IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 316: Imperial Personnel in Late Antiquity: New Directions

Monday 2 July 2018, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:	Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele, Vakgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit Gent
Moderator/Chair:	Mark Humphries, Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Research (MEMO), Swansea University
Paper 316-a	Towards a Prosopography of Roman Frontier Soldiers at the End of Antiquity (Language: English) Conor Whately, Department of Classics, University of Winnipeg, Manitoba Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Military History
Paper 316-b	Agentes of Control: The Roles and Authority of the agentes in rebus (Language: English) Stuart McCunn, Department of Classics, University of Nottingham Index terms: Administration, Byzantine Studies
Paper 316-c	'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?': Bodyguards and Political Murder in Early Byzantium (Language: English) Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele, Vakgroep Geschiedenis, Universiteit Gent Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract	Lactantius claimed that the Tetrarchs ruined the Roman Empire by expanding their courts, armies and staff. Regardless of his polemic, Late Roman emperors did have significantly larger civilian and military cadres than early emperors. Scholars have argued that this new 'big government' was indeed detrimental to the Late Empire's hegemony (e.g. MacMullen's Corruption and Decline of Rome; Potter's The Roman Empire at Bay). Nevertheless, Late Imperial personnel played a vital role in ensuring Byzantine sovereignty in the Middle Ages, while several of its institutions re-emerged in the western 'successor kingdoms'. This panel will look at new directions on this vibrant domain.