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Give four-five examples (of different type, i.e. urbanistic, architectural, cultural, religious, institutional) showing that Constantinople was a (new) Roman capital.
- Constantine’s statue alluded to the colossus of Sol that stood beside the Colosseum in Rome and linked New Rome to Troy
- The City featured traditional foci of Roman religion (a Capitolum and temples to Kybele and the Tyche of New Rome)
- The proximity of the hippodrome to the Great Palace replicated that of the Circus Maximus and Palatine at Rome
- On Constantine’s coins, the populace of the City was referred to as the Populus Romanus
- It had a Capitolum, a bread dole for its people, and an exemption from the provincial administration.
- It had the name and a corresponding Senate, popular organizations, and magistracies.
Which two growing challenges did the foundation of Constantinople address?
The empire’s tendency to fall apart and the growth of foreign threats
Give a couple of examples showing that by the 3rd c. Rome was a political rather than a physical idea.
- “Our home is where our freedom is.”
- Rome was a community brought together by shared notions of justice and religion
- Emperors not only came from the provinces, they spent most or all their reigns by the frontier
- Rome is wherever the emperor was
What demographic challenges did emperors face in trying to grow a city, and how did they tackle them?
- People died because the city was so filthy, so they had to keep getting people to migrate into the city
- Lured them with tax benefits, and luxurious manors, etc.
What was the ethnolinguistic situation like in the Balkans, Syria and Egypt? Name a couple of commonalities and a couple of differences that we can observe.
- In the Balkans, there was a diagonal line separating Latin-speaking from Greek-speaking
- Both Syria and Egypt contained a majority population in the millions who spoke a language other than Greek (mostly Aramaic and Egyptian)
- In Egyp,t 50-60% of a population of 4-5 million spoke only Egyptian, 10-20% spoke only Greek, and the rest could get by in both
- The linguistic breakdown of Syria is probably similar to that of Egypt. - Greek was the official language of business, but most of the population spoke Aramaic, with people on the fringes of the Empire speaking North Arabian dialects.
Give a couple of descriptive elements for each group: Slaves and women.
- Slaves accounted for about 15% of the population
- Slaves were used both domestically and on farms
- Coloni, the laws made it clear that they were free citizens, albeit bound to the land; however, their freedom was increasingly limited, and they were bound to the land in a way that constituted them as a distinct legal category between free and slave
- While recognizing that coloni were not slaves, the law compared them to slaves and slowly restricted their rights in ways that enabled their exploitation and benefited big landowners who wanted to keep them in place
- Women usually had the same socioeconomic status as their men. -But their political and vocational opportunities were restricted
- Women could not be soldiers or hold political or Church offices because they were regarded as morally, physically, and intellectually weaker and were expected to be modest and submissive.
- Women were very active in public life and participated in protests with men. They were also involved in manufacturing textiles. This was not a society where women were hidden from view
- Women could own and manage their own properties and represent themselves legally
Identify three important measures Diocletian took to restore the Empire (fiscal, monetary, military)
- He set into motion a more rational, uniform, efficient and equitable system of national taxation. His system terminated the transfer of wealth from the East to the West, making the Eastern empire a fiscally integral and potentially autonomous unit.
- Diocletian and Constantine separated military from civilian functions to avoid concentrating too much power into the hands of potential rivals
- Mobile field armies and the frontier-defense armies
- He instituted the use of large military assemblies
- Restored stability through his collegiate conception of the imperial office and by stamping out remaining challengers
- He laid the foundation for a monetary recovery by issuing a stable gold coin, the solidus. To obtain the bullion, he requisitioned gold, forcing subjects to sell it to the state in exchange for base metal coins.
Draw a scheme of the Empire’s cash cycle, and explain why Romania was a “money-crazed” empire in a phrase.
- The state minted coins and put them into circulation by paying its soldiers, officers, magistrates, and secretaries; by purchasing materials and carrying out public works; by supporting philanthropic and religious projects; and through its own luxury spending
- Recipients spent these coins on consumer goods and food, whence they came into the hands of craftsmen and agricultural producers, and from there, they returned to the state via taxes.
- While higher-ranked officers and those of the elite were readily paid in gold, those of a lower class were clamouring for gold and would resort to devious schemes in an attempt to get it.
- Councillors had to obtain gold, which for most meant producing a surplus and selling it on the market.
- “You see gold in everything; you fantasize about gold, dreaming of it while you sleep and thinking of it while awake.”
- “We spend all of our days scheming how to increase our property, land, and slaves; we are insatiable.”
What were the three defining attributes of Constantine’s new super-elite?
- It held salaried offices in the state.
- It benefited from the new gold economy.
- It bore the name “Flavius” aka Constantine’s family name (gentilicium)
What are two to three aspects of imperial government?
- “It is by imperial law that you own land, a house, a slave.”
- Paternal solicitude for the welfare of all its subjects; A striving for the rule of law and fairness in its dealings with them; and responsiveness to their concerns
- Emperors should succour the weak and protect them from oppression
Why was Christianity as a religion problematic in the eyes of Romans in the 3rd c.?
- Religions were identified with specific ethnic groups. Christians took on a religion that conflicted with their prior ethnicities.
- If Christians were neither Greeks nor barbarians, they could not be Romans either
- Christians based their comprehensive identity on religion, whereas Romans saw religion as only part of a civic or national order
Give a couple of examples of how Christianity progressively becomes a pillar of the empire using the existing framework of Roman religion.
What vision of Diocletian do we get from Eusebius Oratio?
We are led to view him as a man with much hubris who foolishly challenged God and had to deal with the consequences. A man with poor morals and one who doesn’t care about regular people killing and maiming their fellow man. He is inherently selfish and a bad leader. Even the Gods don’t like him. He persecuted Christians.
Christianity is the religion of Christ, but does “Christ” appear in Eusebius Oratio?
Not in so many words. Some would argue that Christ is another, more human, presentation of God - who does appear in this text. The forgiving human healer Jesus Christ is not present in this text, but God’s omnipresent, mythical figure is in every excerpt and behind each action.
What are some of the measures Constantine takes in favour of the Christians?
- Ending persecution and legalizing Christianity: the Edict of Milan in 313
- Restored Christian property
- Encouraged church building
- Council of Nicea in 325: resolved disputes within the Christian community and resolved theological disputes
How did Constantine represent himself in his palace?
- Adorned with Christian iconography and symbols
- Although he still kept some imperial symbols up and combined both his Christian and Roman identities
Which controversies pushed Constantine to convene the Council of Nicea?
- The Arian controversy which
centred around the nature of Christ and his relationship to God.
Arius taught that Jesus was not eternal and was created by God; while Jesus was divine, he was not of the same essence as God.
Others thought that Jesus was cut from the same cloth as God and was fully divine and eternal.
This divided Christians a lot on the issue of Jesus’ divinity.
Did Constantine have a role in the Council? What did he do?
- Constantine viewed the rift as a threat to the unity of the Empire, as Christianity was an increasingly popular religion
- He is responsible for calling the Council and making sure everyone was present
- He acted as imperial moderator during the council
- His influence ensured the creation of the Nicene creed
What are some of the secular measures taken by Constantine and narrated by Eusebius?
- Restructured the empire by increasing the number of provinces and founding Constantinople as a new capital
- Strengthened the Roman military
- Passed new laws promoting social justice (Edict of Milan)
- Oversaw the construction of churches
Where were Constantine’s images to be found and not to be found?
Found:
- in Christian settings
- on statues and coins around the empire
- displayed in the imperial palace and other state buildings
- all around Constantinople
Not found:
- in Pagan temples
- in idolatrous practices or worship
