Dynastic politics in the age of Diocletian, AD 284-311 / Byron Waldron.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Waldron, Byron, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Diocletian, Emperor of Rome, 245-313.

Diocletian.

Maximian, Emperor of Rome, approximately 240-310.

Maximian.

Constantius I, Emperor of Rome, -306.

Constantius.

Galerius, Emperor of Rome, approximately 260-313.

Galerius.

Rome--History--Empire, 284-476.

Rome.

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

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 273 pages) : illustrations (black and white), digital, PDF file(s)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2023.

Summary:

In AD 293 the Roman world was plunged into a bold new experiment in government. Four soldiers shared the empire between them: two senior emperors, Diocletian and Maximian, and two junior emperors, Constantius and Galerius. This regime, now known as the Tetrarchy, engaged with dynastic power in thoroughly unconventional ways: Diocletian and Maximian presented themselves as brothers despite being unrelated; Diocletian and Galerius repeatedly thwarted the dynastic ambitions of individual Tetrarchs and their sons; the sons themselves were variously hostages, symbols of imperial unity and possibly targets of assassination; and the importance of women to imperial self-representation was much reduced. This book focuses on the Tetrarchy as an imperial dynasty.

Contents:

Intro

List of Figures

Preface and Acknowledgements

Dramatis Personae

Chronology

Stemma: The Tetrarchic Dynasty, 284-311

Abbreviations

Introduction: A Military Regime in the Third Century ad

a. The Ancient Sources

b. Emperors, Armies and Political Power

c. The Tetrarchs as Military Emperors

1. Band of Brothers: Diocletian and Maximian, Virtutibus Fratres

1.1. The Augustan Fraternity in the Panegyrics

1.2. The Augustan Fraternity in Other Media

1.3. A Fraternity between Commilitones

2. Gang of Four: The Tetrarchy Begins

2.1. Dating the Appointments

2.2. Wars, Generals and Carausius

2.3. Imperial Presence and Regional Military Rebellion

2.4. The Tetrarchic Solution

3. Diocletian vs Heredity: Succession Events and the Soldiery

3.1. The Sons

3.2. Lactantius and the Succession of 305

3.3. Christianity, Supremacy and Meritocracy

3.4. Problems with Lactantius' Account

3.5. The Will of Diocletian

3.6. The Failure of Dynasty

3.7. A Failed Succession

4. A Tale of Two Princes: Constantine and Maxentius before 306

4.1. Constantine

4.2. Maxentius

4.3. Filial Concerns in the West

4.4. A Complicated Picture

5. Invisible Feminae and Galerian Empresses: The Representation of Imperial Women

5.1. Augustae and Diuae in the Later Third Century

5.2. The Representation of Women, 284-306

5.3. A Case of Deliberate Exclusion?

5.4. Tetrarchic Empresses, 307-11

Conclusions: Domus Militaris

Appendix: Prosopography of the Imperial Women

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2022.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on August 22, 2023).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781474498685

147449868X

9781474498678

1474498671

OCLC:

1343104731