From Rome to Byzantium: The Fifth Century AD

220 Pages·1998·40.41 MB·English

by  Michael Grant

First published 1998
by Routledg(,
II New (:ener Lane, London EC4P 4EE
published in the USA and Canada
SimuJraneou.~ly
by Routl«lge, Ine.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY lOool
Reprinted io 1998
Cl 1998 Michaei Grant Publications Limited
The right of /l.lichael Grant Publications Limited to be identified as the
Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the
C"pyright, Designs and Patents Act J 988
Typeset in Garamond by
J&L Composition Ltd, Filey, North Yorkshire
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies bd, Guildford and King's Lyon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be rt"printed or
reproouced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
inv('nted, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without JX'rmissioo in
writing (rom the publishers.
Catalogaing in Publication Data
B~;tiJh Lib~a')'
A catalogue record for this book is available
(rom the British Library.
0/
Libm,), Congrm Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalogu(, [('ConI for this book has het,n requested
ISBN 0-415- 14753-0
FROM ROME TO
BYZANTIUM
The fifth century
AD
Michael Grant
London and New York
CONTENTS
..
of
Usl i/hu/ralions vu
.
Introduction ox
1 Rome and other cities I
2 The divided empire 8
3 Constantinople I I
4 The fail of Rome 17
5 Finance and the armies 30
6 East and 37
WCSl
7 The eastern emperors 49
8 Empresses 60
9 Religion 67
10 Literature 77
11 Architecture 81
12 The human and divine form 105
v
I NT ROD UC TIO N
Epilogue 118
Appendicu I Constamine I the Great and after 122
2 Africa, Spain, Gaul 129
3 Justinian I and before 132
Notu 141
Lists 1 Roman emperors (western and eastern) 179
2 Popes (fifth century) 181
3 Events 181
Bibliograp1!Y I Latin 184
2 Greek 188
3 J\ilodern 191
Index 197
..
.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1 The walls of Constantinople, erected in the time
n
of Theodosius (41 2) 15
2 Gold s(Jlidu/ of Honorius, i\1ilan 396 18
AD
3 Stilicho on ivory diptych, Tesoro dclla Catedrale, Manza 41
4 Gold solidus of Valencinian Ill, Rome AD 425 45
5 Gold wlidus of Ramulus 'Augustulus', 475-{) 46
AD
6 Portrait statue of Arcadius 50
n,
7 Gold solidus of Theodosius Constantinople 443 51
AD
8 Gold solidus of Leo I, Thessaloruca 457- 74 53
AD
9 Bronze of Zeno, Rome 489-91. SS
AD
10 Bronze of Anastasius, Constantinople 56
11 Wing of ivory diptych: the Barberini ivory 58
12 Gold solidus of Galla Placidia, Ravenna 425-30 61
AD
13 Gold solidus of Pulcheria, Constantinople 415-20 62
AD
14 Gold S()/idus of Aclia Eudoxia, Constantinople 423 63
AD
15 Gold solidus of Aelia Verina, Constantinople AD 457- 74 64
1G Gold Inmims of Ariadne, Constantinople AD 474-91 64
17 Statuette of an empress 65
18 The Church of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill, Rome 82
19 The Church of San Giovanni e Paolo, Rome 83
20 The Mausoleum of Galla Plaeidia, Ravenna 84
21 The Church of S. Giovanni Evangelista, Ravenna 85
22 The Baptister}' of the Orthodox, Ravenna 87
23 The Church of St John Studios, Constantinople 88
24 The Church of St Demetrius, Salonica 89
25 The Church of the Acheiropoietos, Salonica 90
26 The Church of the Holy Mary, Ephesus 92
27 The East Church of Alahan, western Cilicia, Asia r-,1inor 94
28 The church at Dag Pazari, south-eastern Asia .l\-fjnor 96
29 T he church at Q al'at Sim'an, north-western Syria 97
..
\,11
L I ST O F ILLUSTRATIONS
30 Gold plague showing St Simeon Stylites . 98
31 The church of Deir-el-Abiad, Egypt 100
32 A leaf from a 'consular' diptych in ivory 108
33 Floor mosaic from the church at Mopsuestia (Misis), Cilicia 112
34 Mosaic from a church floor at Elaeusa Cilicia 113
(Aya~),
35 Painting in the funerary chapel of El Bagawat in the
Kharga Oasis, Egypt 114
36 Head of Eutropius liS
37 Colossal head of Constantine the Great, Palazzo Capitolino 123
38 '·lead of Constantine the Great or one of his sons 124
39 Relief of T heodosius I on base of obelisk in the
Hippodrome, Constantinople 127
40 Mausoleum of Theodoric, Ravenna 130
41 Mosaic in the Church of S. Vitalc, Ravenna, depicting the
emperor Justinian I 133
42 Mosaic in the Church of S. Vita1e, Ravenna, depicting the
empress T heodora 133
43 The Church of Santa Sophia, Constantinople 137
44 Church of S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna 139
The author and the publisher wish to thank the following for their help in
acguiring permissions; the Bibliothegue Byzantine, Paris, the Warburg
Institute, London, the Conway Library, the Courtauld Institute, London,
the Classical Institute, London and Thames & Hudson Ltd. Every effort
has been made to contact copyright holders and wc apologise for any
inadvertent omissions.
Maps
1 Italy and Sicily 2
2 The western provinces 6
3 North Africa 19
4 Eastern Europe 32
5 Asia 33
~finor
6 The east 39
V111
I N TR O D UC TI O " T
Bpantium figures vcry lit de in our own talking points. It was dismissed by
Gibbon and his Victorian successors as a decadent, dark, oriental culture
given up intrigue, forbidden pleasure and refined cruelty. While most
10 I
schoolboys of my generation knew the key figures in republican or
imperial Rome, wc would have a hard time much about Byzantium
S2},jng
other than that Constantine was its re-founder, and had a vision which
inspired him to make Christianity the empires official religion. See also
the Epilogue for more on this subjecl. But meanwhile it may be added
that me fifth century AI\ with which this book is concerned, is one of the
least and most imperfectly known of all history. We are often told that the
western Roman empire ceased to exist during rhat period. But who can
explain, although some have tried, why the eastern empire did not cease to
exist, but on the contrary, continued exist, governed from Constanti
to
nople. as the Byzantine empire. for nearly a thousand yean come (with
10
an intermission during the thirteenth century)?
Despite the determined efforts of expertS since the late 19205, the
Byzantine empire is still not sufficiently appreciated or understood in
western countries. This is partly because of chauvinist biases, which lay
great emphasis on pelty western SlateS and statelets, and ignore the fact
that the empire ruled from Constantinople was infinitely more powerful,
and was, indeed, by far the most important state in the world west of
India and China. This situation is reAected in the educational system
today, which says hardly anything about the Byzantine empire. Our pro
western prejudice is paramount.
If the B}'zantine empire as a whole is neglected, how much greater is
the neglect o f the fifth century, when that empire survived the fatal
threats to the west and set itself up as the most impressive unit in Europe
and western Asia? Virtually nothing, except about the fall of Rome, is said
about the fifth century, and yet that was the period when this great
eastern empire survived its birth pangs and continued to Aourish.
Onc of the reasons wh)' so comparatively little is known about the
2
eastern empire is our ignorance of Asia r>.linor. On the map (p. 33), that
.
"