Scholar of Fortune
@DependencyBonn
. Everything you wanted to know about 'The Fall of Rome' but were afraid to ask. Italophile.
@drdragases
.bsky.social
True Tolkien aficionados and art historians will find much to be annoyed about. But Στέλιος Καρέλλας on FB had AI render scenes from Lord the Rings as Byzantine mosaics, and I think it's glorious.
1. Gandalf VS Balrog
1. I taught Byzantine History for 7 years. A subject very dear to me. But just like its actual history, the literature can be incredibly tricky to navigate. What I offer here is definitely not a list "you must read to become an expert", but rather something to get you started.
So... this may unintentionally be the most viral thing I've ever posted. And it seems to have triggered lots of discussion on what constitutes 'Roman', and why I'd settle for 1453. If you can spare half an hour, you can hear me explaining it all here!
1. In this week in 476, the insignificant boy-emperor Romulus ("Augustulus") was deposed by Odoacer, leader of the Italian field army. This event is claimed to be "the fall of the [western] Roman empire". Thread on one of the biggest
#BadAncientHistory
takes. Feel free to share.
The bronze
#BoxerAtRest
. One of the finest pieces of
#Hellenistic
craftsmanship. Few of these have survived. It was constructed in a now lost wax-technique. Contrary to classical Greek statues, who usually stress youth and heroism, this statue emphasizes both emotion and realism.
1. In this week in 476, the insignificant boy-emperor Romulus ("Augustulus") was deposed by Odoacer, leader of the Italian field army. This event is claimed to be "the fall of the [western] Roman empire". Thread on one of the biggest
#BadAncientHistory
takes. Feel free to share.
1. On this yesterday, 24 August 410, Rome was sacked by a group now known as the Visigoths - a name which they didn't have yet. It is an event that has enjoyed widespread notoriety and almost everything known about it in popular imagination is wrong.
Thread (feel free to share!)
In my field the Roman Army was the most expensive item on the government budget, the largest employer, and the biggest consumer of goods across three continents. The idea that studying this equals skewered gender history is at best a cringe soundbite. To say nothing of the worst.
New to Roman History?
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Here are the 10 books you must read to become an expert in Roman History 🧵
1. If you're suffering from the heat today, please take a moment to remember Valens' soldiers at Adrianople on this day in 378. The eastern Roman army commanded by the emperor Valens suffered a terrible defeat against Gothic groups who'd 2 years earlier requested asylum. Thread.
I am very happy to announce that Ghent University has just officially awarded me a Senior Post-Doctoral Fellowship, for a project on 'Political Murder in the Late Roman Empire'.
Fasten your seat-belts for some killer research the next three years!
1. Now that even high profile media like The Guardian are jumping on the bandwagon of comparing the Wagner mutiny with Roman History, allow me to weigh in with some expertise on Warlordism. Here's an outline of how the latter contributed to the end of Rome's Empire in the West.
"That a show originally about a dysfunctional mess of a family barely clinging to middleclass life in aftermath Reagan administration has now become aspirational is frankly the most on the nose manifestation of capitalist American decline I can think of.”
1. What people call 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' - more on that soon - has been part of my core research for an awful long time. So let's take a closer look at a deeply deceiving take on one of our most intriguing sources for this period.
Thread.
Border check before hopping on Eurostar:
- What's the reason of your visit?
- I'm invited to speak at Oxford University
- And what's your area of expertise?
- Late Roman political history
- How late is late?
- ... When the whole thing collapses?
- Ah. Carry on.
2. First: why can't we call this the end of the Roman Empire? Well, there was still a Roman emperor in Constantinople, who ruled the entire Eastern Mediterranean and Southeastern Balkans. Since the end of the third century, Imperial rule had ceased being centered on Italy.
1. Either on this day or tomorrow in 454, the western magister militum Aetius was murdered by emperor Valentinian III himself. Procopius styled both Bonifatius and him 'last of the Romans', yet his career was that of a warlord causing immense damage to the Imperial West.
Thread.
15. Trying to keep it functioning, usually meant more infighting and wasted resources. This may be hard to fathom for those who can only imagine Odoacer as a "skinclad barbarian", but in 476 he brought peace to Italy and did it in the name of empire.
"Are we the goodies?".
Fin.
3. Multiple emperorship became the norm and for about a century there was not even a fixed capital. The "capital" was simply there were the emperor resided. It didn't matter whether this was Milan, Trier or Constantinople. To put it differently, long after 476 the Roman Empire...
2. For general surveys, Gregory's History of Byzantium is the most balanced. He covers all the era's and various domains (politics, economy etc). That said, even in the 2nd edition there are still a series of minor errors. But other surveys also have their virtues and vices.
4. simply continued to exist in the eastern provinces. Secondly: no contemporary source regarded Romulus' deposition as the end of empire. We have to wait until the 520s until one author starts formulating the idea that with Romulus gone the line of emperors ended in the West.
5. Yet this was an eastern chronicler writing in Constantinople, during the rise of Justinian. This emperor would launch a war against his western neighbours, so the timing and formulation of this chronicle entry is not innocent one bit.
Flight attendant: Is there a doctor on the plane?
Me: Yes, but I'm not that kind of …
Flight attendant: The pilots are debating whether the Roman Empire fell in 476.
Me: Okay. I’m here.
The church of San Giovanni di Sinis has an eastern Roman foundation from the 6th century, and was finalized between 9th & 11th c. A fantastically well-preserved 'Early Medieval' church. Its type would've been ubiquitous around the Mediterranean. Still used for services today!
Lordie, lordie, lordie, 'For those about to die' is eating Gladiator 2's cake and then having some.
PS: As icing on 'said cake, note there's a bust of Caracalla (!) in the back.
7. until he was murdered by his own supporters in 480. Only then did western Roman emperorship truly come to an end. Fun fact: the great irony of 476 is that the last three western emperors were all still alive and around during the next few years.
I'm incredibly proud to share the news that, after first inviting me, my monograph proposal on 'Rome's Disintegration - War, Violence and the End of Empire in the West' has made it through peer review, and I have now been officially offered a contract by Oxford University Press.
8. Fourthly: With his junta of 476, Odoacer had technically deposed a usurper. He even continued to recognize Nepos until his murder, and he had explicitly acknowledged in diplomatic reports with the eastern emperor that Italy remained part of the Empire.
Highlights from historical Sicily: the numismatic collection of Syracuse contains something I've never seen before: a physically preserved money box of a Roman soldier! The coins are Republican victoriate type (c. 200 BCE), a style influenced by Syracusan coins of Agathocles.
6. Thirdly: Romulus was not even a properly recognized western emperor! He had been put on the throne by his father Orestes, after he'd driven out the previous emperor Julius Nepos. The latter continued to claim western emperorship from Dalmatia, with eastern recognition, ...
Are you an emperor having a baby?
Here are some nice imperial names for your child:
Constantine
Constantine
Constantine
Leo
Constantine
Constantine
Constantine
John
Constantine
Constantine
Constantine
Michael
Constantine
Constantine
Constantine
Alexius
Constantine
Constantine
Are you an archaeologist who's having a baby? Here are some nice archaeological names for your child:
Göbeklitepe
LinearB
Flint
Stratigraphy
Megalith
Lekythos
Levallois
Processual
Radiocarbon
Trowel
Geofact
Stylobate
Theodolite
Neutron Activation Analysis
🏺
9. Odoacer sporadically used the title of rex ('king') but only as a form of leadership over the Italian field army. He never declared himself to be a 'rex Italiae'. The eastern emperor Zeno even granted him the right to nominate senators as western consuls.
5. Kaldellis' New Roman Empire is something I have not read, so I cannot judge it. But I've read plenty of his other work, and this will probably become one of the seminal works. Do note that Kaldellis rejects the label "Byzantine" because it's an anachronistic western one.
Apparently rampant racism and blatant historical nonsense needs to be dispelled for what it is:
1. Gibbon wrote 250 years ago, and it outdated by the standards of _any_ discipline. Yet even his analysis was done with far more sophistication.
This type of Roman Empire map (at Trajan's death) is one of the most popular yet also most deceptive ones. His conquests in the Near East had already failed when he died; ergo extremely ephemeral. It's not representative for the reach of empire. Yet it resurfaces again and again.
As a first-generation student (and later academic), stumbling upon the work of Steven Runciman as a teenager in a modest town library is the single most important factor that fueled my penchant for the craft. It's what drove me to University. He was a giant who cared to reach out
1. Wolf Liebeschuetz just passed away at the blessed age of 95. It doesn't need to be stated that he was one of the most important scholars of ' Late Antiquity' - even though he had very insightful misgivings about the concept - of the past 60 years.
14. Already in 465-467, there had been 18 months without a western emperor (take note Belgium). Already before 476, most people outside of Italy had learned to take care of their own business. Emperorship had ceased to be the best way or providing leadership in government.
10. So does 476 have no significance at all? It does as a marker for local history in Italy. By 476, there had been two decades of intermittent provincial civil wars, usually centered on disputes between western emperors and the commanders of the Italian field army.
So... errr... those AI Byzantinesque LOTR mosaics caught some attention... To the 700+ (!) new followers here since yesterday: top of the morning to you!
You came for Tolkien, feel welcome to stay at the campfire for all things Late Roman Empire. And random geekness galore.
1. This is a very sensitive issue, so bear with me. I'm writing this as someone who studied in three different countries (with just as many different languages), and yet I am fundamentally in agreement with this decision.
Here's why:
1. On this day tomorrow in 408, the imperial commander Stilicho was executed. He's one of the most fascinating individuals of the Late Roman world, who de facto controlled the western court and government c. 395-408. A pivotal period in the so-called 'Fall of Rome' story. Thread.
Newsflash: Next month I will leave Ghent Uni and join
@WritingHelena
's team at
@DependencyBonn
to revise and digitize the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. This is one of the most important Late Antiquity projects happening, and I'm very excited and proud to be part of it.
As someone who spent far too may years studying warlordism and state disintegration, let met tell that you that this is not the flex Putin might think it is.
Russian regions will soon have the authority to establish their own private military companies and arm them, according to the proposed amendments being rushed through the State Duma. 1/5
Europeans replicate late-Roman attitudes: they refuse to use force to keep out the new barbarian invaders. Unwillingness to defend the frontiers is misrepresented as a moral stance . 4/5th Cent Christians turned other cheeks. 1400 years later, toilets w running water returned
11. This is the period when we can say that western Imperial rule is disintegrating. Already by 461, the western army had dissolved into local warlord fiefdoms in Gaul, Italy, and Dalmatia. But at least in Italy, western emperors continued to reside and every now and then ...
11. Steven Runciman's 1453 is the book that convinced me in high school to study history at uni. It definitely shows its age, but Runciman was a master of narrative. He had an incredible command of the sources in various languages (both western and eastern). Still worthwhile.
12. ... make good on their claim to rule over territories now governed by reges ('kings') in Gaul, Spain and Africa. It was a downward spiral to continue doing so with dwindling resources. It took longer and longer to find emperors who could appease the different factions...
3. Treadgold's survey is a veritable tome. He writes incredibly well, but can be quite polemic. He's also a maximalist when it comes down to the empire's institutions and forces, and what you can derive from the sources to reconstruct these. Still, an absolute classic.
15. PS: As I remarked earlier, the term 'Byzantine' is incredibly contested. If you have half an hour to spare, you could watch this podcast where I was interviewed to explain what is going on there.
Just approved the full cover image for this labour of love. With deep gratitude to
@michele_salzman
for the endorsement.
About to hit the shelves in two months!
@19Averil
7. Byzantine History spans more than a millennium, which could be divided roughly in three blocks: "Early" (c. 300-600), "Middle" (c. 600-1070), and "Late" (c. 1070-1461). For the late bit, Nicol's elegiac Last Centuries of Byzantium is a classic - if at times depressing - read.
4. Harris' Introduction to Byzantium _could_ be the best possible survey of its kind. It's probably the most user-friendly textbook for undergrads. The big HOWEVER being that he only starts from the seventh century on. If you already have some background there, then no worries.
@19Averil
@JudithHerrin2
9. Ironically, the Early period is much better documented but is often told from a wider 'Late Roman/Antique' perspective. Ergo, not necessarily purely on Eastern Roman terms. Stevenson's New Rome does precisely that. Also very good for bringing in the environmental debate.
13. ... whether they were the landed senatorial aristocracy in Italy, the regional imperial armies of Gaul, Italys, and Dalmatia, the various provincial kings of Goths, Burgundians, Vandals etc or the Eastern emperor.
6. For most of modern history (including the 20th c.) Byzantine History had a very negative reputation, for reasons I can't get into. But it's a subject worthy of study. For various intellectual observations on this, try
@19Averil
Byzantine Matters.
This premise is very old and resurfaces now and then. In a nutshell: Rome has always used 'foreign troops' since the rise of the Republic. Their impact on the Late Roman army was hardly so detrimental.
I wrote a piece on this topic for a wider audience:
@PvPmedievalist
@Paul_Bogdanich
@_Dragases_
Not a scholar—but in my understanding the Romans began using foreign troops more and more and finally their influence became so great that people just declared the empire finished in the west Anyway.
What’s your theory on it.
@19Averil
8. There is so much to choose for the Middle period, but I really like
@JudithHerrin2
'Women in Purple' as a way to navigate this period, through the lives of three empresses who left their mark on the so-called Iconoclast Age.
1. On this day in 526, Theoderic the Amal died. Not only did he forge various non-Roman communities and war-bands into the new formation of the Ostrogoths. He also turned Late Roman Italy into the most formidable western regnum of the early sixth century. Thread.
On Tuesday 4 October, Ghent University will launch its very own 'Centre of Late Antiquity'. Together with colleagues from Archaeology, History, Linguistics & Literature, all working on this vibrant era, we will showcase some of our latest research.
Spread the word!
@BretDevereaux
So you think Romans had hyphens and presumably pronouns? "My name is Trajan - I am Hispanic-Roman Latinx and my pronouns are ...." .... this is insane, sorry