CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Bodnaruk, Mariana |
|---|---|
| Title | Production Of Distinction: The Representation Of Senatorial Elites In The Later Roman Empire, 306-395 |
| Summary | This thesis set out to investigate the effects of the transformation of the institutions of the imperial state in the fourth century on the self-representation of the senatorial aristocracy as integrated into the imperial system. For the first time, aristocracies from throughout the Mediterranean world were amalgamated in one hierarchically-structured institution. Viewing the Mediterranean world in the period covered by this thesis – from the accession of Constantine I to the death of Theodosius I – as characterized by the same political, economic and institutional factors, the period, whose end, by contrast, marks the beginnings of a divergence between the West and the East, I explore the cultural impacts of the formation of a new trans-regional governing class of the fourth-century Roman Empire. Two paradigms of the relationship between state and senatorial aristocracy shaped modern historiography. Firstly, the conflict paradigm of senatorial resistance against the imperial state, which, according to its narrative, shaped the relationship between aristocrats and emperors, breaks down if one sees the state not as inert administrative machine, but as ‘an ensemble of groups’ whose interests had an autonomous social character.3259 The change in the imperial and senatorial selfrepresentation, with relative independence of senatorial representation from the imperial model, was not underpinned by a conflict of these two social forces. Imperial policies were inseparable from the powers and pressure of important groups within imperial aristocracy, and the leading families in the Roman senate were amongst the main beneficiaries of the fourth-century shifts in governmental structure. In the course of this examination it becomes clear that a conflict model, so often postulated as a determining relations between the aristocracy and state, is in no way an adequate explanation for the changes in honorific epigraphy and representational art. Given the quality of imperial relations with both the old senatorial nobility in Rome and the new service elite, and the continued importance of both senates as a source of legitimacy for fragile imperial rule, the period saw intense collaboration between the imperial aristocracy and the court. The increased integration of the Roman senators into the imperial system allowed to establish and enlarged the senators’ powerful networks of patronage. Instead of senators simply monopolizing the offices and the institutional machinery of the Roman state for their private interests, emperors through the select appointments to the high governmental posts were able to manipulate aristocratic patronage and personal power networks. |
| Supervisor | Orlandi, Silviaé Jaritz, Gerhard |
| Department | Medieval Studies PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/bodnaruk_mariana.pdf |
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