Social conflict in the age of Justinian : its nature, management, and mediation / Peter N. Bell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bell, P. N. (Peter Neville), 1945-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social conflict--Byzantine Empire.

Social conflict.

Rural conditions.

Byzantine Empire--History--Justinian I, 527-565.

Byzantine Empire.

History.

Byzantine Empire--Rural conditions.

Byzantine Empire--Church history.

Church history.

Physical Description:

xvii, 393 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

Our understanding of Late Antiquity can be transformed by the non-dogmatic application of social theory to more traditional evidence when studying major social conflicts in the Eastern Roman Empire, not least under the Emperor Justinian (527-565). Social Conflict in the Age of Justinian explores a range of often violent conflicts across the whole empire-on the land, in religion, and in sport-during this pivotal period in European history. Drawing on both sociology and social psychology, and on his experience as a senior British Civil Servant dealing with violent political conflicts in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, Bell shows that such conflicts were a basic feature of the overwhelmingly agricultural political economy of the empire. These conflicts were reflected at the ideological level and lead to intense persecution of intellectuals and Pagans as an ever more robust Christian ideological hegemony was established. In challenging the loyalties of all social classes, the conflicts also increased the vulnerability of an emperor and his allies. The need to legitimize the emperor, through an increasingly sacralized monarchy, and to build a loyal constituency, consequently remained a top priority for Justinian, even if his repeated efforts to unite the churches failed. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I An Introduction: Approaches, Methods, Sources

1 Understanding Social Conflict 3

2 The Analytical Framework 29

Part II Three Major Conflicts: in Agriculture, the Factions, and the Churches

3 Social Conflict in Countryside and Town 51

Section 1 Interpreting the Evidence 51

Section 2 Modelling Social Conflict in the Countryside 77

Section 3 Rural Patronage and City-Country Relations 108

4 Two Empire-wide Conflicts: The Factions and the Christians 119

Section 1 Sources and Methods 120

Section 2 Factional Conflict 142

Section 3 Conflicts between Chalcedonians and Miaphysites 160

Part III Ideological Conflicts-Their Mediation and Management

5 Ideological Conflict in the Reign of Justinian I 213

Section 1 Ideology and Its Importance 214

Section 2 Ideological Continuity, Conflict, and Change 224

Section 3 The Persistence of Paganism 235

Section 4 A Christian Empire 247

6 Constructing Legitimacy 267

Section 1 Legitimacy 270

Section 2 The Vulnerability of Justinian 275

Section 3 The Imperial Response 286

Section 4 Imperial Legislation; Case Studies 310

7 Hagia Sophia: Ideology in Stone-A Case Study 319

Part IV Conclusions

8 Conclusions 339.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199567331

0199567336

OCLC:

844775065