely shaped by personal observation? Or, on the other hand, are we dealing already with instances of analysis by contemporaries who interpret the barbarian presence as just one element in the wider context of economic development?

 

The second section of the discussion will contrast the varying opinions of contemporaries on the economic role of the barbarians in their time with a plausible model for the integration of barbarians into the rural economy of the late Empire. This model must take into account the disruption in the countryside caused by barbarian raiders, but should be able to balance the damage caused against positive factors such as the availability of additional labor and the creation of a new class of consumers, the barbarian federates. A model which deals with both positive and negative contributions of the barbarians to the development of the rural economy should allow a better understanding of the divergent descriptions of their economic impact in contemporary sources. We can postulate in fact that the opinions of a particular writer depend very much on local conditions, i.e. whether barbarians for him are predominantly settlers or exclusively raiders. These local perceptions, however, cannot necessarily be used by modern scholarship to evaluate the "barbarian factor" in late Roman economic development. What is required is an analysis which provides a more theoretical interpretation of the economic impact of the barbarians, independent of the local and also regional developments that seemed most important to contemporaries.


 

The ius colonatus as a model for the settlement of barbarian prisoners-of-war

 in the late Roman Empire?

 

Cam Grey

The University of Chicago

 

In April of 409, having successfully repulsed an invasion of Thrace by the Hunnic leader Uldin, the emperor Theodosius II issued an edict (Cth 5.6.3) to the PPO of the East, Anthemius, concerning the treatment of the Sciri, whom Uldin had abandoned when he retreated. The text is fragmentary, but its central thrust can be reconstructed. It proposes making members of this tribe available as rural cultivators to landowners who petition the office of the praetorian prefect, but places certain limitations upon their deployment. They are to be taken on non alio iure quam colonatus -- that is, only under the terms of some kind of tenancy arrangement. They are not to be enslaved, or pressed into service in urban contexts, and landowners who receive fugitive Sciri are threatened with the same penalties prescribed in earlier legislation for those found to have either received or enticed coloni registered in the tax declarations of others. Further conditions of the edict detail the terms under which these tribesmen are to be settled, the areas in which such settlement is permitted, and the liability of landowners receiving them for supplying recruits to the army.

 

This text has long been employed in two separate, yet connected debates over the political, social and economic history of the late Roman empire. On the one hand, while arguments for locating the origins of the 'colonate of the late Roman Empire' in the settlement of barbarian dediticii have now been rejected, some scholars maintain that these barbarian prisoners-of-war were settled under conditions that resembled the 'colonate' -- that is, a series of arrangements that together conferred a distinct legal status of registered dependent tenancy upon these individuals, and served to define them as a particular class of cultivators. On the other hand scholars working on the settlement of barbarians in the period have suggested that this edict provides a model for other instances mentioned in historical accounts and panegyrics of the third, fourth and fifth centuries, where defeated barbarians are installed on land as rural cultivators.

 

However, recent scholarship has progressively dismantled the concept of the 'colonate' as a distinct legal status, and this in turn raises questions about the prominent place that this text has occupied in accounts of barbarian settlement. To what extent do the provisions envisaged here match the heterogeneous collection of prescriptions and restrictions that came to surround the phenomenon of registered tenancy over the course of the fourth and fifth centuries? For whose benefit, and in whose interest was this edict promulgated? The imperial government? Landowners? The Sciri themselves? Can its provisions be interpreted as instituting, encapsulating or formalizing a general set of principles, or are they a product of unique political, social and economic conditions in early fifth-century Thrace? It is the purpose of this paper to explore these questions, and to reassess this edict in the light of developments in both the economic history of the late Roman world, and the history of interactions between Romans and barbarians.


 

Visigothic Settlement, Hospitalitas and Army Payment Reconsidered

 

Andreas Schwarcz

University of Vienna

 


LATE ANTIQUITY

in the Dept. of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


 

The Department of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announces a new field in the study of Late Antiquity, encompassing the Late Roman, Early Medieval, and Early Byzantine periods (third through seventh centuries AD).  Late Antiquity now is recognized as one of the most significant periods of the human past. In the west, Late Antiquity saw the gradual withering of classical society, government, and religion, and the for­mation of a strictly western European, Christian society that eventu­ally would culminate in the modern‑day western European nations. And in the eastern Mediterranean, the Roman Empire continued and evolved as the "Byzantine Empire," and the seventh century saw the birth of another major world religion, Islam, along with the Islamic caliphate. The field in Late Antiquity has interdisciplinary aspects ranging from geographical (eastern and western Europe, North Africa, the Near East), to methodological (including palaeography, epigraphy, numismatics, prosopography, and computer applications), to topical (too numerous to mention), and to disciplinary (cited below). It is the only program of its kind in the state and surrounding area. Its associated faculty in Ancient and Medieval Studies in the Department of History and in other university Departments have internation­al reputations in their fields and provide the opporunity to craft a program of study in Late Antiquity of unparalleled richness and depth.

 

Electronic Resources.  The field is the home of the Biographical Database for Late Antiquity; the Geography of Roman Gaul Web Site; the Society for Late Antiquity website; the Late Antiquity Newsletter; and the Internet Discussion Lists LT‑ANTIQ, NUMISM‑L, and PROSOP-L..

 

Library Resources. Containing more than eight million volumes, the University of Illinois Library  is the third largest academic library in the nation. We also are affiliated with the Newberry Library of Chicago, which boasts particularly fine collections in Renaissance and early modern Europe.

 

THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Illinois ranks among the top ten departments of history in public institutions. Our faculty in early European history has grown over the past few years, as we have added two new members with ancient and medieval specialties. Our treatment of Late Antiquity benefits from strong fields in ancient, medieval, and early modern Europe. Themes in which our department is particularly strong include women and gender, the new cultural history, social history, religious history, the history of work, and the history of war and society. Individuals pursuing the study of Late Antiquity will benefit not only from courses with primary faculty, but also from a graduate student readings group, a faculty/graduate student colloquium, and presentations by visiting scholars. Plans are also underway to bring together other Illinois faculty concerned with early Europe from the English and foreign language departments, art history, and other units. The campus already benefits from two interdisciplinary meeting grounds, the Medieval Colloquium and the Renaissance Seminar.To learn more about the Department, see our web page (http://www.history.uiuc.edu/). To apply for admission and financial aid, please write: Graduate Secretary, Department of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 309 Gregory Hall, 810 South Wright Street, Urbana, IL 61801. You may also contact the graduate secretary by phone at (217) 244-2591. The deadline for admission applications is January 15.

 

For further information, contact Ralph Mathisen: ralphwm@uiuc.edu, or visit http://www.history.uiuc.edu/areas/lateantiquity.html

 

 

LATE ANTIQUITY

in the Dept. of Classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


 

Now that Ralph Mathisen and I have both moved to the University of Illinois (from South Carolina and Cornell respectively) we are in the happy position of being able to co-supervise historical and literary dissertations on the later Roman Empire. Our interests span many aspects of the history and literature of Late Antiquity (a.k.a. the very longue durée Later Roman Empire) from the 2nd to the 7th C. A.D. We have expertise in ecclesiastical history, Romans and barbarians, prosopography, numismatics, and law (Mathisen) and palaeography, textual criticism, literary history, and hagiography (Shanzer). We are firm believers in cross- and inter-disciplinary work, and of the benefits that accrue from mastery of both history and philology. We work on both major and minor authors: documents and sources are all-important. We believe not only in looking at the “big picture,” but also in finding significant discoveries in out-of-the-way places. We have worked as a team, editing Culture and Society in Later Roman Gaul : Revisiting the Sources (Ashgate 2001), and are currently co-authoring a translation and commentary on the Vita and Epistulae of Desiderius of Cahors for the TTH series (Liverpool). Both of us are well-connected and professionally active in editing journals, and attending and organizing conferences  in the U.S.A, and abroad. Our Ph.D. students hold tenure-track jobs at:

 

Marquette University

The University of Colorado at Boulder

The University of Virginia

Troy State University

 

If you want to dive head first into Late Antiquity and thoroughly immerse yourself in its literary and historical world, if you really want to “get under the hood” of a topic and not just scratch the paint, UIUC very well could be the place for you. With one of the premier classical and historical libraries in the world, you will be able to pursue your research in whatever direction it takes you, while at the same time working with a faculty who have “put in their time” and will help to steer you along the via regia, as Faustus of Riez put it. Our Classics Library is truly special in that it houses all the major resources needed to study Christian Late Antiquity in the same room as all the classical materials.

 

We are active supervisors. We teach the skills you will need to do your research, and we take our graduate students' writing seriously. This means that it will be read promptly and that we will engage with it, argue with it, and (if need be) send you to rewrite it! The end result will be something of which you can be proud, and which can serve as a jumping off point for a professional paper, dissertation chapter, or publication.

 

Students can apply to work with us (and all the other fine scholars in this area at UIUC) either via History or via Classics (depending on preparation and interests). A concentration in Medieval Studies is likewise an excellent option.

 

Language preparation: Strong Latin and Greek are necessary to study Late Antiquity and are required for admission to the M.A. Program in Classics in the Classics Dept. But even if you have not yet had the opportunity to study Greek, you can apply to the M.A. Program in Latin, and plan intensive study of Greek to catch up. If you are planning to concentrate exclusively on the Western early Middle Ages, you can manage with Latin alone, and apply to the History Department

 

For further information, contact Danuta Shanzer: shanzer@uiuc.edu, or visit https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/shanzer/www/joint2.htm.

 

PROGRAM IN MEDIEVAL STUDIES

at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


 

The purpose of the Program in Medieval Studies at University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, is to foster the interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study of the history, literature, art, sociology, religion, philosophy, archeology and languages of the European continent, Scandinavia, the Near East and the Mediterranean region in the period from approximately the 4th to the 15th centuries. The program aims above all to create a community of scholars and students sharing interests in these fields both within the University of Illinois and between UI and participating institutes and departments in the US, Canada and Europe. Each year the Program sponsors a variety of seminars, colloquia, conferences. Regular visiting faculty and lecturers enrich the culture of Medieval Studies on campus. Team-taught interdisciplinary courses are offered each year at both graduate and undergraduate levels through the Program in Medieval Studies and the contributing departments. Participating faculty at present include 21 professors teaching in 14 departments.

 

The program offers a Certificate in Medieval Studies to students who wish to pursue a concentration in this area. The graduate degrees, MA or PhD are offered through a student's home department. Advanced training is offered both in the various disciplines of medieval studies and in the technical skills appropriate to the field. Financial aid is available on a competitive basis to graduate students working for the Certificate in Medieval Studies. The Program also offers an undergraduate emphasis in Medieval Studies for students who major in any of the cooperating departments and programs. The Library of University of Illinois is one of the finest research libraries in the world and has particular strengths in the area of Medieval Studies. Through its financial resources the Program can lend support to individual research projects of students and faculty through grants-in-aid.

 

For information please contact:

Program in Medieval Studies

4072 Foreign Language Building, MC-175

University of Illinois

707 South Mathews Avenue

Urbana, IL 61801

or visit http://www.medieval.uiuc.edu/about/overview.html

 

 

 

NOTES