1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910811668303321

Autore

Lenski Noel Emmanuel <1965->

Titolo

Constantine and the cities : imperial authority and civic politics / / Noel Lenski

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : , : University of Pennsylvania Press, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

0-8122-9223-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (415 p.)

Collana

Empire and After

Disciplina

937/.08

Soggetti

Power (Social sciences) - Rome - History

Social change - Rome - History

Christianity and politics - Rome - History

Rome History Constantine I, the Great, 306-337

Rome Politics and government 284-476

Rome Religion

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- List of Maps -- Introduction. Many Faces of Constantine -- Chapter 1. Constantine Develops -- Chapter 2. Constantinian Constants -- Chapter 3. Constantine and the Christians -- Chapter 4. Approaching Constantine -- Chapter 5. The Exigencies of Dialogue -- Chapter 6. Constantine’s Cities in the West -- Chapter 7. Constantine’s Cities in the East -- Chapter 8. Redistributing Wealth -- Chapter 9. Building Churches -- Chapter 10. Empowering Bishops -- Chapter 11. Engaging Cities -- Chapter 12. Resisting Cities -- Chapter 13. Opposing Christians -- Chapter 14. Complex Cities -- Epilogue -- Sigla and Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments

Sommario/riassunto

Over the course of the fourth century, Christianity rose from a religion actively persecuted by the authority of the Roman empire to become the religion of state—a feat largely credited to Constantine the Great. Constantine succeeded in propelling this minority religion to imperial status using the traditional tools of governance, yet his proclamation of his new religious orientation was by no means unambiguous. His coins



and inscriptions, public monuments, and pronouncements sent unmistakable signals to his non-Christian subjects that he was willing not only to accept their beliefs about the nature of the divine but also to incorporate traditional forms of religious expression into his own self-presentation. In Constantine and the Cities, Noel Lenski attempts to reconcile these apparent contradictions by examining the dialogic nature of Constantine's power and how his rule was built in the space between his ambitions for the empire and his subjects' efforts to further their own understandings of religious truth. Focusing on cities and the texts and images produced by their citizens for and about the emperor, Constantine and the Cities uncovers the interplay of signals between ruler and subject, mapping out the terrain within which Constantine nudged his subjects in the direction of conversion. Reading inscriptions, coins, legal texts, letters, orations, and histories, Lenski demonstrates how Constantine and his subjects used the instruments of government in a struggle for authority over the religion of the empire.