IMC 2026: Sessions

This session explores the implications of competition in response to the presence of the emperor or imperial court. It will be demonstrated that factionalised groups and different individuals could wield their power in different ways to assert their own importance. This could take the form of an individual occupying or being placed in an office, or expressions of factionalised power demonstrated by groups in response to political and social events. The first paper (Hammant Palacio) argues that the career of the eunuch Eusebius brought with it competition between the official elites in Constantius II’s court, and was a test-case of a new imperial role for eunuchs. The second paper (Anderson) will explore how the Emperor maintained control over the military through the division of militaristic power and ultimately used this competition to solidify his own imperial authority. The final paper (Kujanpaa) will examine three different victory ceremonies at Constantinople between 425-628 and how these performances of power often included intra-civic competition between the ecclesiastical elites and the imperial family. This session demonstrates the significance of elite competition at the imperial court/top level, both between themselves as individuals or part of different groups, but also between the emperor and other groups/others.