Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom by Peter J. Leithart Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Peter J. Leithart
Tags: Non-Fiction
the Bishops, p. 121, describes the order of the Tetrarchy itself as another expression of the militarization of the empire, the adoption of military models of order.
31Van Dam, Roman Revolution, p. 43.
32On the disruption of traditional Roman social order, see Jones, Constantine and the Conversion ofEurope, pp. 18-19. See also Corcoran, "Before Constantine," p. 42.
33Peter Brown, Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Toward 'a Christian Empire (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992), chap. 1.
34Potter, Roman Empire, p. 273.
"Ibid., pp. 273-74. See also Corcoran, "Before Constantine," pp. 48-49; Jones, Constantine and the Conversion ofEurope, pp. 16-17.
360n the declining importance of Italy, see Van Dam, Roman Revolution, pp. 23-27. One sign of the collapsing privilege of Italian cities, long favored by the emperors, was the decision of Diocletian and Galerius to tax both the cities of northern Italy and Rome itself. In spite of its declining actual importance, emperors still used association with Rome for their political ends. Diocletian may have visited Rome as early as 285 and certainly did in 303, and his victory over Carinus was hailed as a liberation of "the Republic" from "most savage domination" (Van Dam, Roman Revolution, pp. 40-41).
`According to Van Dam, Constantius had actually visited once before, as a boy.
38Corcoran, "Before Constantine," pp. 43-45.
"Corcoran, "Before Constantine," pp. 47-50. Cameron (Later Roman Empire, p. 8) questions the direction of cause and effect for many of these crises.
41Burckhardt, Age of Constantine, chaps. 5-6, offers what is still the most vivid portrait of the religious ferment of the period; also E. R. Dodds, Pagan and Christian in an Age ofAnxiety: Some Aspects of Religious Experience from Marcus Aurelius to Constantine (New York: W. W. Norton, 1965).
42See W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), pp. 272-437, for the church's history from the early third century up to Diocletian; Henry Chadwick. The Early Church, The Pelican History of the Church 1 (New York: Penguin, 1967), chaps. 5-7, covers the same ground.
43Cf. Clifford Ando, The Matter ofthe Gods: Religion and the Roman Empire (Berkeley: Univer- sity of California Press, 2008).
39Cameron, Later Roman Empire, p. 10; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 26.
44R. P. C. Hanson, "The Christian Attitude to Pagan Religions up to the Time of Constantine the Great," ANRW 23 (1980): 959. Drake, Constantine and the Bishops, pp. 136-39, argues that the similarity of Christianity and monotheistic paganism, not their radical differences, was what made Christianity threatening. T. D. Barnes. "Monotheists All?" Phoenix 55, nos. 1/2 (2001), reviews some recent work on the subject, concluding that "even if they worshipped a multiplicity of gods, most thinking men in late antiquity who reflected at all on what this worship meant were in a very real sense monotheists" (p. 143).
45Guy G. Stroumsa, The End of Sacrifice: Religious Transformations in Late Antiquity, trans. Susan Emanuel (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), pp. 90-91, including n. 12. The contrast of Origen and Celsus is found on p. 103.
46D. G. Kousoulas, The Life and Times of Constantine the Great: The First Christian Emperor, 2nd ed. (author, 2007), pp. 14-16.
"Potter, Roman Empire, p. 279.
48HistoriaAugusta, trans. Jacqueline Long, selections available at, 13.3. The sequence of events is summarized in Timothy D. Barnes, Constantine andEusebius (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981), pp. 4-5; Corcoran, "Before Constantine," p. 39; Cameron, Later Roman Empire, p. 31.
49Burckhardt, Age of Constantine, pp. 41, 48; Kousoulas, Life and Times, p. 14. One wonders whether Diodes thought, too, of the Odyssey, whose hero is identified by a scar won in a boar hunt.
"Barnes, Constantine andEusebius, p. 12.
S1MacMullen, Constantine, p.
31Van Dam, Roman Revolution, p. 43.
32On the disruption of traditional Roman social order, see Jones, Constantine and the Conversion ofEurope, pp. 18-19. See also Corcoran, "Before Constantine," p. 42.
33Peter Brown, Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Toward 'a Christian Empire (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992), chap. 1.
34Potter, Roman Empire, p. 273.
"Ibid., pp. 273-74. See also Corcoran, "Before Constantine," pp. 48-49; Jones, Constantine and the Conversion ofEurope, pp. 16-17.
360n the declining importance of Italy, see Van Dam, Roman Revolution, pp. 23-27. One sign of the collapsing privilege of Italian cities, long favored by the emperors, was the decision of Diocletian and Galerius to tax both the cities of northern Italy and Rome itself. In spite of its declining actual importance, emperors still used association with Rome for their political ends. Diocletian may have visited Rome as early as 285 and certainly did in 303, and his victory over Carinus was hailed as a liberation of "the Republic" from "most savage domination" (Van Dam, Roman Revolution, pp. 40-41).
`According to Van Dam, Constantius had actually visited once before, as a boy.
38Corcoran, "Before Constantine," pp. 43-45.
"Corcoran, "Before Constantine," pp. 47-50. Cameron (Later Roman Empire, p. 8) questions the direction of cause and effect for many of these crises.
41Burckhardt, Age of Constantine, chaps. 5-6, offers what is still the most vivid portrait of the religious ferment of the period; also E. R. Dodds, Pagan and Christian in an Age ofAnxiety: Some Aspects of Religious Experience from Marcus Aurelius to Constantine (New York: W. W. Norton, 1965).
42See W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), pp. 272-437, for the church's history from the early third century up to Diocletian; Henry Chadwick. The Early Church, The Pelican History of the Church 1 (New York: Penguin, 1967), chaps. 5-7, covers the same ground.
43Cf. Clifford Ando, The Matter ofthe Gods: Religion and the Roman Empire (Berkeley: Univer- sity of California Press, 2008).
39Cameron, Later Roman Empire, p. 10; Odahl, Constantine and the Christian Empire, p. 26.
44R. P. C. Hanson, "The Christian Attitude to Pagan Religions up to the Time of Constantine the Great," ANRW 23 (1980): 959. Drake, Constantine and the Bishops, pp. 136-39, argues that the similarity of Christianity and monotheistic paganism, not their radical differences, was what made Christianity threatening. T. D. Barnes. "Monotheists All?" Phoenix 55, nos. 1/2 (2001), reviews some recent work on the subject, concluding that "even if they worshipped a multiplicity of gods, most thinking men in late antiquity who reflected at all on what this worship meant were in a very real sense monotheists" (p. 143).
45Guy G. Stroumsa, The End of Sacrifice: Religious Transformations in Late Antiquity, trans. Susan Emanuel (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), pp. 90-91, including n. 12. The contrast of Origen and Celsus is found on p. 103.
46D. G. Kousoulas, The Life and Times of Constantine the Great: The First Christian Emperor, 2nd ed. (author, 2007), pp. 14-16.
"Potter, Roman Empire, p. 279.
48HistoriaAugusta, trans. Jacqueline Long, selections available at
49Burckhardt, Age of Constantine, pp. 41, 48; Kousoulas, Life and Times, p. 14. One wonders whether Diodes thought, too, of the Odyssey, whose hero is identified by a scar won in a boar hunt.
"Barnes, Constantine andEusebius, p. 12.
S1MacMullen, Constantine, p.
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