Later Roman Empire, The
Averil Cameron
Number of quotes: 78
Book ID: 243 Page: 1/2
Section: 1A
This was the century of Constantine, the first emperor to embrace and support Christianity, and the founder of Constantinople, the city that was to become the capital of the Byzantine empire and to remain such until it was captured by the Ottoman Turks in AD 1453. Edward Gibbon’s work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, carries the narrative to the latter date, regarding this, not AD 476, when the last Roman emperor in the west was deposed, as the real end of the Roman empire. Few would agree with Gibbon now, but historians are still quarrelling about when Rome ended and Byzantium began....
Quote ID: 6104
Time Periods: 14
Book ID: 243 Page: 11
Section: 4B
It was becoming a fashion to pilgrimage to the “holy land”.
Quote ID: 6147
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 16
Section: 3C2
....completed after Constantine’s death in AD 337.----
The Life of Constantine, in four books, is less a biography than an extended and extremely tendentious panegyric, whose exaggerations and distortions have led many scholars in the past to doubt whether it could be the work of Eusebius.
Quote ID: 6105
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 17
Section: 3C2
All this makes one suspicious of Eusebius’s honesty as a reporter.
Quote ID: 6107
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 243 Page: 17
Section: 3C2
Eusebius’s is also the only eye-witness account of the Council of Nicaea, of which no official Acts survive, and is notoriously disingenuous, since he himself, as an Arian sympathizer recently formally condemned by another council, had much to explain away...
Quote ID: 6108
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 243 Page: 17
Section: 3C2
He passed through the assembly like a heavenly angel, giving out a bright radiance as if by shafts of light, gleaming with fiery rays of purple, and adorned with the bright light of gold and precious stones. So much for his physical appearance. He could also be seen to be adorned in his character by fear of God and downcast eyes, his ruddy complexion, his gait and the other aspects of his appearance, including his height, which surpassed all those around him (II.10). Eusebius’s description of Constantine’s appearance as patron of the Church at the Council of NicaeaPastor John notes: John’s note: this is only an early part of the courtship
Quote ID: 6109
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 54/55
Section: 3C
Constantine appointed many pagans to high office.
Quote ID: 6110
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 55
Section: 3A1,3A4A,3C
Constantine had a law which exempted Christian clergy from certain public obligations. Later, “Constantine found himself legislating to control the numbers of those who now flocked to be ordained and gain these privileges for themselves.”
Quote ID: 6111
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 55/56
Section: 2B2,3C
“it is very possible that he initially saw the Christian God in the same light as Apollo and Sol Invictus, as a protector who would grant favors in return for his own attachment.“
Quote ID: 6112
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 56
Section: 2B2,3C
“he continued to put Sol on his coins until as late as 320-321”
Quote ID: 6113
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 58/59
Section: 3A1,3C
C’s “main contribution to the development of the church lay in the attitude which he adopted towards it as an institution; unwittingly, he set a momentous precedent for future relations between emperor and church and for the development often misleadingly referred to as ’Caesaropapism’.”
Quote ID: 6118
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 61
Section: 3C
Eusebius’s account of this council is “a revealing account as a record of the surprise and excitement felt by the bishops as most of them experienced for the first time the sight of an emperor deferring to them and placing matters of Christian doctrine at the very top of the imperial agenda.”
Quote ID: 6121
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 62
Section: 3C,4B
Under C, “Roman churches were endowed with their own generous income from specified estates”
Quote ID: 6123
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 63
Section: 2B2,3C
In building Constantinople, Constantine adorned it extravagantly “with such famous statuary as the Olympian Zeus, the serpent column from Delphi and the statue of Athena Promachus”. He added to all this “an oval forum with a statue of himself on top of a porphyry column.”
Quote ID: 8171
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 69
Section: 3A2,3C
The emperor’s chief duty became “piety”, which meant he was duty-bound to impose that piety in his empire. Religious persecution was now justified.
Quote ID: 6127
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 72
Section: 3A1,4B
By “popular demand” bishops began to be elected to their posts. Ambrose was the son of a high Roman official, skilled in Latin, a provincial governor in northern Italy, when by public demand he was appointed bishop of Milan in AD 374. Not only was he a non-cleric, he had not even received Christian baptism.PJ Note: Not baptized = he was not even a Christian.
Quote ID: 6129
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 72/73
Section: 3A1,4B
Pagan senators sought Ambrose’s favor for friends.
Quote ID: 6130
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 74
Section: 2B2
Constantius refers to a law of his father C, which forbade sacrifices. but notice how he refers to his father.Let the madness of sacrifices be exterminated, for if anyone should dare to celebrate sacrifices in violation of the law of our father, the deified Emperor, and of the decree of Our Clemency, let an appropriate punishment and sentence immediately be inflicted upon him.
Quote ID: 6132
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 75
Section: 3A1A,3A1B
Late 300s, violence increases against pagan practices and buildings. Two famous temples, the Serapaeum in Egypt (392) and the great temple of Zeus in Syria (386) destroyed by mobs organized and led by local bishops.….
By this time, the church’s fellowship in the light was all but destroyed. It was entirely immersed in politics. It was in bed with the beast.
….
See Pg. 83 by the end of the 4th century, monks and nuns “often took the lead in mob attacks on temples”
Quote ID: 6133
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 76
Section: 3A1B
Both John Chrysostom and Augustine urged on the violent bands of Xn marauders of pagan temples and statues. Bands of monks were prominent in these attacks.
Quote ID: 6134
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 76
Section: 3A1A,3A1B
At the same time, Xn hostility toward the Jews was rising intensely. John Chryostom’s preaching was full of it, and there was even legislation needed to restrain local Xns from attacking synagogues. Xns who converted to Judaism had to forfeit their property, Jews were banned from imperial service, etc.
Quote ID: 6135
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 77
Section: 3A1
It is “extremely doubtful” that “Xty would have become the dominant religion without imperial support”
Quote ID: 6136
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 78
Section: 4B
In the early fifth century, one may begin to speak of a “Xn society” because by then we have a “Christianization of the Roman aristocracy”.
Quote ID: 6137
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 243 Page: 81
Section: 2E2
Perhaps in part as a contest of wills with Neoplatonists, who practiced asceticism, many Xns turned to extreme forms of asceticism, dressing in sackcloth, refusing any earthly comforts and pleasures, and even boasting that they never took a bath.
Quote ID: 6138
Time Periods: 345
Book ID: 243 Page: 81/82
Section: 2E2
Blesilla, a young woman previously lively and attractive and who once cared about her appearance, was influenced by Jerome to take Xn asceticism farther than her body could endure and died. Her mother, Paula, was overwhelmed with grief, but Jerome rebuked her for the sin of excessive grief and told her that she ought to be happy.
Quote ID: 6139
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 84
Section: 3C1
The Vandals, who conquered parts of northern Africa (at least that much) were Arian Xns.
Quote ID: 6140
Time Periods: 456
Book ID: 243 Page: 95
Section: 3C2
Julian’s Xn bro, Gallus, had transferred to Daphne the bones of a dead local saint named Babylas. Julian ordered these remains removed and the shrine to be cleansed.
Quote ID: 6141
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 103
Section: 2B2,3C
“In two of the earliest surviving Xn mosaics in Rome, Christ is depicted with his apostles at S. Pudenziana (late fourth century) in the style of Emperor and Senate, while the Virgin inappropriately appears in the church of S. Maria Maggiore (fifth century) in the dress and attributes of a Roman empress.”
Quote ID: 6142
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 107
Section: 4B
Example: civil service end of 2nd cent. = a few hundred. Late Roman period = 30-35 thousand.
Quote ID: 6144
Time Periods: 246
Book ID: 243 Page: 110
Section: 4B
The history of the Roman Empire can be summarized in terms of “increased authoritarianism.”
Quote ID: 6145
Time Periods: 04
Book ID: 243 Page: 112
Section: 4B,3D
“The Roman state at the end of the fourth century differed from its predecessor in terms of natural development, or changing external factors, rather than because of any major change of direction.”
Quote ID: 6146
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 117
Section: 4B
“One striking feature of the fourth century is the tendency of landowners to amass estates on an enormous scale.”
Quote ID: 6148
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 120
Section: 4B
“. . . following Roman precedent, slavery continued as a well-established institution in the medieval west.”Pastor John’s note: The Following Sections Are Very Important
Quote ID: 6149
Time Periods: 47
Book ID: 243 Page: 124/126
Section: 3C,4B
1) after C’s law permitted the church to inherit wealth (must it not have become an institution with the Empire for this to occur?), some “sees” found themselves owners of substantial estates, and certain “bishops found themselves taking on the same responsibility of managing estates with slaves and tenant farmers (coloni) as other landlords.”
Quote ID: 6150
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 124/126
Section: 2E3
4) Xn buildings, monuments. “Every bishop wanted to build a worthy monument.”….
“The scale of some major churches was impressive, as with Ambrose’s Basilica Ambrosiana in Milan [the de facto head of the Western Empire at the time], to which he transferred the opportunely discovered relics of the two local martyrs Gervasius and Protasi in AD 386, in the presence of a large crowd.”
Quote ID: 6151
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 126
Section: 4B
“Just as bishops inherited..." see Pg. 124, nos. 1
Quote ID: 6152
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 127
Section: 4B
”On the other hand, the benefits to the donor of such giving sometimes came close to those derived from civic euergetism; Paulinus of Nola and Sulpicius Severus two noted Xns of the time acted as patrons just as surely as the civic dignitaries of the early pagan empire.“
Quote ID: 6153
Time Periods: 045
Book ID: 243 Page: 127
Section: 4B
Viewed in these terms, it does not seem that the supposed contrast between earlier euergetism and Xn charity was always as great as has been supposed.“
Quote ID: 6154
Time Periods: 045
Book ID: 243 Page: 127
Section: 2E2
In practice the most spectacular renunciations of property by members of the upper class in the west came in the first decade of the fifth century, at precisely the time when the state was most threatened by barbarian invasion. In one sense they reflect a kind of withdrawal, a survival of option for the privileged upper class, who could thereby perpetuate their status as patrons in a different form. . . .“
Quote ID: 6155
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 243 Page: 127/128
Section: 4B
Upper class rich women obtained a measure of economic and social freedom through Xty. rejecting traditional marriage and family and living as they chose. J. Chrysostom’s friend, the widow Olympias, “is said to have supported with her wealth and advice Nectarius the patriarch of Constantinople” and a host of other notable early Xn leaders, including “many saints and fathers who lived in the capital city”.PJ: Partroness
Quote ID: 6156
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 131
Section: 4B
Classical styles and motifs remained popular in building for a long, long time.
Quote ID: 6157
Time Periods: 047
Book ID: 243 Page: 138/139
Section: 3D1
After Theodosius died, Alaric became a major figure, making demands on the empire of money and title magister militum. There were now two governments, east and west, and the Goths could play one against another. Stilicho, barbarian (Vandal) guardian of Theodosius’ sons, tried to used him but eventually had to meet him in battle. Alaric’s demands were largely met, in exchange for allegiance. Stilicho was declared a public enemy by the East.
Quote ID: 6158
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 140
Section: 4B
There was, as it were, a “great gulf fixed” between barbarians and Romans. It was not racism, but the perceived difference between civilized behavior and boorishness. This perception was consistent with that of the Greeks.
Quote ID: 6160
Time Periods: 047
Book ID: 243 Page: 150
Section: 3D2
This event shocked John Chrysostom badly. Or was it conscience? He had turned over Eutropius, who himself had sought asylum in a church.
Quote ID: 6162
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 243 Page: 156
Section: 3A2A
There were violent scuffles between rival Xn sects over elections of bishops. Ancient historian Ammianus recorded that 137 corpses were found in the basilica of Sicinius during the bloody preliminaries to the election of Pope Damasus in 366. (XXVII.3).
Quote ID: 6163
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 162
Section: 2E1
Crosses in the form of crucifixes were not popular until well after the late fourth century.
Quote ID: 6164
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 243 Page: 163
Section: 2E1,4B
“Official diptychs sponsored by Xns, such as the diptych of Probus (406), simply add Xn symbols such as the chi-rho to the standard representation of late Roman dignitaries.”
Quote ID: 6165
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 243 Page: 16b
Section: 3C2
Other sycophant writings in the classic pandering to emperor style.
Quote ID: 6106
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 172
Section: 3D
In honor of the Emperor Theodosius and others, the proconsul of Asia in the 380s restored a temple at Ephesus with reliefs showing Theodosius and other dignitaries surrounding the goddess Artemis.
Quote ID: 6170
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 175
Section: 4B
Xn opposition to pagan celebrations and entertainment did not prevent them from having festivals of their own “with public banquets and drinking, stalls with all kinds of things on sale and an elaborate fireworks display as good as anything one might expect even from Alexandria. Pagan and Christian festivals like these were apparently held regularly throughout the year.”Of course, Xns would not long tolerate the competition.
Quote ID: 6171
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 176
Section: 3C,4B
“Acclamation” was an important part of late Roman politics. Public acclamations of local governors could prove to be critical to his continuance in office. “Constantine required in AD 331 that records of acclamations be sent regularly to the emperor, so that they could be taken into account in determining future careers of the officials in question.”….
This practice was “taken over by the church, and acclamations and gangs of supporters” played significant roles in “ecclesiastical disputes and during the preliminaries to church counsels, as at Ephesus 431 and Chalcedon in 461, where the lead was taken by a group of monks.
Quote ID: 6172
Time Periods: 045
Book ID: 243 Page: 177/178
Section: 4B
Xn charity a cover for greed. “The poor, the poor”... but why?….
“What was really different about this period was that consciousness of the poor changed dramatically. In a sense, the existence of the poor was required by Xn ideology in order to neutralize the fact that the church itself was not only growing rich but also actively courting wealthy patrons.”
Quote ID: 6173
Time Periods: 456
Book ID: 243 Page: 178
Section: 4B
There was no real social revolution concerning the poor, nor any attempt to rid the empire of poverty. “Indeed, Xns argued that the division of society into rich and poor was divinely ordained.”
Quote ID: 6174
Time Periods: 456
Book ID: 243 Page: 184
Section: 2E2
Asceticism was all the rage in some parts. Many who did not take that path still revered those who did. One Egyptian, Sarapion the loincloth“, refused to wear anything but a loincloth. He sold himself into slavery, converted his masters, traveled as a beggar to Greece and converted at least one pagan at Athens, then went to Rome where he met with at least one notable failure. He could not convince a pious young Xn virgin there to walk naked through the streets to prove to the people that she was dead to the world, as she had claimed.
Quote ID: 6175
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 187
Section: 5D
“The year AD 476 as the date of the fall of the Roman Empire is more of a convenience for historians than anything else. . . .”
Quote ID: 6176
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 243 Page: 187/188
Section: 2C,4B
“In particular, Roman landowning families, with their strong cultural traditions, provided many of the powerful bishops of the period, and Latin continued to be used as the language of administration and culture.”
Quote ID: 6178
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 189
Section: 3A1A
Ideas from The City of God:“In such a conception, the first duty of a Christian ruler is to enforce the true faith. Augustine provides a justification, explicitly stated, for Christian persecution.”
….
“The City of God was written because Rome was sacked; its focus is on Rome, the Roman past and Roman authors.”
Quote ID: 6179
Time Periods: 5
Book ID: 243 Page: 57c
Section: 3C2
after his baptism, C no longer wore the imperial purple, but dressed only in white. (Eusebius, VC.62-3).Pastor John notes:“A liar” in reference to Eusebius
Quote ID: 6114
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 57e
Section: 2E3,3C
Few pagan temples were closed by C and late in his reign he even allowed a new one to be built in Italy in honor of the imperial family. (Pg. 74 at Hispellum)
Quote ID: 6115
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 58a
Section: 3C
C enforced barbaric punishments such as pouring molten lead down the throat of some offenders.
Quote ID: 6116
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 58b
Section: 2C,3C
Constantine referred to himself as “the bishop of those outside the church” or “the thirteenth apostle”.
Quote ID: 6117
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 60c
Section: 3C2
There are no extant records from the council itself. We have to rely on Eusebius’s account (VC III.7-14), which is “disingenuous in the extreme”. He, being Arian in his own beliefs, ignored his conscience and signed the Nicean documents.
Quote ID: 6119
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 243 Page: 60d
Section: 3C2
He Eusebius described how all the bishops were invited to dinner with the emperor:the circumstances of which were splendid beyond description. detachments of the bodyguard and other troops surrounded the entrance of the palace with drawn swords, and through the midst of these the men of God proceeded without fear into the innermost of the imperial apartments, in which were some of the emperor’s own companions at table, while others reclined on couches arranged on either side. One might have thought that a picture of Christ’s kingdom was thus shadowed forth, and a dream rather than a reality. (III.15)
Quote ID: 6120
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 243 Page: 61b
Section: 3C
C’s precedent was followed by every emperor who followed him, with the exception of Julian.
Quote ID: 6122
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 62b
Section: 2E1,3C
Later Christian myth has it that C’s mother Helena found the “True Cross” during the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Quote ID: 6124
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 63b
Section: 3C2
Eusebius claimed that “not a breath of paganism was allowed within” Constantinople.
Quote ID: 6125
Time Periods: 34
Book ID: 243 Page: 68d
Section: 3C2
Eusebius - the Christian emperor was God’s representative on earth...this “suggested that God’s kingdom had already been realized”
Quote ID: 6126
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 71c
Section: 3A3,3C,4B
By a law, C made the Xn church able to inherit property. Immense wealth began to flow to her. With such wealth, a local bishop might find himself looked upon as an authoritarian figure by the local populace. He begins to play the part of urban patron.
Quote ID: 6128
Time Periods: 4
Book ID: 243 Page: 139a
Section: 3D1
When Stilicho was unable to pay the enormous sum he had promised Alaric, Alaric marched on Italy and blockaded Rome. Senators agreed to pay him more than even Stilicho had promised, but he marched on Rome, entered the city and proclaimed a puppet emperor. His army sacked the city for its riches.
Quote ID: 6159
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 149b
Section: 3D2
When seven thousand Goths took refuge in a Xn church, they were massacred by the citizens of Constantinople by setting fire to the building.
Quote ID: 6161
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 243 Page: 165a
Section: 4A
Augustine was deeply influenced by the pagan philosopher, and in Book XII of his Confessions seeks to reconcile Plato’s view of creation with the Biblical revelation.
Quote ID: 6166
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 165b
Section: 4A
The Academy (at Athens) was closed in 529. But its influence was ubiquitous.
Quote ID: 6167
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 243 Page: 165c
Section: 4A
“Platonic ideas overlapped and coincided in many respects with Xn ones.”
Quote ID: 6168
Time Periods: 2
Book ID: 243 Page: 165c
Section: 2D2
NOTE: As pagans used to dedicate certain temples to certain gods, so Xns began the practice of dedicating their cathedrals and basilicas to the dead saints.
Quote ID: 6169
Time Periods: 345
Book ID: 243 Page: 187b
Section: 4B
By the early sixth century, several barbarian kingdoms were established within the borders of what was the Roman Empire, most notably the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Franks (also called the Merovingians) ... and the Visigoths [in Spain]. Even after these kingdoms were in place, so many Roman traditions and institutions continued that these kingdoms are referred to as ’sub-Roman’ societies.
Quote ID: 6177
Time Periods: 6
Book ID: 243 Page: 193a
Section: 1A
Wherever we place it chronologically, the fall of the Roman empire was not a single, dramatic event which changed the shape of Europe or the Mediterranean.
Quote ID: 6180
Time Periods: 17
Book ID: 243 Page: 193b
Section: 3C,4B
“Constantine unwittingly created a church which for centuries would rival the power of the state. No fundamental economic transformation took place in the later empire; indeed, the church now absorbed much of the surplus revenue, just as external pressures increased the difficulties of maintaining an adequate army to such a level that the western government effectively gave up the struggle.”
Quote ID: 6181
Time Periods: 45
Book ID: 243 Page: 195ff
Section: 5D
These pages have a chronology of events East and West, a list of emperors AD 238 on, and a Bibliography of Primary Sources.
Quote ID: 6182
Time Periods: ?
End of quotes