Williams, Michael Stuart
(2011)
Review: MCGILL (S.), SOGNO (C.), WATTS (E.) (edd.) From the Tetrarchs to the Theodosians. Later Roman History and Culture, 284–450 C.E. (Yale Classical Studies 34.) Pp. x + 321, ill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-521-89821-8.
Classical Review, 61 (2).
pp. 563-565.
ISSN 0009-840X
Abstract
This impressive volume has been assembled as a tribute to John Matthews,
Professor of History and Classics at Yale, and even a title as broad as it bears
can do scant justice to the range and depth of his contribution to the study of
Roman history. Yet the Editors have sought to ensure that this volume offers
‘an integrated collection of essays’, and the result is a set of studies which pay
due tribute to the Matthewsian inheritance while remaining both signifi cant and
interesting in themselves. A collection of thirteen essays plus introduction, it is
divided into three parts which correspond to aspects of that inheritance. Part 1,
‘Politics, Law, and Society’, takes its cue from the close, even Symean studies
of western aristocracies and the imperial court for which Matthews may still
be best known, here characterised as ‘political life and élite experience in late
antiquity’ (p. 7). Part 2, ‘Biography and Panegyrics’, focusses on more unusual
or marginal texts, and captures the consistent awareness in Matthews’ work of the
importance of local cultural contexts in refi ning or undermining our understanding
of classical culture; and Part 3, ‘Faces of Theodosius I’, offers a reminder of the
value of looking at a single subject – in this case an emperor very conscious
of his image and reputation – from a variety of angles, in order to build up a
three-dimensional picture.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
S. McGill; C. Sogno; E. Watts; Tetrarchs; Theodosians; Roman History and Culture; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > Ancient Classics |
| Item ID: |
4627 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009840X11001661 |
| Depositing User: |
Dr. Michael Williams
|
| Date Deposited: |
02 Dec 2013 12:00 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Classical Review |
| Publisher: |
Cambridge University Press |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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